Just a quick post to celebrate our blogs 3rd birthday, 3 years has gone by incredibly fast and a lor has changed since we started it back on blogger. But a lot more is going to be changing and happening over the rest of this year, including…
Just a quick post to celebrate our blogs 3rd birthday, 3 years has gone by incredibly fast and a lor has changed since we started it back on blogger. But a lot more is going to be changing and happening over the rest of this year, including (hopefully) a great project that you will all be able to enjoy, and the return of HOTW!
But for now, happy birthday Blankmind!
With the recent release of Pokemon Black and White, it only seems appropriate that this week’s ShoutOut goes to OverClocked Remix’s latest album: Pokemon The Missingno Tracks, a compilation of remixes that span from all the Pokemon classics. A…
With the recent release of Pokemon Black and White, it only seems appropriate that this week’s ShoutOut goes to OverClocked Remix’s latest album: Pokemon The Missingno Tracks, a compilation of remixes that span from all the Pokemon classics. A preview track is below; Casino Lounge:
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British Games developer Rare, the company that once brought us GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64 and more recently Kinect Sports for Xbox 360, is rumoured to be heading for the bucket. For some time now the Microsoft owned company has been cutting back…
British Games developer Rare, the company that once brought us GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64 and more recently Kinect Sports for Xbox 360, is rumoured to be heading for the bucket. For some time now the Microsoft owned company has been cutting back on costs, with the latest rumour that the department is now only made up of temporary staff. Whether true or not still remains to be seen, but again rumours say the developer could be defunct as soon as this year. Rare’s origins saw the company as an independent games developer in 1984, founded by Tim and Chris Stamper. Yet the company’s true fame grew during the mid 90′s while developing games for Nintendo’s Snes and N64, being most noted for making the Donkey Kong Country series for the Snes, Banjo-Kazooie and Goldeneye for the N64 and Star Fox Adventures for Gamecube. Though as early as 1997 Rare saw the a bit of turbulence with the departure of some of its staff, most notably those working on Goldeneye. Adding further problems in 2000, both the founders of Rare and Nintendo sold their half’s of the company, where soon after Microsoft brought all shares in the company, adopting Rare as a subsidiary. Despite the new ownership, the early 00′s saw Rare releasing two N64 remakes on the Nintendo DS, while near the end of the decade saw the departure of the Stamper brothers. More recently, the company has been working on a new Banjo-Kazooie title for the Nintendo 3DS. Whether or not this will be competed is left to rumour.
Saying that there has been no successful film adaptation of a video game would be equivalent to stating that Justin Bieber was not a successful music artist. But let’s face it, I use the word “artist” in the loosest sense as much as the film Tomb…
Saying that there has been no successful film adaptation of a video game would be equivalent to stating that Justin Bieber was not a successful music artist. But let’s face it, I use the word “artist” in the loosest sense as much as the film Tomb Raider was an “adaptation”. For that’s it when it comes down to substance; try not to look any deeper than face value here. If you’re looking for number of sales and profits look no further, as to date Tomb Raider is the highest grossing film adaptation of a video game. Success? Yes. But it’s not the company’s profit that gets me off the couch to the local cinema now is it. It’s not unjust to say that video game adaptations have a bad reputation for all thrills and no substance. Look at some of the reviews of some gems such as Hitman and Prince of Persia and you’ll see a common pattern. But if you think this is one of those articles that defends the view that it’s down the difference of media as much as from novel to film, think again. I’m saying it’s because no one has tried.
Trying not to sound all high and preachy and forgetting how the real world works, any film company deserves to make a profit as much as any other business. Though I believe with the current mentality in Hollywood, video game adaptations are never going to get very far with the critics or the fans. Even before the word go video game adaptations are at a disadvantage. Original films may get what seems to be a natural evolution: starting out with the freedom of a writers idea, written into a script and sent as a proposition to a company and then if accepted get edited and likely get stamped with limitations of budget and cast. With film adaptations on the other hand, the process begins with the purchase of licenses. And so from the set go the film is already at a financial loss. The possible upcoming third Tomb Raider film is a good example of the planning and strategy required to acquire the rights to a film, where even before negotiations could initialize, Paramount needed to purchase the sufficient percent of shares in the Square Enix subsidiary, Edios. No wonder few film companies are reluctant in being adventurous, why take the risky harder route of making a serious film with substance? Though let’s not over estimate the effect of this. After all, some of the greatest films have been adaptations from novels.
So why are adaptations from videos games less successful than their novel counterpart? I would agree that when it comes down to novels, no other media can evoke as much detail in storytelling. Film makers often find that if anything, novels are too rich in detail to properly capture in film. And of course, there are literary mechanisms that work in novels that fail in movies. It’s therefore possible to argue that this is where film adaptations from games fail. I would have to agree with that for some games, particularly those of the earlier generations: I’d eat my metaphorical hat if anyone managed to adapt Tetris or Meat Boy. Yet, probably because I am an avid gamer myself, I do not believe this is true.
While gaming is a new media, and it’s even younger if you think that gaming has only recently developed the technical, financial and narratives that video games require to story tell, even some of the earliest games had an enriched story. What could be at the core of the problem is the failure of the film writers or directors. Or more correctly the lack of skill to analyze stories in gaming. Call me crazy, but even videos games can have the same complexity as a piece of literature, though maybe not as long. The adaptation of Silent Hill is one such example of a game that probably had all a writer or director needed to make a decent film. But yet, it didn’t.
There was one thing that poked me in the eye while watching Silent Hill and It wasn’t the mediocre acting either. More than anything it was the chaotic storyline. While Silent Hill is notorious for the: What the hell is happening as You scream down a dimly lit corridor, there was a purpose to having Pyramid Head appearing when you least wanted him in Silent Hill 2. He was an effective symbolic device that got the gamer thinking and probably screaming too. And through the context of other narrative, it all tied into a finale that gave the gamer not only a realization of a plot twist, but one that was defined by the gamers decisions in game. All in all Silent Hill was more than adequate for a film; a good narrative, a good setting and most of all an enthralling idea for a story. Yet the film failed to capture this story it still by missing the core elements that made it good.
That’s not to say the film forgot the elements that distinguish it to be set in the Silent Hill universe. Far from it. The writer knew the game, but no one cared when the female police officer died. And No one was shocked when the viewer was told the link between the daughter and Silent Hill. Digressing a little, it had everything from all first three Silent Hills. If anything this was a case of trying to cram all the elements that fans of the game could relate to, without any thought their roles in the story. Subsequently, what was really missing that made a Silent Hill game was its story telling. From then on set of the film the viewer get the “impression” that there is a link between the young daughter and Silent Hill with her literally screaming your ear off with its name. Compare this to Silent Hill 2 where it takes a full 36 hours to fully explore this link, you get the distinction in difference. When pyramid head appear in the film there’s no reason. Maybe to scare you at most. Probably the worst example is the whole point of Silent Hill as a plot is never really conveyed in the film. There’s a reason why Silent Hill draws in the disturbed and interesting characters to its lively location. As in a twist it is a reputation of their world, or state of being. For something like this to be missed, this something that is critical to character development and sets up the whole point of the film, defeats the point of the film being an adaptation of Silent Hill…
The guys at We Can Pretend Productions have shown their stuff with this fan made trailer of Modern Warfare. But their talent doesn’t stop their, go view some of their impressive videos at their Youtube page; you wont…
The guys at We Can Pretend Productions have shown their stuff with this fan made trailer of Modern Warfare. But their talent doesn’t stop their, go view some of their impressive videos at their Youtube page; you wont be disappointed.
