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What videogames should be made into movies? (1 Viewer)

Morgan Jolley

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There are threads about videogame based movies in the Movies section, but since this section is just about games, I figured the people here would have a good idea on which games would make good movies.

I, for one, think that most of the games that would make good movies are already made into movies. Final Fantasy has deep, complex plots and emotional aspects that rival some of Hollywood's best, Tomb Raider has action and a hot chick, and Resident Evil has all the aspects of big movies in it (cheesy dialogue, sci-fi stuff, horror, monsters, story with a lot of twists and turns).

I said in one thread in the Movies section that I can't think of any other movies that should be made into movies, but I found another one: Silent Hill. The game eminates horror and is mostly story driven. Its like Resident Evil, only with less violence and gore and more creepiness. If done correctly, it would make a good Halloween flick.

Any other ones? Someone suggested Metal Gear Solid, but for some what I consider VERY important reasons, it would be undoable.
 

Camp

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Based on the history of these things my answer would have to be...

none.

Though if you get really wasted and watch Super Mario Brothers it's almost...naaa...it's still too painful.
 

Dan Brecher

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Movies based on videogames are made to milk the franchise, little else. It is a further offence upon that fact that they are always badly executed in character and plot and serve to make money from the game's fans and the game's fans only.

The majority of videogames by their very nature have thin and/or ridiculous story lines, it is foolish to think that what works for one medium will work for another. I think the producers of Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat...etc blatantly know all this, but like I say, they want to cash in and make a quick buck or two.

Any other ones? Someone suggested Metal Gear Solid, but for some what I consider VERY important reasons, it would be undoable.
Oh mark my words, they will try and make Metal Gear movie within the next five years for sure, purely on the basis of it being "cool" and violent. The MGS games have appalling plots for a movie to base itself on, that's a major reason I don't want to see it on the big screen.

With House of the Dead being made (dear god!), CRAZY TAXI and State of Emergency (wtf!!!!) all set to become movies, the prospect of thinking up even more is just not something I want to think about.

I think also what Hollywood forgets is people enjoy a game BECAUSE its a game. Most games these days take a lot of inspiration from movies, and in that respect we a gamers end up playing as if we were part of some sort of itneractive movie (MGS2 for example). This is a major appeal of videogames these days, this is why the Final Fantasy games work so well, we are made a part of it.

Simply put, it is my firm belief that gamers would much rather control the actions of a Solid Snake or a Lara Croft rather than being forced to watch them. Games can get away with their questionable plots if in gameplay they are immersive enough. The same plot used in a movie however will fail to be immersive at all.

Dan
 

Larry Seno Jr.

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I think GTA 3 would make a GREAT movie, as it LOOKS like a movie as is. Duke Nukem would make a good movie, as would Halo.
 

Dan B

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I'd prefer that games & movies avoid each other.
This reminds me that...Dead or Alive, the fighting game known for...umm...known for...whatever it is that it is known for is being made into a movie, according to a press release issued just today. :)
EDIT-
A quick search found a couple of articles on DOA-the movie. One from today, and one from over a year ago.
-Dan B
 

Trevor_J

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I can't believe no one has mentioned Halo yet?!
Hands down, Halo would make an awesome movie. Hell, the game itself plays like a movie. It's got the plot twists action, suspense etc.
Even the Prequel 'Fall of Reach' would make a good movie, although some people might complain about the open ended ending, but that would be for the sequels :D.
 

Sean Oneil

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Halo? it's already been done in 'Aliens' :D
It's not the same plot, but Halo definately found an influence from that film.
 

Feng

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If video games include PC games, then Diablo is my first choice.

Metal Gear Solid and its sequel are already "movie"-like. There are more cut scenes to watch than actually "game" to play. Final Fantasy is heading that direction too.
 

Trevor_J

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Halo? it's already been done in 'Aliens' It's not the same plot, but Halo definately found an influence from that film.
Sean, I'm curious. How exactly do you think it was influenced by Aliens? The only parallel I can come up with is the fact that there are aliens in it. Other than that, I see no similarities.
 

