Charles Cecil Interview (Was JDIFF competition)

Dav

Hello all,

Last year you may recall the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival (JDIFF) had a very busy talk given by Peter Molyneux (amongst others) that was hugely popular and this year they're running something similar. Here's a snippet from the blurb:

JDIFF wrote:

Following on from the success of the 2010 Controller Cinema event the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, in association with Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board, are delighted to announce a Masterclass on Approaches to Interactive Storytelling with ‘Industry Legend’ Charles Cecil.

The Irish gaming industry profile is growing, helped by the success and acquisition of indigenous middleware companies and also by the arrival of multinational players. With more than 400 people employed across the country, JDIFF invites you to explore the synergy between gaming and cinema.

Charles Cecil has been a key figure in the interactive entertainment industry for 25 years. He is currently Managing Director for UK based company Revolution Software, which has released such critical and commercial hits as Beneath a Steel Sky and the Broken Sword series. Charles is on the advisory panel of the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival and regularly speaks at events and to mainstream press about creative and commercial aspects of the video games industry. In 2006 Charles was awarded the status of ‘industry legend’ by Develop, Europe’s leading development magazine.

The gaming panel will be chaired by Hugh McAtamney, Course Chair MSc in Digital games at Dublin Institute of Technology.

You can see more details and book tickets here. The event takes place at 2pm, Wednesday 23rd February in the Morrison Hotel and have invited 2 Boardsies to come along. If you'd like an opportunity to attend, please tell me your favourite film based on a computer game OR your favourite game based on a film

Big thanks to the JDIFF people for sending us these tickets.

landsleaving

Sounds great, I'd love to go to this...

So best game based on a film... I'm pretty torn, either Aladdin for the Mega Drive or GodFather for the Wii.

Think I'll say Aladdin, it really was a great game and the music and visuals were fantastic when it was released.

landsleaving

Actually, allow me to retract my earlier statement. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is way better than both of those games

Kiith

Films based on games

Silent Hill - probably my favourite film based on a game. It was no where near as good as the game, but i enjoyed the film. Triangle head was really creepy in it, and darkness/mist scenes were done well.

Mortal Kombat - MK is a guilty pleasure of mine. It's an awful film, but i saw it years ago and loved it. I think it knows how bad it is, and just goes all out. The Reptile fight scene stands out for me.

Games based on films

Alien vs Predator - No other game has truly captured the feel of a movie then AvP and AvP2. Don't even think to compare them to the god awful movies of the same name, as they are nothing alike. Absolutely terrifying, and one of the first times that a blip on a radar has scared the bejeesus out of me.

X-wing/Tie Fighter - Probably the best star wars game ever made. There have been other good ones, but these two stand out. Awesome games.

cherryghost

Might get some flack but the Resident Evil films were quite good. Much better than the Uwe Boll shíte.

The classic Mortal Kombat film isn't too bad either

Tallon

+1 on the res evil films, they were pretty good

My fav would have to be the 1993 Super Mario Bros

It had a lot of high end actors, and had nothing at all to do with the games, but it was still brilliant

Healium

I prefer Silent Hill the movie to the games

ghostchant

The answer that will make me look credible:
Street Fighter 2: The Anime

My real answer:
Street Fighter (Van Damme et al.)

Special mention to Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, that for some reason decided that M. Bison was of Irish descent.

Dav

*bump*

I'm going to pick 2 winners for this on Thursday, so if there's any more interest, now's your chance

Skerries

I could say Goldeneye but i've never played it
but the ones i have played and that i really liked are older games as most games based on a recently released film are dross due to not enough development time

Robocop: on the Spectrum was brilliant and damn tough and i think was the start of multipart games for the Speccy

The Untouchables: again another multipart game which excellent due to the sum of its parts

The Dune Games: these came out years after the films so had proper work put into them
The first one was a great blend of a strategy and an adventure game and the artwork was beautiful
Dune II was the game that launched a new genre of game and is still playable today, where would tank rushes be without this gem

Blade Runner: another film classic released after the film and so the quality was put into it, one of the best adventure games out there from that era

Jazzy

Goldeneye is still the king baby. definately the movie based game with the biggest legacy. protecting natalya in control on 00 Agent still haunts me.

as for a movie based on a game, this is where it becomes tricky. The best ive seen is still probably the Street Fighter 2 Anime. Doom could have been something special but they messed that up, both AvP films really give the Alien franchise a spit roasting... so much so that Ridley Scott can't really come back to it and has decided to create a new film entirely which has nothing to do with the creatures. silent hill was good right up until they introduced the village of the damned. was good to see chris barrie aka rimmer from red dwarf in tomb raider though.. pity about the rest of the movie

RobertFoster

I try not to watch films based on video games, especially if I like the game, but I found Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within enjoyable. I also remember liking Super Mario Bros., but hey, it was the '90s and I was young and stupid innocent.

