Remembering Pairing Video Games and DVDs

P: Let’s look back to 1982. The movie ET was a smash at the box office, and the Atari 2600, the leader in video game consoles at the time, was at the top of its game. Atari’s parent company Warner Communications strikes a deal to produce a game on the film, set to be completed just in time for the holidays. There was only one major problem.

A: And that was?

P: They only had six weeks to make the game to fit in that timeframe. Not only that, but Steven and the head game developer Howard Scott Warshaw argued about the structure of the game. When the game was released, it was a financial success, but the game was panned beyond measure.

A: Was it really that awful?

P: Oh, yes. In fact, there is a popular rumor in the gaming community that Atari made way more cartridges than they could sell after the reviews got out. They had so much product surplus that they decided to take all of the cartridges into the El Paso desert in Texas, crush the games, mix them with cement, and bury them in the desert. But this is just an urban legend. We have no idea if they actually did this, but it’s fun to think about.

A: Wow! Well, one example I would like to put out is the film based on the popular video game, Alone in the Dark.

P: Ah. I heard about that film. I haven’t seen it, really, but I did see the Nostalgia Critic review on it. It’s pretty funny. He basically explains that the film had little to do with the whole Alone in the Dark story, as well as pointing out with stiff acting and confusing plot holes.

A: And one critic said “Too bad to be entertaining, too loud to sleep through” or something like that. But that’s what’s expected from Uwe Boll. Almost all of his films are based on video games, and they all never get above 10% on Rotten Tomatoes, the famous movie review site.

P: You don’t know the half of it. He’s like the Ed Wood of the 21st century. Uwe Boll is one of the most infamous figures in cinema history, and with good reason.

A: That is true. If any of our readers were to see one of his movies right now, they too would understand what we mean.

P: Along with those video game based movies, he has made some original films, just to clarify. But even though his movies bomb, he still makes money somehow.

A: That is a crime in itself.

P: Yeah. But you better be careful when saying anything bad about him or his films, because he will break you. Literally. Uwe Boll has been known to challenge critics to boxing matches and decimate them in the ring. Personally, I hope he somehow finds this article on the Internet and challenges us, just so I have the sake to say that I got the crap beaten out of me by Uwe Boll. But that’s just me.

A: I might stand a chance a little, since I box too. But let’s get on good video game movies and movie-licensed games.

P: I guess. Well, it’s kind of hard to think of any, but I think the best example I can figure of a good video game movie is Prince of Persia. The actors do a good job of capturing their characters, the choreography is fantastic, and the story is spot on to the game’s fundamentals.

A: That is all true, but a tiny flaw in it was that it was a little predictable. Besides that, it’s a fantastic film.

P: Well, if you consider someone sticking a magic dagger into a giant fire Cheeto predictable, I don’t know what will surprise you.

A: I meant when Dustan stabbed himself and his brother resurrected him.

P: I wouldn’t have said resurrected him, but rather exploiting the time stream and creating a time paradox that stopped that from happening. But I thought we were talking about video games here, right?

A: Sorry for going off topic. Anyways, there are other good videogame films out there, as well as others that will soon be released.

P: Yeah, films like the Resident Evil series and the Silent Hill movie.

A: And there are some good movie-licensed games as well.

P: Yeah, games like Ghostbusters and Jurassic Park, but I think that’s because they weren’t tied to any specific movie in their respective series, but rather being part of their respective universes and just doing their own thing. I think a lot of people view games tied directly to a movie usually bad.

A: O.K. I’ll give you that. But there are always some exceptions, like the Avatar game.

P: The same goes for me and video games. I guess people can get blue in the face on the issue of movie licensed games and game based movies being bad and vice versa. I’m just glad we got our opinions out here so the people reading can get the facts. Or lack thereof. (laughs)

A: Yeah. So to finish off this article, let’s answer a rhetorical question; what game\ movie would you like to be in?

P: Oh man, there are so many games. I’m torn between Team Fortress 2 and Little King’s Story. Little King’s Story because you can boss people around, expand your boarders by destroying other monarchies, and somehow taxing people by making them walk into random buildings, and TF2 because, well, I just love that game. What about you?

A: I would have to be in Bioshock, mainly because of all the awesome Plasmids, like setting you enemies on fire and sending hordes of wasps to attack them.

P: Yeah, that does seem pretty cool. Well, I guess we’re nearing the end of the discussion, so I say we should pack it up here.

A: Yes we should, and thank you for being here with us, Patrick. Anthony out.