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[More_Badass]

Soma and 80 Days are good contenders. 80 Days more so, I love the world of 80 Days.

Video game narratives aren't all bad in spite of my hyperbolic answer. I think Firewatch has a strong story despite some missteps. I should say that the movies you'll see that are made from video games are probably going to be more in the style of Assassins Creed (awful story, popular multi-title franchise) rather than any horror movie adaptation of Kitty Horrowshow.

Honestly I think Assassins Creed could make for a good movie. I even think the general approach the movie did is how it should be done: don't adapt one of the games but have an original hero and story, treat it as an introduction to the world and concept, change the Animus to make the bleeding effect less Matrix-y, do a mix of present and past through editing and such to solidify the connection between descendant and ancestor, focus the story on the present day for a main hero that can link different timelines and give the past storylines an overarching goal/reason.

 

[marrec]

Honestly I think Assassins Creed could make for a good movie. I even think the general approach the movie did is how it should be done: don't adapt one of the games but have an original hero and story, treat it as an introduction to the world and concept, change the Animus to make the bleeding effect less Matrix-y, do a mix of present and past through editing and such to solidify the connection between descendant and ancestor, focus the story on the present day for a main hero that can link different timelines and give the past storylines an overarching goal/reason.

Right, which was my point in my first post.

Because video game narratives suck and people who make Video Game movies don't know how to take advantage of the worlds to craft their own stories.

Video game movies always try to tenuously cling to established narratives (either from laziness or fanservice or what, I dunno) but they never take advantage of the thing that Video Games do best, crafted worlds. The idea behind Assassin's Creed is rife for story exploitation. You can, through this world, explore any timeline through badass eyes as they participate in historical events real or imagined. Meanwhile the company behind the technology is actually an ancient group of evil doers (OR ARE THEY?!) who the main character is sworn by blood to defeat. You've AT LEAST got a campy cult action movie in that premise. How, then, do you fuck that up?

Hell if I know I haven't seen the movie yet :lol

They probably fuck it up by taking things WAY too seriously and being completely over dramatic when it's not necessary to do so.

EDIT:

I guess what I'm trying to say is "I agree" lol

 

[Glass Rebel]

Well I sort of answered this in my post. Cyberpunk is, with the exception of the Blade Runner reboot, still out, if it was ever in. Space travel film however, is pretty in. It's the theme du jour, which is why, even if Deus Ex was being considered for adaptation, The Martian would get adapted first.

Also, tangentially related, Ghost in the Shell? Same deal as Neuromancer. GITS has been "waiting" for a live action adaptation for a while now. GITS 1995 was also highly influential for that subset of film directors who are also fans of cyberpunk. If given the choice of which cyberpunk property to adapt, GITS or Deus Ex, which do you honestly think looks more attractive?

I think we're delving into the realms of popularity and influence here. GITS is obviously highly influential and The Martian was turned into a movie incredibly quickly because of how good it is.

My point was that the Martian doesn't do anything more "novel" or "interesting" than Deus Ex that makes it more suited for a movie adaptation. It just does the thing it does way better and had great timing.

What I'm trying to say is, I don't think the comparison The Martian vs. Deus Ex is a fair one to make an argument against movies based on games.

 

[Acorn]

I feel like that desperation to get a hit videogame movie is pretty lame and shows the games industry still has a chip on their shoulder and want Hollywood's approval.

Why they do this when videogames have dwarfed movies as entertainment for years now is beyond me.

 

[Haly]

Sounds like fanfiction, and you know how people feel about fanfiction.

Spoiler

The truth is video game movies can be a lot better if it was always an exercise in fanfiction but this would defeat the point of adapting a video game in the first place i.e. capitalizing on a preexisting fanbase.

 

[marrec]

I think we're delving into the realms of popularity and influence here. GITS is obviously highly influential and The Martian was turned into a movie incredibly quickly because of how good it is.

My point was that the Martian doesn't do anything more "novel" or "interesting" than Deus Ex that makes it more suited for a movie adaptation. It just does the thing it does way better and had great timing.

What I'm trying to say is, I don't think the comparison The Martian vs. Deus Ex is a fair one to make an argument against movies based on games.

