SotC movie
Sony has plans to make a Shadow of the Colossus movie.
My thoughts on game movie adaptations.
I have doubts that this is actually going to happen. In fact, I really hope that it's going to fall the way of the Castlevania movie and the Devil May Cry movie; stuck in Hollywood limbo forever. Movie adaptations of video games have become more popular recently. With Hollywood adaptations of anything it gets harder to make a successful movie because of added pressure to make the movie accessible to a wide audience and pressure to stay true to the original source material. It seems like most adaptations can only do one or the other (Transformers vs Watchmen). In my opinion it gets even harder with video games because there's another element to it: the interactivity. This is where I think most game movies fail.
If I'm being completely honest, I know that most of my favourite video games have sub-par plots. Take away the gameplay, the pretty visuals and music, and most games will be left with a story full of plotholes, cheesy dialogue, and deus ex machina. I still love them, but I love the game as a whole and not just as a story. The same experience can't be replicated by watching a movie onscreen.
With SotC I couldn't even begin to imagine how the story would work in another medium. At its heart SotC's story is quite basic, a premise I've seen done before, but it left such a huge impact on me because it was me playing it. Put the same story on a movie screen, and it's wouldn't have nearly the same result. It would still be sad, yes, I would probably still feel remorse after having cheered Wander on, probably guilt, but not to the same extent because it wasn't me.
I wish studios would learn to do a game movie right. Most studios seem to think that if they slap an already-successful name on a movie, the fans will come. In my mind the perfect game movie would be like one of those fics with an OC main character, and you only see the main character(s) from an outside POV. I don't want you to force your characterization of Snake on me; I already know his character, I've played him. Instead, why don't you give me some other members of Philanthropy? What were they doing while Snake and Otacon were on Big Shell? What about Archadia's victory over the Republic of Landis?
Build on the existing game world and expand it, write a story that makes sense on the big screen instead of lifting it from the game. I'd much rather see a movie not focus on the main characters and have it work with the game's universe rather than have Christian Bale wearing Octo-camo in a Metal Gear movie just in name.
This also got me thinking about why I find it so hard to get into the fanfic side of FF12 fandom, other than Balthier/Fran. For me the characterization of my FF12 characters is tied up with how I use them in battle. Sure there are more or less 'default settings' for the party, but everyone has their own playing style and changes them accordingly. It might be canon that Vaan's a thief, but my characterization of him could be completely different from That Person's. Does he use magic? Black or white? Can he use a gun? It not seem like much but if I see fics where Vaan is adept at using magic (which my Vaan isn't) it seems horribly OOC.
Except for Balthier and Fran. I think it's pretty much a fact that to give them anything other than a gun and bow and arrows is blasphemy.
Ok, so I might've given them swords and spears on occasion, but only for those tough marks! I swear!
My thoughts on game movie adaptations.
I have doubts that this is actually going to happen. In fact, I really hope that it's going to fall the way of the Castlevania movie and the Devil May Cry movie; stuck in Hollywood limbo forever. Movie adaptations of video games have become more popular recently. With Hollywood adaptations of anything it gets harder to make a successful movie because of added pressure to make the movie accessible to a wide audience and pressure to stay true to the original source material. It seems like most adaptations can only do one or the other (Transformers vs Watchmen). In my opinion it gets even harder with video games because there's another element to it: the interactivity. This is where I think most game movies fail.
If I'm being completely honest, I know that most of my favourite video games have sub-par plots. Take away the gameplay, the pretty visuals and music, and most games will be left with a story full of plotholes, cheesy dialogue, and deus ex machina. I still love them, but I love the game as a whole and not just as a story. The same experience can't be replicated by watching a movie onscreen.
With SotC I couldn't even begin to imagine how the story would work in another medium. At its heart SotC's story is quite basic, a premise I've seen done before, but it left such a huge impact on me because it was me playing it. Put the same story on a movie screen, and it's wouldn't have nearly the same result. It would still be sad, yes, I would probably still feel remorse after having cheered Wander on, probably guilt, but not to the same extent because it wasn't me.
I wish studios would learn to do a game movie right. Most studios seem to think that if they slap an already-successful name on a movie, the fans will come. In my mind the perfect game movie would be like one of those fics with an OC main character, and you only see the main character(s) from an outside POV. I don't want you to force your characterization of Snake on me; I already know his character, I've played him. Instead, why don't you give me some other members of Philanthropy? What were they doing while Snake and Otacon were on Big Shell? What about Archadia's victory over the Republic of Landis?
Build on the existing game world and expand it, write a story that makes sense on the big screen instead of lifting it from the game. I'd much rather see a movie not focus on the main characters and have it work with the game's universe rather than have Christian Bale wearing Octo-camo in a Metal Gear movie just in name.
This also got me thinking about why I find it so hard to get into the fanfic side of FF12 fandom, other than Balthier/Fran. For me the characterization of my FF12 characters is tied up with how I use them in battle. Sure there are more or less 'default settings' for the party, but everyone has their own playing style and changes them accordingly. It might be canon that Vaan's a thief, but my characterization of him could be completely different from That Person's. Does he use magic? Black or white? Can he use a gun? It not seem like much but if I see fics where Vaan is adept at using magic (which my Vaan isn't) it seems horribly OOC.
Except for Balthier and Fran. I think it's pretty much a fact that to give them anything other than a gun and bow and arrows is blasphemy.
Ok, so I might've given them swords and spears on occasion, but only for those tough marks! I swear!