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Video games and the silver screen: focusing on the blurry line |
Listed in: PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 Tags: Andy Serkis, Bethesda, Hollywood, Sony Pictures
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This is not going to be another "ZOMG, it's an Uwe Boll movie! Head for the hills!" kind of article. Nope. We've heard a bit too much about how some video-game-movies tend to bomb worse than a certain film about snakes on a plane (we're not name-dropping here). Today, we're going to head off along a different tangent.So, someone pass the popcorn, please. Here's something definitely worth watching. We're at the cusp of a revolution, and, not to mention, at the edge of our seats as well. Can't you smell it? There's a big storm coming. Some of us have probably seen it on the horizon already. And now it's creeping ever so quickly.
Due to recent developments, we have all noticed a general trend that some games are taking. As technology breeds faster, more and more games are starting to become "virtual movies." That is to say, when we sit down in front of our consoles, we're watching a movie - only, we get to interact with it.
In the next couple of days, all next-gen consoles will be out to the market (excluding certain areas, of course; but out to the public nonetheless). Once all three are out, it's going to be a battle to be reckoned with. But at what forms would that battle take? One form: video games that act as these so-called virtual movies.
The preamble
As more video games have found themselves on the silver screen ("Tomb Raider" and the recent "Dead or Alive," just to name a few) and as more movies find themselves in gaming consoles (Disney films, Wachowski trilogies, Peter Jackson epics), there's been a steady push towards having gamers "play" a movie.
We can't touch on everything here. This has been a topic of discussion over many a coffee table and sometimes even in university lecture halls. Surely, a lot of us have our own thoughts about this and have been able to talk endlessly about it with our friends. We can go on for hours here, but let's just stick to some of the more recent developments that we might want to consider.
There are three factors that take the limelight in the whole "video games as virtual movies" discussion.
Search for a star
CG-actor Andy Serkis (AKA Gollum, AKA King Kong) recently stated that actors would soon come out of drama school "doing theater, film, TV, and games." Look at Kingdom Hearts, for example. You have a whole roster of celebrities - Lance Bass is a celebrity?! - voicing characters in the game. The upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog for the PS3 and 360 will have Lacey Chabert as part of the voice cast. And just recently, that Captain Kirk guy had a stint with Bethesda Games. Throw in the element of top-billing actors in a video game and that's one notch closer to calling it a "movie experience."
When we're watching a movie, you've got actors and actresses lending their talent to the silver screen. In essence, that's the same concept here. Celebrities are now lending their talents to video games: whether voice, or as in the case of Serkis, CG-mapped facial expressions and actions. With celebrities included, you could say that these video games have been Hollywood-ified.
And there's a long tradition to this. Remember Mark Hamill's appearance as Colonel Blair in Wing Commander? But things have changed.
One thing to consider: has it ever happened that Hollywood actors got involved in threats of strikes and talks about pay raises for voice work in video games? If that happens, it's a sure sign that video games and Hollywood actors have become irreversibly intertwined. And boom. It has happened - over a year ago when the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Aftra) were able to negotiate to a pay raise for stars mere hours away from a strike vote.
And you know this pay raise is in addition to the privilege of big Hollywood celebrities to appear in video games only after long meetings with lawyers to defend the actor's money, reputation, and appearance.
Another thing to consider: it changes the playing field when one of the game console companies is quickly becoming one of Hollywood's big boys. You guys do know that Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. is an Academy-Award winning visual effects company for "Spider-Man 2" - other members of that company worked on "Stuart Little," "Hollow Man," and "Starship Troopers." And Sony Pictures owns (in whole or in part) Tristar, Columbia, and MGM, just to name the tip of the iceberg. And let's not even get started on how many big movies Sony Pictures has sent out into the world (we're looking forward to "Casino Royale" and "Marie Antoinette" - and "Hostel 2").
Behind the scenes
It's not only actors that you've got to consider - it's the rest of Hollywood and other entertainment industries. What about staff and budgeting? When asked about financing video game development, Silicon Knights president Dennis Dyack said that with all of the cinematographers, musicians, and script writers needed to come up with a game, the entire investment is "starting to approach the cost of small budget movies." He seems to have summed it up well.
Designers want to put gamers into the game as much as directors want to put the audience into the set. Camera angles are important. You also have to have to generate emotion in your audience so you've got to make sure that the story, among other elements, has to be captivating. That's why you need good writers and musicians.
In other words, cinematography matters so much now. Yes, this is an old trend in gaming, and cinematic elements have always "mattered" before, but today's game makers don't just think that it "matters," they feel the pressure to really spend and invest on cinematic elements and not just on the game engine.
Eye want candy
Tipping the scales even further, the next-gen consoles allow higher processing power. Graphics-wise, we can all agree that games are looking more and more like a movie.
One of the fore-runners that tried to create the feeling of "playing a movie" was Oddworld Inhabitants - as Oddworld founder Lorne Lanning has often said, the Oddworld games were designed with the specific purpose of making the gamer have simultaneous movie and gaming experiences. Remember bumbling through the factories of Oddworld, trying to save your fellow aliens? And at that time, it was immersive. Oddworld's new project is with John H. Williams (the man behind the "Shrek" movies), reminding us that in-game graphics have grown to cinematic qualities far beyond our imaginations could think of a decade ago.
