The movie is big news, the video game may be bigger news:

Movie-themed video games aren't exactly a novel idea, but none can match the hype surrounding Atari's Matrix game, which will work on all the major gaming platforms. The game is being pumped up at this week's E3 trade show in Los Angeles. The Washington Post notes today that Atari's (formerly Infogrames) Matrix game "has earned buzz among gamers because the movie's directors worked closely with the game's designers to weave big- and small-screen products together. Traditionally, tie-in games arrive months after the movie and may not benefit from any input from the original filmmakers. This game, whether it succeeds or fails, may mark something of a turning point for the video-game industry. 'After this year,' predicted Bruno Bonnell, chairman and chief executive of Atari, 'there will not be any more action movies without a video game associated with it.'"

...."'The Matrix' film trilogy portrays the intersection of the digital and real worlds. Hollywood studios and video game makers have been looking for that fusion for years," The Los Angeles Times said in an article today. "'Enter the Matrix,' which hits stores today, parallels and incorporates bits of the movie 'The Matrix Reloaded' as no other film-theme game has ever done. But the conditions that gave rise to the tight coordination — the two directors are avid video gamers — are unlikely to be repeated, say game industry veterans. The game includes an hour of exclusive footage shot by the movie's directors and scriptwriters, Andy and Larry Wachowski. They wrote 244 pages of dialogue for the game, which features voice-overs from the film's principal actors, Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne and Jada Pinkett Smith. The movie's set designer designed sets for the game. Ditto for the costumes. And the Wachowski brothers had carte blanche from Warner Bros." [Washington Post]

The industry's average video game cost $2.5 million to $4 million to produce last year, according to Wedbush Morgan Securities. The company has high hopes for its game. It is already shipping 4 million copies to retailers. If they are all sold, that would rank 'Enter the Matrix' as one of the handful of top-selling single video games of all time."