Video game movies suck yes? Yes. Why do they suck? Because games are not based on narrative, they are based on player interaction gameplay, and that’s the way it should be. That’s why games are fun, and why they don’t translate well to a narrative medium. And yet, rabid game fans always INSIST that their favorite game would “make an awesome movie!!!” No, no it won’t, because that’s not what your game was designed or created for.
I’ve said for a long time that the only games that MIGHT have a chance of being decent movies are ones that are broad enough that filmmakers can use the universe the game inhabits, and create their own narrative around it without having to stick to a thin story that was originally created just to serve and push game play.
Anyway, the next up on the block is the crazy popular game “Bioshock“. The good folks over at Filmjunk have this:
the game’s developers have recently been in talks with a major movie studio and “the two have been getting along famously”. Details are scarce at the moment, but an inside source says that they want to shoot the movie in front of green screens in the style of 300, allowing the underwater world of Rapture to be created almost entirely through digital means. I can’t say I’m surprised by this news, and as we reported last year, Ayn Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged (widely cited as the inspiration for Bioshock) is also getting a big screen adaptation in the near future.
I haven’t had the pleasure of playing Bioshock yet, but from all accounts it’s supposed to be fantastic. But once again, until it’s proved otherwise, all video game movies suck. That doesn’t mean there’s no hope. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be done. But until it’s done, it’s safe to assume disaster.
i’ve never played bioshock but i’ve seen a lot of previews and stuff and since i’m not into video games that much i think i would like to see the movie. also i LOVE horror/sci-fi movies so i think it will make a great movie in my opionion!
there is one problem i noticed with Bioshock becoming a movie…(sorry if someone posted this already) the rescuing and harvesting of Little Sisters. they might have to take that out of the movie or somehow change it
have you visited magibon.com. Apperently its a viral marketing scheme for the movie which is already in production in Japan. Magibon is the actress that some of you youtubers know as MRirian. she tried her best to portray herself as a little girl…if you get my drift
The Bioshock storyline is very deep so I think a movie could be done. The movie producers will probably add more characters and different scenes in the story. It doesn’t have to fit the same storyline as the game. This will make a great movie with all the powers and guns and splicers. It could even pass as a movie with nonstop action like 300. It will be hard to make a movie that involves maybe killing little girls, so I hope they dont completely change everything. All we can do is wait and see.
I think the reason why most video game movies suck is because either there really wasn’t anything TO turn into a movie or the directors decided to throw away the source material and go their own way. Take Doom for example. That was supposed to be about demons teleporting in from the depths of hell and killing everyone on the mars base with the lone exception of our hero. Instead, it was a disease that brought out the inherent good or evil in someone? oh, and just to try to make it cool, lets throw in The Rock, he’ll make it awesome! … not.
What I’m trying to get at is that there is no excuse with the cinematic games of today that we should have to suffer through stuff like this. These modern day games give movie producers plenty of material to work with. For example, Splinter Cell. That game doesn’t even have to directly follow the story line of the games, just the system set up by Tom Clancy and preferably the characters as well.
My guess on this, however is that even though Bioshock has a great story and all, when it comes down to it, the directors are gonna tear it apart like they did with Doom. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did away with the whole little sisters thing because it’s too controversial. also wouldn’t be surprised if they changed the looks of the bid daddies to try to make them look cooler, but in the end just ruin the look.
Why Do Films Based on Video Games Suck. Oh Cause One, They get sevral Things Mixed Up, Screwed Up, 24/Fuckin’ 7! First of all I Beat The Fucking GAME! it Should Have The Charicters From The Video Game & Weapons Don’t Forget You’r Powers! If Not, The Video Game Movies & The Crew Have One Thing There Asses Will Be SUED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Would you kindly pick up a copy of this game?
I totally agree with you that almost every single video game ever made into a movie really sucks.
That being said, you REALLY should have played this game before settling into an opnion. One of the few games I have ever played where the gameplay comes second to the story and narrative. I honestly believe it is a masterpiece within it’s artistic medium and COULD make a fantastic movie, there is plenty enough material there to do so.
I say COULD because in all likelihood, as was said before, the movie studio will simply push out whatever lame piece of crap they can knowing that ppl will see it regardless and it will make money off of the popularity of the game.
Still tho, go play it, then come back and post.
