GoggleboxUK

The console gaming world, much like cinema, is a multi million pound industry which has utilised advancing technology over the years and is now not too far from the point where in-game graphics and sound are almost as real as the movies. Indeed, there are a huge number of games available nowadays that are based directly on movies and these are considered as much a part of the film package as action figures once were to Star Wars.

Things certainly have progressed. There was a very different landscape in 1984. The video game crash the preceding year was attributable, at least in part, to Atari’s E.T. disaster. It was the end of the second generation of home video games, and game manufacturers would not regain the public interest for another 3 years. The further viability of home games based on films, even on massively popular, Oscar-winning blockbusters such as E.T. and Star Wars, had been temporarily buried.


Arcade games continued to thrive, albeit in smaller numbers. The film-to-arcade adaptation was still in its infancy; Bally Midway had found great success with Tron in 1982, as would Atari with its vector-based Star Wars in 1983 and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1985. But it would be even longer before cinematic game adaptations became a genre unto themselves.

So the probability of working the winning formula in reverse—a movie based on a video game—had not yet taken hold. Atari programmer Howard Scott Warshaw, introducing his hastily designed adaptation of E.T. to Steven Spielberg, jokingly called it “the game that would make the movie famous.” Ironic as it may have seemed to Atari (who posted a devastating $536 million loss that year), the final irony of this statement was just around the corner, when the “video game movie” would be made into a box office reality.

The list of video games based on movies is now enormous, and most of them are universally terrible. As gaming consoles improve there seems to be an attempt by game producers to create a true "you're in the movie" experience. Notable titles include Goldeneye which was released in 1997 The game received overwhelmingly positive reviews[1] and sold over eight million copies. It is considered an important title in the development of first-person shooters, and has become particularly well-known for the quality of its multiplayer deathmatch mode, as well as its incorporation of stealth and varied objectives into its single player missions. It is featured in several lists of the greatest video games of all time.and yet the game plot has little to do with the movie itself.


Spider-Man 2, released in 2005. loosely follows the story from the movie but also adds in some fan favorite villains for extra fun. The core of the gameplay is the freedom to swing anywhere, climb on anything, and do whatever you want using all of the powers of Spider-Man. This is perhaps the best movie based superhero game ever.


What goes around also comes around and inevitably there was the release of the first movie based on a video game.

Super Mario Brothers: The Movie was released in 1993. The movie actually draws inspiration from several Mario Bros. video games, including Super Mario World, which introduces Yoshi, and Super Mario Land, which introduces Princess Daisy. The film followed the exploits of Mario Mario (Bob Hoskins) and his brother Luigi (John Leguizamo) in a comical dystopia ruled by King Koopa (Dennis Hopper).


What do you think of the crossover beween movies and games? What are your favourites?

"There's always something"

will.15

I don't follow that stuff at all. But I remember back in the 1980's there was this play set in an old Legionaire's building, I think, and the audience would follow the actors as they went from one room to another, and depending on which actor you followed, you would see a somewhat different play than others. There's a seduction, someone gets shot, etc., but you won't necessarily see it if you don't follow the right character. I thought it would be interesting if they made a movie like that, and with computer technolgy it could be done. Has something like that been done?

GoggleboxUK

Many times Will.

The first that springs to mind was Cluedo on the Phillips CD-i machine. Quite imaginatively put together whilst being fairly true to the board game. The player could move between rooms catching moments of exchanges between the characters which provided clues to the villain. Sometimes you'd see very little, othertimes there'd be plenty of action. Either way, deduction would give you the ability to complete the game.

Resident Evil Survivor for the PlayStation had the player crossing a city infested with zombies and allowed the player to choose from 3 different routes through to the end of the game. Each route had different scenarios and settings, all with lots of zombies and danger

More recently Bioshock for the XBox 360 was billed as being a gmae you could play over and over again and it would be different every time.

"There's always something"

vincenzo

I still play old arcade and DOS games on my Windows 98 partition. Great stuff.