A different type of hero

Karen Attwood

• Last Updated: May 18. 2008 8:45PM UAE / May 18. 2008 4:45PM GMT

Sami battles corruptioninstead of another race, fighting to save his homeland and free his sister.

ABU DHABI // James Bond, Lara Croft and Indiana Jones are about to get a run for their money with a new rival – the world’s first Arab action hero.

Sami, who has martial arts, driving and shooting skills to match even the toughest of his western counterparts, has been developed by the UAE-based entertainment company Colourblind, and will star in the company’s Sharq Warriors video game, due to be launched this year.

It is hoped Sharq Warriors will provide a hero that gamers in the Middle East can relate to, and will balance the negative racial stereotypes so prevalent in action films, television series and games, in which Arab characters are often cast as the bad guy.

The actor Danny Glover, best known for his role as Mel Gibson’s partner in the Lethal Weapon movies, has joined the company’s board of directors. He will play a key role in developing Sharq Warriors in partnership with his own production company, Louverture.

Glover believes Sami could be translated to the big screen in a similar way to Lara Croft, who started out as the voluptuous protagonist of the video game series Tomb Raider before being brought to life in a film starring Angelina Jolie. Lara Croft has gone on to feature in numerous comic books, novels and a series of animated short films.

“I first heard about this project during a visit to Dubai and could see the huge potential of developing the Sami franchise,” said Glover.

“My production company Louverture is venturing into 3D animation films, as well as other new media, and Sami and Sharq Warriors are a perfect fit for us.”

Glover added he was “excited to be involved in creating heroes for other regions like South Asia and Africa that have been ignored or handled insensitively by the existing game developers”.

In the game, which features the latest 3D graphics, Sami comes under fire from robotic defence systems operated by the Shamal Force while battling through desert settings. He is fighting to save his homeland, a fictional Middle Eastern country, and to free his sister, who has been captured by the GEG militia.

Many western video games feature soldiers shooting at Arabs and other ethnic groups, but Sami will be battling corruption, not another race.

Riz Khan, an Al Jazeera presenter and journalist who has previously worked for the BBC and CNN, has joined the team that will launch the video game.

“Louverture Films is producing movies in the Middle East, South Asia, Africa and Latin America,” Khan said. “All markets we are targeting [are] in line with the philosophy of our name Colourblind – that heroes can be of any colour.

“Many existing games feature western soldiers shooting Arabs, Afghans and other ethnic ‘enemies’, as well as bad guys who are consistently of African, Latino, Arab or Muslim descent.

“We think that only reinforces negative stereotypes.”

Khan added that Colourblind would introduce “different types of heroes”.

“Sami is the first of them, but he fights corruption, not people of another race, in an adventure packed with action that is sure to deliver an adrenalin rush,” he said.

He added that Glover’s success in Hollywood, “the toughest entertainment market in the world”, would help to open doors for the company.

Colourblind has been developing Sharq Warriors for two years and its launch this year should benefit from the predicted continued growth of the industry.

Daniel Ernst, an analyst at the consulting firm Hudson Square Research, said global video game revenues grew 38 per cent last year to US$26.5 billion (Dh97.3bn). Mr Ernst forecast revenues to increase another 31 per cent to $34.6bn this year.

Meanwhile, PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts the worldwide gaming market will be worth US$48.9bn by 2011.


kattwood@thenational.ae