Video Game Movies In CG

deathrider

I watched Resident Evil: Degeneration last night because I'm currently on a bit of a Res E buzz. It didn't blow my mind, though it did have it's moments (like Leon greeting Claire the same way he did when he first met her in Res E 2, for example). What it really did, though, was make me wonder about the whole idea of video game movies being made in CG as opposed to live action.
With Res E: Degeneration, I believe some of the voice actors from the games performed (Claire deffinitely did, not sure about Leon), giving it a really autenthic feel. They looked the same as they appeared in the games too. This automatically had me hooked in quicker than when Ali Larter played Claire in the live action films. I remember thinking back when the Tomb Raider movie was in the early stages of production, and everyone was arguing over who should play Lady Croft. I also remember saying "Why not just make it with computer graphics and use the chick who done her voice in the game? If they can make movies like Toy Story, then why not convincing game movies?" I also remember my friends laughing at the idea.

So, should CG be the future of game flicks? Or should they stick to using the tried and tested (and failed) formula of live action?

chin_grin

The Final Fantasy movies (Advent Children which was actually based on FFVII and Spirits Within.....which wasn't) I thought were amazingly done.

Square has always blown me away with their attention to detail with cutscenes in their games so I'm biased in that respect.

I would prefer a Mortal Kombat film in this format though. Not sure why it wouldn't translate that well with "real" actors. Could portray the cartoon violence the way it was meant to.

Pretty sure that Tekken has a new flick coming out which is going to be released with the game on the PSVita.

deathrider

chin_grin wrote: »

The Final Fantasy movies (Advent Children which was actually based on FFVII and Spirits Within.....which wasn't) I thought were amazingly done.

Square has always blown me away with their attention to detail with cutscenes in their games so I'm biased in that respect.

I was never a FFVII fan, but really enjoyed Advent Children. It just felt right!

chin_grin wrote: »

I would prefer a Mortal Kombat film in this format though. Not sure why it wouldn't translate that well with "real" actors. Could portray the cartoon violence the way it was meant to.

Agreed completely. I love the intros to Deaception and Arageddon. That's how MK stories should be shown. I've always wanted a full-lenght version like this, or at least a Manga in the same style as Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. These are the only styles that would really do MK justice.

chin_grin wrote: »

Pretty sure that Tekken has a new flick coming out which is going to be released with the game on the PSVita.

I actually had the great misfortune of seeing the Tekken movie tonight (got the animated one lined up for tomorrow night too). The only good thing about it was that Shang Tsung played Heihachi :pac:
Is the new one going to be live action too?

Napper Hawkins

Often wondered this myself.

Advent Children was a joy to look at but it was ruined by the fact that the characters had voices.

Yeah I know, but FFVII had no voices so I kind of had my own idea of how Cloud etc should have sounded, like projecting yourself onto the characters in a book.

They also did that really annoying thing where they used adults to voice the child characters, something that made me hate Sunny from MGS4 that little bit more.

There's also been a lot of talk about an MGS film....who should play Snake etc.

No one but David Hayter could be Snake. End of.
That is why I would automatically hate any live action Metal Gear film that used a different actor. It just wouldn't be the same. But a CG MGS? ****ing bring it on.
The money, resources, talent and interest are all there so why not? Only problem is that Hideo Kojima would almost certainly gay it up to the nines as he is prone to doing and that would be a disaster.

Would have always loved a really decent, well made CG MK film and now it has Warner Bros money being pumped into the franchise then I don't see why they couldn't do it. I'm gonna be waiting and watching to see what Kevin Tancharoen pulls out of his hat with his take on the now confirmed MK movie. I was very impressed with Legacy and have even managed to convert a few sceptics after I forced them to watch it! So he seems to be doing something right.

A good RE film is also long overdue and it needs to be CG and made by a fan (like Kevin T) so that the fans finally get what they want for once. I'm now embarrassed to admit to people that I'm an RE fan after the utterly atrocious bollox that Paul "I'm married to Milla Jovovich" Anderson pulled out of his ass. **** those films, seriously.

5uspect

There's a recent Guardian article that argues pretty much what the OP is saying. He does go further and say that all sci-fi etc should be animated to some degree.

The adventures of Tintin – and CGI
http://gu.com/p/32etq

Kiith

I'm looking forward to Retr0 seeing all this praise for Advent Children :pac:

Napper Hawkins

It was a cringefest, but a pretty cringefest.

Could never tolerate sitting through it again.