What the Martian does better than Deus Ex is have an interesting, funny, self-deprecating main character who is easy to root for and also relate too. It's kinda unfair like you said lol

 

[Penguin]

I feel like that desperation to get a hit videogame movie is pretty lame and shows the games industry still has a chip on their shoulder and want Hollywood's approval.

Why they do this when videogames have dwarfed movies as entertainment for years now is beyond me.

Because it hasn't?

More people will see your average blockbuster than play your typical AAA title.

Gaming generates more revenue because the typical cost of entry is what 7x difference?

 

[Glass Rebel]

What the Martian does better than Deus Ex is have an interesting, funny, self-deprecating main character who is easy to root for and also relate too. It's kinda unfair like you said lol

Well, I did say that The Martian was really good. It's also Ridley Scott's and Matt Damon's best movie in years.

 

[Nikodemos]

The biggest problem is that people try to adapt action games, which, with very few exceptions, have mediocre to bad stories and rely on, surprise, action, that is the player moving the story forward. Remove that and you end up with a crappy plot and shitty narrative progression.

The types of games that should be adapted are story heavy ones, ones where the protagonist isn't the narrative's prime mover (via his/her direct actions) and those with heavy lore behind them.

And preferably not fantasy.

 

[Livingskeletons]

I thought Prince of Persia was entertaining. Not something I would want to see over and over but a fun popcorn movie

 

[cj_iwakura]

The Silver Case is a gaming narrative that could only be done as a game. Suda said that was one of his goals with GHM.

 

[Riposte]

With videogames, you can't adapt the core of the experience (interactivity and the way the game is built around it - the feeling of playing a game) in most cases, you can only adapt the overall concept and movie-like aspects (and novel spin-offs and adaptations are not really rare). This means, going beyond the usual shortcomings of 90%+ of book to film adaptations, there's going to be a lot of differences and adjustments. However, to contradict myself, I don't think this is a really problem (if anything, it makes it less of a problem) when it comes to adapting something, especially the games which are already movie-like in tone (more so Mass Effect, Uncharted than the uniquely videogame-ish MGS).

In the end, good director, good script, and good overall production will make a decent to good movie (or show?), maybe even a unique movie (since there have been middling videogames adaptations, they are not all garbage, aside from not staying true to the source). It doesn't seem to be the case that there are passionate creatives chasing after this idea (Max Landis aside...), so you are left with a sort of corporate view of "how do we make money from this property" slap-dashed into multiple failed productions and disappointing results. Disney can pull it off with Marvel comics, because it has created a dedicated, formulaic machine of shitting out decent to good movies at a breath-taking rate few others could challenge.

EDIT: For example, the Assassin's Creed movie being boring and lifeless, if critics are to be believed, has nothing inherently to do with it getting its setting and concepts (loosely, very loosely) from a videogame. It may have something to do with creating the conditions that would make it that way though.

 

[More_Badass]

The biggest problem is that people try to adapt action games, which, with very few exceptions, have mediocre to bad stories and rely on, surprise, action, that is the player moving the story forward. Remove that and you end up with a crappy plot and shitty narrative progression.

The types of games that should be adapted are story heavy ones, ones where the protagonist isn't the narrative's prime mover (via his/her direct actions) and those with heavy lore behind them.

And preferably not fantasy.

That's not an issue. It has nothing to do with action heavy vs story heavy game, because the gameplay, the pacing of the gameplay, or the story of the game doesn't matter for a film. The overall world and concept does, even more than who the protagonist is.

 

[Acorn]

Because it hasn't?

More people will see your average blockbuster than play your typical AAA title.

Gaming generates more revenue because the typical cost of entry is what 7x difference?

Regardless it's still ridiculous. Movies and games don't necessarily have to have a relationship and the scrambling to make it happen seems stuck in 80s or 90s when games were struggling to not be seen as toys. That isn't the case anymore.

 

[Haly]

My point was that the Martian doesn't do anything more "novel" or "interesting" than Deus Ex that makes it more suited for a movie adaptation. It just does the thing it does way better and had great timing.

Let's set story aside for a moment and just look at it from a production point of view.

