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Movies Media The Almighty Buck Entertainment Games

Hollywood Courting the Gaming Industry 201

Posted by michael from the bullet-time dept.
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.
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Hollywood Courting the Gaming Industry More

Hollywood Courting the Gaming Industry

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  • zork? (Score:5, Funny)

    by justforaday ( 560408 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:38PM (#9188513)
    when are they gonna make a movie based on zork? and i'm not talking fancy graphics or effects or anything. i wanna see huge text printed up on screen for two hours...
    • It would be like watching the opening to Star Wars for two hours (edited for content, edited to fit your television, edited for time)...
    • Because the only people who would watch that movie would be afraid to.

      The movie theatre is dark. They're likely to be eaten by a grue...

  • Courting? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SpaceCadetTrav ( 641261 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:39PM (#9188520) Homepage
    More like absorbing.

    • Re:Courting? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Total_Wimp ( 564548 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:03PM (#9188923)
      Yeah, we need some more boring, crappy games based on movies and boring, crappy movies based on games so people will get jaded about the games and the industry will go into recession like it did post-Atari. Then maybe the people that are in it for the glitz instead of the games will go find something else to do.

      What would we have gotten if Atari had continued to dominate back-in-the-day? More Atari 2600 Pac-Man probably. That brief recession allowed us to get the NES. Cool upgrade, eh? But,now we're getting yet another stupid James Bond game on PS-2. It needs to die so people will at least try to reinvent gaming into something better instead of continuing to push hollywoodfied, star-studded crap.

      TW
      • This is besides the point that the new Bond game is actually really good in its own right. Try it, seriously.

      • Games and Movies are halfway steps (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Simonetta ( 207550 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @07:27PM (#9191180)
        I think that a lot of people here are missing the point.

        Both video games and movies are basically 20th century mediums. And as such they are now halfway steps to a new 21st century medium: an interactive digitally-generated photography.

        Combine synthetic animation such as the AnaNova newscaster with quasi-AI like the classic Eliza program, voice recognition, on-line anonymous interaction with thousands of strangers presenting their image to you as 'avatars'. Have it semi-scripted by Hollywood screenwriters and directors. Run it on multiprocessor systems that are 1 or 2 orders of magnitude more powerful than today's systems.

        You get an entirely new medium that makes today's movies and games look as dull as Super-8 family movies and silent film tricks from a hundred years ago. There are some people in Hollywood that realize that movies are about to go the way of Vaudeville in the next twenty years
        .
        • Although I do agree with you that new technological mediums will undoubtably unfold within the next 20-30 years I highly doubt that film will be going anywhere. Films, are much like books, in that they allow the reader to escape in a different manner than video games. Video games, and really any sort of interactive medium, require the user to be focused, alert, and awake. This is quite to the contrary of movies where, since the user is not a participant but merely an observer, the user is a less mentally
        • There are some people in Hollywood that realize that movies are about to go the way of Vaudeville in the next twenty years

          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 cha

  • "and siphoning television viewers" (Score:5, Funny)

    by Black Parrot ( 19622 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:39PM (#9188523)


    Sounds like a threat to our precious bodily fluids!

  • Thank God... (Score:5, Funny)

    by darth_MALL ( 657218 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:39PM (#9188531)
    Now Bruce Campbell and Mark Hamill will get the recognition they sorely deserve.

    • Re:Thank God... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Killjoy_NL ( 719667 ) <slashdot@@@remco...palli...nl> on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:46PM (#9188655)
      I loved Mark Hamill in the Wing Commander series, he did some brilliant acting in there, better than in Star Wars in my opinion (I know, it's not really a fair comparison since Mark had a lot more acting experience during the Wing Commander Series)

      • Re:Thank God... (Score:3, Interesting)

        by MBCook ( 132727 )
        I know what you mean. Games can have an effect. I still hate Malcolm McDowell because to me he will always be the villan in Wing Commander III (or was it IV? Probably IV).

        Those were great games.