If you take a look at Metal Gear Solid 4, you start to wonder how much different the graphics are from the big-budget movie "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within." Now, Heatseeker is jetting its engines for the Wii, PSP, and PS2. Senior producer Andrew Wensley seems confident about their Impact Cam - if you have an on-target missile impact, you are rewarded with impressive cinematics. Wensley feels that it would make Hollywood proud.
It's technology like this that allows video game developers to push the envelope of visuals, sound effects, and overall experience. Again, this is an old trend in gaming - with better technology comes new games that push the envelope. But, we're in next-gen times, and our new consoles have reshaped the envelope.
An open ending
So let's get to the point. If you've been reading this article thinking "Yeah. Old news. We know that games are becoming more like movies. Thanks for wasting my time with nothing new." - well, we're telling you that it's not about games becoming "like" movies.
It's about games becoming movies in their own right. It's not enough to have cinematic cut scenes. That's old. We're not talking actors and huge budgets. Many games have been there and done that. We're talking about what Lorne Lanning of Oddworld Inhabitants described as something "being talked about by media companies, but for the most part isn't really happening yet."
In other words, we're not talking about making a game that's like a movie. It's not making a movie out of a game. It is a 100% complete fusion of both the gaming and movie-watching experiences. This is something that media companies have yet to achieve - and who knows - maybe they'll do it in this next-gen era.
But is this possible? Yes! Haven't we cited enough examples? You have Hollywood lawyers involved. You have developers willing to spend on cinematic elements. And now you have the technology.
Haven't you ever noticed that it gets just as engrossing to watch a game being played by someone else as it would be if you were the one behind the controller? Games are becoming virtual movies because of the amount of effort put into it by all the people and technology behind it: actors, directors, budget, staff, graphics, and all that jazz.
In movies, you sit down and get whisked off your feet. In video games, whether you're the one playing it or not, it's the same thing - and the "whisking" is quickly attaining cinematic proportions.
Games have been trying to recreate Hollywood elements, instill emotions, and show realistic graphics for decades now, but for all we know, video games just might get spots in the Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.
If the trends we've brought up in this article are any indication, the battle between the next-gens will be a tough one. We can go on for ages talking about all the little factors that add up to the proverbial snowball. It's all accumulating, and the next-gen is becoming next-gen-er partly because you'll have forward-looking media companies racing to create the best "virtual movie" in the industry.
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Now, MS’s saying “play Craps of War instead” when this GoW is as good as Perfect Dark Crap? We don’t want another crap from you MS which sets low standard for the developers; therefore, developers can release craps with low budge and short production time. The followings are some examples: Crap Rising, Ghost Recon: Advanced Crap, Craps Row, Lost Crap (lost cause?), Phantasy Crap Universe, Crap Witch, Crapman Returns, Splinter Cell: Double Craps, Dead or Crap 4, Project Crap Racing 3, et cetera. MS must learn this fact. One A graded game is far better than ten class B or C games all added together, moreover one class A game needs less budget, time and brain power to make than 10 class B games do.
Crapbox Live Service is a total joke and nonsense; everyone but idiots knows such common knowledge. Such online service is totally free in PC gaming industry (except RPGs of course). MS started this whole ret@rded nonsense years ago because they have no moral. Sony’s PlayStation Network Service (PNS) is free exactly like the one in the PC industry. Sony also recently officially said in a document that they will never do (in the future) such nonsense & crazy thing to their consumers like MS has done with their XBL.
Now it’s a fact that Microsoft is a totally rubbish company. They have always run MS in such ways. Now what MS is doing? MS is releasing tidbits of info on Crapalo 3 from this Nov to Dec on 20 different days. No one has time to check out all those tidbits on Halo 3 scattered all over the net during 20 days. MS needs to learn how to shut up until they actually release it.
* 5 reasons why Craps of War’s gonna be the Halo killer. (pros)
- Xbox fanboys are just happy if they see MS brand name on their games (so many people buy computer mouse from MS just because there’s MS logo on it)
- I heard a rumor that half of all X360 owners are those people who think their TV speakers can talk to them (these idiots think they are soldiers when they play first person killer games like GoW)
* 5 reasons why Craps of War is not gonna be the Halo killer. (cons)
- Very bad frame rate when the actions are intense (it’s playing slide show, stutter-fest)
- GoW is all about camping (because of the 2nd person view); therefore, frustratingly boring
- Skilled players camp with shooting & hiding tactic again and again; noobies will come to them then those noobies will be killed easily by the skilled campers by shotgun or chainsaw.
- Button A is context-sensitive and easy to use; but the matter is that when you want to run away, sometimes you will be locked on a nearby wall instead; then he will have a very easy kill.
- 8 for MP (any first person killer game which can’t support at least 24 players is like not having any multiplayer mode at all, my Call of Crap 2 X360 version is collecting dust)
- the most boring standard team deathmatch (TD) mode only
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Also, a hot thing right now on Crap360 is 3rd person shooters. GearsoW, Bullet witch and lost planet to just name a few. Somehow they call it completely new gameplay, while the action remains the same boring, fps shoot to kill.
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