The gap between movies and video games has shrunk. I have thought about this for awhile in the relationship between the two. As the technology for video games has been rapidly evolving so has the story telling. I believe there has been great examples of story telling in this format for a long time. For me the super nintendo was the first gaming system I ever owned and there are games with truly unique stories I have never seen anything quite like since. The lack of graphics and voice acting forced a narrative driven game to depend on it's personality alone. If anyone has played Earthbound for super nintendo, the game is incredibly simple in presentation, but in terms of personality and story, it is unlike anything else.
Today we are seeing advances in the way we can tell stories in this format, voice acting used to be a rarity for games and now it is found in almost every title. The Metal Gear Solid series to me was the first time I felt I was experiencing something that had a cinematic style that felt like I was playing a game and at the same time, experiencing a film that had an incredibly deep and complex story. We also see the development of motion capture through out this series, the first one had top notch voice acting but pixelated unmoving faces. With the 4th installment, we see how motion capture can give these characters facial expressions and actions that are mapped out from a person acting out a scene. This gives the character emotions and depth unlike anything we have seen before.
Video games seem to be coming closer and closer to blending with the art of film, while it has been successful for games to adapt facets of film making into itself, the video games that have had movie adaptations have failed miserably. There have been multiple flops when attempting to adopt a games story and style into a film yet people are still trying to successfully accomplish this.
I would love to hear examples of games that you have loved, that you felt adapted film like narratives and techniques into the experience. I would also like to hear your thoughts and opinions on video game adapted movies.
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First off, the Metal Gear Solid franchise is undoubtedly my favorite video game series ever made. I can talk to people about it forever and not lose interest. I have played every game including the first two for the NES, and I can't get enough of it. Every new installment, in my mind, had the best graphics on their respective consoles. While the first one now has outdated graphics, at the time they were state of the art. The movements of the characters were fluid compared to games like Resident Evil, where the movements were unnatural and difficult. The latest game for the Playstation 3 console, could easily have been a film in itself. While it had plenty of gameplay, it also had over 2 hours worth of cutscenes that added so much to the story. I have played each of the games multiple times, and still own the first one for the original playstation, and still play it from time to time the same way some people would watch their favorite movies over and over again. Video games with strong storylines are important to gaming in this era, because people are looking for more in depth games. I know I was a little disappointed at how short the campaign mode was in the new "Call of Duty" game, and after hearing some other people's responses, they seem to agree with me.
ReplyDeleteThis article wasn't what I thought it was when you said bridging the gap between film and movies... I think its interesting that games created from movies are becoming one release in the same. I've been noticing that when a movie comes out, there is no gap between that film and its video game release, like avatar is already completed and released.... bridging the gap....
ReplyDeleteBut, sorry, I don't play video games. But if i remember way back to the original X box, I had a lord of the rings video game, that did have that storyline. I don't think it was very fluid or intense, but it was more of an experience. I did just remember my roomate freshman year would play god of war on PS2, and I loved watching him play, the action and story of each level was interesting.. So I agree with you , story lines have been increasing and the goal of these video games is to be equivalent or surpass movies.
I made a movie about sonic. Lame. I know.
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