Why is there such disrespect in Hollywood for Video Games

[njiska]

Seriously i've had it with the shit being put out in hollywood today.

It's one thing to change story elements to make a story fit as a movie, but it's completely different when you hand it over to someone like Uwe Boll.

I really can't tell if this guy is just an arrogant fool, or delusional. He claims to love video games yet he can't do a movie that's even close to the source material.

House of the dead was an insult and Alone in the dark has too many problems to count. I mean not only did Boll pick one of the crappier AITD games, but he decided to add his reverse-midus touch to it. (For anyone who doesn't get the joke it means that everything he touchs turns to shit.)

But despite all of those failures perhaps the worst atrocity of his still hasn't been released. I'm talking about Bloodrayne. Now granted some of the problems are the fault of the writers, but it's the responsibility of the director to fix the prolems. However Uwe couldn't even be bothered to get Loken to die her hair red. Although he did bother to get her to strip naked so he could shoot bloodrayne fucking around. He also didn't seem to mind changing the setting from WWII to the 18th century. Seriously, most of bloodrayne involved killing nazi's in her quest for Kagan, This movie is nothing like the game.

Uwe thinks we should all be greatful that someone is making VG movies, but i think he's dead wrong. What would you rather have, a good video game movie that doesn't get made for 20 years, or a peice of shit movie being made now that's unwatchable?

Maybe i should be mad at him, maybe i should be mad at the writers, or maybe i should be mad at the people who don't protect their IP from people like him. I just don't know anymore. I know he's not the only who's responsible, but he does have 2 bad movies under his belt and 3 more on the way.

Now granted this is just my opinion, but i was wondering how many of you, the loyal gaming community, agree with me.

Remeber what a fun game Double Dragon was? Remember how the movie made you want to choke on your own vomit? We love classic games, we love new games, hell we just plain love games, we can't let them continue to take classic lisences and ruin them.

I realize that we can't expect them to make movie just for gamers, but they can at least make movies that are GOOD!

We've already had to deal with SMB and DD let's not have to deal with more disgraces. I mean would anyone want to watch a Contra movie about 2 guys in a city busting up the mob? (and if Uwe Boll does it expect to see lots of Zombies) or to quote penny arcade, "The new metroid movie, about a rowdy team of baseball players who discover the true meaning of christmas from a robot cowboy angel."? No one, game fan or not, would watch those.

There are great games out there with great stories. Some are protected from harm like Metal Gear Solid (It's Kojima's child) but most are open for people like Boll to fuck up. Let's all hope he doesn't get the rights to hitman.

I think it's time we took a stand against this crap, and i'm open to any suggestions on how to do it. I'm not looking for a flame war, i'm just looking for people who are as fed up as i am at how VG movies have gotten the shaft, while comic book movies are finally getting the respect they deserve.

[Cryomancer]

Let's make our own. A serious one, that stays faithful to source and manages to entertain, not advertise. Seriously. We should. Distro it freely, watch it become popular online and every comment be "this is so much better than that hollywood shit".

[njiska]

That would be cool, although i don't know how much of an effect it would have.

The only down fall is that production is expensive and so are lisence fees so that's practically impossible.

Unless you're rich.

[NE146]

Who cares about Hollywood.. I play videogames 8-)

[Cryomancer]

That would be cool, although i don't know how much of an effect it would have.

The only down fall is that production is expensive and so are lisence fees so that's practically impossible.

Unless you're rich.

Low budget independant. Would end up maybe looking a little cheaper, but feeling a whole lot better.

Although we'd probably end up with a cease and desist. bah.

[njiska]

Hey so do I. I just want to see them getting the respect they deserve. I love my old classics, but i also love good movies, when the two cross i just want the best of both worlds, is it really to much to ask? I'm not alone either, there are lots of people who feel this way. People who love their games so much that they don't want to see them mis treated by people looking to make a quick buck.

[Cryomancer]

You know, I just thought of something. i was playing sherlock holmes, ground zer o texas, double switch, etc earlier...I'd rather watch movie versions of those games' footage than movies based on games in the way they've been being made.


Whatever happened to that crazy taxi movie? I'm sure it'll be a love story, with no offspring whatsoever.

[njiska]

Even with a low budget if you want to do it right you need to aquire the rights and they're expensive.

