We all know the video games that should be movies and how most TV shows and movie adaptations are true steaming piles, but there are some franchises that haven't been mined yet. Bear with me.

If you've ever played Thor: God of Thunder, the latest in a long line of crummy movie adaptations, you know how bad they can be. Thor was a glaring example of developers that just didn't care about...well, anything apparently, and shoved the game out the door in time for the movie. People bought it (I rented it, unfortunately) just because they liked the movie or comics and wanted to smash stuff with a giant magic hammer.

It's not easy to forgive or forget these horrible adaptations, but if done right they can be real gems. Just look at GoldenEye and Spider-Man 2, for example. If you want newer examples, Green Lantern and Captain America didn't make me want to vomit.

So it can be done. Here are some examples of franchises that I think can be adapted and can be really fun if done well:

• Firefly - This TV show from Joss Whedon ultimately culminated in the Serenity movie, and it's amazing that that ever got made. Firefly's fans, called the Browncoats (named after the faction that Captain Mal Reynolds used to fight for), are a rabid bunch that are still pulling for more from the franchise after it was abruptly and unceremoniously canceled. It's a cross between a space opera and a western that would work great as a Mass Effect-type of game because of its focus on Captain Reynolds and the crew of Serenity, his Firefly-class ship.

• The Walking Dead - Yeah, zombies are overdone nowadays but I still love 'em. I loved zombies before it was cool and I always will. Anyway, The Walking Dead would work best as a super-hard survival game like what I Am Alive promises, focusing more on character development and the oppressive nature of the environment rather than zombie smashiness.

• Sons of Anarchy - I dismissed this show as "biker crap" until I played the GTA 4 biker expansion "The Lost and the Damned." All of a sudden I was interested in "biker crap" and I tuned into SOA. I was immediately glad I did, as the show focuses not only on intra-club conflict, but also conflict with other factions (the IRA, Oakland gangbangers, Aryan Brotherhood, Mexican Cartels, etc.) and biker gangs. There's plenty here that could make a fun game, and GTA has already shown the way.

• Boardwalk Empire - This show is all about Prohibition in the 20s and brings together fictional characters with young up-and-coming versions of real gangsters like Al Capone, Meyer Lansky, George Remus, and Lucky Luciano.  The Godfather and Mafia games show how this can be done, with you juggling crime, conflict, and contraband with the other factions of New York, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Atlantic City.

• Suckerpunch - Well, this movie pretty much is already a video game in spirit, but it could be expanded into all sorts of scenarios crafted by Babydoll's imagination. This would have to be a straight-up actioner but would require a lot of work to create a viable system that let you pull of piloting a WWII bomber while dragons try to kill you just as smoothly as pulling off sword- and gunplay against Nazi zombies, orcs, and giant samurai with Gatling guns.

Do you have any ideas for franchises that have yet to be plundered and turned into video games?

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