As a german and a gamer I am very ashamed of my countryman Uwe Boll and his "work".

What do you think, is he really thinking of himself as the next Spielberg, or was his mother viciously killed by a gamer and he's trying to get his revenge on all of us by butchering one francise at a time?

The first Rez. Evil was a truly decent Zombie flick.

Here's my question, as it is something I've often debated with other film critics:

Can a videogame be translated into a great movie or B Grade action all we're destined to see (not that there is anything wrong with B-Grade action)?

I've always been on the side of yes, it just hasn't been done but others have had pretty convincing arguments that the pacing and "game" style of videogames don't lend themselves to film.

anoche = last night. I HAT URE NOT GUD SPANISH

What is the special ingredient that makes a game work, when its movie adaptation doesn't? What is lost in the translation? It can't simply be the lack of interactivity, can it? What needs to be done to make an adaptation work?

I'm wondering if there will ever be a movie/game tie-in that will actually be developed and fine tuned without it being rushed out the door and making it complete and utter shit.

Do you think Lost Odyssey would make a good movie? And on the note of sucking the hardest...my vote would definately go to Final Fantasy:The Spirits Within, yeah it has amazing visuals, but NOTHING else. Why does this movie suck so hard?

I really rather like Resident Evil: Extinction. Ok, so it had nothing to do with the games whatsoever. But it was a decent b-movie in it's own right.

I was a bit disapointed though, because the combination "mad max - zombies - las vegas - dual wielding mila jojovich in a hot dust coat" could have made for a far better movie.

But still, it had me entertained. There also was something very video-gamey about the whole pacing of the movie. The combat scenes could have been taken straight from a 3rd person action game..

How many FREE GAY KISSES did you accept?

*good

What about them video-game cartoons? Zelda, Mario, Sonic surely there were more. Weren't they just fabulous?

I've seen a decent amount of people bemoaning the near-death of the Adventure game and applauding it's recent attempts at near-birth, which made me think about our current established genres and whether or not any of them will die off anytime soon.
So, my question, can you foresee any of the current major genres going the way of the Adventure game?
Also, any genres you'd like to see silently disappear?

Do you think the reason that most Videogame movies end up failing hard is because a great game is a balance between good story and good gameplay? Once you take out the gameplay, there's often just not enough there for the story to stand on it's own, and so the film writers feel that they have to take as many liberties as they can to fill out the story enough in order to make the film.

There's obviously a lot of exceptions to this where games would have enough story to make a great film on their own, but obviously these aren't the games that studios are targeting to make films about.

Oh, also; amd I the only one who was violently angry when he heard they replaced Harry Mason with a woman because "Movergoes wouldn't connect with a good fatherly figure who risked his life for his child".
I wanted to hurt those motherfuckers so bad for that.

We should bring shitty movie night back.

Oh, add Joystiq the movie to your list of cheesy ones.

You are in ASU? /and/ saw that old guy with the sign?

High-five!

Also: Moar indie recommendations! I like what ye've offered so far :P

Does a movie based on a game have to adhere to the storyline of the game in order to satisfy the gaming community?
Resident Evil was coherent enough to pass as a good zombie flick but bore little resemblance to the game, does this make it a bad video game movie?

At what point during your childhood did you stop badgering your parents to take you to see Video Game movies?

Given the tie in release of games and films why do film buffs not have the same negative reaction towards video games based on movies? Movies based on books and video games both get almost universally panned by their respective fans, why no film-to-game critics from the cinema set?

Can a video game like Shadow Of The Colossus, that has been praised for being video game art, do well as a movie?

a great video game movie is almost an oxymoron. you cant take a medium where you have a multitude of choices (and those choices are what makes the medium shine) and translate it onto a linear timeframe and expect the same results.

I fear the only game that could ever really be translated into a decent movie would be PHOENIX WRIGHT. That movie would be hilarious.

I have to admit that I never played a Silent Hill game but I watched the movie. Was the movie a plot directly from a game? Because it made almost no sense to me. Did you have to play the game to get the movie?