The other way around - favourite game based on a film - is easier to choose: Die Hard Trilogy! It was my first PlayStation game, and it was three different types of games in one. I was hooked on it for ages.

Blade Runner would be a close second; the atmosphere in the game was great and really matched the film.

super_furry

Hmmmm, I'm not so sure it would be good for me to go to that.

I'd probably end up launching myself at Charles Cecil for that bloody goat puzzle in Broken Sword.

jaykhunter

My favourite film based on a computer game is Mortal Kombat (1995). MKII was my favourite arcade game at the time and is one of the first movies I'd pressured my big brother into seeing (as opposed to being brought in to see one of their films). It had a cool soundtrack, great special effects/set and some fun takes on the characters. Whenever I see this film it reminds me of when I was 12 and making my brother bring me again to see it the next weekend

landsleaving

Found out I've to work the day this is on and can't get out of it. I'd have gone if I won a ticket or not too.

Stupid youth of the nation needing to learn, can't they do it on their own? Why did they bother inventing books?

Anyways, Dav, please remove me from the hat I assume you're drawing winners from.

docdolittle

Hopefully we'll just forget that Final Fantasy movie that was made...

It has to be the Resident Evil movies for me, fair bit of action and zombies! What more do you want out of a Ressi movie!?

But I'd love to go to this Although Hugh is already one of my lecturers now Last years Peter Molyneux one was pretty good (link here for stream of it)

allanb49

I'll go with Ghostbusters, it got the whole cast back together and the writers of the movies for what is essentially the third movie,

sure there was some difficulty issues in the graveyard but you got a whole new ghostbusters story and you got to also strap on a proton pack and bust some ghosts.

johnny_ultimate

I'd go with Aladdin on the MegaDrive. The problem with most movie> game adaptations is that they are mere cash-ins. Aladdin is something more. A mere platformer, yes, but one with a tonne of character. It benefits tremendously from the source material - the super smooth animation and the wonderful 16-bit renditions of the film soundtrack are the most obvious examples. Whereas other games feel like they just transplant the characters onto any old genre and hope it sticks, Aladdin just feels right, a true companion piece to the game.

Game > movie on the other hand - well that's a case of which adaptation is least bad as opposed to best :pac: I'd go with Street Fighter II anime too. A bit awkward and top-heavy with cameo appearances from anyone who has ever street fought, but an entertaining old farce that utilises the characters and concept of the game well. It is ultimately a film that feels like the game it adapts, which is far more than most achieve.

Grumpypants

I cant go to the show but just to join in with the reminiscing

Movie to game
All time fav : Blade Runner
Close second : Indiana Jones (Atlantis) two point and click gems.
Guilty pleasure : Wolverine it had terrible graphics, terrible screen tearing and glitches, bad story almost everything about it was below average yet i loved it !!

Also on the cards where Star Wars on the NES 25 mins long but one of the hardest games ive ever played.

Games to movies
Resident evil all of them even degeneration
Dead Space
Guilty pleasure Tomb raider or DOA !

Kiith

I also need to take my name out. I can't get out of work next week.

Edit...Crap, how did i forget about Blade Runner!. That was a fantastic game, that didn't get nearly enough praise.

docdolittle

Hey Dav, just wondering, who got the tickets?

Dav

Hello all,

I was sure I'd posted the winners here yesterday, apologies. The winners, as chosen at random by 2 people here in the office are allanb49 and cherryghost.

Thank you to everyone who entered and to JDIFF for the 2 tickets.

That_Guy

Still no mention of the Super Mario Bros film?

A masterpiece. :pac:

Tallon

That_Guy wrote: »

Still no mention of the Super Mario Bros film?

A masterpiece. :pac:

I mentioned it on teh first page :pac:

allanb49

SMB does have lots of subtle references to the games in it, i think it's a great movie... I do i'm being sincere.

Kiith

I remember enjoying it, but that doesn't mean it wasn't an awful film :P

allanb49

True great may be a little bit of a strong word, but it has nostalgia value for me

Dav

I've just found out that that I'm getting an opportunity to interview Charles before this event tomorrow, so if anyone has any questions for him, now's the time to ask

docdolittle

Dav wrote: »

I've just found out that that I'm getting an opportunity to interview Charles before this event tomorrow, so if anyone has any questions for him, now's the time to ask

Where is the interview going up? Oh and that was a pretty big boards logo on your tee today :P