Lee

The various mediums of entertainment and the arts have crossed paths via adaptions for quite some time, so seeing, for instance, a book transferred into a film or a popular film into a video game is common place and readily available to the average consumer. In fact, it is almost expected. There are even gaming companies such as Acclaim who deal almost exclusively with transferring movies such as Spider-Man into video games.

Why is not more literature, specifically fantasy novels, transferred into video games, such as role playing games? The material is not only available in abundance, but it is so tightly related in subject matter that parallels in plot formation is unavoidable, and the market already wields an audience familiar with the notations.

Sure, there are some slant examples already on the market, but few in number. The Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett were made into descent (but dated) Playstation and PC games, but how much of a victory is that? While Discworld is great, it is still a parody of the genre and cannot count as a true game adaption of the more serious fantasy literature genre. Comic book games, such as Marvel Ultimate Alliance, have been made, but some---hell, many---critics consider the graphic novel inherently inferior to text-only literature. Some people may bring up the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter game adaptions, but they must be ultimately disqualified as an example since the games in question are more reflections of the film success than that of the literature.

It isn't like the gaming medium couldn't stand for some fresh, fleshed-out source material. SquareEnix, the makers of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, had a good run at furthering the storytelling quality of games, but the company have stagnated in their own progress. Too often as of late SquareEnix has pumped out carbon copies of a workable fantasy formula in effort towards a quick buck.

If games are to be considered a true source of noteworthy storytelling, would not working with authors of the novel form of fantasy literature be one way of accomplishing that goal? Perhaps then the production gates would be opened for more (excuse the pun) novel ideas of original material.

Thoughts? Is it reasonable to hire published writers as authors to game scripts? What fantasy or science fiction novels/series would be good sources?

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Hinesmdc

i know there is a pc game based on the works of edgar allen poe



yea, im back, its been awhile

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mamab

My husband bought the PC game Eragon after watching the movie. I'm not sure he's played it that much.

I think it would be nice if the games were more scripted than they are, but I doubt they'd ever hire an author to create a script for them.

FourBear

There are also a few PC games based on the Nancy Drew detective stories.

I'd love to see some more literature-based games, though. If done correctly, they could be amazing.

RoxyMoron

Edgar Allen Poe? Now my interest has been sparked. I'd love to see more games based on books that are not sci-fi fantasy stuff like this Harry Potter craze (which I've never gotten into obviously haha) or action comics, I used to be a fan as a kid but I think it got worn a little thin.

Joel007

By the power of Greyskull!

Lee

Lord, I am old enough to remember advertisements for the Masters of the Universe Atari and Commodore 64 games on the back covers of comic books.....

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Some call me a genius. Others are not the sarcastic type.

mamab

You're not the only one, Lee. I'm right there with you! Of course, I'm not telling just how old I am.

RoxyMoron

Haha...I would love to see what those old systems look like. I've never actually seen them despite hearing about them all the time. I wish I could remember the name of the one my ex's dad has, with a little click wheel remote...extremely 70s old school! He was always playing "Burger Time."

Joel007

I'm sure there are plenty of pictures around, if you can remember the names of all the consoles. My first actual console was the NES

See, I'm not that old!

Lee

God knows I am....

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RoxyMoron

Hahaha! Whoa, what's that one? I have honestly never seen that, but it seems vaguely familiar. Looks like an old toy I once had to learn how to spell ;P

Lee

Heh, it is the Atari 400, which, oddly enough, came out after the very popular Atari 2600. Seeing that new competitors like the Commodore 64 were tapping into people's desire to also have their gaming system compute their taxes or monthly expense sheets, Atari took their stab at it with the 400 and 800 (the only difference between the two was that the 400 had a flat keyboard, and the 800 had the awfully familiar push keyboard that we are all now accustomed to). Maybe it would have ultimately worked if it wasn't for the emergence of the NES.

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Some call me a genius. Others are not the sarcastic type.