        • Re:Thank God... (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Killjoy_NL ( 719667 ) <slashdot@@@remco...palli...nl> on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:01PM (#9188888)
          Exactly, the end speech Colonel Blair (Hamill) gives at the end of part IV (that's the one you mean) gave me goosebumps.

          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

          • i remember alot of other people hated those games. i loved them. ive searched for other space sims that play as good as those did and havent been able to find one. also i heard that WC4 took $19 million to make, which was alot back in the day, but they got a really cool movie/game out of it.

      • Don't forget Tia Carrera in the Daedalus Encounter. What was making her laugh through all her lines anyway?

      • Re:Thank God... (Score:3, Interesting)

        by NonSequor ( 230139 )
        I think that Mark Hamill's best work has been doing voices for cartoons. His conception of the Joker was particularly brilliant.

  • Sims movie (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:40PM (#9188541)
    What's really scary is that some huge percentage of that $11B is EA. They already have sports stars all over the place and it would be interesting to see how they incorporate Hollywood stars into games like Sims. Even more scary would be a Sims movie which if it is half as boring as the game it should make a ton of money.

    • Re:Sims movie (Score:3, Interesting)

      by SmackCrackandPot ( 641205 )
      EA signs exclusive contracts with sports stars, so that they can only appear in EA games.

      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:Sims movie (Score:3, Insightful)

        by radixvir ( 659331 ) *

        it sounds like the early days on the movie industry where studios would sign actors/personalities and they wouldnt be allowed to go work on things outside the studio's movies.

  • Hey, (Score:5, Funny)

    by xenostar ( 746407 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:40PM (#9188546)
    as long as they don't have games starring Bette Midler and/or Whopie Goldberg, i'm fine with that.

  • Great (Score:4, Insightful)

    by grasshoppa ( 657393 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:41PM (#9188555) Homepage
    That's just what I play video games to see:

    Stuck up "actors" I don't like doing their normal piss-poor job of acting on high budget, yet poorly designed ( technologically and cinamantically ) games that I will never play, opting for net hack.

    Further, let's turn a cheezy game into a movie! Yeah, it'll be slop, so people will pay us MILLIONS to bad mouth it.

    And you know what? We will. At the end of the day, the execs know that we will fork over our cash for crap because we are told to do so.

    In closing, let me leave you with this thought: Moo.

    • Re:Great (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Sean80 ( 567340 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:48PM (#9188683)
      I think the parent does have some merit though. I think the reality is that often what makes a good movie doesn't necessarily make a good game. I pretty much think, for example, that the "film" versions of Doom 3 will fall flat on its face, unless it's like those "inspired by" soundtracks, that, er, have nothing to do with anything.

      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.

    • In closing, let me leave you with this thought: Moo.

      Moo! is right.

      Can we expect game prices to rise with hollywood stars on the credits? probably
    • Moo? That's a cow. I thought people were sheep?

  • Yes!!! Leisure Suit Larry... (Score:5, Funny)

    by FerretFrottage ( 714136 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:41PM (#9188568)
    coming (naughty, don't go there) to a theater near you, staring Pee-Wee Herman has LSL

  • Great... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anita Coney ( 648748 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:42PM (#9188576) Homepage
    When are we going to see Tia Carrere in Daedalus Encounter II?!

  • interactive content (Score:4, Insightful)

    by musikit ( 716987 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:42PM (#9188586)
    some games aren't really games.. more like interactive content sold for $50.

    MHO is that hollywood is seeing the dollars. you make a bunch of CGI movies or even real movie like ROTK and TTT and you add some animated version of the main hero that you control doing some punching/sword swinging and they get $50 for their DVD/Movie vs $15-$30 for their movie.
    • MHO is that hollywood is seeing the dollars. you make a bunch of CGI movies or even real movie like ROTK and TTT and you add some animated version of the main hero that you control doing some punching/sword swinging and they get $50 for their DVD/Movie vs $15-$30 for their movie.

      yeah, but hopefully you'll get more than 2 hours of enjoyment out of the game.

      My fear is when real high speed broadband is every where. Then I think video games and movies will be on a pay per play/view system.