Gunmonkey

Just give whoever makes the CGI intros to the Assassins Creed games millions and let them loose.....seriously, they are GORGEOUS vids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z28_jStWyKI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVWhWsgHzKM

I know there is the AC: Embers short coming with Revelations buts got a more cartoonish slant, still gonna love watching it.

jaykhunter

Put in the obligatory Bioware Star Wars CG videos They're so amazing. I wish they'd try their hand at a film.

TBH even though I wasn't crazy about Resi :DX i'm a fan of the idea; cheaper to produce and so able to stay closer to the source material. I'd preferably like to see both.

I'd like to see Dead Space try a live action film; I just don't find cartoon animation scary, which kinda kills any atmosphere. Even CG would be a step up; their animation doesn't have nearly enough gore imo.

johnny_ultimate

There's a much easier solution than making them CGI, and that's not to make video game movies at all. They go against everything that make games unique. While (most) novels are relatively easy to adapt to film given both forms of narrative are similarly pre-determined "linear" (not the optimal word, but it will do), games tell a different type of story. Sure, there's a basic, straightforward story driving most, but that's not why we play. We play to, at the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, play. Taking that away and you're left with merely the basic narrative, which doesn't tend to be all that interesting: underdrawn characters, poor delivery etc... Take away the interactivity, and game stories show up many, many flaws. The best of the best game stories are the ones player's can actively invest in and interact with, and that will never carry over to film. It's telling that when adapted to film, most game ideas and worlds come across as mildly engaging at best (Silent Hill) and downright awful at worst (countless examples).

That said, Street Fighter II anime is solid.

Randomer.

Should be done a lot more tbh, completely agree.

Producers are too paranoid and more worried about money than a quality film these days. Most if not all video game movies are just mindless action movies designed to hopefully bring in average joe movie goer. The game fans are rarely happy with the movie.



I think the failure of The Spirits Within is to blame. But those guys were trying to produce visuals as close to real life as possible thus it cost a tone to make.

If they just made it with decent cgi, like someone was saying regarding the Assassins creed intro's it could be very easily do-able.

But I think the only successful CGI movies are the ones aimed at kids.

All it takes is one company to take a risk - make a serious movie but with CGI, stay true to the game - keep the same damn voice actors and stop worrying about big fuckin names - write a 'good movie' and release it. It'll become popular and loads of people will praise it.

Next thing you know CGI movies based on game will be the next fad like comic book movies.

ShadowHearth

Ultramarines was prety good, but it wasn't great quality though.

That ff7 movie was good, but I bet it coated as much as making ff7 sequel...

johnny_ultimate

That's the thing - if you are pumping all the resources into a CGI movie, surely said resources could be equally well spent making an actual game instead?

Blowfish

jaykhunter wrote: »

Put in the obligatory Bioware Star Wars CG videos They're so amazing. I wish they'd try their hand at a film.

Those were done by Blur Studios. If anyone could do a decent CGI film based off of a game, it'd be them alright.

BopNiblets

Some guy from deviantart is making a short in this style I think!

http://alexzemke.deviantart.com/art/Portal-Short-Chell-Test-Render-260970451

krudler

even going through the gametrailers top 100 video game trailers theres some serious talent making cgi intros and promos for games, the AC Revelations trailer is astonishing looking in places, especially the shot of the boat in the storm and Ezio walking across the desert, its nearly photo real in places.

Retr0gamer

Kiith wrote: »

I'm looking forward to Retr0 seeing all this praise for Advent Children :pac:

People who like Advent Children should be put down. It was ****ing awful.

Ridley

Napper Hawkins wrote: »

No one but David Hayter could be Snake. End of.

Have you ever seen Escape from New York/LA?

----

I'd love to see an Oddworld movie someday, done in the style of the games' FMVs.

Liber8or

I am somewhat doubtful when it comes to art translating into other mediums. For decades now the same old argument of a film never being better than a book still features prominently. Films such as the Lord of the Rings, A Scanner Darkly, perhaps some John Grisham novels turned into films might offer a strong counter-argument to this, but for the most part if you read the original format (book) and watch the later translational format (film), its never the same or even close.

So, why should games and films be any different? And games have the added dimension of interactivity. Gamers love to get involved, perform the actions, not be mere consumers - hence the controversies over the running time of cut-scenes in MGS4. The very idea of Mass Effect becoming a film goes against the concept that Mass Effect in its original form is a Role-Playing Game, what role does the audience take? It doesn't offer possibilities, alternatives; it just sits there and observes.

