While reading about the upcoming 360 game Nighty Nine Nights, it struck me that for as much as people talk about the video game industry lacking innovation, it consistently cranks out good stories. If you look at most of the video games that have a lot of cut-scene video included, most of them have some pretty involving and well constructed stories. Metal Gear Solid, the Final Fantasy Games (and most RPGs in general), Halo, etc. Yet for some reason, the movie industry seems to have trouble creating that kind of rich tapestry of new worlds and environments that game developers seem to create so easily.
Look at how many Hollywood movies are so incredibly formulaic these days. Even a great movie like Casablanca, if you read the screenplay, adheres to a very tried and true formula for writing a story. New movies may have slightly different twists here and there, but those that aren't remakes almost always follow the same story arcs we've seen time and time again.
I don't know the answer, but maybe someone else does....how many minutes of cut scene video are included in a game like Metal Gear? Because I really think a screenwriter could adapt a story like that into a great movie if they stayed true to the source material. Obviously they'd need to flesh out the story with some character development and obligatory Hollywood action sequences to stretch the running time to "feature film" length, but overall it would make for a very fresh and exciting entry into an otherwise very bland selection of films right now.
Why are video game developers able to continually develop such great and engaging storylines, while the movie industry has such trouble? Are they catering to different audiences? Is the movie industry a little more "risk averse" than the video game industry? Is it because the story arcs are shorter and therefore easier to fill with good content instead of fluff? What's the deal?
Look at how many Hollywood movies are so incredibly formulaic these days. Even a great movie like Casablanca, if you read the screenplay, adheres to a very tried and true formula for writing a story. New movies may have slightly different twists here and there, but those that aren't remakes almost always follow the same story arcs we've seen time and time again.
I don't know the answer, but maybe someone else does....how many minutes of cut scene video are included in a game like Metal Gear? Because I really think a screenwriter could adapt a story like that into a great movie if they stayed true to the source material. Obviously they'd need to flesh out the story with some character development and obligatory Hollywood action sequences to stretch the running time to "feature film" length, but overall it would make for a very fresh and exciting entry into an otherwise very bland selection of films right now.
Why are video game developers able to continually develop such great and engaging storylines, while the movie industry has such trouble? Are they catering to different audiences? Is the movie industry a little more "risk averse" than the video game industry? Is it because the story arcs are shorter and therefore easier to fill with good content instead of fluff? What's the deal?
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