@Chaotic Wolf:
I was thinking about that, but i don't think it can be made into a good movie at all unless they totally change the story and the mood of the film.

There are games like Shadow of the Colossus and HalfLife that have amazing storys, but there'd be to many changes made in its transition from game to movie. The silent protagonist is another issue for these games being made into films, as can you image gordon freeman or wander saying anything, let alone support a whole movies worth of dialogue??.

With the explosion of the gaming market in recent years do you think movie studios take video game based movies more serious than they used to? Or to the old fogies still think we are playing pac-man at the arcade down the street?

While gaming is a recognized creative medium do you think movies get taken more seriously by the general public, and do video game based films suffer because of it?

Do you have to be familiar with the game in order to enjoy the movie? Do you get more out of it than say the average person who does not play video games?

Is it appropriate to go to video game movies and yell out the cheat codes?

I wanted to go see Doom just to yell out IDDQD and IDKFA...

FREE GAY KISSES! That's hilarious.

I have no real questions for the podtoid today. Maybe you guys could help me decide what takeout to get this Friday; Chinese food or pizza?

@angusm:
Yeah true they work in shows, but name any film that uses a silent protagonist successfully? There's no way that a HL film would work with a silent Gordon because firstly, Gordon Freeman isn't a mute, you just don;'t hear him speak, and secondly, the reason games use a silent protagonist is so the player is immersed into 'being' the character as much as possible.

Now that I think about it, maybe a HL movie would work, considering that Gordan actually spoke, and the writers of the film remained as faithfull to the game as possible without cheesing it up at all, but hey, what are the odds of that?

Which off-kilter property would you want to see developed into a film? Who would star in it? Who would be your ideal writers/directors?

And if the game were one of a series, which characters or storylines would you like to see on the big screen?

Also, why doesn't Michael Bay quit jerking it to robot porn and give us a N.A.R.C. film? Oh wait, Bad Boys...

Obligatory "If there were to be a Destructoid movie, who would you cast as yourselves and other staff members?"

HOLY SHIT DUDE, THOSE PEOPLE WILL NOT LEAVE. You see the crazy gothic chick holding the sign? those people are dumb as hell. I didn't know you went to ASU Anthony.

whats the worst thing you've ever called someone on xbox live?

@DanMazken:

I believe that a movie like that can work. I'm not saying it will feel the same, but it's definatly going to be different. In SotC, what I felt at the end was that every choice you make, it ends with a consequence. How I achieved that sort of feeling will be different in a movie format. But I'm sure it could work. Granted, there won't be 16 colossi making it into a movie, but we don't need them all to convey the feeling of love, anger, sadness and betrayal that we got from the game. We just need to know that struggle, that danger, that quest that the main character went through, to achieve what is believed to be unachieveable. Along with many other things that I'm completely leaving out.

As long as the movie leaves that room for imagination, such as not knowing who that girl was, etc, I believe the movie can do well.

@DanMazkin
The movie Elephant had alot of largely silent characters and worked fairly well.
I really haven't seen too many films with largely quiet protagonists.
Will Smith in I Am Legend was largely quiet. I think Castaway was also a fairly silent film if I remember correctly.
There aren't too many films I can think of that have silent protagonists, but I don't think that's because it couldn't work.
Hell, as far as a Half Life 2 movie goes, they could just shoot it all in first person from Gordon's perspective and it could still work.

@angusm:
Good points, but the films you're reffering to don't feature what I'd call silent protagonists, they're just films that don't use much dialogue to promote the feeling of isolation (though i haven't seen Elephant, so I can't comment on that film).

As far as a first person film goes....it could work, it'd be pretty out there, but it could work, after all, technically Cloverfield was a first person film and that was awesome!

Maybe we just need JJ abrahms to do make the Half Life film :D

Obviously, what makes games enjoyable is the interactive part and when you take that away you take away what makes it enjoyable. I love Resident Evil, but when you take out the gameplay you realize how awful the story is.

With that being said, do you think it's possible for there to be a good videogame movie? Or is it all just a pipe dream?

