Spielberg reveals he is a 'huge gamer'

Movie director Steven Spielberg is a serious games fan with an in-depth knowledge of the industry, claims senior producer of Bloom Blox Amir Rahimi.

Speaking at a Nintendo media event in San Francisco, Rahimi said: "I was actually pretty surprised to find out how much of a gamer Steven Spielberg is. He - regularly, when we meet with him - makes references to games that a lot of us game developers haven't played or haven't played in years. But also recent games, like Crysis, he talks a lot about."

The renowned Jaws director, who is working with EA on a number of video games, including Wii title Bloom Blox, is said to regularly attend office meetings to work on the game, despite his commitment to the new Indiana Jones film.

Speaking to Gamesindustry, Rahimi said: "He came up with the original concept, but he also - when he wasn't off shooting Indiana Jones or doing other big projects out of town - I'd say he was in the office on average every week."

Discussing future video game projects with Spielberg, Rahimi said the movie mogul would spend hours coming up with new gaming ideas, adding: "His passion for the industry really came through.

"We've partnered with Spielberg to develop three games that are totally new. Two of them are currently in production. This is technically the second of the Spielberg games, but it will be the first that hits the market.

"They're working on another one code-named LMNO that, I think, is what most people would expect out of a partnership with Spielberg - the epic storyline, the action/adventure game."

Rahimi also said Spielberg is working on more projects with EA, including one game that he hopes will offer "deep emotional experiences", capable of "moving people to tears".

Bloom Blox, a Wii exclusive puzzle game with nearly 400 single and multiplayer levels, will be released on May 9.