However you don't need rights to post a script that's loyal to the source, as long as you're not trying to make a quick buck and you credit the creators. Maybe a site for people who write those would be a good idea. It's not a finished movie that's true to it's source and entertaining, but it's a proof of concept.

Maybe let people post their scripts and let people comment on them. It won't change how things are done, but at least it is something for the fans.

I'm just tossing out an idea.

[njiska]

i was playing sherlock holmes, ground zer o texas, double switch, etc earlier...I'd rather watch movie versions of those games' footage than movies based on games in the way they've been being made.

You're right and that's so sad.

[Cryomancer]

Hey, i'm psoting in this thread again!

I'm watching some MST3K, why did they never get a video game? it could be like make my video only...decent. Or even better, an rpg, jokes are moves, they fight movies and monsters, low level creatures like "educational short" and "scifi serial", bosses like "manos". Man that would be weird, but I'd play it. And yeah, i know they did some stuff on a PSX demo.

[Captain Wrong]

Moved to ON TOPIC. Because...it is...I think. tldr

[DDCecil]

Forget making movies based on video games. I'd rather see a movie based on video game retail! 8-)

[GobopopRevisited]

...They just need to stop, period.

A movie faithful to a videogame would be... a port esentially. Instead of playing Metal Gear Solid, your watching it on the big screen. Thats pretty fun!...

A Movie based on a videogame... handwritten by Hollywood itself... Hollywood knows nothing that was going through the minds of the writers for (I'm using MGS again) Metal Gear Solid, so why the hell would anyone expect there to be a good movie coming from them? ...they need to stop.

But I doubt it will. Nothing would make the kid who plays DVDs on his PS2 happier then to be able to watch his favorite PS2 game as a Hollywood Movie... on his PS2 DVD player.

[Dahne]

Because movies are, at heart, a fairly poor storytelling medium.

The greatest problem is length. You have around 2 hours. Games tend to have plots that last 10 to 40 hours, or more in the case of some RPGs. How could you possibly fit all the depth of, say, Metal Gear Solid 3 into such a confining space? So they choose the games with no real plot to make movies out of, since, well, general public opinion is that games don't have plots anyway, and there's no way a movie could do a game plot justice.

[calthaer]

Yeah, but most games tend to put a lot of double-stuff filling between the two oreo cookies of story, drawing it out with lots of little puzzles and whatnot. This is because there has not yet been invented an AI mechanism that is engaging / entertaining enough to make a video game on its own.

The dramatic moments of a video game are only made so by all that filler, too. On their own, they fail pretty miserably. The bad guy from Metal Gear Solid is only evil because he made you push the X button frantically while he electrocuted you. That pushing the button made you, in some way, HATE that guy, if for no other reason than the fact that your thumb now hurts.

Books and movies (good ones, at any rate) rely on plot twists and the subtlety of human emotions - things that games either don't often do or don't do at all. Consider Godfather II, when Michael is sitting across the table in Cuba from Hymen Roth, and where the two of them are eyeing each other furtively. Games can't (or don't) do that kind of stuff yet, even in cutscenes. Likewise, the plot twists are hampered by the fact that the game is supposed to be interactive, and you're often lead along like a donkey chasing a carrot. Books keep you guessing what's coming next, because the action is limited only by the author's imagination (and writing skill).

Games are pretty obvious, with few real surprises. With Zelda, you can be pretty sure that you will have 8 dungeons where you have a new item each dungeon and the "boss" (whose big fat key you have to find) will be defeated with that item. Katamari: you will roll that thing all game long. Most of the time in anything it's kill bad guys.

At any rate: games and movies are way different. I don't even think they should be trying to mix the two. The only thing the two of them have in common is the fact that both industries make lots of money and they both rely on visual screens.

[Iron Draggon]

Hey, I'd pay just to watch somebody else playing a game like Super Metroid perfectly all the way through from beginning to end, screw the live action crap! A friend of mine used to record his NES gaming sessions for me and send them to me as mini movies to watch, and they were totally badass!

[rbudrick]

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5349

See this thread on Alone in the Dark....I saw it this weekend and I wanted to slash my wrists it was so bad. Videogames really don't get the respect they deserve....which is odd considering videogames are starting to eclipse the movie industry in revenues and profit. If we keep moving movies like this, the VG/movie scene is doomed.

-Rob