Comments on: Why are movie based games failing?

By: Diallo

Diallo — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:20:51 +0000

You stole that Spider-man 2 bit at the end from me. But that's ok.

By: John D'Acquisto

John D'Acquisto — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:25:37 +0000

Typcially there is a rule to follow: If a game is released alongside a movie, its going to suck. If the game is released separate from the movie, or made just because the developers like the IP (spider-man games have always been really good) then it will be great.

By: justingibbs

justingibbs — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:18:20 +0000

I agree with you about the reasoning behind Avatar's success, but you have to give Cameron some credit for not just relying on special effects but cliche story lines. I don't know if it's his editing or maybe just the special effects but people fell for it with Titanic and now Avatar. I love your comparison to Jurassic Park. I expect in a year Avatar will hit the DVD shelves and get as good of a response as Titanic did – it sold well but was no where near the top 10 of DVDs ever sold. These are event movies, once it's over people look at them with critical eyes again. The Godfather has staying power.

As for using Disney theme park rides and Legos as source material for games, I would submit that they're more story worlds than specific stories. Story worlds give you a little more leeway. That said, Avatar creates quite an interesting world itself but one I think I would rather visit in person than play a game in. I would think LittleBigPlanet is a much more enjoyable world to visit in a video game.

By: eforhan

eforhan — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:38:03 +0000

I would suggest that Avatar-the-movie is successful because of the ground-breaking graphics, and possibly Cameron's name -- and nothing more, in my very humble opinion. Consider it this decade's Jurassic Park. If it weren't for the great dinosaur FX and Spielberg's name attached, it would have likely failed. Imagine, if you will, rubber-suit dinosaur costumes. That movie was all about the effects; they left the plot back in the original book.

Having watched a video of the game, it seems to have very pretty environments -- for a video game. Still, perhaps it's that it falls into the uncanny valley since our computers just can't process better? Or maybe players don't like running around killing everything in a game realizing they'll probably get preached to about killing animals, plants or natives (like in the movie itself)?

Or perhaps the game just plain isn't fun?

If a successful movie series can be made from a Disney theme park ride, I suspect that with a little insight and inspiration, the same could be done with many popular franchises.

The Lego video game series are a lot of fun. The Lego Star Wars series understands the essence of Star Wars like few SW games previously have -- and those are done in the style of a child's toy set!

You're right, though: Not all will so translate to or from a movie screen.

Then again, maybe they can?