Movies And Video Games Should Be Mutually Exclusive
See Full ImageFor a while there, things were looking up.
There was Kung Fu Panda, The Bourne Conspiracy, and Transformers: War for Cybertron (one of three pretty decent "Transformers" titles). But you know, we have to come to the conclusion that no video game based on a movie, and no movie based on a game is going to be winning any awards.
The whole "Battleship" fiasco is just another example, although in this particular case, the movie tanked, too. The bottom line is that whether a game is based on a film or vice versa, there just aren't enough resources or effort put into the production. This is partly because the distributor probably knows it won't win any awards or hit big on the sales charts; thus, the vicious circle: Not enough resources and effort, no win on either side. The whole thing is just pointless, so let's just keep the industries mutually exclusive, shall we? No, of course it won't happen. I'm just saying, in an ideal world...
I think the final element is one not enough people acknowledge- Movies and games are just vastly different. This isn't about visuals; this is about how we participate in both hobbies. One is entirely passive while the other is almost entirely active. To take a production from one world and attempt to jam it into the other is the epitome of square peg syndrome. Worse, it's entirely unnecessary. Let movies do their thing and let games do theirs. Let's not keep cross-polluting because after many years of futility, the failures are numerous and obvious, and it's time to accept that.
Tags: video games, movies, films, game movies, movie games
5/21/2012 9:06:09 PM Ben Dutka
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Comments (35 posts)
Killa Tequilla
Monday, May 21, 2012 @ 10:23:02 PM
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2 up, 0 down
evilmunkie
Monday, May 21, 2012 @ 10:26:31 PM
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Last edited by evilmunkie on 5/21/2012 10:29:08 PM
1 up, 1 down
Akuma07
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 6:32:16 PM
If the movie is great, they expect the game to be stellar. If the game is amazing, then they expect the movie to be the next best hit.
We simply put WAYYYYY to high expectations on these things.
I have enjoyed most game based movies, the resident evil series is great! I agree that most movie based games suck, but that is because the developers just try to copy the movie entirely, and really don't care about the actual quality.
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SaiyanSempai
Monday, May 21, 2012 @ 10:57:11 PM
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Last edited by SaiyanSempai on 5/21/2012 10:59:37 PM
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LimitedVertigo
Monday, May 21, 2012 @ 11:03:13 PM
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Kids are stupid and will get mommy and daddy to buy them a game regardless of the reviews.
5 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Monday, May 21, 2012 @ 11:44:40 PM
Just ask THQ.
3 up, 1 down
tes37
Monday, May 21, 2012 @ 11:42:53 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Monday, May 21, 2012 @ 11:47:44 PM
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But seriously it really is irritating. When I heard someone wanted to make a movie of Heavy Rain I was like, "But it would only have a single ending."
I'm not too concerned about games that come from movies as they get the poor sales they deserve but I worry about gaming being the next target of the creatively bankrupt movie business once they squeeze comic book characters to death.
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Lawless SXE
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 1:44:14 AM
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GuyverLT
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 12:20:07 AM
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2 up, 0 down
Comic Shaman
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 10:29:46 AM
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Coffeya
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 12:54:20 AM
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Beamboom
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 12:55:13 AM
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No mud slinging either way, just a conclusion that they are two entirely different medium with each their own properties and strengths.
"Let movies do their thing and let games do theirs" - amen to that, and cheers.
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Gabriel013
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 12:59:46 AM
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My main issue with movies based on games (I own a LOT of those) is that the movie never follows the game! I want to see what I played but in live action or full CGI. Alright, they would need to cut down on the 'find the red key for the red door' puzzles but they could still follow the story of the game. THAT would be enjoyable. Unless it's a boardgame as those really have no story to follow.
Heck, there are plenty of games including MGS and Resi Evil that I used to enjoy watching my friends play more than playing them myself.
1 up, 0 down
gungrave
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 2:01:13 AM
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1 up, 0 down
PharaohJR
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 3:49:55 AM
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JDC80
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 2:35:00 AM
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1 up, 0 down
Axe99
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 2:49:44 AM
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So I wouldn't outright ban it, but rather just encourage the tie-in game not to be rubbish!
1 up, 0 down
Rogueagent01
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 3:21:23 AM
I thought it was great(SH) and I am highly anticipating the next one later this year.
To the article;
Me personally I don't mind the industries mixing it up. Most of the time they are flops on one side or the other, and sometimes they both flop, but once in awhile it pays off and something good is made.
THQ to me is a bad example as they tried to make to many games based on movies. And not just that but they seemed to approach them with a "here this is your project that you can work at home with your kids on the weekend" type thing. If you were to get Naughty Dog to make one of these games don't tell me they wouldn't do a fantastic job. Everyone and their mother knows they would :D
2 up, 0 down
Ultimadream
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 3:55:21 AM
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ulsterscot
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 3:08:14 AM
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just joking folks
but could it happen?
