Much ado has been had over Electronic Arts' Dante's Inferno, a God of War-esque action game that has used the famous poem of the same name as its thematic backdrop. As in Dante's epic, players will have to travel the nine circles of Hell, but instead of painting a vivid view of Christian afterlife, they'll be planting crucifixes into the heads of noobs and reveling in mindless slaughter while sentient genitalia gnash at them.
For some reason, this is wrong.
If you have a problem with Dante's Inferno as EA perceives it, or if you think the game looks lovely and that the book owls should just shut up, this article is highly unlikely to change your mind. However, you might piss and moan at it, and that's always worth a post.
The majority of you will already know about Dante's Inferno, although I doubt just as many have read it. To briefly recap for those who, like me, are too lazy to read, it's part of The Divine Comedy, a literary work almost 700 years old in which the author and eponymous hero observes the afterlife, visiting Heaven, Purgatory and Hell. As you might have gathered, Inferno is set in Hell, and it is from Dante's work that we have the famous "Nine Circles" -- the realms of Hell reserved for those that have sinned in varying degrees of evil.
It is one of the most respected works of all time, full of medieval political commentary and insights into ye olde worlde. Obviously, some people have a problem with such a highly regarded literary classic being turned into a violent and blood-soaked third-person action game where crucifixes get smashed into heads for fun.
Personally, I think it's great. Hilarious, even. I also think we need to really lighten up.
First of all, any videogame based on a book is going to take artistic license. It'll be difficult to base a book on The Divine Comedy without having to make stuff up a little. Or a lot. However, is it really that insulting to the original work? So EA has taken a famous poem, adopted a number of themes and characters, and made the rest up. It doesn't really take anything away from the poem, does it? If anything, I think it adds something.
I personally love to see fresh takes on old books or history; the crazier, the better. God of War is a good example, where traditional Greek myths have been radically altered. They're not especially faithful to the old Greek ideas, but rather an updated look that only adds to the original by providing a new outlook. A Gorgon was not more snake than woman, but their representation in God of War is still refreshing and rather striking to behold, while retaining the general theme of the original template.
I doubt Dante's Inferno will be as fresh as God of War, but it's still a radical departure from the established text, and that kind of thing always intrigues me. We already have the book, so do we need a game that's exactly like the book? I don't think so.
That's the mature response to this whole situation. My first and more childish instinct, however, is that it's incredibly funny. Here we have The Divine Comedy, one of the most respected and regarded literary pieces in human history, and EA has reduced its insights and historical contributions into crucifix braining and tasteless taglines like "Go To Hell." Have we really lost our senses of humor to such a degree that we can't appreciate the irony in that?
It would be like taking Romeo and Juliet, setting it in space, and having Romeo rescue Juliet from a race of giant insects that are plotting to put a pox on both their houses under the rule of Macbeth, who is inexplicably in the story for some reason and also a massive fly. Personally, I'd find that hilarious, although I'm sure some in the literary world would be offended.
Electronic Arts really isn't doing anything too wrong, or even uncommon. Loosely based intellectual property is fairly standard, and new, dramatic twists on established material is a good thing, not a bad thing. The Divine Comedy is still here, and will still be here after EA's game is released, just as respected as ever, and maybe with a few more people knowing it exists. Let's stop being po-faced about the whole thing and learn to enjoy the sillier things in life.
Besides which, c'mon. Crucifix. In. The. Head.
Contest:
5:00 PM on 02.28.2009
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*moan*
Whatever, no point in bitching about a game we've barely seen anything at all from.
Also, I'd totally play that Romeo and Juliet game!
If the game is good, it's good. I don't see all the fuss.
Explains it to a T, no pun intended. =P You're the man, as always Jim.
So...
MEH.
So long as it's well made and fun to play, I'll be interested. I'd love to shove a crucifix in a dude's head.
Unless an action game brings an interesting gameplay concept with it like Gungrave and Shinobi, an original and exciting setting and theme like Genji or Onimusha or just sheer undeniable quality such as Ninja Gaiden or Otogi I don't see much point to it. If they really capitalise on the setting of hell (I'm talking monstrosities beyond Baroque or Shadow Hearts) then I'll be interested but I don't think it's there quite yet...
I adore The Divine Comedy, and always love to reread it. But, I can see where people are getting upset with what they are doing with the namesake.