Hey, this is a cool article you guys might like to read. It’s a great recap of this summer’s blockbuster movies. It’s a good read, so I thought you all would want to check it out!
http://movies.sympatico.msn.ca/features/article.aspx?cp-documentid=442628
I am not talking about a movie based directly off the Halo games, that would be horrible. I am saying make a movie based off the halo universe, based off the Spartan I & Spartan II programs, the work of Dr. Halsey and then maybe get into the Human-Covenant War or the fall of Reach. However, like oldshell said, it would need a good writing talent and shitload of money for it to be worth a shit.
@ Kanthan
I can’t defend halo here, you are dead on. The Elites have a lot of similarities with the Predator, with the active camo and the jaw splitting.
Hangon….. Wing commander the film was from the computer game? Hell i would have watched that film then, i loved the game.
I agree i don’t understand why people keep going on about halo i got the first 3 games and loved every minute but the plot is paper thin and dont get me started on the covenent a direct rip off of predtor go and see the Halo wars trailer.
halo’s plot is terrible, any movie would result in a starship troopers 2 style sci-fi b movie. Tbh generally sci-fi movies are crap unless they have a shit-load of money and good writing talent thrown at them.
This is great, Bioshock may get a movie made but Halo cant, WTF is that. If there is a game that will break the reign of shitty video game movies, Halo is the one to do it. Others have mention Mass Effect, Metal Gear Solid, God of War, and Half-Life. Of course if handled right. Bioshock is a good game, but will not make a good movie.
the glorious underwater world of rapture! sounds a great concept also the story for bioshock was pretty good.
we shall see??!
hope they keep the gene changing elements of the game!
craig
John
Mass effect has a better narative then most films i have seen this year. Metal gear series is also wonder and i would ratheer watch the cutscences in that then watch most films, God of war would be a spectecle if handled right. Bio shock story is good buts gets lame half way through
van dammes street fighter is great…….
hard to hate a film that is that bad…..just a load of terribly wonderful shit
oldshell thats not a bad idea
rumor has it that bioshock 2 is going to be a prequel which seems like the logical place to go
i like the idea of showing what happened to rapture but there were some things from the game that i would really like to see in a movie
like sander cohen
Bioshock is narratively driven story, but as brought up the main character never speaks in the story, and his name is Jack but you can only learn that by paying attention.
That said if they limit the voice work they could integrate the terrific story in Bioshock, which for the record won “Best Story” on GameSpot.com this year. I loved the twists in Bioshock, and witht he write writers to tell it write and build the mystery it could still have a chance.
Mass Effect would be another potential, but it’s open-endness restricts to a degree.
And yes, games like Bioshock and Mass Effect have stories that were better then most mainstream movies that came out this year.
zach: “now that i think about it there would be one huge problem with making this movie the main character dosing speak”
I think the only way they could make this movie work is if they set in pre-game, telling the story before the hero arrives. The game only gives snippets of what went on so there’d be more scope… without the mass fighting I couldn’t even see the bioshock game story lasting 20minutes tbh and even if it did it would be very dull. Take the story back, show us how Rapture was built and the fighting between Fontaine and Adam Ryan and some of the weird creations.. the closer they try and stick to the game’s plot or structure the more it’ll suck!
I enjoy quite a few game based movies, solely off of being a video game nut.
However, as much as I think Mass Effect, or the Metal Gear Solids or [insert game you think would make a great movie here]…
John hit the nail on the head:
“That doesn’t mean there’s no hope. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be done. But until it’s done, it’s safe to assume disaster.”
If every video game movie were adapted from video games perfectly, without diluting the power of the story or cutting any characters, then most of them would be like 8-10 hours, at least. My brother and I once videotaped all the cinematics and conversations from Metal Gear Solid and it totaled up to almost 4 fricking hours.
Probably all video games are just unfilmable.
Let’s see all the video game movies that crash and burned:
Super Mario Bros = sucked
Mortal Kombat = sucked (even though I thought this was the best movie ever made when I was 10)
Silent Hill = okay but still kinda sucked
Hitman = looks like it sucks
Double Dragon = sucked
Street Fighter – OMG, my eyes! Couldn’t believe this was Raul Julia’s last movie.
Pokemon = Didn’t even watch it because it looks like it sucks
Wing Commander = Sucked!
Final Fantasy = wasn’t even based on any of the goddamn games! AND IT SUCKED!
Tomb Raider – Jolie (HOT) Movie? NOT.
Resident Evil = Waste of time (all of them)
House of the Dead = SUCKED
Alone in the Dark = Not even remotely relatable to the game and it still sucked
DOOM = Not even the Rock can save this piece of shit
DOA = Great tits? Check! Hot asses? DOUBLE CHECK. OK Movie? Hell NAW!