Which do you think is easier to adapt, The Martian or Deus Ex? I mean, if you really wanted to you could adapt The Martian singlehandedly. Set up a tent in the midwest; gets some props to make it look like a space ship. It could be a single camera kind of deal. You can publish it on youtube or instagram. Would make for a really cool indie arthouse film/mixed media project.

Deus Ex? At a minimum you're looking at a large cast, costumes and makeup, CG and/or special effects. Multiple settings. Props. Complex choreography and so on.

Within The Martian is many, many films/filmic stories that can be made and which would all work in their own unique ways. Within Deus Ex is... Blade Runner-lite and not much else, not if you actually wanted to deliver Deus Ex.

So, just right there, without even getting into a dick waving contest of "which story is better", you have an argument in favor of The Martian as adaptation fodder.

 

[badb0y]

Warcraft was really good for me but that's because I knew the lore already. For someone new I could see how it would be hard to folllow what is happening. I hope it gets a sequel.

 

[Acorn]

Warcraft was really good for me but that's because I knew the lore already. For someone new I could see how it would be hard to folllow what is happening. I hope it gets a sequel.

China saved it. It'll get a sequel.

 

[Nikodemos]

That's not an issue. It has nothing to do with action heavy vs story heavy game, because the gameplay, the pacing of the gameplay, or the story of the game doesn't matter for a film. The overall world and concept does, even more than who the protagonist is.

A non-protagonist driven game would work better as a movie adaptation compared to one where the player character is the narrative's prime mover.
A Door Kickers-inspired movie about the line of duty experiences of a SWAT agent would work better than the action-game-adaptation-du-jour some random exec would decide to (poorly) fund.
Most action games are escapist to an extent, and they translate badly to the screen when that escapism is removed (though maybe Spec Ops: The Movie could avoid that, given the overall bleakness of the setting and plot).

 

[Seductivpancakes]

Warcraft was really good for me but that's because I knew the lore already. For someone new I could see how it would be hard to folllow what is happening. I hope it gets a sequel.

I didn't like it too much but I hope they reach Warcraft 3.

 

[bearythebear]

Hollywood loves existing IPs so they will always try to adapt Video Games into movies. Eventually they'll get one big hit and the floodgates will open.

I feel like there's a lot of good stuff about video games or game mechanics. Wreck-it Ralph and Edge of Tomorrow come to mind. Heck the big HBO show right now, Westworld, is basically a critique of Open World action games in some ways. It doesn't entirely work, and has a lot of issues, but still cool to see.

 

[jasminlovesyoux]

Let's face it, the vast majority (maybe all of them) of video game movies get made because there's already a fan base and Hollywood looks at this as instant sales. That's the extent of care that happens with these things. If all the people involved actually wanted to make a 90 minute cut scene (live action or not) to a game and call it a movie then we'd see much better movies to games. The problem is the game devs don't exactly know how to create a great film, look at final fantasy. And Hollywood doesn't know why we like the games. So it's all screwed up and if I were in charge I'd make everything great. There I said it.

 

[deadlast]

One of the main issues with video game movies is too much fan-service. They spend too much time worrying about what would please fan, rather than make a good movie.

 

[Penguin]

Regardless it's still ridiculous. Movies and games don't necessarily have to have a relationship and the scrambling to make it happen seems stuck in 80s or 90s when games were struggling to not be seen as toys. That isn't the case anymore.

This may be true, but guess the thread is working under the assumption that they'll keep making video game movies, and in the short-term seems o be the case.

Let's face it, the vast majority (maybe all of them) of video game movies get made because there's already a fan base and Hollywood looks at this as instant sales. That's the extent of care that happens with these things. If all the people involved actually wanted to make a 90 minute cut scene (live action or not) to a game and call it a movie then we'd see much better movies to games. The problem is the game devs don't exactly know how to create a great film, look at final fantasy. And Hollywood doesn't know why we like the games. So it's all screwed up and if I were in charge I'd make everything great. There I said it.

That may be what Hollywood looks at, but even they realize these things actually need to make money to be worth the constant investment. Very few of these movies actually turn a profit.

 

[Haly]

Also, there isn't a lot of 'cross pollination', so to speak, between the two industries. You don't have people who grow up with video games and then enter the film industry just to create movies about video games. Indie development is getting easier to break into with each passing year. Why settle for a non-interactive storytelling medium?

