Film Producer Warns Videogames Away From Emulating Movies

[Andy Chalk]

Film Producer Warns Videogames Away From Emulating Movies

Film producer Todd Eckert says the videogame industry runs the risk of becoming "little more than a marketing tool" if it continues to emulate the movie industry.

Speaking at the GameHorizon Conference [http://www.gamehorizonconference.com/home/] in Newcastle, England, Eckert said videogames have the potential to become a great artistic medium, but that the industry needs to move away from the current trend toward slavish emulation of the movie industry that seems to be overtaking it.

"Today, the greatest potential for meaningful interaction between the entertainer and the entertained exists in videogames," Eckert told his audience.

"Games should become the world's dominant medium... the film industry sees itself as a funnel channeling pop culture down the throats of the masses. For some reason, the game industry still seems completely enamored with the film industry. And if we're not careful we'll become like they are - little more than a marketing tool," he continued.

"We all have the responsibility to make games the greatest artistic medium they can be and we can," he said. "I know some of you are here to make money, that's fine, but without the fundamental soul of the game, the medium is nothing."

The GameHorizon Conference is a two-day event aimed at CEOs, studio heads and other executives from developers, publishers, hardware manufacturers and other companies involved with the videogame industry. Many of the industry's top names are scheduled to speak at the conference, including Eidos [http://www.ubi.com]Creative Director Ian Livingstone.

Source: GamesIndustry [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/games-could-become-little-more-than-a-marketing-tool]


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[PedroSteckecilo]

He makes a good point but I don't think all Movies are simply marketing tools. He is right in that videogames have SO MUCH more potential than movies, with the ability to tell a longer, more engaging and immersive story while at the same time allowing the audience to participate and influence events in that same narrative.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Ah, the endless possibilities of games. I'm still wishing someone would make an MMO-wiki. People creates missions and items and dump them into this giant, open world. They keep adding and creating this huge environment for people to play in. You'd need a lot of mods and several lottery ticket winners but it sounds cool...

I'll be sure to file this next to my 'GTA: Tennessee circa 1864' game on the wishlist.

 

[laikenf]

I tend to agree with him, but let us not forget that the there will ALWAYS be mediocre entries on ANY medium (let it be plastic arts, music, film, etc.) it's kind of inevitable, as long as money is involved, forget it.

 

[Pebsy]

i think wat he is trying to say is that maybe games should focuz more on core gameplay, or at least involve more of that as to the story. As Ben "yahtzee" crosshaw said about Call of Duty 4, "COD4 never sacrafices story for gameplay or vice versa, something that many game devs neglect like an orphaned child". Games have to learn the balance between story and gameplay, which are ultimately the two fundamentals to games. I bleive what is trying to be said here is that games are leaning to far into the story half and not enough into the gameplay half.

 

[Arbre]

Whatever. Games are plenty of things. Some are more movie-like than others.
Video games are growing so fast, we can't know what they'll be (not look like) even in two decades from now.

 

[haruvister]

'GTA: Tennessee circa 1864'

That would be SO awesome.

(I realise this post adds nothing to this discussion, but I had to say it.)

 

[Pebsy]

Whatever. Games are plenty of things. Some are more movie-like than others.
Video games are growing so fast, we can't know what they'll be (not look like) even in two decades from now.

yes but that simple principle is what most games thrive on. When one is sacraficed, then the games only appeals to people who like a game that leans towards that particular side. By keeping things balanced, a game can look forward to appealing to the whole audience rather than only a portion of it. Of course there are plenty of exceptions to this, but you have to admit that each and every game made its mistakes that could POTENTIALLY have been avoided following that principle just a bit more.