I'm glad to see that they didn't bad mouth the Resident Evil flicks.

And none of you better bad mouth it either.

Or I'll kick your ass.

Milla!!!

I kinda liked Doom. I mean, it was awful, but awful in a good way.

What was wrong with Street Fighter?
That was classic cinema with a deep and thought-provoking... oh wait. Never mind.

Wake me up when they make a Fallout movie.

Hey! My buddy Mike submitted this, it's awesome that it got Farked. Let us know if you agree or not.

If anyone really cares, we're gonna be talking about this on our live podcast tonight at 7 EST. Check the website for details.

/shameless plug
//not submitter, but author
///please don't hit me

What about the reverse?

How many successful movies have been converted to successful video games? It seems nearly every children's movie now has a video game come out about the same time.

Has any movie based game ever become considered a classic?

I think this Dueling Analogs strip clarifies the issue nicely. =P (some strips nsfw)

He's a major contributing factor.

Disagrees.

As long as they stay away from Knights of the Old Republic, I'm fine with this. Any attempt to do so would likely involve George Lucas, and would be a sort of anti-Midas touch. That bastard can turn gold into lead.

The reason video game movies suck is because most of the directors have zero respect for the source material. Take someone who actually recognizes that some games are works of art and that director will stay loyal to the elements that made a game great and produce a quality film.

Uwe Boll isn't just a contributing factor, he's the primary factor.

They fail because they try very hard to please both gamers and regular moviegoers and usually end up pleasing neither.

TheSilverOne: The reason video game movies suck is because most of the directors have zero respect for the source material. Take someone who actually recognizes that some games are works of art and that director will stay loyal to the elements that made a game great and produce a quality film.

You have to wonder if some of the movies were created by folks that never played the game. "First person? Imps? Exploding barrels? Nah, we need car chases!"

ekdikeo4: Uwe Boll isn't just a contributing factor, he's the primary factor.

To his credit, he had nothing to do with how horrible Street Fighter and Double Dragon were... at least, not directly, anyways...

Toshiro Mifune's Letter Opener: Street Fighter


"I'm the repo man! And you're out of business!"

The line that killed Raul Julia

I liked Final Fantasy Spirits Within. It was not related to the video games at all. It had new characters and a plot of its own. So I can't really put that into the Video Game made into Movie group.

I'm waiting for 'Pong, the Movie'

I dont much care for comic book or video game movies. it doesnt seem like either medium needs to be translated into a movie. ymmv

The REAL reason:

I play the games, I control the action. I control every element of the experience. How long it lasts, where I stop, where I start, heck with modifications I can even alter the visuals and sound to suit my desires.

I watch movies. I sit there and absorb it. That's a totally different type of experience.

Games, especially good ones, are specifically tailored to provide their kind of experience. To make them successful as movies you'd need to completely retool them, which then puts you in the position of making something that bears little resemblance to the source material. At that point, why bother spending the money to buy the rights? You might as well make something original and save the money.

I'm glad to see that they didn't bad mouth the Resident Evil flicks.

That movie licked balls. I really don't get how people like it.

I liked Final Fantasy Spirits Within.

So did I. Out of all the videogame movies, I enjoyed this one the most (Silent Hill was OK, too). People hate it because it's slow and doesn't have enough action, but if they wanted to see it for that then they missed the whole freakin' point. The movie is supposed to make you think.

They just announced Metal Gear Solid is underway. Hideo Kojima is the executive producer, and he's already said Uwe Boll is getting nowhere near this movie. Seeing how this my favorite franchise in gaming, I see this as only good news.

whatever happened to the rumoured Metroid movie

Riche: Has any movie based game ever become considered a classic?

I think a fair number of the star wars video games are classics in their own right.

I'm waiting for a Monkey Island movie!

oh wait...

A big reason Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within failed is because it was connected with Final Fantasy in the title. This drove away both people who were unfamiliar with Final Fantasy apart from it being a video game and therefore didn't want to see something they didn't identify with, and people who were fans of Final Fantasy and were disappointed when they discovered the setting, story, and characters of the film had no connection to the games.
That's two key demographics alienated for the price of one!