      Imagine $$$$/mont

  • Sounds about right (Score:3, Funny)

    by Vinnie_333 ( 575483 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:42PM (#9188594)
    The "Van Helsing", "Spider Man", and "X-Men" video games are weak, and get horrible reviews

    So, they followed the movies pretty closely then, you say!

  • Does this mean we'll get to see (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:43PM (#9188598)
    Counter-Strike: The Motion Picture?

    Of course if they play the movie too loud in the theater the next movie over will accuse it of wallhacking.
    • That's just what people want to see. Some idiot camping for 2 hours in a corner. Where's the action? The drama? The suspense?

      I'm hoppin' for "Frogger: The Musical"!

      (man I hope no Hollywood exec reads this. I was kidding, OK. KIDDING!)

      • You bastard (Score:5, Funny)

        by gclef ( 96311 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:21PM (#9189142)
        once I read that, this whole damn thing sprang up:

        Act 1: The highway.

        Scene 1: Intro
        into musical number: Hoppin into history

        Scene 2: The side of the road
        musical number: where is my lovely lass?

        Scene 3: a sighting of the lovely lass across the way.

        Scene 4: our hero decides to cross the road

        Scene 5: musical number: dodgin' cars!

        Act 2: The Median

        Scene 1: Our hero rests, and swears to never drive again.

        Scene 2: We meet the snake (musical number: I ssseee you!)

        Scene 3: We look over the river: the lovely lass is moving.

        Act 3: The River

        Scene 1: Our hero meets a turtle (musical number: take a ride on me)

        Scene 2: Our hero rides a log (musical number: Logs ain't so bad...)

        Scene 3: The Log Sinks!

        Scene 4: Our hero meets his lovely lass. (musical number: You're better than a fly!)

        Curtain.

        It almost writes itself.
        • no... no... no no no no no NO NO NO NO!

          I said don't give them ideas! PLEASE don't give them ideas!

          Now someone might make it! Save me.

          *sobs*

    • I am soo sorry to actually know this:

      CounterStrike the movie [imdb.com]
  • we already have seen millions of dollars invested in videogames, like doom 3 and half life 2,but 5 years ago from now they would be able to relase new versions of games within 6 months of the original relase.

    With the level of detail and complexity of new games this will slow down to 3 or 4 games a year per company. Time will tell when small computer game developers will join efforts in order to deliver huge games quick ($$$) ending with like about 4 mayor gaming factories, with fictional characters, some celebrities and some young programmer waiting to get his(her) big break. Is this where games are going?
  • On the Van Helsing [vanhelsing.net] movie site's front page, only one link actually goes to the movie's page. There's links for a video game, a cartoon, repackaged versions of old monster movies, and even Van Helsing merchandise.

    If shitty advertisements disguised as films are the best Hollywood can put out, it's no wonder they need the video game industry. I'll take an Enix or Blizzard (well, make that ArenaNet) game over another Matrix sequel any day.

    • Not only that, but I saw commercials for the video game before the freaking movie was even out yet. I think that might be a first.

      Weaselmancer

    • I particularly like the description for Transylvania, the spin off TV show where they try and simultaneously say it will have everything to do with the movie and nothing to do with the movie:

      Transylvania, a dramatic fantasy television series conceived by Stephen Sommers and inspired by the world he's created for Van Helsing, his feature-film epic which will be released on May 7, 2004.

      Transylvania will be connected in spirit and style to his big-budget feature film but will not share any major characte

  • Vice City (Score:5, Informative)

    by thebra ( 707939 ) * on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:46PM (#9188656) Homepage Journal
    Ray Liotta .... Tommy Vercetti (voice)
    William Fichtner .... Ken Rosenberg (voice) (as Bill Fichtner)
    Tom Sizemore .... Sonny Forelli (voice)
    Dennis Hopper .... Steve Scott (voice)
    Burt Reynolds .... Avery Carrington (voice)
    Robert Davi .... Colonel Juan Garcia Cortez (voice)
    Gary Busey .... Phil Cassidy (voice)

