Halloween Director John Carpenter Names His Top Six Games of 2013

Alex Co

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Halloween Director John Carpenter Names His Top Six Games of 2013


Legendary horror director John Carpenter lists his top six games of the year and his picks might surprise you.

Film director John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing) is known worldwide for directing some of the horror genre's most iconic movies in history; but did you know he likes playing videogames, too? Talking to GiantBomb [http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/john-carpenter-s-top-six-games-of-2013/1100-4814/], Carpenter lists the six games he deemed the best in 2013 and his choices aren't full of horror games as one might expect.


John Carpenter's Best Video Games of 2013

1. ASSASSIN'S CREED IV: BLACK FLAG - Classic ASSASSIN'S CREED gameplay, awesome world, fabulous game.

2. FAR CRY 3 - Magnificent open world adventure

3. THE LAST OF US - Great characters make this a classic

4. DEAD SPACE 3 - Scary snow world and twitching monsters - Please dismember

5. REMEMBER ME - Unique female leading character in futuristic action game

6. BORDERLANDS 2 - I know, I know, it's from 2012, but the last add-on is this year and this is a brilliant, funny, action-blasted game! My favorite!

Now, kind of surprising here is out of the six games, Carpenter chose only one that can even be considered a horror title and that's Dead Space 3 -- and given how the game turned out, it can be argued that it's more of a sci-fi action romp than a scare affair.

Regardless of what you think of his films, that's not a bad list by Carpenter. Equally surprising is they're all "core" games, too. In videogames, Carpenter's last involvement was as the narrator and story consultant on F.E.A.R 3, which was released back in 2011.

Want more top game lists? Go read up onThe Escapist's "Five Favorites of 2013" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/five-favorites-2013/10832-Five-Favorites-2013] to quench that thirst!

Source: GiantBomb [http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/john-carpenter-s-top-six-games-of-2013/1100-4814/]

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Eiv

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Remember Me needs to be forgotten to be honest. The rest excepting maybe Dead Space 3 were awesome.
 

Imperioratorex Caprae

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Y'know I'd love to see a good video game rendition of Big Trouble in Little China complete with voiceover work done by Kurt Russel. For that matter for the camp/cheese factor I'd also like to see a Snake Plissken game. I think the over-the-top nature of the universe would translate well to gaming. Make both games open-world, like GTA/Sleeping Dogs.
But I know it would never happen. Still a man can dream... a man can dream.

EDIT: Also maybe a Halloween adaptation might go over well if done right. A stealth survival would sell well. But again probably not gonna happen.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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I guess it makes sense that the director of The Thing, a movie about a scary snow world and twitching monsters, liked Dead Space 3 because it's a game about a scary snow world and twitching monsters.







Carpenter abides!
 

Covarr

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Everywhere I go, people are listing their five favorite games of the year... and almost nobody is even including The Legend of Zelda: A Link between Worlds. I don't blame 'em though, I suspect people didn't even play that game, or it'd be topping lists left and right.

P.S. Thanks
 

BreakfastMan

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Honestly, I don't think Carpenter should be anyone's source for good horror know-how. He hasn't made a good film since 1996 and hasn't made a good horror film since '95. Hell, his last 3 feature films have been some of the most awful horror films I have seen in my life, hands down. It doesn't much surprise me that he picked Dead Space 3 to be on his top games of the year...

Also, Far Cry 3 was released last year. How the hell does it count now?
 

Johnny Novgorod

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BreakfastMan said:
Honestly, I don't think Carpenter should be anyone's source for good horror know-how. He hasn't made a good film since 1996 and hasn't made a good horror film since '95. Hell, his last 3 feature films have been some of the most awful horror films I have seen in my life, hands down. It doesn't much surprise me that he picked Dead Space 3 to be on his top games of the year...

Also, Far Cry 3 was released last year. How the hell does it count now?
He made Halloween, The Fog, The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness. If I want a source for horror know-how I'm ringing this guy. The Thing alone gets him not only into Master of Horror heaven, but Master Filmmaker heaven.

What gives about horror know-how or film success anyway? He's just listing his favorite games.

Also Far Cry 3 came out in North America December 4 2012. Maybe he got it a few weeks after, never checked the dates. Cut him some slack, he's 65 and by his Twitter account seems as committed and knowledgeable about games as any one of us.
 

Itchi_da_killa

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Johnny Novgorod said:
BreakfastMan said:
Honestly, I don't think Carpenter should be anyone's source for good horror know-how. He hasn't made a good film since 1996 and hasn't made a good horror film since '95. Hell, his last 3 feature films have been some of the most awful horror films I have seen in my life, hands down. It doesn't much surprise me that he picked Dead Space 3 to be on his top games of the year...

Also, Far Cry 3 was released last year. How the hell does it count now?
He made Halloween, The Fog, The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness. If I want a source for horror know-how I'm ringing this guy. The Thing alone gets him not only into Master of Horror heaven, but Master Filmmaker heaven.

What gives about horror know-how or film success anyway? He's just listing his favorite games.