A moogle on the girl's pajamas is not enough to envoke the Final Fantasy brand image.

TFA - Both are past their prime. Everquest far more than Metal Gear, though a case for a Metal Gear film would have been a lot easier around the time of MGS2 and the Playstation 2 launch.

If you think for one second people don't care about Metal Gear Solid, you're mistaken. MGS4 is what most people are holding out for in regards to the PS3, and its fanbase is pretty damn rabid. It's insanely popular.

Super Mario Bros. was a friggin awesome movie! You shut your mouth article. You shut it now!

Final Fantasy! WTF!? I don't care for your banter article. DIAF.

Hmm... well that doesn't explain Wing Commander.

*The director was Chris Roberts, and while he was new to directing, he created the video game and it's sequels. He also directed several FMV PC games with actors such as Mark Hammill, John-Rhys Davies, and Malcolm McDowell.
*The screenwriter on it had written Mortal Kombat as well as for TV.
*Since Roberts was making the movie, he obviously respected the material and what was important about the game.

What went wrong?
*The original story of Wing Commander, which was pretty solid, especially when you bring the sequel in to account, was abandoned.
*The casting was God-awful.
*They gave up trying to make the Kilrathi look like big cats.

Basically, if you did that to any successful source medium (like a novel or comic) the movie is going to suck.

I'm waiting for Tetris the movie to come out

Movies aside, this needs to be made in to a TV show; half X-Files, half 24.

Video game movies aren't good because most video games are rip offs of a movie in the first place. So you have a movie based on a game that was a ripoff of a movie. It's incestuous. That and most video game movies are made by Uwe Boll.

Riche: Has any movie based game ever become considered a classic?

GoldenEye.

Am I the only one that really wants a System Shock movie? Get the guy that directed Pi (too lazy to imdb it), have an industrial/techno group like Red Harvest or Front Line Assembly to create the entire soundtrack (ala Dust Brothers/Fight Club) and a halfway competent writer and you're golden!
David Lynch would work too. His take on The Many would be fun as hell to see on the big screen.

SHODAN is the shiat.

Riche

TIE Fighter
Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight
Knights of the Old Republic

/just a few more

Without even reading, I can tell you.

*Directors son't stay true enough to the source material.
*The game they pick does not lend itself to a movie. Or anything requiring a coherent plot. The princess of the Mushroom Kingdom has been kidnapped by a giant turtle and a plumber from Brooklyn has to go and save her. Does that sound like a good movie to you?!
*Speaking more broadly, games do not need to be plot-intensive. Movies do.
*Gamers are nit-picky and will note things like a character's wardrobe being off, and they will not see the film. Everyone else thinks games are retarded and will not go see the film. You got no audience.
*Speaking of wardrobe- wardrobes that work in games do not work in real life. Very few game characters dress like anyone in real life would under any circumstances. (Go ahead. Go to work tomorrow dressed like just about anyone from Soul Calibur. See what happens.) And the movie suffers for it.

They should make the Rainbow Six series into a movie... at least there's a novel for it already. Read it so long ago, can't remember if it would translate well for the big screen.

Zombie Hitler


"I'm the repo man! And you're out of business!"

The line that killed Raul Julia

GAAAAAMMMMMMMEEEEEEE OVVVVVVVAAAAAA!

/Hilarious!... You owe me a new keyboard.

About those Tom Clancy movies...Sum of All Fears? I'll pass on an R6 film, thanks.

I'm holding out for a Splinter Cell movie. Though it will be tough to get someone who looks like Sam Fisher but sounds like Michael Ironside.

Video game movies fail because their target demographic seldom leaves their mother's basement to go to the theatre.