James Zos

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Until games have movie-caliber plots, NO video games should be made into movies. Hollywood makes plenty of stupid movies already.
 

Andy Sheets

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I think the first thing Hollywood needs to do if it's going to make movies based on games is really look at what games have believable characters or, at the very, very least, are not immediate self-parodies. This, of course, disqualifies about 99% of all video games from becoming good movies. A Duke Nukem movie, for instance, seems like a bad idea to me because Duke is a too-broad parody of action heroes whose best lines are pretty much all stolen from the Evil Dead movies anyway. I remember cracking up the first time I read about the Resident Evil movie because it said that Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez were playing "the leaders of an elite commando force." *L* I'm sorry, I don't have anything against female action heroes, but I just can't buy that one :)
Of course, if I had to pick a game to make a movie out of, I'd pick Gabriel Knight. The characters are relatively down-to-earth as games go and given a good plot, it could have a sort of "X-Files with Old World mythology" appeal. And it probably helps that the creator of the games was actually a writer before she became a game designer...
 

Mike LS

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How exactly do you think it was influenced by Aliens? The only parallel I can come up with is the fact that there are aliens in it. Other than that, I see no similarities
Are you serious?
Not that this was directed to me, but similarities are everywhere....and I'm only on the 4th level.
1. Alien race that kills humans
2. Space marines
3. The automatic weapons are strikingly like the ones in Aliens
4. Biggest thing I can think of is the Marine drop ships....they look JUST like the ones in the movie.
 

Joseph Young

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Metal Gear: The Movie with Michael Beign as Solid Snake.
Look here for why I think he's a perfect choice.
Stuart Townsend, fresh off the heels of his campy Lestat performance, can play Liquid Snake.
Karnov with William Conrad as Karnov and Robin Williams as the rock throwing imp.
An entirely CGI animated version of Wizards and Warriors.
Ghosts and Goblins with Ron Silver as Maximo.
Castlevania: Goodbye to the Light with Gary Busey as Dracula and Billy Crudup as Simon Belmont.
:D
Joseph
 

Ike

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I agree, none. If the game is good enough, it best exists in game form. So, the only games that would make good movies are bad games, and you can see the flaw in that.

(I always thought that Grim Fandango was a brilliant mix of novel detail and length with cinematic vision. If games continue down this path, I'd see them becoming real important.)
 

Sean Oneil

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Hey Trevor :)
Mike pretty much nailed a lot of it in his above post. To me the influence of 'Aliens' clearly shows in 'Halo'. Not so much in a direct storyline comparison, but more in the overall tone, and the little things like:
The marines and some of the things that they will yell out. At one point I heard a marine whining and predicting death for himself and the company... it sounded almost exactly like Hudson (Bill Paxton) in Aliens.
The marines were always dropping lines that sounded straight out of Aliens. Even the Sergeant at the beginning of the game who commands all the marines to "move out" sounds just like 'The Sarge' from Aliens.
The assault rifles look and sound almost exactly like those in Aliens, the ships look almost exactly like those in Aliens, the hypersleep? chamber that the master chief emerges from is practically identical to the hypersleep chambers that the marines and Riply emerge from in Aliens... I believe at one point a 'flood' mutant somehow emerges or transforms from a human host,
Anyway, there are a whole bunch of elements from Aliens that have found their way into Halo, they are just all twisted around. I am sure that the game's creators would admit as much.
Not trying to knock the game, because I loved it, and think it is the best game of last year (well, for me it's a toss up between Halo and FF X).
 

Trevor_J

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Sure, there are some design elements that are similar to 'Aliens'.I am referring to the plot, story, background, characters, etc.

Regarding the marines, yes, both 'Halo' and 'Aliens' have marines in them. In the book they go into detail as to why there are Space Marines so they're not just there for the sake of imitation.

There are plenty of cases where design elements or ideas have been taken from one movie and put into another. I don't necessarily think it's fair to say that 'Halo' was already done because there are some design elements that resemble (or straight out copied) 'Aliens' when the entire universe they're based on is totally different. That would be like saying there shouldn't be a 'Matrix II' because they've already done 'Charlies Angels'.
 

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