Hollywood Courting the Gaming Industry 201
beatleadam writes "In a trend that we all seem to already be hyper-aware of... 'The video game industry was once an afterthought in Hollywood, at most an ancillary source of revenue like action figures. The people passionately developing the computer-based form of entertainment were seen as dorks compared with the celebrities. Not anymore. Now that games have matured into a $11 billion business, topping movie box-office sales and siphoning television viewers, the lucrative and increasingly influential genre has attracted more star power than ever.'" We did another story about this a month ago.
Courting? (Score:5, Interesting)
Sims movie (Score:3, Interesting)
More bad movie? (Score:1, Interesting)
Great... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Thank God... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Great (Score:5, Interesting)
Fundamentally, computer games and movies are such different mediums - games are obviously all about interaction and using your brain (somewhat), while movies are about sitting back and eating popcorn, maybe throwing an arm around a lovely lass, and so forth.
I think what they're really doing here is utilizing name branding. Wow, that Day After Tomorrow movie was really good. Oh, there's a game named that too? Perhaps it'll be good too. By the time you figure out it sucks, there's $50 down the drain.
Better than movies (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Thank God... (Score:3, Interesting)
Those were great games.
Re:Sims movie (Score:3, Interesting)
It would be trickier with a movie star. Would you force them to sign an exclusive deal just to allow EA to use their likeness, or would they be able to license their likeness to other publishers. Would the image only cover a particular set of clothes/hairstyle or would it cover all possibilities?
Re:Thank God... (Score:4, Interesting)
And McDowell hanging himself in that ending just showed the real cowardice of the character he was playing.
I think that game came as close as you could come to an interactive movie, even letting you choose what to say during talks and happenings outside (shooting aliens/enemies, choosing which wingman with whom to fly) influencing the story and the way your comrades look at you.
Again: I loved that game
What's cheaper than reality TV? (Score:3, Interesting)
Tron and Krull (Score:4, Interesting)
Look at Tron [imdb.com]; the video game out-grossed the movie.
Look at Krull; the video game was done before the movie!
Remember that the in the Early 80's the video game industry was viewed as "hot" and making lots of money. Cross overs seemed inevitable.
Then, we had the video game industry crash (thanks,ET! [snopes.com])
Now that the video game industry is back on top and making lots of money, its cross over time again.
And Just Like Hollywood.... (Score:3, Interesting)
What was once an industry created by self made talent, who could profit admirably off their hard earned work... as turned into a slave machine controlled by slick suit wearing slave drivers, who under budget, under pay, and demand insane production cycles.
Yup... its a lot like hollywood these days. The people who do all the work, see none of the pay.
But thats a growing trend here in America.
Re:Oh dear god... (Score:5, Interesting)
Writers write, directors direct and game designers design games. If they look interesting to you, you buy them. Only assholes "generate content." and then try to convince you to buy it whether it's interesting or not.
TW
BTW, speaking of content, remember when internet people were busy trying to generate it? You don't hear about that much anymore do you? AOL was the biggest culprit and, not surprisingly, the biggest loser as a result.
I'm optimistic (Score:5, Interesting)
I certainly hope that things get to a point where stories are told well through video games on a regular basis, providing yet another great outlet for creativity. I would love to do something similar to a literary analysis of a game like Half-Life, with its stream of consciousness gameplay drawing the participant totally into the story, or of Freespace2's provision of a grunt-soldier point of view of a vast galactic war. Tension in the MGS story is heightened by the player's perpetual need not to be seen.
What better way to immerse someone in your story than to allow them to interact in it and participate? Video games have much more potential than "movie spinoff product." I daresay that today they have more potential even than movies.
If this sounds incredibly weird, remember I'm an English student and I kind of have a vested interest in videogames becoming a semi-literary medium
Re:Thank God... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Games and Movies are halfway steps (Score:3, Interesting)
Vaudeville didn't die. It just passed off the stage and onto movies and television. Especially in comedy, early movie guys like WC Fields, the Marx brothers, and the Three Stooges were all straight off Vaudeville. Early TV guys like Sid Caesar, Uncle Miltie and Jerry Lewis were all right off the Catskills circuit.
Peoples' basic desire for short, funny, dramatic situations never changed. All that changed was the way they were delivered and some of the stylistics involved. Stage sketch -> movie short -> TV variety show -> modern sitcom.
Similarly, TV didn't kill off movies; it changed how they were distributed.
What you are talking about is a shift in the kind of entertainment, rather than the medium. I can't say whether it will or won't happen (I don't think it will; didn't work out for Phillps CDi) but "interactive" stories will never replace fully-scripted ones, ever.