Video Game Movie Concepts
As I write this topic I can't help but be hit with the irony of it. I'm generally the first to stand up and say video game movies suck, but that's more because most of them are made my Uwe Boll and therefore could create a black hole with the sheer magnitude of their own terribleness.In the middle of watching JesuOtaku's LP of Ocarina of Time I got to thinking what other games would make (conceptually) good movies and I thought I'd toss it out for a little discussion.
These are the first ones that came to mind.
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
This game holds the rank along with Persona 4) as my favorite game of all time. Set against the backdrop of World War I, SH:C manages to create a wonderful mix of light and dark. The party is funny, memorable and very human. The enemies are clever and the end boss is probably one of the best examples of a sympathetic villain I can think of. While being a sequel may be a bit of a problem (much of the plot is kicked off because of the events of the first SH), it manages to stand very much on it's own two feet and explains the events of one necessary to it's own plot.
Besides, in my opinion one works as a better prequel than the first movie to start with. Its plot is good, but a bit weak compared to the emotional high and lows of Covenant.
Also, just because this game is glorious and silly, Enjoy some awesome cutscenes.
The Golden Sun (so far) trilogy
These games are the quintissential fantasy epic. Elemental powers, a dying yet incredibly varied world, a gorgeous soundtrack that proved even more epic when it made a Debut in Super Smash Bros. Brawl...this game to me just begs some sort of adaptation. The game is a bit dungeon heavy, but those could be edited down to the essentials, such as the lighthouses, the Sol sanctum and a few others. The characters, while not as strikingly unique as those in Shadow Hearts Covenant are solid and work well for the fantasy epic that this game is.
Monkey Island
I know this has been discussed in the ToMI section of the forum and there's even a topic or two on it, but yes, this is definitely one of the first series that pops to mind when I think potentially good movie. LCR, CMI, and ToMI strike me as more cinematic than SoMI and EMI, but I could see them working as well. As for why, well, I figure most of you can fill than in yourselves. XD
Valkyria Chronicles
I will admit, this is the only game on this list that I have not personally played (as I lack a PS3), and quite honestly had no interest in it until I stumbled across an LP of the game, which once I started I could not stop watching. I understand there's an anime of the game as well, but that it is vastly inferior to the game itself.
VC falls in an interesting place for me. It is, at it's core a war game, however it doesn't fall into the traditional JRPG trap of a bunch of pacifists who somehow are part of a military organization despite the lack of desire/inclination for the business of war, nor does it fall into the Gears of War Testosterone soaked "YEAAAAAH WE'RE IN A F***ING WAR" explosion fest. Instead it's a very human story about a group from all walks of life who join the Militia in an effort to save their country. The game does not shy away from character death, but it still retains a much more positive vibe than one would expect from a game on this subject matter. It's an interesting take on the war game/film genre as a whole as it skirts a number of cliches without actually falling into them. The main and minor cast is well fleshed out and entertaining and the plot is engaging enough to make it work.
So there are my first thoughts on the topic. Yours?
These are the first ones that came to mind.
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
This game holds the rank along with Persona 4) as my favorite game of all time. Set against the backdrop of World War I, SH:C manages to create a wonderful mix of light and dark. The party is funny, memorable and very human. The enemies are clever and the end boss is probably one of the best examples of a sympathetic villain I can think of. While being a sequel may be a bit of a problem (much of the plot is kicked off because of the events of the first SH), it manages to stand very much on it's own two feet and explains the events of one necessary to it's own plot.
Besides, in my opinion one works as a better prequel than the first movie to start with. Its plot is good, but a bit weak compared to the emotional high and lows of Covenant.
Also, just because this game is glorious and silly, Enjoy some awesome cutscenes.
The Golden Sun (so far) trilogy
These games are the quintissential fantasy epic. Elemental powers, a dying yet incredibly varied world, a gorgeous soundtrack that proved even more epic when it made a Debut in Super Smash Bros. Brawl...this game to me just begs some sort of adaptation. The game is a bit dungeon heavy, but those could be edited down to the essentials, such as the lighthouses, the Sol sanctum and a few others. The characters, while not as strikingly unique as those in Shadow Hearts Covenant are solid and work well for the fantasy epic that this game is.
Monkey Island
I know this has been discussed in the ToMI section of the forum and there's even a topic or two on it, but yes, this is definitely one of the first series that pops to mind when I think potentially good movie. LCR, CMI, and ToMI strike me as more cinematic than SoMI and EMI, but I could see them working as well. As for why, well, I figure most of you can fill than in yourselves. XD
Valkyria Chronicles
I will admit, this is the only game on this list that I have not personally played (as I lack a PS3), and quite honestly had no interest in it until I stumbled across an LP of the game, which once I started I could not stop watching. I understand there's an anime of the game as well, but that it is vastly inferior to the game itself.
