General / Off-Topic Films of video games
- Thread starter starman
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None. They never work.
[video=youtube;vuZHZIQjL1M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuZHZIQjL1M[/video]
Cinematic or story driven video games (Mass Effect, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy) have plots which are impossible to cram into a 2 hour movie.
Other video games just end up sucking (Mario Brothers, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter), mostly because the lack of a plot in a game is not a hinderance if the game is fun, but in a non-interactive movie the lack of a plot is fatal.
[video=youtube;vuZHZIQjL1M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuZHZIQjL1M[/video]
Cinematic or story driven video games (Mass Effect, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy) have plots which are impossible to cram into a 2 hour movie.
Other video games just end up sucking (Mario Brothers, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter), mostly because the lack of a plot in a game is not a hinderance if the game is fun, but in a non-interactive movie the lack of a plot is fatal.
Quite simply this!
There's always a potential for a great movie. Problem is - no big budget studio in the world will see anything but a milking cow. Even if movie is garbage it will still make some money. So why bother.
On the other end of the spectrum we get Uwe Boll. He knows he shoots crap for cheap, and he doesn't give a damn.
On the other end of the spectrum we get Uwe Boll. He knows he shoots crap for cheap, and he doesn't give a damn.
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A lot has to do with respect for the source material. If the film makers feel it's okay to completely change the basis of a game's world then they alienate the fans.
I haven't seen the World of Warcraft movie because I was never a World of Warcraft player, but I heard that Peter Jones did a decent job of it. The flappy handed one himself, Kermode, gave it a glowing review. What did you folks think of it?
What I'd like to see is a Knights of the Old Republic movie. A movie not just set a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, but a long long long time ago <grin>
I haven't seen the World of Warcraft movie because I was never a World of Warcraft player, but I heard that Peter Jones did a decent job of it. The flappy handed one himself, Kermode, gave it a glowing review. What did you folks think of it?
What I'd like to see is a Knights of the Old Republic movie. A movie not just set a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, but a long long long time ago <grin>
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dayrth
Volunteer Moderator
I liked the Resident Evil films.
How long did it take you to complete KotOR? In fact, scratch that, how long did it take you to reach the point where the plot twist was revealed?
So lets assume we have a 2 and a half hour movie. Can you imagine that in movie form? Can you imagine all the stuff that went before the twist, escaping Taris, finding out about the force on Dantoine, finding bits of the star map all over the place, getting caught by Saul, all occurring in a hour and 15 minutes?
The problem I have with making movies from RPGs is that RPGs are a story telling medium, and so are movies. Making a movie from an RPG is like saying the RPG did a bad job of telling a good story. I think KoTOR did the job just fine.
In that respect, I don't think it's much different from making films based on books. Of course, most film adaptations of books are also pretty poor - especially in terms of faithfulness to the source.
Not really. While movies from books tell mostly the same story, they do it visually. Different form of storytelling, different form of art.
However, game IS a visual form of art. And audio. And text. If game is good, movie is just unnecessary and another way to ruin a good name.
Yes indeed, but I was responding specifically to when you said "RPGs are a story telling medium" - books are, too. I think there's potential for some RPG games to inspire decent films, even if they're just set in the game universe rather than specifically recreating one possible play through of the game. Maybe they'd make better TV series' than films - although, as you say, if the story's already been well enough told, then what's the point.
Yes, well responding to different people but I did mean they're both visual mediums. 
Main problem is that there is no entrepreneurial risk behaviour anymore. If you've got a great game story it is transformed in a TV-Film (with dangling Series) or a Cinema Movie in an cost optimized form.
Great universes like ED are to be made with inspiration and effort to meet the ground expectation of those alligned to these games and put 100s of hours of spare time in it.
From this point I will fear the day the come along with the newest idea of an ED - the Movie announcement, though there is enough room to fill a universe like Star Trek did.
In the end I doubt any realization will make it to meet expecations of the playerbase.
Regards,
Miklos
Great universes like ED are to be made with inspiration and effort to meet the ground expectation of those alligned to these games and put 100s of hours of spare time in it.
From this point I will fear the day the come along with the newest idea of an ED - the Movie announcement, though there is enough room to fill a universe like Star Trek did.
In the end I doubt any realization will make it to meet expecations of the playerbase.
Regards,
Miklos
Yes, well responding to different people but I did mean they're both visual mediums.
Ach - it's Monday morning, in my defence.