The same wasn't true for books, however, which is why book adaptations tend to be, on the whole, more careful and considerate than video game adaptations.

 

[Kusagari]

The video games most ripe for Hollywood are ones where you can take the setting and concepts and make your own story with them.

It's one of the reasons I have some semblance of faith in the Detective Pikachu movie. The fact they're doing that and not a generic trainer movie gives me hope.

 

[More_Badass]

Firewatch and Oxenfree are supposed to be getting movie adaptations as well

Oxenfree, I could see turning out interesting. I don't have hope for Firewatch though; the story and atmosphere of the game hinges so much on being in the world and traveling those trails.

 

[Penguin]

The video games most ripe for Hollywood are ones where you can take the setting and concepts and make your own story with them.

It's one of the reasons I have some semblance of faith in the Detective Pikachu movie. The fact they're doing that and not a generic trainer movie gives me hope.

Actually why I thought something like Assassin's Creed would have broken the mold.

The concept is unique and allows them a world of options in settings for movies and sequels, but alas didn't seem to work.

 

[Whitephantomzx]

For some reason movies focus on the wrong things like the max panye movie instead of going with la noir detective going on rampage to find who killed his family we get whatever happened or in Prince of perisa instead giving us the Prince trying to survive the sand warrior and crazy traps using the dagger to reach the top of the palace and confront the vizer. movies ignore what was fun about the game

 

[GalacticAE]

Kojima isn't hard sci-fi. Besides that his narratives are poorly formed and exposition heavy. He relies too much on "twists" and an unreliable narrator. There are always interesting ideas nestled within the piles of extraneous and often convoluted to convolutions sake bullshit, but you still have to sift through piles of extraneous bullshit. He certainly competes with Michael Bay when it comes to Sci-Fi, but that's about it.

And I like Kojima.

but you brought up a movie like the martian which was just a predictable hollywood survival film. compared to that, kojima's stories are more dynamic and interesting. the extraneous stuff you talk about is just the nature of telling a story in a video game setting where the world is interactive and varies from player to player. kojima creates a detailed interactive world while still actually being a video game.

You can't be serious. You think MGS is hard sci-fi?

yea. it has a basis in real life technology and science. MGS and Policenauts are hard sci fi kojima.

 

[More_Badass]

For some reason movies focus on the wrong things like the max panye movie instead of going with la noir detective going on rampage to find who killed his family we get whatever happened or in Prince of perisa instead giving us the Prince trying to survive the sand warrior and crazy traps using the dagger to reach the top of the palace and confront the vizer. movies ignore what was fun about the game

Does that really matter for a film? A movie shouldn't try to recreate what was fun about the game, because what was fun about the game isn't going to work onscreen or be able to come across in a condensed 2-hour format.

yea. it has a basis in real life technology and science. MGS and Policenauts are hard sci fi kojima.

That doesn't make something hard sci-fi. 2001, Primer, Contact, and The Martian are examples of hard sci-fi, sci-fi within the limits of realistic science fiction, physics, math, etc. Not just a basis in real life, but presented within the limits and lens of real life.

 

[Sulik2]

I liked Prince of Persia personally. I thought it captured the spirit of the game pretty well and had some good set pieces.

 

[Acorn]

This may be true, but guess the thread is working under the assumption that they'll keep making video game movies, and in the short-term seems o be the case.



That may be what Hollywood looks at, but even they realize these things actually need to make money to be worth the constant investment. Very few of these movies actually turn a profit.

Fair point.

 

[Costa Kid]

One of the main issues with video game movies is too much fan-service. They spend too much time worrying about what would please fan, rather than make a good movie.

I agree with this. It results in a movie that doesn't appeal to a large audience.

I'd love to see a movie about Halo Reach, there's so much potential there, especially with the amount Microsoft could pump into it.

 

[crackhead_bob]

Studios should wait until game franchises stagnate out of discussion and consciousness for around 20 years until they attempt to adapt them. When you think about films that have been adapted from novel; it usually takes decades. Stories like Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Lord of the Rings. Part of the problem is that they try to adapt every minute detail from the game onto a screenplay. That doesn't work. As someone said before, they should use the tactics of Marvel when doing these games. I think using the animus was a stupid idea. They should have centered it on a specific era and kept it at that.