    To name a few from GTA:Vice City [imdb.com] and I thought it made the game funnier.
    • Hey - you forget Jenna Jameson. ;) . and debby harry. and... yeah. I'm glad someone else points this out - for some reason people always forget that Vice City has a consiberably more star studded cast than most blockbusters.
    • Don't forget a certain porn actress as that Candy whatsum girl. I mean come on, this is slashdot, what we really want to hear about is Jenna Jameson doing voice-overs for our video game characters.
    • But aside from these celebs, you'll find video game voice actors succeeding in their own right. This is an older phenomenon in Japan, but rising to significance in the US as well.

      Any player of Mafia will remember the voice of Don Salieri. In real life? George DiCenzo [imdb.com]. Also playing Earnest Kelly in Vice City.

      The character Ralph, played by Jeff Gurner [imdb.com], is also to be found in Max Payne and Manhunt.

      John Doman [imdb.com], playing Don Morello, also did work in Manhunt and Midnight Club II.

      Laura Maxwell [imdb.com], Michelle i

  • Good for games, bad for movies (Score:3, Insightful)

    by RobDogAlpha ( 739240 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:47PM (#9188668)

    Having quality voice talent in games is a plus.

    Having bad action movies based on games is a minus.

  • So that explains the decline (Score:4, Insightful)

    by WordODD ( 706788 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:49PM (#9188693)
    Instead of doing both the movie and the game in the piss poor fashion of late how about trying to at least get one or the other done properly. Games like Van Heilsing are horrid and the movie really isn't much better. Both were released the same day and really all you see featured about the movie is the "amazing" special effects. I don't know about everyone but for me the special effects ridden movies of late have failed to deliver. The main reason I go to see a moive a "story" or "plot". Instead its just one big effects shot then some poor dialog and/or character development then another enormous effect. How long trend will this continue? I guess as long as they can make enough money at the box office to cover it. Or if not at the box office then from the game revenues, after all it probably takes very little money to make one of these "movie" games.

  • Mono-Directional Wormhole (Score:4, Insightful)

    by baudilus ( 665036 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:51PM (#9188734)
    Some of you will berate me for saying so, but some movies based on video games are actually good [tombraidermovie.com]. By any financial account, some have been VERY successful.

    This does not follow when the roles are reversed; I have yet to witness a game based on a movie that was successful in any respect (unless someone can convince me otherwise). Even as a huge matrix fan, I have not been the least bit interested in playing Enter The Matrix [enterthematrixgame.com].

    As long as the movies make money, Hollywood will still make them, even if they are raffish.
    • I posted this earlier, but I thought the Lucas Arts Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was well done. I am sure that wouldn't count a highly successful game, but that was back the percentage of people with PC in the home was quite a bit lower.
    • Yes, movies based on games and games based on movies tend to do very well (money wise) but be terrible (plot/fun wise).

      That said, anyone who's a gamer knows these facts. And as more and more of these movies and games are made, they can only make so many sales to the general public before they realize this fact and this money source dries up.

      Right now Hollywood is nearing a drought. Instead of traveling to a resovoir (lots of ideas/good movies, but you have to travel), they want to go three feet and suck t

    • That's true, but think about video games that are based on movie IP (intellectual property) but not actually attached to a specific movie. My two examples here are:

      007: Everything or Nothing, an original Bond game using pretty much the entire cast of the recent movies which is quite good.

      Tron 2.0: A sequel to the movie Tron in video game format, and also quite good. I believe this is coming out on XBox soon if you missed it on PC.

  • bull$hit (Score:5, Informative)

    by The Lynxpro ( 657990 ) <lynxpro@@@gmail...com> on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:51PM (#9188741)
    "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.'"

    Does anyone not know the history of the videogame industry on Slashdot? Try 1976. That was the year Warner Communications (think Warner Bros. Pictures) purchased Atari, Inc. By the early 1982, Atari accounted for 3/4's of Warner's profits. So in your analysis, you are 22 years off on the video game industry's importance to Hollywood.

