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Looks like we have more and more games being made into movies these days. Joining the latest games to make the jump to the big screen is Sega’s absolutely brilliant shooter, Condemned: Criminal Origins. Dubbed The Unforgettable, the movie is being directed by The Cell director, Tarsem Singh, and features a plot that is said to involve “a cop who in the course of a murder investigation realizes that he is not human and uncovers a war between good and evil aliens.” And this is where I did something I don’t usually do - blink.
On a good note though, it looks like the Hitman movie is coming along famously. Talking to IGN, the Deadwood and Live Free or Die Hard actor, Timothy Olyphant talked about the Hitman movie, including admitting that he had never heard of the source material before the movie and a number of plot points, including the introduction of Nika, played by the stunningly gorgeous Olga Kurylenko and Dougray Scott’s portrayal of Mike Whittier. Sure, the plot doesn’t look too special, but oh well, at least the sets and good ol’ 47 look great, as they should. Expect the Hitman movie to release sometime in the next couple of months.
Wow, it looks like more and more games are getting the movie treatment these days. With over 23 “adaptations” of videogames released so far in movie format, it looks like we are going to see a lot more of our favorite (or not so favorite) videogames making the jump to the big screen. While Postal, Hitman and Resident Evil: Extinction are all set to pounce on the masses some time around October this year, it looks like the fold is welcoming Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Warcraft into the ranks of the upcoming bigwigs such as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Halo, Dungeon Siege, American McGee’s Alice, and Castlevania. Celebrating the demise of the last remaining brain cell in film producers and game developers eager to get their namesakes chewed on by zombies in the adaptations, we bring you a list of all the movies that we know of that have been based on video games, released and upcoming. Be warned that this is not a comprehensive list of all the movies ever made, just a simple article about the ones I’ve actually managed to see - and the ones I am dreading to see.
Gears of War for the Xbox 360 has garnered its fair share of attention (not to mention tonnes of awards, rabid fans and followers, and oodles of moolah for Epic Megagames), but then so did Halo for the Xbox. What’s the relation? Only the fact that the big-daddies of action gaming were slated to be made into motion pictures. Fresh from the moving tale of a giant CG ape falling for a woman (and vice versa…take that Bollywood!), Peter Jackson was to be the Executive Producer for the massive project, which has unfortunately entered into production limbo. However, Gears is still charging forth, like an over-adrenalized COG soldier through a horde of Drones. While a release date still hasn’t been announced, the folks over at LatinoReview.com claim to have gotten their hands on the script for the Newline Cinemas release. Aware that most people who’d wanna see the movie would be tempted to spoil themselves silly, only a third of the total script (the treatment weighing in at a total of 22 pages) is provided.
Written by Stuart Beattie (Collateral, Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End) the flick doesn’t simply restrict itself to the Locust Wars– it also showcases a fair bit of history surrounding the Pendulum Wars, along with Marcus’s early relationship with his father, Adam Fenix. Also, much like the videogame it’s based off of, Gears of War The Movie will feature an awesome amount of headshots, carnage, bloodshed and tough-talking in between bouts of war ranting and displays of human emotion. Those who wish to check out the script treatment can click here.
(Source: Gamespot)
Clover Studios developed great games like God Hand and Okami. Next thing we know Capcom was closing them down and Keiji Inafune (of Lost Planet fame) comments that just getting good reviews does not equal success. Critically acclaimed games like Viva Pinata and Kameo: Elements of Power from Rare Studios ended up losing in the sales race. Beyond Good and Evil by Ubisoft was cursed with the same fate inspite of being a great piece of interactive entertainment. I know it’s sad but thats exactly the state of the game industry today. Fewer developers take risks with innovation and games that are out of the ordinary. In fact, developers do love to make games that have never-before-seen gameplay and a completely new feel to how a game plays out, but it’s the cut-throat producers and publishing companies that dont want the developers to take risks. For the publishers, games should ALWAYS equal to loads of green or there is no freaking point in publishing it.
That is the reason why we see loads of crappy games in the market that sell well just because they are related to some blockbuster movie or in some cases a famous celebrity. For example 50 cent Bulletproof was a disaster of a game but was on the best seller list. Publishers know that if they push developers to make games based on the next Disney movie, they are sure to sell a hundred thousand copies without any effort at all. The consumers are suckers for anything that is mass market. The game may be crap and have horrible gameplay but if it has a lead character that resembles THE ROCK JOHNSON…SOLD OUT!
There are very, very few games that I have a completely incurable love affair with - Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is one of them. So I lost count of how many times I’ve played the game almost two years ago, but the fact remains that The Sands of Time is one of the most brilliant pieces of art the gaming industry has seen in decades. Heck, I still play it to this day whenever I need great fun, even as I curse developers for not bringing it to the PSP - a privilege that both sequels to the original enjoyed.
When a game is as big as Prince of Persia, it is inevitable that someone tries to make a movie out of it, especially someone as big as Disney, now that Pirates of the Caribbean is stumbling around. With Jordan Mechner, creator of the Prince legacy himself penning the script, it is something that most of us have been looking forward to, especially after Disney released mouth-watering concept art for the movie last month. While it was only revealed at the time of the press release that Jerry Bruckheimer would be producing the movie, it’s now been confirmed that Michael Bay, currently working on the Transformers movie, will be directing the movie for a Summer 2009 release.