Don't Film These Games!

[AdamRBi]

Look, all I need out of a Game-turned-movie is a Theater Screen with the game playing on it and a controller.

This is a good article, but I can't really see many games actually working well at all as a movie. So I'm interested in what's going to be in the next list. Games are not meant to be movies just as movies are not meant to be games, you don't see movie articles about what movies should and should be made in to games. There are only a few titles that could, like Heavy Rain, that wouldn't require massive tweaks to the point where you might as well write an original script. Doesn't have the marketing push that the IP already has, but at least it'd be a decent movie and not a crappy video game movie (or vice versa).

 

[Seneschal]

Yep, no one's going to be sending Bob angry letters over SotC. Every fan of the game I've ever encountered is completely against making the game a movie. There's still the rumor that the scriptwriter for Chun-Li will be writing a script for a SotC movie, and needless to say, it's my worst nightmare.

 

[internetzealot1]

Shoulda known Halo would get thrown in there.

 

[Fensfield]

Oh god, Shadow of the Colossus as a movie, dear God no x.x For all the reasons highlighted.

And I extend that to ICO. Both games in that series work partly because of how quiet and lonely they are - every character and unique moment is poignant.

The Only other medium I could see ICO working in is a children's picture book - because I feel like I do reading that sort of thing while I play it.

 

[James the Fox]

I'm not much of a FPS fan, and the Halo games aren't especially enticing to me, but it sounds like there's a possibility that Halo could be a good movie, IF it were based on the BOOKS instead of the games, and this is a list of movies based on GAMES that would suck. I watched Halo Legends and LOVED it, even before Moviebob here told me what he thought of it.

As for movies I'd like to see made... Hmm... Well, they're making the Avengers, they've got X-Men, Captain America, and all sorts of Marvel hero movies made. If we were to somehow get the right conditions, I'd almost like to see Marvel vs Capcom made into a movie. Yes, a very stupid idea, and most fighter games don't have a story worth crud for a movie. But hey, it sounds more like a "fun" movie, not necessarily a serious story. Maybe something like, we watch as Ryu shoryukens Doc Doom while M. Bison is beaten down by the Hulk.

On the other hand, maybe it'd do better as an animated movie... Ah well, just some creative thinking.

 

[Aedwynn]

That Sim's idea actually sounds fucking hilarious.

Now, I know a game that would make a great movie...no...a great TV show: X-Com UFO Defense.

Think about it. a team of multi-national secret agents fighting a constant war against a fucking alien empire that is invading the planet Earth with mysterious UFOs. You have so many character choices: The general commanding it all, the smarmy politicians who X-Com has to deal with it keep their funding, the squad that goes on the missions and the scientists who try to study the alien technology that the team captures, to turn it against the alien menace.

There is betrayal, as some nations secretly sign treaties with the aliens!

There are scary scenes, when the team first runs into fucking crysilids and their fucking goddamn zombies.

And finally, there is the fucking awesome climax, with the team taking on the alien base on mars, fighting desperately through hordes of aliens to set blow up the reactor and zoom home in a spaceship made from alien materials and good old fashioned human know how.


BAM! Awesome. Lets shoot it and make money.

If I recall there was plans for a cartoon series after Hasbro acquired the licence - but it was mercifully scrapped.

 

[Random Argument Man]

I still think Halo would be a great movie. Work the kidnap childs so they become Spartans, create good relations between the characters, Spartan dies of a tragic death becoming the martyr that saved humanity.

Sounds great doesn't it? Ok, it probably rips-off something. But then again, what doesn't?

 

[TheMonkeySlayer]

"I've never played Uncharted"
"Wow, Nathan Drake is such a douchebag"
Yeah, that's pretty lame Bob. -_-

 

[The Critic]

I find it rather interesting to note that Fallout is NOT on this list....

Anyway, I actually think that a Halo movie could work, provided it told that same story from the games from a different point of view than Chief's. Were he to show up sporadically to emphasize the action or some similar point, it could work. Balance between original story and source story would be the key here.

 

[Captain Ninja]

it was ok.............but i liked Nathan Drake as a video game character

anyway it was ok

 

[Mr.Squishy]

They did Avatar... So why not Halo?
Just reskin Avatar and you are allready a long way.

Are you high?
Halo is only like Avatar in that it's science fiction.
Plot, characters and setting are FAR different.

OT: Halo COULD technically make a pretty damn good movie, provided elements from ALL the games and the novels and maybe even Legends were used and maybe strategically cut if they decided to follow the first three games. I especially think a movie, maybe using the novels as source material, could be a great way of fleshing out Master Chief as a character.

I also think Mass Effect could make a damn good movie if they followed the main plot and maybe threw in one or two side-quests. That, and I would really hope they'd consult the writers over at Bioware to not completely screw the thing up, just to be sure.

Come to think of it, I also want to see the Baldur's Gate games and the Neverwinter Nights games filmed...I know I'll probably regret saying that when I see the eventual result(s) though.

Oh, and how in the thousand hells is the new Mortal Kombat trailer in any way related to Saw? It looks more like one of the overrated batman movies. Yes, sue me, I have no love for batman anymore, now that the dark knight has come out and everyone's worshipping that, as well as the constant meme-tization of batman as a badass chuck-norris-like ninja who could defeat all the Spartans (both from 300 and Halo derp) in a single fell scheme. In short, people are making batman a Marty Stu.