The problem is that directors/screenwriters like to validate their craft and don't like the idea of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

The Doom movie was an abomination. For the life of me, I cannot see the reasoning behind throwing out a very simple and marketable premise. They carved it hollow and threw the hardcore gamers a bone with a few rib-poking references. Whoopee.

I'm holding out for a Splinter Cell movie. Though it will be tough to get someone who looks like Sam Fisher but sounds like Michael Ironside.

"Dammit, Sam, that's the third alarm! The movie's over." (Roll credits.)

I always thought "God of War" has the premise for an excellent movie. Obviously needs a lot of fill in, but the narration by Linda Hunt, and the overall thematic concept would make a good movie.

My son's played this 20 times, and I still think the cut scenes are some of the best yet.

I hope there will one day be a Legend of Zelda movie.

tdpatriots12: Hmm... well that doesn't explain Wing Commander.

What went wrong?
*The original story of Wing Commander, which was pretty solid, especially when you bring the sequel in to account, was abandoned.
*The casting was God-awful.
*They gave up trying to make the Kilrathi look like big cats.

They also farked up the timing of the movie release. I don't really remember the specifics but there must have been some major competition or something else going on at the time, because I never actually saw the movie in a theater. And I spend a ridiculous amount of time playing WC3. I mean seriously ridiculous. I don't even know why I loved that game so much at the time but I don't think I've ever clocked so many hours playing any other video game.

I think I finally watched the movie three years or so after its initial release when a friend of mine picked it up for $3.99 at the local Walmart and even then I was only half paying attention. Coincidently, Doom (the movie) was very similar for me. I played Doom 1 when I was a kid and liked Doom II and the spinoffs (Heretic, etc.) but found the movie pretty underwhelming when I finally saw it a year after it hit the big screen.

Basically, if you did that to any successful source medium (like a novel or comic) the movie is going to suck.
Mugato: Riche: Has any movie based game ever become considered a classic?

GoldenEye.

Goldeneye may actually come close to WC3 in terms of 'days of my life wasted'. Never liked the movie all that much until the game came out, which obviously changed everything. Probably one of the greatest multiplayer games ever.

"Make a movie about me, goddammit!"

Anybody else watching The Police absolutely rock out on TV?

/Not to threadjack....

Well I am a fan of the Final Fantasy games. The reason I saw Spirits Within was because I said "ooooh same people who make the games, this is going to be good!" I also preferred the fact that the movies characters had no connection to video game characters because then you didn't have to have background game info to understand who is who etc unlike Advent Children.

Advent Children was a little confusing on who was who and the story because I've never played the game that the characters came from. That is one reason my mom didn't like this movie because she had no idea what was going on but she really enjoyed Spirits Within.

Bloodrayne movie was ok but after seeing it once, that was enough!

GavinTheAlmighty: I'm holding out for a Splinter Cell movie. Though it will be tough to get someone who looks like Sam Fisher but sounds like Michael Ironside.

No offense but I think the SC franchise is grossly overrated. I gave most of those games a shot and absolutely hated every single one with no exception (the Wii version of DA is probably the worst) . Having said that, if they ever make a SC movie, I'd probably go and see it. I can't really explain it but I think all the stuff the pisses me off about the games would likely work very well in a movie.

texdent: I hope there will one day be a Legend of Zelda movie.

I dunno. Zelda is a bit like the A-Team and Battlestar Galactica for me. I was really skeptical about the BSG remake which makes it even more fun and satisfying to watch now since it's nothing short of fantastic. I'm not too optimistic about the A-Team movie, especially with George Peppard gone though. And with Zelda there's just so much that could go wrong. And I'd rather not have them piss on my childhood, if you know what I mean.

/good article, btw
//still love my Wii

long cookie name

No offense but I think the SC franchise is grossly overrated. I gave most of those games a shot and absolutely hated every single one with no exception (the Wii version of DA is probably the worst) .

No offence taken. They're very involved, frustrating games with a bit of a learning curve, and they require much more participation than most other games, and I understand that it's not for everyone. I just finished playing Chaos Theory and I thought it was terrific.