Hollywood's Rising Fascination With Videogames 39
Thanks to the New York Times for its article (free. reg. req.) discussing the growing interaction of Hollywood directors with videogame products. The piece notes that Lord Of The Rings director Peter Jackson has "worked out a deal with the game maker Ubisoft and Universal Pictures, the studio that plans to release 'King Kong' next year, that will give Mr. Jackson substantial creative control over the future game", and also mentions John Woo (" now developing for Sega a video game, an idea he will own outright, about an elaborate heist", as well as his proposed Metroid movie), and Ridley Scott ("seeking a video game maker to form a partnership with him and his brother Tony") as other Hollywood creatives seeking input into games.
Just wait... (Score:4, Funny)
Although I wouldn't mind Space Quest: The Movie...
SW
Re:Just wait... (Score:2)
Leisure Suit Larry: The Movie (Score:2)
This is great! (Score:5, Funny)
Well, what I really mean is that we'll take great games and turn them into great movies like Super Mario Brothers and Tomb Raider and... and... crap. All this means is that we're really screwed now.
Re:This is great! (Score:2)
Rob
Re:This is great! (Score:2)
Re:This is great! (Score:1)
Uh oh. More movie like, less interactive (Score:5, Insightful)
Hollywood Wants You (Score:4, Insightful)
At the very least, this has a little something to do with damage control. Their increased involvement allows them to have more power over what happens in the game world and also gives them a new area to do business.
In a worst case scenario, they're trying to start taking over the industry and are just beginning to sink their teeth into it.
Really, I can't blame Hollywood for trying to stay afloat. The major game companies almost seem to want this increased partnering, I don't agree at all that they should partner, but at least this will make it easier for up and comers to shine like never before. The video game scene has a very critical audience, so I hope the big boys stay in top form, for their sake.
Regardless, the potential competition between the established companies and the new breed is starting to excite me. Let the games begin.
Re:Hollywood Wants You (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, duh! It's called "money." If they were truly interested in a new artistic medium they would have given it serious consideration a decade ago. Hollywood is catching wind of what some of the more popular games are worth these days.
MOD PARENT UP (Score:2)
Context: Hollywood Directors & Games ORIGINAL (Score:4, Insightful)
This will probably be modded OT but I think something should be said.
Here's the original post (including the missing financial context and Google link) that I wrote up shortly after reading the article at midnight last night when the New York Times site is updated.
Admittedly, it's a bit long and deserves some necessary editing (substituting the IMDB link for the directors' respective filmographies and movie credits for example).
When I logged in early this morning, the post was rejected and in mid-afternoon simoniker posted the story (1 of only 2 today - it's after 6:30 PM as I write this comment). It's entirely possible - though somewhat unlikely considering the sequence of events - that simoniker stumbled on the article by himself and wrote it up entirely by himself.
In the past I've largely ignored that fact that many articles submitted when simoniker was editing invariably are rejected and then - often very similar or identical text - are posted uncredited.
I'm not the first person here to take notice of the pattern or to point this out.
It's not about the Karma or complaining that something wasn't posted, or anything of that sort because I've been maxed out on Karma for a long time, I have lots of submitted items posted, and probably even more rejected because someone else thought to submit it before me. Rejected posts aren't the problem.
It's about common courtesy and respect for the readers and the people who make Slashdot work.
Slashdot works because of the people who take the time to write in and let their fellow readers know about items of interest to geeks everywhere. It's more than a little irritating to take time to do a write-up on a holiday weekend, have it rejected and then see a nearly identical (less so in this particular case) item uncredited.
Most people have had at least one experience of a pinhead boss taking credit for their work, and most people have tolerated it because they get paid to do their jobs and don't want to risk workplace wrath. Here, nobody's getting paid except the Slashdot editors, to whom none of us are accountable. The reader/reporters aren't getting paid and the virtual tip of the hat as thanks is the only reward. I've read people's compaints about a relative lack of submissions or stories in the Games section. If this type of behavior is the reason, it goes a long way to explaining why.
simonker, 'Stuff that matters' is part of Slashdot's slogan. The bottom line: Give credit where credit is due.
It matters.
Re:Context: Hollywood Directors & Games ORIGIN (Score:1)
Yup, just checked; I've only got three stories since 1:00 am EDT, but there are several
The more games, the better (Score:3, Interesting)
This would put more of a face on the games we play. Possibly make games a little more glamorous and appealing.
Every time Hollywood gets near games (Score:3, Interesting)
This Is Good (Score:5, Insightful)
For the most part, titles that go from game to movie or movie to game have been terrible (Super Mario Bros., Enter the Matrix, Street Fighter 2, etc.) However, I can only see the growing interest of Hollywood into games as a good thing. Sure, it's been bad in the past, but that's mostly due to the fact that one side is only interested in capitalizing off the title to get some extra bucks (like LOTR or the Matrix). There wasn't a serious amount of forethought put into it (at least it seems to me) but more of a "Hey, this is a successful franchise, let's build a game/movie out of it" (game/movie depending on which direction) "so that we can get more money."