I do not care one bit. The game, from the trailer, looks rather stylish and grotesque. As long as the action is satisfying, I will pick it up.
You're right , gamers are a prissy bunch that complains about alot of video game related things by complaining about its relevancy to the source all the bloody time. So you expect others too as well , no?
Hopefully it will do well enough for Michael Bay to make the movie.
I think what I would be most angry about is not that it is an action game, but that it is a missed opportunity to do something different with a creative license. Everything Jim said is true and this happens all the time,that doesn't always mean it should or that EA shouldn't be trying to change it.
It's exciting to see literary classics put into game form we need something other than movie and tv show constantly given the same treatment. Also, since books arn't the most popular form of media hopefully developers will take more time with books and not have a big incentive of getting it out there so people will buy solely on the name.
You WOULD disagree with the argument that we should lighten up.
Also, I highly doubt EA got the rights to the story because they thought it would sell well based on the license. Sounds more like the developers thought it was a good idea to frame a video game around parts of the story and setting.
And what's wrong with that? If you don't like it, then don't play. Just ignore it and move on. Like Jim said, it's certainly not taking anything away from what's already been written, so there's no harm done.
Besides all of this, we have barely seen this game. We have not played it. Shouldn't we be optimistic? Shouldn't we want this game to be good? Yes, we should.
So we should also shut the fuck up and wait until it comes out before passing judgment. Perhaps the naysayers will be surprised, perhaps they'll be right.
But let's just stop arguing over a game that hasn't even been released. It's no better than bashing a game based on the console it's for before you play it.
:p
The book and the game will have very little in common in the same way that any adaptation to or from video games does.No need to get too worked up about it.
Typical lot of Negative Gamers... being negative just for the sake of being negative. ;)
So what's the point of EA? maybe actually diminuish the force, the cruelty and definetly the humanity of that epic journey. Smash crucifixes into heads for fun is for pussies, face the miserable face of human life is for heroes...
Who cares? Don't play it.
Tbh, I kinda find it sound how some "gamers" commenting here basically have assigned zero value to the literary works. They don;t see it as the basis of a profound game, or even the inspiration for a great game. But rather as the device to destroy in order to make an ok game.
I expect respect for videogames, so I would also expect videogames to respect other works.
Also, anybody using the "zomg stop being cerial it's teh internets"; no. You care about videogames, other people care about literature. Don't be a hypercritical fuckbag.
So when I heard that a game was in development that was inspired by Dante's Inferno, I was genuinely excited. If they change the story around, that won't stop me from possibly enjoying a game with a visual style taken from one of the greatest depictions of hell ever. My only worry is that they may take themselves too seriously with the story and end up with cut scenes that are painful to watch.
And it's not like the release of a shitty videogame adaptation will cause all existing editions of The Divine Comedy to turn to dust.
THIS GAME IS GOING TO BE AWESOME GUYS!!!!!
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/956/956433p2.html
Also, from this it is clear than Knight only has a pretty basic understanding of the text:
"Knight finally got to the story, which he said would fundamentally have the most changes made to create a context for the game action. 'You've got a couple of guys walking through Hell, trying to get to Beatrice eventually and they're talking…a lot. That's pretty much all that happens in the poem. If you've read it, you know that it's not famous for its conflict and drama,' Knight said."
Dante, at no point at all in the poem, says that the point of the journey is to get to Beatrice.
Everyone freaks out when Uwe Boll makes a movie based on classic games, so why is it so out of line for me to freak out a little when EA makes a game out of a classic piece of literature?
K, just checking.
The game may very well turn out to be crap, but I think the idea that the existence of the game in some way besmirches the 'purity' of the original work shows an ignorance of what the original work was about.
And maybe, some gamers who play the game will be inspired to check out the source material. I'm certainly not going to complain about that.
What you're basically saying is that there are certain things that are just completely exempt from being explored or re-created, or modernized, or just basically played with. And to that idea, I say fuck you. Seriously, fuck you. Especially when you've yet to even play a DEMO of the game, fuck you. That kind of thinking is no different from assholes who say that gang violence or prostitution or anything else in games is "off-limits" because it somehow takes gravity away from those very serious issues. And we all know that's not true.
Wipe your fucking nose and get on with it.