VC falls in an interesting place for me. It is, at it's core a war game, however it doesn't fall into the traditional JRPG trap of a bunch of pacifists who somehow are part of a military organization despite the lack of desire/inclination for the business of war, nor does it fall into the Gears of War Testosterone soaked "YEAAAAAH WE'RE IN A F***ING WAR" explosion fest. Instead it's a very human story about a group from all walks of life who join the Militia in an effort to save their country. The game does not shy away from character death, but it still retains a much more positive vibe than one would expect from a game on this subject matter. It's an interesting take on the war game/film genre as a whole as it skirts a number of cliches without actually falling into them. The main and minor cast is well fleshed out and entertaining and the plot is engaging enough to make it work.
So there are my first thoughts on the topic. Yours?
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Comments
Monkey Island; not happening. Blame it on Pirates of Carribean by "doing it first".
Valkyria would work but a movie variation, dunno, it looks "DONE BEFORE" to me.
It would be weird, because You would probably have to have more variety in Scientists and a Gordon that talks(besides Freeman's mind), but it has the potential to be really awesome. Headcrabs and Voritgaunts and G-man and all that. It would be totally awesome if they didn't screw up CGI on the aliens.
A Half Life movie would be epic, have you sen the fan made film? It was ok, bit over rated really.
BONES/Square Enix for a Super Mario Bros. series.
MADHOUSE for a Legend of Zelda series if it was animated.
You know that boring movie that only played on your PlayStation for some reason? We've now added a whopping 7 seconds of new footage and removed the parts where you had to pick up a bizarre pad to do things and rereleased it to your local cinema!
Half-Life movie would be something despised by fans, I think. I mean, there are short fan-movies based on HL2, yeah. But the story of Half-Life is really not THAT good, it's how you experience it that makes it cool, so Half-Life would have to get a bit of re-imagining to transform it into a good full movie, and most fans would hate that. Or the movie creators can make it the crappy Doom-movie way, which... well... the idea behind the Doom movie wasn't really that bad... it's just... well... Doom movie is crap, yeah.
Assassin's Creed could be transformed well into movies - though I think the Animus and the future storyline should be dropped for that kind of thing. Animus is really something that works GREAT in a video-game (and, well, I consider it to be the greatest justification of all the video-game conventions, but it's something I don't really dig in a movie), and I always loved the past-storylines more than the future (uhm... I guess that's present from the in-game perspective) ones. On the other hand, if the future would be interesting (it's really not in AC and ACII, haven't really played Brotherhood yet) then Animus could be modified to just watch the genetic memory instead of controlling them (well, in the game Desmond actually controls Altair and Ezio, that's part of the bleeding effect's existance as I understand). AC movie should not necessarily depict Altair's or Ezio's journeys, but those two characters have got very good characterization and character development in the games. And... well, I like them. And the Third Crusade setting is a great setting way underused in both movies and games, in my opinion.
Karin...doesn't look that bad in-game thank god, that's just the cover being over stylized. As for the Uwe Boll thing, you can say that about most video games since very few directors really want to touch that kind of material
I think you got that backwards...
Simon The Sorcerer if they hadn't made Harry Potter films
Broken Sword (Already happening if I remember right)
That's all I got for now.
http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/05/05/broken-sword-movie-in-the-works/
I thought the Super Mario movie was great!
LOL that would be sweeeeet.
But they are making an Uncharted Movie. Acording to Wikipedia the story will be written and directed by David O. Russell and it will be produced by Avi Arad, Charles Roven and Alex Gartner and I heard rumours that they will change the concept to Nathan Drake being some kind of art police, but I seriously hope they change that, because I like the concept of a "Thief" more. And I also heard that Mark Wahlberg will be cast as the role of Nate, but I hope for his sake he is really up for it this time. He destroyed Max Pain, him and the fact they changed the movie concept completely from the game.
But if they choose to go with him or not, I am still going to see this one, I really love the games. Even though I haven't played them my self.
As for me, I would like Prototype for a movie, I liked the concept in the game, now to see that with some good actors and CGI, I would defiantly go to the cinema to see it.
I'd say "And what exactly is wrong with Pokemon?", but I can see you're one of those people, so you're going to stick firmly to "Pokemon = absolute suck" no matter what I say.
I dunno man it just seems too childish and I never liked Pokemon.
Not that this means I'm conceding that Pokemon is inherently childish, because I don't think it is. I'm just saying.
Lol Power Rangers......
Basically, it lets you take one of your monsters out of the game and "go for a walk" with it, which basically means you earn points by walking and either spend those points on minigames for items or new Pokemon or you send the points back to the game. It also affects the monster's happiness, which is a hidden stat.
Or this also works;
If we were in the trolling thread, I'd say "You could push all the babies of yours to level 100 if you put the Pokewalker on your damn fridge's door, if you know how magnets work".
But I'm not saying it.
If these devices are clever enough to differ between a more human like movement/speed and something else then, rent a Ben Johnson, build your R2D2, go fishing or construct a little circular water street, this thing a belt and your dog, dig out your Fischertechnik, hack the device, ... just be sure to not use it whilst you walk or run.
I personally would LOVE to see an Epic mickey movie. It would be a killer 2D animated film.
This.
Getting back onto the subject. I would want like to see a live-action Duke Nukem movie.
I agree, that would be sweet!