@ DanMazkin:

The real question is "How faithful does a game-to-film adaptation have to be?"

If you go too far toward a completely faithful recreation, the fan-base crowd will be bored. If you get too abstract, you lose your audience entirely. Trying to tow that line is a real challenge, especially for something like the Half-Life series.

Also, a silent protagonist can only be found in silent films. Or Helen Keller films.

How do you film that last scene of the movie WITHOUT feeling like a jackass?

I HAVE A PERTINENT QUESTION FOR THE GOOD REVEREND.

What would it take to turn Tetris into a good movie?

I believe that the reason video game movies are so bad is because they are based almost solely on the popularity of a game (mario, street fighter, kombat, tomb raider). Since popular games aren't always great stories, this results in bad movies.

How does hollywood overcome their desire to make popular films based on movies, and rather look to games for quality stories? Do you think the involvement of hollywood in games (Bruckheimer, Speilberg) may help to improve this situation?

I suppose I should ask a question.

Jim, I remember a while back you said that the reason why videogame movies don't work out is due to the fact that something is taken away (interactivity) whereas film adaptations of books add something (visuals).

By that logic, are all movie adaptations of videogames doomed? Well, except Metal Gear, which you watch instead of play anyway.

I'll just post all the questions you haven't answered yet.

What do you think of games as an educational tool?

Whats your favourite licenced game from a film or book? Tough one, isn't it? (you'll probably have answered this already)

Games have wider potential than other media such as film, books, art and music, but they are also more expensive, require more effort and are overall more complicated than said media. Do you think that they can ever reach true mainstream appreciation?

How do games avoid being pretentious when introducing elements such as politics, emotion and morals?

What technical innovations are you looking forward to? This question was inspired by Headtracking.

How do you stop common control schemes from becoming tired and repetitive and still make it fun and intuitive? Is there a science to it or do you just go the valve route and playtest their faces off?

Also, two more:

Are games better when they're short and intense, but you have to focus on them for a few days, or when you can take your time and play them at your leisure, but they offer a longer drawn-out experience? For example, Portal, Bioshock, etc or Oblivion, Grand Theft Auto, etc?

Was Postal 2 a good game or not?

Seriously, need a counter of how many times Rev says "I can dig it." per episode.

You get the "you are going to Hell people" too at your campus. They are at University of South Florida all the time. They get so annoying. LOL

Question: How would a video game movie turnout if the director was to stick strictly to the game script and material?

Every video game movie has just been "set in the universe" of it's source material. IE: Resident Evil was just a post-apocalyptic zombie movie that happened to share the name of a popular video game series.

Example: What if Bioshock was made into a movie, with all the same script lines and plot twists.

Question:

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time would make an epic movie in three amazing parts.

Cheat Sheet! Answer: Yes

If the movie version of Gomez Addams had a duel with the movie version of M. Bison, who would win?

You know, because they're both really Raul Julia.

Wassup my fellow Sun Devil! Yea those people are like there every other week shouting and what not... Anyways, video games movies suck because a video game cannot be translated into a movie and plus many movie companies just make them as cash cows...

Actually it's "esta noche", not "anoche" :P

Which is (generally) worse; videogame-based movies, or movie-based videogames? which do you think is doing worse?

Also, was the Minesweeper movie trailer not awesome?

It's all about the love! If the people involved in a project do not love the material then the project will fail. Hard. Also, as gamers, we know the story. We know the characters. We have high expectations of what should be shown on the screen. It's very similar if not the same for someone who "reads the books first" then watches the movie. Something is either "left out" or "changed" and the movie ends up being a disappointment.

Most game to movie transitions end up sucking not because of the movie industry, but the games themselves. I think video games to movies can work, for example, take Metal Gear Solid. People who played through the games know that they are essentially already movies in which you get to advance the narration- A live action rendition of the series would be brilliant. On the other hand, Doom made a terrible transition because it had nothing to go on anyways.

Do you think game movies suck because of the games, or because of the people who direct them?