Also Far Cry 3 came out in North America December 4 2012. Maybe he got it a few weeks after, never checked the dates. Cut him some slack, he's 65 and by his Twitter account seems as committed and knowledgeable about games as any one of us.
Thank you very much! I couldn't of said it better myself. On another note, if he only made "Big Trouble In Little China"...he would still be one of my favorite movie makers. He also made, "They Live", which is another great film.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Itchi_da_killa said:
On another note, if he only made "Big Trouble In Little China"...he would still be one of my favorite movie makers. He also made, "They Live", which is another great film.
Never saw Big Trouble in Little China, but They Live is one of my favorite movies of his/of all time, together with The Thing and Escape From New York.
 

weirdee

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Interesting fifth choice there, since Remember Me was kind of a flop overall, which is also sad because industry executives will just use it as another example to fear change.
 

Icehearted

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Johnny Novgorod said:
Itchi_da_killa said:
On another note, if he only made "Big Trouble In Little China"...he would still be one of my favorite movie makers. He also made, "They Live", which is another great film.
Never saw Big Trouble in Little China, but They Live is one of my favorite movies of his/of all time, together with The Thing and Escape From New York.
All great movies (The Thing is brilliant), Big Trouble is actually pretty underrated, but it's a lot like watching a live action comic book themed in slick 80s martial arts action.

Parts of They Live were practically ripped off by a game from the 90s called Flashback. I haven't played the remake, but the original was pretty great. Just really funny seeing scenes from that movie play out in the Sega Genesis.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Sleekit said:
would love to see an in depth piece/interview with the now 65 year old legend talking about "gaming"...
Closest thing.
http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/the-john-carpenter-email-interview/1100-4760/

Icehearted said:
Parts of They Live were practically ripped off by a game from the 90s called Flashback. I haven't played the remake, but the original was pretty great. Just really funny seeing scenes from that movie play out in the Sega Genesis.
They Live also spawned Duke Nukem's movie forefather, Nada, as well as several of his one-liners.

Carpenter also created Snake Plissken, of "Escape from New York", who was the inspiration for you know who from Metal Gear.


There's a survival horror videogame based off The Thing in which Carpenter appears as a character.
And of course, Carpenter narrated and was story consultant for F.E.A.R. 3.

 

zelda2fanboy

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The Last of Us totally counts as a horror game in my opinion. Creepier than anything I've played in a long time.
 

Squilookle

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The only reason anyone is surprised that more horror games aren't on his list is because

a) all they know of John Carpenter is his horror work, possibly only Halloween even, and have no knowledge of his sci-fi, action and even comedy work, and

b) blindly assume -like so many often do- that someone who does a lot of work in one field is completely incapable of making or even enjoying works from another.
 

gunny1993

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Johnny Novgorod said:
Itchi_da_killa said:
On another note, if he only made "Big Trouble In Little China"...he would still be one of my favorite movie makers. He also made, "They Live", which is another great film.
Never saw Big Trouble in Little China, but They Live is one of my favorite movies of his/of all time, together with The Thing and Escape From New York.

+1 for they live, Best fight scene ever (The really, really pointless one between Kurt Russle and the Arbiter)
 

BreakfastMan

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Johnny Novgorod said:
BreakfastMan said:
Honestly, I don't think Carpenter should be anyone's source for good horror know-how. He hasn't made a good film since 1996 and hasn't made a good horror film since '95. Hell, his last 3 feature films have been some of the most awful horror films I have seen in my life, hands down. It doesn't much surprise me that he picked Dead Space 3 to be on his top games of the year...

Also, Far Cry 3 was released last year. How the hell does it count now?
He made Halloween, The Fog, The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness. If I want a source for horror know-how I'm ringing this guy. The Thing alone gets him not only into Master of Horror heaven, but Master Filmmaker heaven.
Yeah, he made those all in the 80's and 70's. Nearly all of his attempts at horror since '95 have been completely awful (the only not-terrible thing he has done since then was Cigarette Burns). Or did we all just forget about Vampires, The Ghosts of Mars, and The Ward? The man he was, was a brilliant film director. The man he is, is a crappy has-been. I really wouldn't trust his advice on good horror anymore. If he still could make a good horror story, The Ward wouldn't be one of the dullest movies on the planet, now would it?
 

ckam

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Huh, I literally had no knowledge of this guy being interested in video games. Cool that he does, though.
 

Icehearted

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Johnny Novgorod said:
Sleekit said:
would love to see an in depth piece/interview with the now 65 year old legend talking about "gaming"...
Closest thing.
http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/the-john-carpenter-email-interview/1100-4760/

Icehearted said:
Parts of They Live were practically ripped off by a game from the 90s called Flashback. I haven't played the remake, but the original was pretty great. Just really funny seeing scenes from that movie play out in the Sega Genesis.
They Live also spawned Duke Nukem's movie forefather, Nada, as well as several of his one-liners.

Carpenter also created Snake Plissken, of "Escape from New York", who was the inspiration for you know who from Metal Gear.


There's a survival horror videogame based off The Thing in which Carpenter appears as a character.
And of course, Carpenter narrated and was story consultant for F.E.A.R. 3.

Remembered Snake and Rowdy Roddy Piper, in fact there's a very old interview where he talks about his famous one-liners from decades back (I think the interview was in the mid-90s). Kick ass and chew bubblegum was one they talked about specifically. Didn't know about F.E.A.R. (never played the series) but a Carpenter movie based on it could be promising! Excellent post, my friend.