Hong Kong film director John Woo will soon unleash his brand of 'hard-boiled' action in interactive video games to be published under a strategic partnership with Sega. Woo announced in Los Angeles last week that his newly formed interactive entertainment studio, Tiger Hill Entertainment, and Sega had entered into a multi-year partnership to co-create and publish video games based on the original and existing properties of the director and the video games giant. Financial details were not given. Tiger Hill games in development include Sinner, Burglar and Stranglehold. 'With games being cinematic by nature, it makes sense to bridge the gap between filmmaker and game developer to deliver the ultimate action/adventure gaming experience,' Woo said. 'The formation of Tiger Hill Entertainment and the company's partnership with video games industry veteran Sega will deliver that experience.' Their alliance is expected to expand into other forms of mainstream entertainment - including films and comic books. Woo gained international acclaim with Hong Kong-made action films such as A Better Tomorrow (1987), The Killer (1989) and Hard-Boiled (1991). He formed Tiger Hill with long-time film production partner Terence Chang and online games entrepreneur Brad Foxhoven. Woo and Mr Chang serve as co-chief executives, while Mr Foxhoven is president of the Santa Monica, California-based studio. In Hollywood, Woo and Mr Chang have been behind commercially successful cinematic releases such as Broken Arrow (1995), Face/Off (1997) and Mission: Impossible 2 (2000). They also established the MGM Pictures-backed film outfit Lion Rock Productions, named after the Hong Kong mountain. The duo's avowed mission for Tiger Hill is 'to redefine the action/adventure video game genre'. The company's partnership with Sega seems to bolster confidence in that goal. 'John Woo's incredible sense for action films and his deep story-telling abilities combined with Sega's innovative approach to game development will help shape the future of action/adventure games in this industry,' said Shinobu Toyoda, executive vice-president of content strategy and business development at Sega of America. Sega of America is the United States arm of Tokyo-based Sega, which develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for hardware platforms, including personal computers, wireless device and game consoles. Tiger Hill and Sega officials said their partnership marked the first time a filmmaker and video-game developer were collaborating on original properties to be developed into video games. New Media Strategies (NMS), a brand promotions specialist, suggested in a report last week that ties between Hollywood and the video-games industry would be 'a stable, highly profitable marriage for years to come'. NMS found in a recent online survey that 67 per cent of gaming consumers are more likely to buy or rent video games if they have a tie-in with a movie. Twenty-two per cent said they would buy a game based on a film even before seeing it in cinemas. 'The ties between Hollywood and the gaming industry are deepening for a reason,' NMS chief executive Pete Snyder said. 'The excitement and hype factor of Hollywood buzz undoubtedly helps to sell more games.' Mr Foxhoven is expected to figure prominently in Tiger Hill's efforts to develop and sell content for mainstream entertainment formats. In his previous stint as president of the comic book publisher Top Cow Productions in the United States, Mr Foxhoven spearheaded deals to transform comics franchises into film and television projects. These included Witchblade on TNT Cable and Fathom for Twentieth Century Fox and film director James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment. He established a wireless and online entertainment gaming firm, Eruptor Entertainment, in 1999. Last year, he produced Spider-Man wireless games for Sony and Star Wars games for Globe Telecom in the Philippines.