With this increased input and interaction from movie makers, games stand a good chance to do better where they've generally failed: story. And sometimes, games need a little push in the cinematic direction too. How many times have you seen a cutscene that made you puke or a default camera angle that was unusable? Or how about the terrible voice acting that seems to be a hallmark of so many games? And boy oh boy, story... imagine if a lot of games got a good push in that direction. Sure, there are been some games with interesting/excellent stories in the past (HL, Deus Ex, LucasArts adventure games, and others come to mind), but the majority of games do not have a good story - almost all FPS, most RTS, some MMORPG, most platformers, and the list goes on. Maybe finally, it will be the norm for games to have intriguiging story lines with good dialogue.
Re:This Is Good (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:This Is Good (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:This Is Good (Score:3, Insightful)
Story != Gameplay
If the gameplay is good a decent story is nice, but hardly needed. However, no amount of storytelling will make up for bad gameplay. We are talking about games afterall, not "interactive movies".
Let us remember now the one movie game that worked (Score:5, Interesting)
What did it do right? Well, it was a great game in its own right -- I enjoyed it, even though shooters usually leave me cold.
But what I think Goldeneye did right more than anything else was be a generic James Bond game. Everything about the game just screamed "James Bond!" Other developers have since tried to do the same thing, with varying results.
Basing a game on a specific movie is bad -- since movies are usually less than two hours long, and a successful game has to hold the player's attention for much longer, it's very difficult to stay true to the movie without adding a bunch of extra material. Too much, and you're unfaithful. Too little, and people leave. Better to base your game off a franchise, as then you can draw in elements throughout the series.
Also, let's face it, most games are based on action movies, and action movies are particularly known for verisimilitude. (Not that most games are abounding in that quality.) I guess what I'm trying to say here is: most action movies suck. Most games suck. And remember, suckiness grows not linearly, but exponentially.
Re:Let us remember now the one movie game that wor (Score:3, Informative)
Discworld (Score:1)
Re:Discworld (Score:2)
And actually, there were elements of the games that didn't seem to jive with the books. I remember thinking they got Lord Vetinari wrong. The puzzles were a bit obtuse, too. However, the games were certainly better than they could have been.
Note that I'm only talking about the first two games here -- I've never seen Discworld Noir.
Re:Let us remember now the one movie game that wor (Score:1)
I agree with this statement. As a programmer I think the key to making a great game is thinking about game play first and foremost. It seems like lately video games have been shifting towards high budgets which does little for the game but add 'filler'. There was a time when game play was all that mattered because you could barely make out the character on the screen. Logically it seems to incorporate elements of a movie into a game you mus
Hmm (Score:3, Insightful)
Riviting tale about russian blocks... (Score:2, Funny)
Obligatory Penny Arcade Reference (Score:2, Funny)
Movies, Games, the middle ground (Score:1)
... Great (Score:3, Interesting)
At least Mortal Kombat, while still a horrible movie, stuck roughly close to the plot line. You could even consider the Final Fantasy movie to be worthy of the name (although it did have too much military lingo and not enough fantasy). But i'm so tired of Hollywood putting out 'horror' movies based on games. Every time someone says they should make a Silent Hill movie, i just want to scream. There is absolutely no chance you could do that game justice. They will RUIN it. They will turn it into a machine-guns-and-zombies-let's-lock-and-load-boys gut-fest, like 80% of every other video-game movie Hollywood has put out.
Seriously, i want no part of any games in Hollywood. The quality of games is already decreasing at an alarming rate (ever since 2000 or so, it's been to the point where there are maybe one or two decent games a year) -- we don't need Hollywood milking things even more than they already are (if that's possible). We don't need to start any more Pokémon crazes. You remember what happened there -- the market became ridiculously over-saturated, and it absolutely RUINED the entire franchise. Final Fantasy is pretty close to that, and so are 'survival-horror' (actually just third-person zombie-shooter) games.
Also, once again i have to express my disdain for military lingo in movies. I swear to God, one of those stupid phrases ('back-up'/'lock and load'/'we're surrounded'/'we've lost contact') will ruin the credibility of the entire movie.
Hollywood has made me such a bitter person. :(
Re:... Great (Score:2)
I totally agree with the rest of what you wrote, but I can't see how you could possibly justify this statement. Even this year so far (historically the worst time for new games) has seen a number of outstanding new games. Some of which (like Ninja Gaiden or Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow) are even the current pinnacles of their respective genr
Re:... Great (Score:1)
Like, 'Pikmin' is the kind of originality i'm looking for. Can't expect one of those every month, but eh. I think i'm just nostalgic for the olden days, where unique gameplay was the big thing. :/
Those who cannot remember history ... (Score:1)
I guess they've forgotten the short-lived "Sili-wood" fad of the mid '90s, which produced works of genius like The Daedalus Encounter and Critical Path.
This on again, off again synergy has produced a lot of bad seeds over the years. (Just look at the history of a publisher like Ocean, which tied its tail to a series of film licenses in the early '90s.) Movie-makers rarely have contributed to fun games--they don't understand the principles of interactvity-and, on the evid