And by the way, if they filmatize any fucking Valve game, I will crowbar them in the face, 'cuz I kinda liked Half-Life one(and two as far as I got before it died), Team Fortress 2 and Portal.

Uncharted would proooobably just be Indiana Jones with the lead character being an even bigger douche without a whip and a stylish hat.

Ironically enough, I feel I might come of as a douche myself. Sorry about that

 

[Danz D Man]

MovieBob, have you read the Halo books or researched the backstory at all?

 

[A sarcastic Bastard]

Win

 

[TheXRatedDodo]

That Sim's idea actually sounds fucking hilarious.

Now, I know a game that would make a great movie...no...a great TV show: X-Com UFO Defense.

Think about it. a team of multi-national secret agents fighting a constant war against a fucking alien empire that is invading the planet Earth with mysterious UFOs. You have so many character choices: The general commanding it all, the smarmy politicians who X-Com has to deal with it keep their funding, the squad that goes on the missions and the scientists who try to study the alien technology that the team captures, to turn it against the alien menace.

There is betrayal, as some nations secretly sign treaties with the aliens!

There are scary scenes, when the team first runs into fucking crysilids and their fucking goddamn zombies.

And finally, there is the fucking awesome climax, with the team taking on the alien base on mars, fighting desperately through hordes of aliens to set blow up the reactor and zoom home in a spaceship made from alien materials and good old fashioned human know how.


BAM! Awesome. Lets shoot it and make money.

It's already been done, and done better :3
It's called THE X FILES

 

[StarkillerisDead]

Well, Bob I've realised over time that your and my views on movies (and games) are very very different, and that's absolutely fine,your views are at least as valid as mine. I really don't think that MK thingy looks like a Saw knockoff though. other than the gore and lack of lighting there is essentially nothing in common between the two.

 

[TheArsoni5t]

Again with the Halo bashing? The expanded universe adds enough for a good movie to be made without tweaking the source material (Albeit, this would probably piss off the XBL idiot demographic...which would be a plus in my book). It'd probably be best to not base it around the Chief (although, as far as Super Soldiers go, he really isn't so bad), but it wouldn't just be a Starship Troopers clone.

In the end, I really wouldn't want to see a Halo movie, nor a movie based on any other game in that list, but the Halo bashing is getting a little old. Looking forward to your "Must Film" list

I was just about to say something when I came across this quote.

 

[Fearzone]

So, I guess the rule of thumb is: don't make movies based on games that already have weak, derivative, or overdone stories to begin with?

 

[The Root Beer Guy]

Agree with all of those except Halo. Halo could make an incredible movie. Even one based off of Fall of Reach.

 

[Uncompetative]

Halo not worth making a movie...


1) The Halo movie is ON HOLD. Microsoft have made it clear they want to make an entry at some point

2) Blomkamp won't be directing. He left to do District 9 and said he poured too much into the project, saw it slow and can't put himnself through the pain again


Now there is actually the planned scrip floating around. You clearly don't know Halo if you say it has a basic story considering the incredible depth, I was playing Halo 1 the other day and looking at the manual's descriptions I saw references that have only been fully developed in the very latest books like Cole Protocol and Ghosts of Onyx.

That said the most promising screenplay is not in Fall of Reach (I wish people would stop saying that) but in The Flood.

The original plan was to set the movie following the actions of Major DeSilva and his Helljumpers placing the Chief as a more secondary character and splitting the focus across the human struggle on the ring using Keyes as the link to bring it all together.

Frankly it looked really good and would have made an epic movie while not destroying the mystique of Chief (since Bungie have shot themselves in the foot by hiding his face all the time, means they can't show him to be just a normal human now).

Please don't take Halo: Legends either. You ignored some of the better ones in your review focussing on Origins which had massive gaps in the Forerunner history (not to mention some inconsistencies in the Human one) and the Package with it's cringeworthy line dropping (not to mention handing the humans shields in about 2545 - what???). On the other hand the Babysitter was well done albeit with an unsatisfying portrayal of the spartan's hair. All the films were done by studios who didn't have the time to check Halo canon and so were not accurate nor consistent everywhere and developed very little (this is why I feel the Babysitter made the best entry by adding while not conflicting, they accepted their limitations). Not to mention the far too short runtime.


The Halo Universe is massive and could take any story placed in it, people are too quick to jump on Reach forgetting that the in media res generated by the escape from Reach was part of the charm that strengthened Halo as a game.

I doubt any of this will get through to any but people who have actually played the games and understood the story rather than simply declaring it bad (I have seen this 1st hand, Friend: "Halo story is crap" Me: "What about ..." Friend: "What?/Oh I skipped that cutscene"). People seem to have the idea that because Halo has fun and mindless (online, in campaign it's more tactical) gameplay it can't have a story.

Anyways just used this account to make a quick post refuting the stuff here.

Bob, please don't make such brash statements without a basic knowledge of the Halo universe (or even oh, I don't know, the fact that a screenplay has been written and is damn good). Stick to what you know and ask someone who does know if you have gaps, you don't have time to play 4 games and read 7 novels, we get that, just don't ignore them.

I've always thought it would make more sense to follow the storyline of the Arbiter in a trilogy, with Master Chief as a walk-on cameo.

 

[josemlopes]

What has the MK reboot similar to SAW? What? The gore? C´mon, its going to be more based around fighting, like the game. The fight with Baraka and Jonhy Cage was like a demonstration of what the fights may look like