Video game studio's redundant workers in cult comedy tribute

(All rights reserved - Electronic Arts)

Ex-employees from Pandemic Studios, the team behind a clutch of influential and well-loved video games (eg. Star Wars: Battlefront I & II, Mercenaries, Battlezone II), have commemorated their contract severance by filming a farewell tribute to the M-rated "Printer scene" from Mike Judge's 1999 cult comedy Office Space.

The original film tells the story of Peter, a disillusioned office worker at a company that is initiating a round of job cuts whilst addressing the motivational issues of its staff. At one point, Peter accompanies two colleagues, Mike and Samir, as they brutally do away with a particularly troublesome office printer in a remote field, all to a biting gangsta rap soundtrack (one of mild-mannered Mike's favourites).

Pandemic Studios were recently closed down by the studio's owners, industry giant Electronic Arts, amid a spate of cost-cutting measures as one of the world's biggest and most well-known video games companies tries to re-focus its energies.

Despite a more recent difficult couple of years, they enjoyed success in the mid 2000s, and anticipation is building with regard to the December 8 release of their latest project, WWII Paris-based game The Saboteur, which picked up a Best of E3 2009 award for Artistic Design when it was shown off as far back as June.

Office Space trailer: imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4159963929
Pandemic Studios' Farewell Tribute (some strong language): youtube.com/watch?v=BFmbGWeZrAM
Pandemic Studios and The Saboteur: pandemicstudios.com