Movies spawn video games

Movies have been entrancing the public since the silent films first appeared in the late 1800's. Back then who could have imagined that technology would allow films to incorporate spoken dialogue and music simultaneously with these moving pictures.

This was one of the first forms of technology to be used for entertainment and the rest is history. Moving pictures gave rise to television. Television gave rise to computers which in turn gave rise to video games.

So, what would be more fun than watching a movie? Perhaps playing through the movie in its video game counterpart.

The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Indiana Jones, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian are all big hit movies coming out this year that have video game counterparts. However, will any of them survive the movie to game curse?

Video games based off of movies have had a shady history in the video game community. Shaky controls at best, graphics that should have been put in the trash, and even terrible stories. You name any problem that is found in video games and it has more than likely made it into a movie based game.

The Fantastic Four is a perfect example of a decent movie, unless you are a comic fiend, that has been butchered by its video game.

How do these disasters happen?

Do the developers think that because the movies have a large fan base that the fans will go with whatever crap they throw out the door? Or are developers rushed because they just have to meet the release dates of the movie? Or is there a lack of time spent on movie based games?

The same, however, goes for video game-inspired movies. Bloodrayne, Doom, Resident Evil, what is going on?

Actually there might be one solution that might save this genre of movies. Someone, I don’t care who, needs to take the camera away from Uwe Boll and strike him over the head with it.

I’m sure you’re wondering the same thing. Has he ever played any of the games that have "inspired" his movies?

I think Hollywood fails to realize how the games affect the gamers. They just see an opportunity to make some cash, so who cares how the product is as long as it makes money.

However, in this genre, there are a few games that have shed light onto this dark style in gaming.

Star Wars games, such as Knights of the Old Republic, and Battlefront have been games that have defined the Star Wars genre. Knights of the Old Republic is actually my favorite Star Wars story. The trend is also continuing with The Force Unleashed coming this summer, filling in the story between Episodes 3 and 4.

Hopefully, developers will start to raise the bar in the industry to produce a quality product that both fans of the movies and the games will enjoy.

Contact the gamer with questions (or answers to the meaning of life without XBOX 360) gamer@northfloridanewsdaily.com