I think the whole cross medium thing is based purely on laziness. I loved the story of Fallout 3, but I would struggle to build up the energy to play through the whole thing again... why not stick on a two hour film that sums it up nicely, instead? Always the more cumbersome medium is translated into the easier one. Hence why games based on films are awful, and very few books based on films are successful. Either that, or the initial experience can never be beat or replicated again.

TL;DR version - I don't think films based on games work and although they may offer a fleeting pleasure of returning to the world of the game in a two hour session, it will never surpass the game itself.

Just my two cents anyway.

thebman

Well people shouldn't expect the same experience or style or anything really because they are in a different medium.

What works in games, often does not work in movies at all, CG or real.

A lot of games are actually quite hammy when you try to look at them objectively. It only works in the game because your already immersed from the game play.

Potential-Monke

I know alot of people don't like the idea of translating a game into film, but sometimes it can be done well, but it has to be done by people involved in the game itself. No point getting a 3rd party to do the film if they know nothing about it, or have no interest in the film itself, and not the income.

Although, sometimes you come across a 3rd party who would be perfect at making a film version of the game, ie: a Borderlands film would be done perfectly by the crowd who made CodeHunters:

deathrider

I intend on wathcing the Dead Space animated flick tonight. Hoping it proves further that this kinda stuff works better than live action.

Napper Hawkins

I enjoyed both Dead Space films.

deathrider

I didn't realise there were more than one Dead Space flick. It was Downfall that I was watching. Quite enjoyable. It didn't go for fear the way the game did, but it was like a fun blood-covered saturday morning cartoon.

Wetai

I watched FFVIIACC twice (maybe once or twice more - 1x the original, 1x the complete version, at least). It's fairly well done, however it does age quickly and I wouldn't have much desire to watch it all (maybe just the action scenes - e.g. bahamut, sephiroth) much. So, I guess I'd choose both poll options.

deathrider

I've actually been thinking about the whole aging quickly thing myself. Consideing the genre they are trying to represent, a lot of live action video game movies throw in a fair amount of special effects. These don't really age great either.

Potential-Monke

deathrider wrote: »

I've actually been thinking about the whole aging quickly thing myself. Consideing the genre they are trying to represent, a lot of live action video game movies throw in a fair amount of special effects. These don't really age great either.

I came on to say something similar, regular live-actin films use CGI and they don't age well either. Take the Matrix for example, in the day it was possibly the best film i had ever seen, CGI was fantastic and extremely believable. Look at it now, even in shiny BluRay it didn't stand the test of time.

So regardless of whether film-from-games age well or not, i think CGI is really the only way of keeping it close to the game. Too many live action films based on games get simply things like the characters wrong, simply because they are restricted by the people they can pick. Like the guy who played Heihachi in the recent Tekken film. He was good as Shang Tsung in the first MK film because there was a resemblance. But he was way too small for Heihachi, ruined the film for me (I was keeping an open mind!!).

So, bring out a Legacy of Kain CGI film please!!!

ríomhaire

I just wish Valve would make a film themselves. The TF2 shorts are of such amazing quality and they're hilarious!

MitchKoobski

Enjoyed Advent Children as a fan, but I watched the Blu-Ray extended version in in Japanese with english subtitles. Waaaaay better than the original dvd release.

I would watch an entire Uncharted movied done like the cutscenes in the game. They already film it like a CG movie anyway.

Sticky_Fingers

deathrider wrote: »

I've actually been thinking about the whole aging quickly thing myself. Consideing the genre they are trying to represent, a lot of live action video game movies throw in a fair amount of special effects. These don't really age great either.

In most cases this is true but there are some CG films that still look pretty slick. FF:The Spirits Within while suffering slightly from the uncanny valley effect still looks fantastic.

Every single movie that portrays any bit of technology will always look dodgy after a few years, Alien had the massive walk in computer, Aliens had those huge cameras stuck to the side of the marines helmet while nearly every computer screen (replete with crappy vector or polygon animations) shown in any movie over 10 years old looks absolutely ridiculous today.

Wetai

Also: http://www.youtube.com/user/montyoum
He does the Dead Fantasy series (and Red & Blue) - it's a CG mix of Dead or Alive & Final Fantasy, mostly revolving around the ladies (Yuna, Tifa, Rinoa ... Cloud [passive, near the end ones]). Really good stuff, especially as a fan of either (FF for me). Seems he's taken a break from DF for R&B.