Video Games & Film Unite!

New contributor Amandeep Johal draws some parallels between modern video games and films.

Films are inspired by video games, video games inspired by film. To say video games are becoming films is too simple for words, there’s more to it than just flashes of cut scenes, which some of us desperately try to button bash through. Upcoming adapted releases like Assassin’s Creed, God of War and even Angry Birds are only a pinch of names that are on the tables to becoming Hollywood’s next big thing!

Transmedia Storytelling is a term used to describe how a technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using whatever the latest digital technologies are available. In some ways, it’s almost like cross media marketing.

When a video game and movie combine (like The Matrix movie and Enter The Matrix or Path of Neo, even South Park and The Stick of Truth) it gives the audience a chance to an alternate gaming experience. Let’s face it, if you had the opportunity to become Godzilla for the day, you’d grab it with both hands. That is what the link of the two media’s is all about.

Both media use the same sort of technology when creating their master pieces, some movies are trying to do now is give us a first person perspective (for example the remake of Robocop where you shoot the ED-209’s down) these sort of scenes wakes up the gamers mind ‘Oh, I’ve seen that in Call of Duty‘, awakening a new audience.

Games can be literally anything. One day you could be playing a competitive sport one minute, to a real-time strategy game another, and then a single-player epic adventure-RPG the next. Although some may argue story modes often keep the gamer out of the game, needless to say it is like watching your character grow. The relationship between Player 1 and the main character is of grave importance, even if the player is only the spectator.

It is no surprise that studios are taking notice of the rise of videos games outselling any other forms of the media in the entertainment history, have you noticed lately how the box office sellers prime dominators are comic book heroes?

Ubisoft are starting to follow Marvel’s example too and have started their own small film company. The power now wielded by many game developers and publishers, who are jumping into the movie-making business, planning to extend ideas into legitimate big-screen franchises, and this could alternatively can single out constant sequels, prequels and remakes (maybe one day).

Heavy Rain became one of the first interaction action/drama based video game relying on the player to control the narrative of the story, not only did Heavy Rain win Game of the Year Award, it also gave us that virtual reality experience like the traditional role-playing genres. Introducing new technology which enhances the gaming experience (The Occulus Rift, Kinect, etc). Who’s to say novelists wouldn’t follow suite too, the popularity of books to screen is phenomenal, books to video games could be the next big uniting force too!

While it’s still too early to say the days of half-hearted, low-budget, adaptations-in-name-only are truly behind us, the future certainly looks bright for game developers to make that leap on to the big screen.