4 up, 1 down
Beamboom
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 4:22:37 AM
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Just don't try to recreate a movie in a game (or vice versa), that's bound to be mediocre at best.
Last edited by Beamboom on 5/22/2012 4:23:39 AM
0 up, 0 down
___________
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 6:54:56 AM
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yea most of the time they end up poorly but not ALL the time!
xmen origins wolverine for example was a freaking awesome game!
wanted weapons of fate another example.
not saying they were GOTY contenders, but compare to something like THOR they were!
some movie based games turn out pretty good, definitely worth the time and money spent on them.
same thing goes for game based movies.
id love to see another tomb raider movie!
and of course we need the uncharted, bioshock and assassin creed movies to hurry the hell up!
i just hope they dont prove this stereotype right.
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PC_Max
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 7:34:20 AM
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And regardless of what your tastes are... sorry, I played the game series.... I do not want more of the same when I go to the movies. I normally would like originality or the facsimile there of.
Yep, sometimes they work in both/all scenarios but rarely.
BUT REALLY! Why do they keep on doing it? Come one you know the answer to that. Do I have to drag it out of you? Money. Its a business and people will go see or buy these translations from one medium to the other.
Oh and really come on now, don't you think the guy who did this film is not a fan of Halo. lol. Alien armour design very similar. And the seller for some... Rihanna.
Its a business and something we will all have to be patient with... or not.
Keep... watching. Keep playing.
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Underdog15
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 8:27:25 AM
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All these mediums are capable of telling a story, but they are done so in a different manner. Personally, I don't feel any of them are better than the others. It just becomes an issue of which medium is the most effective for the story you wish to tell.
Forrest Gump couldn't be anything other than a movie, Lady Windemere's Fan is much more effective as a play, A Boy Named Sue is better told as a song, Twenty-Six shouldn't be anything other than a book, and Uncharted or GOW, or the Final Fantasies are much better as video games.
0 up, 1 down
Beamboom
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 8:33:21 AM
0 up, 1 down
Comic Shaman
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 10:28:11 AM
Books/plays/comics/movies cross over quite well all the time. I don't think the "keep 'em separated" thesis that Ben is proposing even remotely applies to anything but the games-and-movies relationship.
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Underdog15
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 11:05:38 AM
Just like Resident Evil can't be anything but a game. Sure it was a movie also, but it sucked.
My point stands...
Each medium does certain things better, and different stories would benefit more from different mediums.
Lady Windemere's Fan was a movie a few times over, but that doesn't change the fact that it shouldn't be anything other than a play. Final Fantasy tried to be a movie as well, and it destroyed the entire Hawaii office of Square.
Even if you feel the Forrest Gump example is bad because it was a book first, the movie accomplished what the book could not, and there are plenty of other movie's to choose from that support my cause as well.
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Comic Shaman
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 2:24:24 PM
A movie will tell the same story differently. Of course. A book and a movie have different strengths of storytelling. Of course. But way too many great movies have started out as great books to support your point.
Now, we do have a harder time finding something that was a movie first and translated into a great book. Novelizations of something that started out in a visual medium (books, games, etc.) seem to have a handicap.
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Comic Shaman
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 10:39:29 AM
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I think we've had some near hits with movie-to-game translations. Ben listed some examples, and I also think of Spider-Man 2 (which I thought was great), Goldeneye (old, but significant), and a number of the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Star Trek games (executed with varying degrees of success). So it's not hopeless.
Games to film... well, hard to point to any great successes there, but perhaps someday.
Just consider: I think that nobody would have thought that making a movie out of an old theme park ride could possibly work until the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" film showed up. It hasn't exactly set a trend of ride-to-film successes, but it did prove to be an interesting exception.
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Underdog15
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 11:10:39 AM
The entire screen play for Pirates is almost entirely original and separate from the roller coaster... it's not like taking the books of Ben Hur and making them into movies, which is a near direct screenplay reference to the books. It's just borrowing an idea. But the idea itself is largely original.
And regardless of success in general, it isn't difficult to find people that believe most works of art excel most out of one single medium of delivery. Even if you make a successful transplant into another medium, you -must- admit that something is lost on the original or that the transplant accomplishes what the original could not.
0 up, 1 down
Comic Shaman
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 2:28:19 PM
And I don't agree with your last point. I think that there are some kinds of stories that have shown to work brilliantly in print as well as on the screen. I've listed just a few examples in my post above.
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D1g1tal5torm
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 3:23:08 PM
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However, I have watched Hitman loads of times, dunno what it is, just enjoy it!
Sorry!
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xenris
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Monday, May 21, 2012 @ 10:12:51 PM