‘Breaking Bad’ — The Video Game?
Could Walter White and Jesse Pinkman be returning to your living room screens soon via the PS4?
That’s the question Christopher Groux asked in his tech column on Design & Trend as he reports that Sony, maker of the Playstation line of video game consoles and also rights holder to the Breaking Bad television series, has filed a trademark at the The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market database in Europe for the term “Breaking Bad” to apply to code qualifiers that generally apply for use in production of a video game or gambling machine.
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. copyrighted a product called “Breaking Bad” with very vague terms, a tactic often used by Sony to protect proprietary information regarding unannounced production of its Playstation line. The trademark also leaves open the possibility of a Breaking Bad brand of gambling machines, such as slot machines. Popular television, video game, and pop culture brands and entities commonly appear in slot machine form drawing fans of those brands to the casinos and gambling establishments that feature them.
Logan Booker at Kotaku points out that the wording of the trademark filing leaves open the possibilities for all sorts of Breaking Bad branded digital gaming experiences, including poker machines and even mobile gaming.
“Computer gaming software; gaming software that generates or displays wager outcomes of gaming machines, downloadable software in the nature of a mobile application for playing games; games playable via a global computer network, handheld electronic devices, portable video players, portable music players, smart phones, laptop computers, handheld computers, table computers, cellular phones, pagers, personal digital assistants, digital television set-top boxes, interactive digital television controllers and programmable digital television recorders; operational computer game software sold or leased together with reconfigurable casino and lottery gaming equipment.”
It is obviously too early to know yet if Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul will reprise their iconic roles and provide voiceover for the impending project.
Breaking Bad debuted on the AMC television network in January of 2008, and during its five-season run became a pop culture phenomenon that helped elevate the network as a major player in original scripted television and paved the way for other hit series such as Mad Men and The Walking Dead. Amongst the accolades Breaking Bad has earned are sixteen Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Peabody Awards, and a People’s Choice Award, and in 2013, Breaking Bad entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest rated show of all time.
[Image via Getty]