 

[More_Badass]

Studios should wait until game franchises stagnate out of discussion and consciousness for around 20 years until they attempt to adapt them. When you think about films that have been adapted from novel; it usually takes decades.

That hasn't been the case for decades. The Martian, Gone Girl, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Da Vinci Code, The Devil Wears Prada, The Life of Pi, Shutter Island, etc, Jurassic Park came out three years after the book

Altered Carbon is getting a Netflix show. The Terror is slated for AMC. The Devil In The White City is getting a movie

 

[Toad.T]

Maybe use the game as a jumping off point for something related to the world, but not entirely connected? Like the Detective Pikachu movie. Even though it's clearly based off of the spinoff, it most likely will skip the game's plot.

 

[Penguin]

Studios should wait until game franchises stagnate out of discussion and consciousness for around 20 years until they attempt to adapt them. When you think about films that have been adapted from novel; it usually takes decades. Stories like Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Lord of the Rings. Part of the problem is that they try to adapt every minute detail from the game onto a screenplay. That doesn't work. As someone said before, they should use the tactics of Marvel when doing these games. I think using the animus was a stupid idea. They should have centered it on a specific era and kept it at that.

I mean the Harry Potter movies were being made literally as books were still coming out.

And the army of YA adaptions that followed them.

And Jurassic Park was what... 3 years?

 

[janoDX]

Same way marvel did it. You get Capcom to go to Disney and marvel and say how do I do this?

MVC: the movie

Done. 850 million

Phase 4 of MCU confirmed

 

[Glass Rebel]

Let's set story aside for a moment and just look at it from a production point of view.

Which do you think is easier to adapt, The Martian or Deus Ex? I mean, if you really wanted to you could adapt The Martian singlehandedly. Set up a tent in the midwest; gets some props to make it look like a space ship. It could be a single camera kind of deal. You can publish it on youtube or instagram. Would make for a really cool indie arthouse film/mixed media project.

Deus Ex? At a minimum you're looking at a large cast, costumes and makeup, CG and/or special effects. Multiple settings. Props. Complex choreography and so on.

Within The Martian is many, many films/filmic stories that can be made and which would all work in their own unique ways. Within Deus Ex is... Blade Runner-lite and not much else, not if you actually wanted to deliver Deus Ex.

So, just right there, without even getting into a dick waving contest of "which story is better", you have an argument in favor of The Martian as adaptation fodder.

Look, I don't disagree with any of your points here.

I'm just saying, in a discussion about book adaption vs. game adaption pitting these two against each other isn't a very fruitful discussion. And yes, I know it wasn't you who brought it up but personally speaking, between Harvest Moon on Mars versus James Bond meets Blade Runner, I don't know which I'd pick.

...actually, putting it that way that's one more argument for The Martian. fuck.

 

[Haly]

See.

I want a Harvest Moon HBO mini-series now.

 

[crackhead_bob]

That hasn't been the case for decades. The Martian, Gone Girl, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Da Vinci Code, The Devil Wears Prada, The Life of Pi, Shutter Island, etc, Jurassic Park came out three years after the book

Altered Carbon is getting a Netflix show. The Terror is slated for AMC. The Devil In The White City is getting a movie

Well, games don't have a good track record, and there really hasn't been alot of test cases to be honest. I personally think that if an Uncharted movie ever gets made, that it should wait 20 years after it's lost relevancy in the gaming community, that way you don't have the inevitable taint that comes with a game to film adaptation.

 

[crackhead_bob]

See.

I want a Harvest Moon HBO mini-series now.

That would belong on the Home Garden Network.

 

[Haly]

No, it's a romantic comedy/drama about a city boy, maybe Matthew McCoughaychaygayhay, who inherits his dead grandfather's farm and needs to make it profitable again. Also there's all these eligible bachelorettes trying to jump his bones. This being HBO, he sleeps with all of them at a rate of one sex scene every 2 episodes.

 

[sgjackson]

The main disadvantage video games have over other genre fiction adaptations like comics or YA novels is that they already cribbed most of their storytelling technique from cinema, and even the best video game stories would be mediocre movies. It's a weird game of telephone where someone's trying to adapt a team's understanding of filmmaking.

