Games into films?

[the.gill123]

I heard somewhere (it might have been Phelous, but I cant be sure) that they're rebooting the Resident Evil film Franchise, starting back in the lab. I'm hoping that they will adapt S. D. Perrys Resident Evil books, from what I remember when I read them, they're actually quite good, and sometimes quite intense. Unfortunatly, I know that it won't go that way, but if people can sit through an hour of Will Smith running around a city on his own, in I am legend, I am sure a Resident Evil film, where one man runs around a city/lab for an hour, will work too, you just need the right actor.

 

[Optiluiz]

Silent Hill 2 should be adapted to film. A good screenwriter and director could turn it into a cinema masterpiece.

 

[Venereus]

The media transition should be Book --> Game --> Movie. But since games are still considered a lesser medium, no one wants them in the middle, so you get the current - non-functioning - Book --> Movie --> Game. And then games try to be more like movies, so movies based on games suffer from redundancy, lose focus, and finally go to hell.

 

[beniki]

Here's a little experiment:

The next time you watch a movie, or re-watch your favorite movie, imagine playing it verbatim as a video-game - every single bit of the movie is part of the game.

Think of how un-fun it would be. Of how jumbled the pace and game-play would be. Where's the boss fights, how long do you have to sit through dialogue scenes, or cut scenes, when or if do you actually get to explore the open-world of the game (movie), and how long is it from the start of the movie till the first bit you get to shoot a baddie?

Imagine 'Children of Men' (there's the stealth mission where you have to sneak out of the farm), or Pulp Fiction (as a point and click adventure game?)

This is basically the reverse of what happens when some poor sap is tasked with adapting a video-game into a movie, or a book into a movie, (or if they're a really really really poor sap, a movie into a book).

It's not that it can't be done right, it's just very difficult because video-games and movies are completely different forms of entertainment and of story telling.

Video-games are non-linear, you control the character(s), expected to be longer than a few hours. Movies have a beginning and play until the end, follow the character around, and do it usually in less that 240 mins.

Further more there are things you can do in books that don't work well in movies, and vice versa, so people who would adapt say, Half-Life 2, into a movie has to understand that it just wouldn't f***ing work. No one wants to watch a mute bearded man drive along a coastline, occasionally stopping to punt boxes into the ocean, for half a movie.

(wasn't sure if he was aloud to swear on this website)

To be honest, as an experiment, I'd try Ico.

Most of the gameplay is puzzle solving, and you could use those scenes in between the important plot points for comic relief or to show a gradual building of trust between the girl and the boy.

The only problem I see is the age of the characters. You'd have to get some really good actors to play off each other in two separate languages, and I'm not sure a kid would be able to do it well enough without seeming silly.

But other than that, nice relationship building between girl and boy for the first two acts. Stark lonliness and determination to contrast that in the third act, culminating in a great final scene with the kid struggling against a magical storm.

But it would walk the fine line between crappy kids movie and boring art film.

 

[Kinokohatake]

There have been several good attempts at a movie based on a game. I don't know why you thought the Prince of Persia was bad. It wasn't amazing or even really great but it was goodsh. And the Tomb Raider films (1st more than 2nd) were also pretty good. But adaptions of games to the screen are hard to pull off especially for heavy action oriented games. I honestly don't think DMC would be a good film adaptation as the story is fun but not heavy. They are kicking around the idea of a Heavy Rain film and that could work however the game stole its plot from Saw so really it would just be a Meh Saw movie.

 

[Maximum_Power_Cheese_Supreme]

Here's a little experiment:

The next time you watch a movie, or re-watch your favorite movie, imagine playing it verbatim as a video-game - every single bit of the movie is part of the game.

Think of how un-fun it would be. Of how jumbled the pace and game-play would be. Where's the boss fights, how long do you have to sit through dialogue scenes, or cut scenes, when or if do you actually get to explore the open-world of the game (movie), and how long is it from the start of the movie till the first bit you get to shoot a baddie?

Imagine 'Children of Men' (there's the stealth mission where you have to sneak out of the farm), or Pulp Fiction (as a point and click adventure game?)

...

To be honest, as an experiment, I'd try Ico.

Most of the gameplay is puzzle solving, and you could use those scenes in between the important plot points for comic relief or to show a gradual building of trust between the girl and the boy.

The only problem I see is the age of the characters. You'd have to get some really good actors to play off each other in two separate languages, and I'm not sure a kid would be able to do it well enough without seeming silly.

But other than that, nice relationship building between girl and boy for the first two acts. Stark lonliness and determination to contrast that in the third act, culminating in a great final scene with the kid struggling against a magical storm.

But it would walk the fine line between crappy kids movie and boring art film.

I haven't played Ico. I mean to. That and Shadow of the Colossus. In fact my PS2 works a charm the last time I dusted it off. - But I don't think it would be fun to watch too much game-play happen in the movie, (only just for the action sequences).

And you're right, depending on who gets to direct it, (and whether they have any personal attachment to it) it could end up something like Spy-Kids.

 

[Maximum_Power_Cheese_Supreme]

I WAS looking forward to the Mass Effect movie until I found out Seth Green wouldn't be in it.

What the shenaningans is going on there!

I know right?
Thant's like trying to make a T.V. show based on Song of Fire and Ice without, well, ME!

