LA Times: game narratives too 'weak' for movies, Uwe Boll agrees

I think that can go both ways. Movies don't translate well in to games either. That and Uwe Boll sucks. Seriously, maybe they're upset because video games make more money than movies. I'd rather have an interactive video game experience than sit and watch the drivel that comes of Uwe Boll's mind.

Or rabidly over-acted scenes of over-the-top action and blood spray?

Sorry... still blown away by NMH...

@paragraph...

Actually, while your statement about video games outselling movie ticket sales is true in pure dollars, it's one of those false-truths that marketing teams use to brainwash us.

The REAL truth is that a video game costs 5 times what a movie ticket costs, but revenue in the US is only double ($17 billion vs. $9 billion). That means more movie tickets are sold than games - each movie ticket just costs less.

The second REAL truth is that movie studios don't make a movie for the box office nowadays - they make it for the home market. The global film industry is about $500 billion per year, with only 5% of that coming from theater ticket sales.

By comparison, the video game industry is about $40 billion per year.

Hollywood doesn't NEED videogames to make money on movies. What happened was a bunch of 30-something hipster film students and writers, who grew up on Mario and Doom thought they were going to create the next big film genre.

My only problem with game-based films (and I am a 30-something lifelong gamer also) is that I play games BECAUSE they are games - interactive experiences where I make choices that affect the outcome. No matter what tricks movies try to come up with, a movie is NEVER the same experience as a game, and therefore, it's NEVER as good.

@ wyrdtoo,

$500 billion? Do you have a source for that?

In 2006, the six major film companies in the US saw all-media revenues (including the home market)of $42.6 billion. Where is the extra $460 BILLION coming from?

PWNED ?

@paragraph: LOL :). Thanks for the honesty.

@Lone Star

The stats come from Screen Digest (www.screendigest.com), a research and analysis firm that tracks global media industries, including film and games. If you are a member of the media or a company who needs to access these stats, you would already have access to these (typically pricey) reports. You may be able to find some snippets of statistics released in these reports by doing Google searches for various media outlets or press releases that quote Screen Digest reports in their articles.

Now, granted, the report I saw was a few years old and included revenue projections for 2005 through 2015 (2005's film industry revenue was projected at $450 billion and 2015's is projected to double that). So the figures may not be exact for 2007/2008, but my point is that the global film industry's popularity and financial health far exceeds the global gaming industry for now and well into the forseeable future. After all, films have many more available revenue streams: box office, video/dvd/onine sales and rentals, network and cable TV, pay-per-view, airlines; not to mention that many of these revenue streams continue earning money for decades after a theatrical release. Games just don't have that many opportunities, and only rare games continue making money even 5 years after their release.

My entire point was that movies and games, at least for me, are like cake and beer. I don't need to choose one OR the other to enjoy - I can have both anytime I want - I just don't like my cake and beer mixed together. :-)

Final Fantasy
Kings Quest
Mass Effect (digital orgasms FTW)
Even GTA

all of these have decent stories, but need to be adapted correctly... thats the key here.

I think they've yet to find a game that has a good story but isn't too long to fit into a movie shell. All those titles you mention are far too long to fit into a 2 hour movie. All those RPGs are 40+ hour games, and while that isn't all story, it's enough that if you tried to make a movie out of them, it would be choppy with poor character development.

On the other hand, you have jackasses like Boll taking shit games with little story and trying to have some hack writer fill in the blanks.

This is why I was sad about the Halo movie, because there's just enough story to make a 1.5-2 hour movie out of. Especially if you limit it to the original Halo and the two main characters.

@ dan, honestly, Most of those games are mostly game mechanic, fighting etc. I think many of them could adapt well into movies if they had some good fill writing. I think the issue is not so much having too much story as just too little. Having too much story tends to not be much of a problem, just look at LoTR, they cut out tons(some of my favs....) yet it still was a masterpiece.

Freaking Chrono Trigger? Freaking shallow Chrono Trigger? Every time someone tries to throw that up as a pinacle of videogame stories, or of narrative (ESPECIALLY narrative, since the game essentially HAS none) someone should be punched.
Older RPG's have decent gameplay, bad stories, and bad characters. Take off those nostalgia tinted glasses, please.

The beauty of Chrono Trigger's narrative is that it's one of the extremely few instances of narrative which takes advantage of a game's non-linear format. It's also one of the few instances of time travel-based narratives done right. If you take out every single bit of RPG combat and levelling, it would still make a good adventure game.

im probably just a Final Fantasy whore, but ive always said that the story in FFVII would be perfect for a movie. i mean i saw Advent Children but that was more of a "hey! come look at some of your favorite characters from the past in new CG!". i would certainly pay $8 to see 3-4 hours of FFVII characters in updated graphics WITH the same captivating story from FFVII.

Indeed, Psaakryn, that's what I love about it.

That would not work. Hell we havent even had a good H P Lovecraft movie (well re animator) yet. Maybe Del Toro can get mountains done though.

What i was say was that eternal darkness had a good narrative and a good story...

Ever watched an Episode of Battlestar Galactica? Imagine if those writers/directors created a movie/TV series based on Mass Effect... one word: awesome.

Dawn of the Dead was by Zack Snyder dude. Uwe Boll busted out Alone in the Dark, House of the Dead and other shit movies. That guy shouldn't be talking about shit when it comes to video games.

dawn of the dead>slither>tromeo and juliet

That guy is inconsistent at best

Ah shit, sorry. I totally meant House of the Dead. Dawn was actually pretty good.

Agreed. And no demons/hell in doom movie =(

I approve of that burn.

Ona Grauer

No. The Street Fighter movie deviated from the plot bit; Mario The movie turned it's back entirely on the game and ran into the abyss!