In the Name of the King: I wanted to fucking rape my eyes out after watching the trailer.
Bloodrayne: God, I’d even watch Kristanna Loken in that dumbass show Painkiller Jane then watch this again.
If there are any okay to decent video game movies, they were both anime:
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (mildly decent, I prefer the Japanese language version though)
Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture (I think this is the best video game picture I’ve seen so far)
bioshock tells a fantastic story. i loved that game.
i could see it being adapted into something worth watching.
Im not saying video game movies dont suck because they do. But when was the last time you have played a video game through from start to finish? There have been many games with great story lines that are far better then the movies we have been seeing over the last few years.
The problem is everyone thinks a movie based on a video game has to be exactly the same.. Why not use the game as a starting point and grow from that? We dont need first person camera views to remind of the movie was once a game Example: DOOM.
Yeah, i’m with Steve L.
I ususally love games like Bioshock but it didn’t grip me at all. Not to mention, i’ll be pissed if Bioshock becomes a movie but Half Life doesn’t.
now that i think about it there would be one huge problem with making this movie
the main character dosing speak
same problem with making a half life movie
i see what your saying
and thats true about most games
but as a hardcore gamer i think there are some exceptions
bioshock being one of them
i would recommend playing it first and then making a judgement about its “narrative”
maybe im wrong but i think it has potential to make a great movie
it has a great story, great art direction and memorable charecters
The story line in Bioshock was decent but honestly the game really bored me. Honestly, if you played the game why would you want to see a movie? Personally I enjoyed the experience from the game more because the story works with YOU as the main character.
This is one they should just leave as is.
lol.. all video game movies suck.. but then all movie based video games suck and most still do. The main problem is they need to take the task a little more seriously, the thinking on both sides seems to go “no effort required and we’ll still make money off the fans”. In short, yes they always suck, but I don’t think it’s necessarily the source material… just the laziness with which they treat it. Hell, tomb raider’s story was essentially indiana jones, they just ballsed it up (just like national treasure *sorry john*).
Hey Zach,
You said:
“those games have better stories than most movies being released”
Dude, I totally hear ya… but that’s what EVERYONE always says every single time one of these things gets announced… and they’re always wrong.
Games are not based on narrative. Sure they have a story, but not narrative, and without narrative, a story is just words on paper. A single idea that can be summed up in one paragraph. That single paragraph is all well and good… but unless it’s designed to be translated into full narative, it’s useless.
Hey Zach,
You said:
“those games have better stories than most movies being released”
Dude, I totally hear ya… but that’s what EVERYONE always says every single time one of these things gets announced… and they’re always wrong.
Games are not based on narative. Sure they have a story, but not narative, and without narative, a story is just words on paper. A single idea that can be summed up in one paragraph. That single paragraph is all well and good… but unless it’s designed to be translated into full narative, it’s useless.
i cant agree with you on that john
it says you haven’t played bioshock and i doubt you’ve played mass effect
those games have better stories than most movies being released
I think that they did an excellent job of world building and the story is Bioshock’s most shining feature. A movie if done right would be amazing but video game movies always seem to lack in the “amazing” department but it’s basically a wait-and-see thing.
Hey Jonathan,
The problem is that you’re ignoring the one common denominator (which is where you should always start). The one common denominator is that they’re video game movies.
Sure, if Spielberg was directing that would be great… but Spielberg wouldn’t allow himself to be limited to the story of the game and would insist on the freedom to create his own narrative.
Modern games are also very thin on narritive. They just seem grander when compared to stuff like old atari and what not.
mass effect would also be amazing
Oh yeah, and what video game adaptation HASN’T butchered it’s source material anyway for that matter?
“Because games are not based on narrative, they are based on player interaction gameplay, and that’s the way it should be. That’s why games are fun, and why they don’t translate well to a narrative medium.”
John, if you were talking about the old Atari or NES or SNES days, I might agree. But seriously, most great games focus on narrative nowadays just as much as anything else. Look at the Knights of the Old Republic Games, Mass Effect, etc. etc.
The problem isn’t what you said at all, it’s the fact that they bring shitty writers, shitty directors, and (generally) shitty talent on board in every area for these films. If all you have is shit making a movie, the movie is going to be shit.
I guarantee get a writer like Eric Roth and a director like Steven Spielberg to make a video game movie and everyone would sing a different tune.
BioShock is one of the few games that has a storyline that might be able to make an excellent movie.
Mass Effect even more so, now that I would love to see.
maas effect is cool but gears of war the movie would be cooler
if they do this right than it could be amazing
the story in the game is phenomenal