    • Re:bull$hit (Score:3, Informative)

      by PCM2 ( 4486 )

      Does anyone not know the history of the videogame industry on Slashdot? Try 1976. That was the year Warner Communications (think Warner Bros. Pictures) purchased Atari, Inc. By the early 1982, Atari accounted for 3/4's of Warner's profits. So in your analysis, you are 22 years off on the video game industry's importance to Hollywood.

      That's right -- and by 1983 they were in the toilet, racking up $500M in losses and burying unsold cartridges in landfills. [snopes.com] Interesting how those cartridges were movie tie-in

    • The Silliwood crap seems to come up every three years, which is about the same cycle that the game and toy industry follows. Everytime it's profitable, Hollywood starts to comes back. Everytime it drops like a stone, Hollywood slinks away quietly. Now, correlation doesn't prove causation, but it's pretty peculiar, don't you think?

  • Better than movies (Score:3, Interesting)

    by NineNine ( 235196 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:51PM (#9188748)
    I just got "Onimusha 3" for my PS2, and the opening movie was BETTER, in sheer visible quality, directing, and storyline than anything I've seen on a movie. The 10 minute CGI movie was reminiscent of Episode 1, except it was much, much better. Hell, the game even stars Jean Reno (The Professional, Wasabi, Ronin, etc.)! As soon as storage (DVD's) get better, we absolutely will have games that are 100% interactive, but the quality will be as good as if not better than movies.

  • It's a shame... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by xenostar ( 746407 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:51PM (#9188750)
    that with every year, commercial game development is becoming more and more out of reach of smaller/indie studios. The expectations are being raised with every Doom3 and HL2 that comes out. Nowadays, the models have to be on par with movie-quality standards, the sound has to be done in a professional studio and etc. Gone are the days when a small studio could write a game and hit it big in the industry. Mods seem to be the only way the little people could make themselves known, and even those have to be on par with the modded game (level are not designed from blocks anymore, they are their own complex 3d models). And eventhough i drool everytime i see a new screenshot of HL2/Doom3 and see the new ATI demos, I also long for the days when people got excited by 16x16 pixel characters and 8 bit sound.

    • Re:It's a shame... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by wobblie ( 191824 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:29PM (#9189240)
      Not really. They're doing the wrong kinds of games. The 3d thing is saturated now anyway, and most of the games are awful. Games don't need good graphics ... say it a thousand times. Does chess have good graphics? Illuminati?

      Has anyone ever designed a computer game with the same design principles that go into board games? (replayability, consistency, good rule sets, etc) Nope. Computer games don't even publish any rules because they're only meant to last 2 months anyway. Seems like there some kind of market there.
      • Has anyone ever designed a computer game with the same design principles that go into board games?

        Ask yourself how often new great board games come out. Then look here: games.yahoo.com/ [yahoo.com]

        The real question is "Has anyone designed a graphically immersive 3D game with the same design principles that go into board games?"

        No but we're getting closer. Unreal 2 XMP [u2xmp.com] is pretty fantastic. Far from the regular Unreal frag fests, it has replayability, consistency, good rule sets, etc. It is team based capture

  • If they write it, I will play (Score:3, Funny)

    by gmkeegan ( 160779 ) <gmkeegan&yahoo,com> on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:54PM (#9188777)
    If EA, ID, or anyone ever publishes a Pulp Fiction game, I'm in!!!

    "If I'm curt with you, it's because time is a factor here. I think fast, I talk fast, and I need you guys to act fast if you want to get out of this. So, pretty please - with sugar on top... clean the f***in' car." The Wolf

  • Games from movies... ok. Movies from games...nah. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mobiux ( 118006 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:55PM (#9188801)
    I had a blast playing Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

    If they can make games like this that actually have depth to them, instead of a shooter with just a level from each scene of the movie, I am all for it.

    But I think there is going to be a problem seeing a movie based on a video game. You already have in your mind, a set perception of the game and how it should go.
    Kinda like reading a book and then seeing the movie. It always seems like the movie sucks compared to what you had read.