That's like trying to eat a bowl of ice-cream with a fork. (You can do it, but why not use a spoon?)

...hold on, are you insinuating that you are American author and screenwriter George R. R. Martin?

 

[shogunblade]

I am a writer (who isn't?) and a video game player, and I believe that if the gamers are willing to except some sacrifice for the sake of a movie plot (A more than decent plot), I think a better than average video game movie could happen one day. I have been playing Bioshock (I haven't beat it yet), and I think it could become a legitimately good film, but the amount of sacrifice you would have to have to make the movie work (decent sacrifice, not changing characters or anything, but sacrifice you would have to make for the Little Sisters and Big Daddies to make enough sense for outside viewers) is something that many people won't ever accept.

If it were up to me, I think Earthbound could be a good movie just as it is a good game. Earthworm Jim, Final Fantasy (Tactics, in particular), all of the things you would have to adopt as a writer and then change to work as a movie, decent sacrifice, you could make it happen.

I come from a school of thought that I could make a legitimately decent Super Mario Brothers movie, keeping a lot of what makes the games fantastic, and still be a good movie.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

Erm.. Devil May Cry actually has quite a bit of story to it.

It's spawned Anime and comics.

And it's penned in as an actual movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0932986/

There is quite a lot of lore to the DMC franchise if you took time to look beyond the swords, guns and jumping kills.

Forgive me for saying so but that's not a very viable argument. Just because something spawned anime and comics it doesn't mean that it had a deep and engaging storyline from the beginning. Mainly because the japanese somehow manage to create anime and comics out of pretty much anything, regardless of how shallow the sourcematerial and convoluted the transition to a manga or anime-adaption might be.

Also, before all the comics and manga, just look at the games. I mean really look at them with the critic glasses on. How much "story" do the games actaully contain, and how much of it is there just so the developers could have a reason to get the player into awsome battles?

Underneath it all there just isn't that much story or character development to talk about. At least not enough to make an engaging film out of it. And the movie will most likely suck if you ask me...

 

[Rawne1980]

Forgive me for saying so but that's not a very viable argument. Just because something spawned anime and comics it doesn't mean that it had a deep and engaging storyline from the beginning. Mainly because the japanese somehow manage to create anime and comics out of pretty much anything, regardless of how shallow the sourcematerial and convoluted the transition to a manga or anime-adaption might be.

Also, before all the comics and manga, just look at the games. I mean really look at them with the critic glasses on. How much "story" do the games actaully contain, and how much of it is there just so the developers could have a reason to get the player into awsome battles?

Underneath it all there just isn't that much story or character development to talk about. At least not enough to make an engaging film out of it. And the movie will most likely suck if you ask me...

Do you not know anything about the lore of DMC?

Not a dig just curious.

I didn't say it was "deep" but it does have a decent story behind it.

http://devilmaycry.wikia.com/wiki/Dante

A few pages in there explain in more detail.

It's your usual story of powerful demon turns against his kind, banishes them back to their own dimension, saves mankind, falls in love with mortal woman, has 2 kids, gives them powerful swords for their birthday, mother gives them each half a pendant, 1 brother wants to embrace his demon side the other his humanity, cue attempts to open gateway to demon dimension and the rise of Dante the demon slayer.

It's not the deepest of stories as I said but it is a lot deeper than most people thinking "hur hur big sword go stab in the face".

Of course you are right about the movie being awful. It's a film based on a game and they are all awful. I'm certainly not saying it would make a good film. It made a decent Anime due to being able to stretch reality more in that kind of thing and stick more to a characters style than using an actual actor. That worked, live action wouldn't.

 

[Fightgarr]

I'd prefer if Hollywood and the games industry remained relatively separate. Games function on a different level than films and the two don't translate particularly well into one another. Games are trying way too hard to be movies as it is, and I'm not sure it's in our best interests to push that idea further.

 

[Magicmad5511]

Games to film rarely works. The characters just never turn out well, with them being either badly acted(as it's a person trying to be a interactive character) or just not the right gameto be adapted.
Film to game rarely works either. They are always tacky and badly designed.
If I could I would put a permanent wall in between Games and Films. They just should not interact.

 

[smearyllama]

You know, I kinda like the Resident Evil movies.
They're fun, and are steadily moving from Godawful to passable.

Actual games to movies rarely works though, but if you want to see a game movie done right, go watch Run Lola Run.
It's hard to explain without ruining the movie, but it's one of my favorite movies, and it actually transfers the ideas and mechanics of a game to a movie, while not being related to any game franchise.
Just go watch it.
You'll understand.

 

[Shaunofthebread]

Isnt a Mass Effect film coming out soon? I would say that but otherwise maybe Metal gear solid would be kinda cool but i guess seeing as MGS4 had so many cutscenes that you could put them together to make a film. I think id go for (Im gonna be honest, no flame wars) Black ops. The way it was done was actually really compelling. I think it wouldnt be so bad IF it was made by the right people.

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

Black. Not a hugely popular game but the storyline was convincing enough for me to enjoy it. Russian terrorist group lead by an American CIA op gone off the reservation, being tracked down by three Special Forces Soldiers, who are later blamed for their tactics in hunting down said terrorist.

I know its not, the most original story ever but, i think with the right writing and the right actors it could be good