The game designer of yore - a programmer sat in his bedroom tapping out lines of code - is no more. Today's developers are more like film directors. They have to think about camera angles, casting the characters, lighting the 'set' and crafting an engaging storyline.
And as such, games are becoming more and more like films. But films that take elements from games rarely work. Some, like Silent Hill and the upcoming Prince of Persia, seem to have the right idea, but here are ten films we think would make for sure-fire classics – with the right director and writer, of course.
We've also included casting suggestions, but these are just our personal choices.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Format: PlayStation 3
Why? Because it's the most cinematic game ever made. Borrowing liberally from great adventure movies like the Indiana Jones series and Romancing the Stone, the adventures of treasure hunter Nathan Drake are fraught, engaging and exciting.
And the fact that you're actively taking part in every great set-piece only adds to the effect. But as well as action, the game also boasts a cast of genuinely developed characters, whose interactions form the basis of some great dialogue, and a beautifully realised will they/won't they relationship.
And because it's already so steeped in cinematic influence, the transition to film would be effortless.
Would make a great scene: Drake is pursued through a rural Tibetan village by a Russian tank. As he ducks through alleyways and slides between cover, the tank's cannon tears the town to pieces.
Drake has to leap across rooftops dodging gunfire, grab a rocket launcher and take the tank out. With very little changes, this would make for a dynamic and thrilling mid-movie action sequence.
Dream director: Steven Spielberg (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
Dream cast: Nathan Fillion (Nathan Drake), Chloe Frazer (Claudia Black), Elena Fisher (Amy Smart)
Next: Dead Space
Comments
trotstuff
Nov 19th 2009, 11:19
this needs to happen. great casting choices too. Nathan Fillion already had the sarcasm/wit in firefly/serenity and looks uncannily like drake
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KamikazeDingo
Nov 19th 2009, 11:30
Wow some genuinely great ideas and some great calls on the casting too, the more Nathan Fillion the better!! Great list!
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Hadouken76
Nov 19th 2009, 11:50
what about stranglehold? Woo and Fat reunited on the screen. Its a no-brainer.
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metalgatesolid
Nov 19th 2009, 11:52
WAIT!!!! Fallout 3 is too big to be a single film. How about a huge TV series made with the biggest budget ever. There is more story to it than Lost. And Total Film where is Metal Gear Solid? The game that showed films and videogames can gell together isnt included!!?? Thoughts on this one could be Hideo Kojima director (anyone else would ruin it) and Kurt Russel as Solid Snake (they are both old and Snake is based on him)?
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WillShelmerdine
Nov 19th 2009, 12:32
Why? Dead Space rips of just about every sci-fi horror film going, Uncarted is a carbon copy of the leagues of Indy imitators, and Modern Warfare goes out of its way to feel like an action movie. It'd be like re-processing processed ham; all the goodness would be squeezed out. The charm of these games is drawn from their status as games; their interactivity, their dependance on player participation, and the time allowed by their formats to tell their stories. There's a reason no good films have come from adapting video games.
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ben300185
Nov 19th 2009, 15:08
I agree with another post, Metal Gear has to be on the list, you shouldn't have just done recent games, there should have been older games too- Metal Gear 3 is all ready to sit perfectly as a movie script, no futuristic weaponry, jungle sets etc, plus its the best game. There should be a campaign somewhere for a metal gear movie, if there isn't lets start one!
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metalgatesolid
Nov 19th 2009, 16:22
There has been a rumour a Metal Gear movie is in the pipe line but as of yet nothing definate. The series deserves to be the ultimate film saga and no director on earth could do it justice. I just hope, no pray, that a director comes along who loves the series and can do it justice. I know it is recent games but how about these to be made into films: Devil May Cry (Asian film only please), Unreal Tournament (like Gamer only good), FInal Fantasy X (Epic like LOTR), Manhunt and a proper Resident Evil film that follows the games?
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shinysavage
Nov 19th 2009, 18:23
Mass Effect. Space opera at its finest - space battles, shootouts, romance, aliens, amazing set pieces... It would be fantastic as a film. Great scene: Near the end of the game, you and your team are catching a lift up a tower, but it shorts out. The obvious solution is to use magnets in your armour to run up the walls, blasting enemies as you go, watching them drift away into space. Dream cast: Ben Browder or Jensen Ackles as Commander Shepherd, Anna Paquin could do a good job as Ashley Williams, and Brian Cox to voice Saren.
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thedarkknight
Nov 19th 2009, 22:16
Leave out the airport scene? It's THE key scene of the whole game for God sake!! What would Schindler's List be if they left out the shower scene?
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Ali1748
Nov 20th 2009, 10:31
Sadly I read Paul W.S Anderson is going to make a Metal Gear Movie :( Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of the best games I have played in years Mark Hamill was fantastic as the Joker. Nathon Fillion is a c**p actor I don't get the obsession TF and Empire have over him.
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Ali1748
Nov 20th 2009, 10:31
really I can't say cr ap ?
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ArielALB
Nov 20th 2009, 10:58
Robert Rodríguez for a Batman film? F**k no. I'd take Schumacher again.
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ArielALB
Nov 20th 2009, 10:59
About FALLOUT 3: you got like 5 movies in that game. Is that awesome.
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MaffShepherd
Nov 20th 2009, 12:32
Cant believe you missed out Bioshock. Now that would make a great film.
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daz8778
Nov 20th 2009, 13:16
darksiders!! a movie about the four horseman of the apocolypse watch the trailer and tell me that would not make a blockbuster movie!!
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SamaElPrime
Nov 20th 2009, 16:14
The Castelvania movie has also been roumored for a while, I think that the proposal Total Film is doing here could work well... a Castelvania movie directed by Tim Burton sure seems nice, what about Zack Snyder? Maybe not... I don't know. Maybe Burton it's not the best choice but I would see it. And by the way, you forgot to mention Metal Gear, my personal opinion is that if they should do a Metal Gear movie it should be for the first two games for de MSX, if they make a movie of the Metal Gear Solid games they would very probably do a horrible work.
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letthewookiewin
Nov 23rd 2009, 20:04
definately agree with maff, why wouldn't you include bioshock?
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yosarian25
Nov 24th 2009, 2:44
I'd like to see a tetris movie. Or pes the movie, it's just two hours of different footballers acting retarded
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RazorbalNL
Dec 9th 2009, 15:32
I dont think its a good idea to make movies about those games(all those game-movies are rubbish,certainly the Uwe Boll-movies!).
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acrestare
Jul 8th 2011, 20:17
Starfox Adventures and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion ought to be movies.
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alexr
Oct 4th 2011, 16:03
I believe the reason video game movies do not do well at the cinema is because the studios generally remove every part of the story that makes the game good and make up their own s**t that they think will 'translate to the target audience'. Silent Hill was just about the closest any video game based film has come to retaining the feel and style of the game.
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