Many a movie, and many a game, has tried to take the hype of the other side (games taking movie material and visa versa) and with relatively few exceptions, games that attempt to follow the movie plot and movies that attempt to follow the game plot all fail and die a horrible bloody death involving standard reviews and substandard viewing. This is because everyone knows that no games can not become good movies
Or can they?
I realized that the problem with the strategy of making games into movies doesn't come from the idea itself, after all ripping off another form of media for attention (I.E. books) is something movies have done for years and in many cases been successful (admittedly not always but not everything can be Lord of the Rings). So what's the biggest problem with this strategy?
We're taking the wrong games, of course!
Let's face it, a movie is never going to be as interactive as a video game and thus you can not have that level of fun that Dues Ex and Portal offer- the fun was in the playing. But some games have decently good premises, its just that they wind up being screwed over by the interactivity because there isn't enough of it or its not quite up to standard of other games or whatever.
So we should stop trying to make these games. No more with the Halo movie and the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time! Down with the Max Payne and 80's rendition of Super Mario Bros!
We need to make movies about of games no one cared about!
Honestly, if Dues Ex was made into a movie, the people who played it will all be nit picking every flaw for not being like the game or not following closely enough. But who would care if say, Dues Ex: Invisible War were made into a movie? I'd go so far as to say that Dues Ex: Invisible War should have just been changed into a movie at the very beginning since it wasn't complex enough to actually stand as the successor to Dues Ex.
Who would care if Advent Rising were made into a movie? It would work a lot better there anyway. The main character could actually be given some, you know, emotion about his home world exploding into a big fiery ball.
Best of all, because no one really cared about these games they wouldn't have to rely on the marketing looking as cool as possible to the nerd/gaming community for support. They could just go as the a movie, and therefore take whatever liberties are needed for it to be a good movie and not a crappy one like most other video game movies.
So, who thinks we should start trying to take crappy games that no one really liked, but had interesting premises, and make them into movies? I know it's not a prefect strategy and has some polishing it could take, but I fully expect the discussion on the Escapist to be able to do so.
Or can they?
I realized that the problem with the strategy of making games into movies doesn't come from the idea itself, after all ripping off another form of media for attention (I.E. books) is something movies have done for years and in many cases been successful (admittedly not always but not everything can be Lord of the Rings). So what's the biggest problem with this strategy?
We're taking the wrong games, of course!
Let's face it, a movie is never going to be as interactive as a video game and thus you can not have that level of fun that Dues Ex and Portal offer- the fun was in the playing. But some games have decently good premises, its just that they wind up being screwed over by the interactivity because there isn't enough of it or its not quite up to standard of other games or whatever.
So we should stop trying to make these games. No more with the Halo movie and the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time! Down with the Max Payne and 80's rendition of Super Mario Bros!
We need to make movies about of games no one cared about!
Honestly, if Dues Ex was made into a movie, the people who played it will all be nit picking every flaw for not being like the game or not following closely enough. But who would care if say, Dues Ex: Invisible War were made into a movie? I'd go so far as to say that Dues Ex: Invisible War should have just been changed into a movie at the very beginning since it wasn't complex enough to actually stand as the successor to Dues Ex.
Who would care if Advent Rising were made into a movie? It would work a lot better there anyway. The main character could actually be given some, you know, emotion about his home world exploding into a big fiery ball.
Best of all, because no one really cared about these games they wouldn't have to rely on the marketing looking as cool as possible to the nerd/gaming community for support. They could just go as the a movie, and therefore take whatever liberties are needed for it to be a good movie and not a crappy one like most other video game movies.
So, who thinks we should start trying to take crappy games that no one really liked, but had interesting premises, and make them into movies? I know it's not a prefect strategy and has some polishing it could take, but I fully expect the discussion on the Escapist to be able to do so.
