I think making a game into a movie is a bad idea in concept and in practice. As for movies being made into games, there is enough of them (and precious few decent ones); Id prefer to see something original.
Posts: 335 | Location: Sydney, Australia | Registered: 14 May 2004
I'd have to agree with Member 27, I don't really see when it is a good idea to make a game into a movie, and vice versa.
But I do like what the Chronicles of Riddick did with Escape from Butcher Bay. They didn't have the confines of having to follow a movie plot and didn't have to make up a new character. It was one of the few examples where it worked out good. I think that the LotR: Battle of Middle Earth is on the same path too. They are taking the book and making a new character to go through the story.
Posts: 32 | Location: Cali | Registered: 17 June 2004
They are called Cartoons. How many cartoons do you know have a video game? (i can think of way over a handful) Its the easiest transition to the video game screen..
But im sure we all remember the Mortal Combat movies along with the Street fighter movie.. Ahh the good ol days when it didnt take a 20million dollar a film actor to make a kool movie..
well, I suppose the Silent Hill series could be transformed in to a rather well working movie, once they got the actors and script right (unlike the crappy Resident Evil flick )
Posts: 178 | Location: The Land Of Funk! | Registered: 26 May 2004
Games usually don't make good movies b/c they don't have as good of storylines as movies, whereas games based directly off of movies don't turn out well b/c they can't be creative and follow the movies plot at the same. Chronicles of Riddick being a prequel had a lot of room to be creative.
Posts: 24 | Location: Iowa | Registered: 08 July 2004
I agree that most game/movies or movie/games aer terrible, but just think about Grand Theft Auto. If they used Vice City it could be a good mob film. Or if they used San Andreas it could be a good gang movie.
Posts: 3808 | Location: ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha | Registered: 18 October 2004
quote:Originally posted by Mike: I agree that most game/movies or movie/games aer terrible, but just think about Grand Theft Auto. If they used Vice City it could be a good mob film. Or if they used San Andreas it could be a good gang movie.
Isn't GTA kinda built around movies in the first place? For Vice City they used that 80's Scarface feel, with many obvious examples like Diaz's mansion, and the columbian coke trade. In GTA:SA I guess you could relate it to the 90's movies like Boy's in the Hood and what not.
Even though it would take like 30 minutes to make the whole movie (after compiling all the cutscenes) I think the Metal Gear Series would be a great movie. Now instead of Play, Watch-watch-watch, Play,watch it would just run a continuous cutscene. Then they could tie all the stories together starting from the SNES version and ending up with Snake Eater. I'd buy the DVD
Most of the games which would make good movies are practically movies anyway. I'm thinking of Fear Effect, for example, which probably would have been better made as a movie to start with.
Hmm...I guess that any game where the story is the primary impetus for completing the game (i.e. the gameplay sucks, but the story is great) might be be better served as a piece of cinema. Some of the more recent Final Fantasy games come to mind, where basically a well-trained border collie could play through the combat sequences, and the only thing you care about is what happens next. Warcraft 3 was the same way for me, though that's just because I'm not a big strategy fan.
As far as movies that would make good games...it seems to me that there has to be some core idea in the movie that would translate into a cool gameplay concept. Star Wars is the obvious big one; I don't even like the movies, but I love the games. The force is an obvious, really cool core gameplay concept, and Star Wars space battles were unique and cool as well.
Star Trek hasn't fared as well, because the shows aren't really all that action-oriented, and even when they are it's not terribly interesting. In gameplay terms, a phaser behaves just like a squirt gun. Boring. I am excited, though, about the newly announced Star Trek MMO. There's no more perfect property for it - nearly a hundred species and almost a dozen pre-built affiliations, already well established and with distinctive motivations, behaviours and aesthetics. That is the core concept in this case.
Without a solid gameplay core, you end up with a thousand identical beat-em-up games with the appropriate license just dropped in. This is why movie games have sucked for so long.
Posts: 11 | Location: pdx | Registered: 17 May 2004
Jet Set Radio should make a movie in cell shaded that would own... haha noone will agree i just love that game so much
I tell you something that would own is if they made a lord of the rings style fighting film based on something like diablo like really demon based no humans with like magic spells and stuff lol yeah dude!
And how about a zelda film? that would also be very kool!
As for films into games id love to see something like the ring in a silent hill apartments like setting i dunno if they have made a game on the ring or not tho but yeah!
I was gonna say that Metroid Prime may have a chance, but I'm just kidding myself. People that make movies are different from people that write gaming software - it's two different experiences. You can really get into a movie or a game but if the other is made, what are the chances you'll get that same or improved feeling from the experience? Games based from movies are usually the worst though (IMO) - being that they just want your money and are giving you a usually sub-standard product that was rushed and brings nothing new to the plate. Movies based from games tend to lose alot in the translation. Of course, these are just my thoughts and I'm cranky today - so - there you go. Doom - the movie. That's scary - how boring would that movie be? ha ha
TV shows....how about.... Everybody Kills Raymond? I might rent that anyway.
Originally posted by Paul: I think Silent Hill 2 would be an excellent game-to-movie transition.
Apparently there's already a Silent Hill movie in the works.
Metal Gear Solid is an obvious choice for a game-to-movie adaptation, being a sort of "interactive movie" itself. In the hands of the right director, it could be big. Kojima would need to be involved in the making of the movie, though.
Of course, since I've never seen a good - or even decent - movie based on a game, I'd naturally be skeptical of any such release.
Posts: 688 | Location: Adelaide, South Australia | Registered: 01 January 2005
Since, were on the topic of stealth games, I think they're bringing together a Splinter Cell movie pretty soon. I saw a 10 second trailer on the new Chao's Theory that advertised it. I also heard that they might either bring a Duke Nukeum or Doom movie to the big screen. As for whole idea of converting games and such, I'm against it.