The best video game movies will continue to be those that celebrate the medium without being adaptations (Wreck-It Ralph, Scott Pilgrim, Edge of Tomorrow, etc) unless someone lucks into making a successful one and video games become a moneymaker like comics are currently. Given the fact they're less aesthetically coherent than comics and aren't really ripe for universe building as a result, I can't see this happening.

That said, there's literally zero reason that an Assassin's Creed movie shouldn't be as good as a decent comic movie. The aesthetic is cool and you can tell a story in that universe in two hours. I think the trap was trying to make the modern day shit work, as that requires a ton of exposition dumping to explain the rules of the universe and the nature of the Animus and whatnot, which is way too involved for a popcorn movie. If you ignore that, the story becomes like a fun action-fantasy movie with a simple conflict (Templars v. Assassins) and the parkour/aesthetic hook. You toss in a couple of barely noticable hints that it's a simulation, then have a crazy WHO IS DESMOND WHAT DOES IT MEAN ending when they find the MacGuffin at the end.

 

[Miletius]

Really, it kind of takes the stars aligning. I know that sounds a bit cliche, but...

1) The game has to be good/well known enough that people are willing to take a chance on making a movie based off of it.

There are probably a few games out there that would make good films but will never get the chance to do so. Probably a few of the more grounded games, actually.

2) The game material has to lend itself to being adapted into a movie. It has to be unique enough not to be too derivative while also not too far out there that it would make too strange of a film.

This is personally why I don't think movies like Tomb Raider, Warcraft or the upcoming Uncharted movie were/will be any good. It's just 2nd rate stuff that has been seen and people are less apt to take films adapted from games as seriously.

3) The person (people) in charge have to be ready to play to games strengths and discard any weaknesses in storytelling. Personally, that's why MK was such a good adaptation. It played to MK's strengths without introducing any weirdness. No weird crazy backstory. Just dudes punching each other. I mean, there was a nominal reason for it, but the film knew not to get into it.

That plus everything has to go well under normal circumstances (i.e. acting, directing...) and I think it's pretty hard to get the right magic circumstances.

And, put me down as another person who thought Wreck-It Ralph and Scott Pilgrim are the best video game movies out there now, despite them not being based off of any one game. Both celebrate the best part of video games in a meaningful way without feeling an obligation to any specific game. Maybe that's the key there. You need a property that is a game, but doesn't have to be too tied in at the same time.

 

[andythinkpad]

When the Uncharted movie bomb and get a 30% RT score, studios will finally stop making video game movies.

 

[The Shadow]

Videogames in general have sucky basic storylines. Movies based on other media (comics, books, videogames) are basically summaries of those stories. They have to change and alter things to make them more appealing to a wider audience and it starts to lose what made it compelling in the original format.

As sgjackson said, the best video game movies are the ones that celebrate the medium, but aren't adaptions themselves.

 

[More_Badass]

When the Uncharted movie bomb and get a 30% RT score, studios will finally stop making video game movies.

If there was ever an example of a video game not to adapt into a movie, it's Uncharted. Any set pieces they do will pale in comparison to the scope of the game (or just be a CGI mess trying to reach that scale), and the whole point of those set pieces is being in the middle of them, so just watching them loses the impact.

Hell, that trailer for the new XXX practically ends with an Uncharted set-piece

That's the issue with trying to adapt a game that's so focused on spectacle. Halo? Assassin's Creed? Deus Ex? The Last of Us? You have the space within the lore and world to do something interesting, that couldn't really work in a game. Maybe by showing a different perspective, exploring an interesting part of the world's history, or by not having to be constrained to the pacing and structure of an action game/mission format.

Uncharted? They make the set pieces first. A huge part of the appeal is playing the Indy-style action hero.

 

[random25]

The Ace Attorney movie was a pretty good adaptation.

The key thing that a lot of video game movies, especially the live action ones, lack is that certain charm that draws people to that video game. The movie makers tend to remove that charm and replace it with something else. Like the Ace Attorney movie I mentioned, that movie still kept a lot of aspects as to why people like the Ace Attorney series.

 

[Ooccoo]

Most video games have bad writing. Like, very bad writing. You need the opposite for a great movie.