ScrewAttack's Top 10 Video Games that should be Movies. I got opinions about this.

[Rangaman]

I never really understood why people want to make games into movies. Games have always been about player agency, making your own choices, and being your own hero.

To strip all of that away, and turn it into an adaptation that is a fraction of the run time, it has always just felt like regression to me.

My inner cynic is saying that it's usually to either make a quick buck (Warcraft, Super Mario Bros, Rampage) or because the director/writer is a)a massive idiot who thinks videogame storytelling is on par with the very best of movie storytelling and b)is a reincarnation of Ed Wood (anything made by or associated with Uwe Boll).

But if I were to be a nicer person, I'd say it's because they want to do a story (or a version of the story) that isn't possible in videogames. Player agency and choice is great and all, but traditional storytelling isn't really do-able in videogames because at some point they have to compensate for being interactive media.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I never really understood why people want to make games into movies. Games have always been about player agency, making your own choices, and being your own hero.

To strip all of that away, and turn it into an adaptation that is a fraction of the run time, it has always just felt like regression to me.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way. Esp. since the success rate of adapting video games to movies is more miss than hit.

Funny enough imo there have been more Good games based on movies than movie adaption of games.

Good side scroller games in the NES/SNES/GENESIS era.

Goldeneye for what it was at the time.

Spiderman 2

Agreed... generally. Certainly the success rate is a lot higher.

And of course Star Wars, and say what you will of EA Battlefront 2, you know there are worse movie based games than that and worse Star Wars games for that matter

No. Any AAA game that doesn't have microtransactions or lootboxes is automatically infinitely better than EA Battlefront 2 no matter how buggy or broken it is.

So Aliens Colonial Marines > EA Battlefront 2?

 

[laggyteabag]

But if I were to be a nicer person, I'd say it's because they want to do a story (or a version of the story) that isn't possible in videogames. Player agency and choice is great and all, but traditional storytelling isn't really do-able in videogames because at some point they have to compensate for being interactive media.

I was speaking more in terms of turning actual videogames into movies, or adapting them, at least.

I have no qualms with franchises branching off into other media. I accept that not all stories are exactly suited to being games. For example, a rom com wouldn't exactly be my first choice for a big budget videogame. So, we have franchises like Halo, which have branched out into books, comics, a couple of "films", and even an anime-thingy. I absolutely welcome this.

The story of Halo: Forward Unto Dawn which was the film prelude to Halo 4, wouldn't have really suited a videogame. Nor would something like the short story Soma the Painter, in one of the anthology books.

Of course, then we have films like this year's Tomb Raider, which seems to take a whole lot of inspiration from the 2013 reboot. Whilst the story might be original (looks like it is, anyway. Haven't watched it), judging by the reception, the game did it a whole lot better.

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

Yea, already been said, but I don't see much point anymore in trying to make full on cinematic movies on video game sources anymore aside from a VERY limited selection of titles.

The only things I could see even having a ghost of a chance would be something with a particularly stylish world that'd allow multiple tales from it. Silent Hill, STALKER, they can work with just the right hands and minds behind them, but nothing else comes to mind.

 

[Hawki]

My inner cynic is saying that it's usually to either make a quick buck (Warcraft, Super Mario Bros, Rampage)

I don't think either Warcraft or Rampage are made based around a "quick buck." Warcraft strove to be accurate to the games (arguably to its detriment), and did so by being based on WC1 rather than WoW. Likewise, Rampage. Rampage is a pretty obscure IP, and it's not going to carry much brand recognition with the public.

Of course, then we have films like this year's Tomb Raider, which seems to take a whole lot of inspiration from the 2013 reboot. Whilst the story might be original (looks like it is, anyway. Haven't watched it), judging by the reception, the game did it a whole lot better.

I can't comment on the games too much, but from what I know of them, having seen the film, it's mostly based on the reboot, with a bit of Rise added in (the whole Trinity aspect).

I've detailed my thoughts on the film in the movie thread, but basically, I liked it. "Good," if not "great."

 

[Rangaman]

My inner cynic is saying that it's usually to either make a quick buck (Warcraft, Super Mario Bros, Rampage)

I don't think either Warcraft or Rampage are made based around a "quick buck." Warcraft strove to be accurate to the games (arguably to its detriment), and did so by being based on WC1 rather than WoW. Likewise, Rampage. Rampage is a pretty obscure IP, and it's not going to carry much brand recognition with the public.

Yeah, ok. But look at the way they were marketed. Rampage is an obscure IP (hell, I didn't even know it was a videogame movie until I Googled it) but the movie itself is marketed as a giant monster action movie with the Rock in it. It might as well have been called "Mass Appeal: The Movie".

Warcraft. I'm too lazy to pull up a trailer, but if remember correctly it was setting itself up as "the next LotR" that just so happened to be an adaptation of a videogame. I'll admit there was actually some effort made with that film, but I doubt the studio greenlit a project like that without the intention of making their money back tenfold. Besides that, from what I've seen the film looks like bland and cookie-cutter high fantasy, the type of thing a money-loving studio exec would drool over.