  • What's cheaper than reality TV? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by gelfling ( 6534 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:01PM (#9188889) Homepage Journal
    Why, having no cast at all of course. Expect more hyper realistic 3D animation to take the place of actual motion pictures. CGI will soon become THE MAIN CHARACTER instead of just the wallpaper as in Troy (battlescenes? all fake as opposed to the Kirk Douglas "Spartacus" which used 10,000 extras). Now all that Whoreywood has to do is make the CGI characters semi autonomous eg. capable of taking direction so as to give the appearance of pompous art and you will see hundreds and hundreds of cheap-o dateflicks, war movies and the like. Hell they'll probably customize them for each demographic. Imagine a "Passion" with all black actors, or a "Kill Bill" with naked chicks.

  • Video game cost sure to ensue... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by shrapnull ( 780217 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:02PM (#9188890)
    So people don't watch as much tv, and all the junk they used to sell you to play with has been replaced with electronic boxes.

    You can bet damn sure they're going to get that $20 out of your wallet one way or another. Even if they have to devour another market to do so.

    Ironically, you'll pay more for them to do that.
  • Well, this isn't exactly real, but just think if someone could come up with a good idea for this movie. That would be pretty rad. :-)

    Halo: The Movie. [bungie.org]

  • Tron and Krull (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mekkab ( 133181 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:11PM (#9189014) Homepage Journal
    This is not the first time Hollywood marketing freaks thought up this alliance. Its just that things are now getting profitable.

    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)

    by Jackie_Chan_Fan ( 730745 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:13PM (#9189031)
    And just like Hollywood, The artists and coders who do the hard work, never see ANY of those millions.

    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.

    • Not only do we not get to reap the rewards of what we've sown, but we barely get any credit for our work, either. Unless you're very indie (like myself), in which case almost nobody ever plays the game anyway.
    • Is any part of the gaming industry unionized these days? The artistic aspects of Hollywood are-- technicians and animators included. Even some major non-union studios (I'm primarily thinking animation/effects here) will typically have decent wages and benefits for their employees.

      I've heard about the insane hours in the video game industry from a couple of my friends. They've since moved on to larger game studios, but I'm still wondering...

  • Soon, more blockbuster game franchises, such as "Halo" and "Doom," are expected to become the basis of movies.

    They write this, as if it's the first time. No, sirreeee....

    Anyone remember Wing Commander [imdb.com] and Super Mario Bros [imdb.com]?

    Amazing that Hollywood haven't learned from this yet...

  • I'm optimistic (Score:5, Interesting)

    by stealth.c ( 724419 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:18PM (#9189088)
    I had always wanted the video game medium would rise to be recognized as as much of a storytelling medium as movies. Games like Freespace2, Max Payne, Half-Life, Metal Gear Solid (2), and others are very story-driven and the gaming experience becomes even more immersive with competent voice acting and good writing. (If you want to be contentious about Max Payne/MGS2 that's fine. They got way too damn trippy for me, too.)

    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 :)

  • Bah! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Random Guru 42 ( 687672 )
    Sure, we get compared a lot to the movie industry, but we don't get much credit [igda.org] for our work.

    We still have a long way to go before we're really like Hollywood, and not just for recognition. There's also the model used for game development and marketing. But I've not the time to go on a complete diatribe, so you can Google about it.
  • 'Manos' the Hands of Fate: The Search for Master to come out on Xbox and PC later this year.
  • The tapeworms who run Hollywood will suck on anything that might increase the bottom line.

    One thing for sure - the game industry will never see nickle one out of this no matter how profitable the film... they never make any money! Ask Mario Puzo!

  • This story was in my newspaper yesterday. This is very old news.
  • In a trend that we all seem to already be hyper-aware of..

    Yes, my mind careens through the psychedelic swirls and curls of this trend.

  • 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.'"

    How about getting some of those "stars" to lobby the MPAA to allow the Video Game industry to use movie ratings for video games. That might actually help the few parents who try to watch what their children buy and get various senators to take up a crusade other than censoring video games. Tha

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