/v/ - Video Games

I loev sanic 3

Man I have seen The Spirits Within like 8 times. I don't think the plot or characters are enjoyable, but it has such a strange atmosphere and knowing the story behind the development gives it this kind of meta melancholy when I rewatch it. 
I guess you could say I'm a fan of just how weird the entire concept was. How a game studio banked everything on this oddball product way before the technology was really there to make it work. To think a few decades later we'd be revisiting the idea of "virtual actors" but with AI likenesses of real people instead of fictional actors. If anything, I can say I much prefer the director's vision for The Spirits Within to any modern day jewwood schemes. Creativity has left the human race behind.

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>>280984 (OP) 
Obligatory Metal Gear Solid 4 post. But in all seriousness, if you think about it, it should be pretty straightforward to make a vidya movie. Games have had cutscenes for a while, so the process of writing a movie should be the same as writing a game except without the gameplay. Taking Metal Gear as an example the process would look like this
>take a gap in the storyline (eg: what happened between 1 and 2? or 2 and 4?)
>write a story that fits that time span and with characters that would be available
>film the scenes in the style of the cutscenes from the game
>???
>profit
An imperfect example of this would be MGS: Philantropy, a self published, fan project from a few years back. The movie is certainly impressive considering it's basically made on a microscopic budget self funded by the crew but I think they bit more than they could chew picking Metal Gear particularly with the budget thing. Overall it didn't translate too well to the big screen it does however roughly follow the steps I mentioned. Allegedly Kojima himself watched it and gave it a pass and they were in the middle of making "part 2" but Konami DMCA'd them and so they canceled everything and it's never gonna happen.

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>>280984 (OP) 
I don't know about people in general, but what i want out of these films is the same things i desire for current action movies, especially with super hero ones, and never happens: good actors (good on its own or at least for the action flick standard) and most importantly a decent of scriptwriters and direction.
Take some of the movies you already mention like MK1, Tomb Raider 1&2, RE1, FF, or consider some comic adaptations like Raimi's Spiderman, X-Men or Hulk, or even japanese live action adaptations of manga like Death Note and such. Even if each premise were changing between normal and completely fantastical or ridiculous, even with the corniest acting you could see that there a coherent, engaging plot that kept you interested or a good coreography involved. And even if some plot elements were changed, said differences really didn't matter much at the end because the movie on it's own had a good story going on.

But nowadays any film associated with vidya, comics, TV shows, etc, really feels like they don't take themselves seriously anymore: meta commentary, forced jokes every two fucking seconds, an overall dumb plot dragged even further down because of bad acting. Uncharted, Borderlands, Dead or Alive, KoF and Silent Hill 2 were laughable in the worst way, for example, and we could all mention a LOT more in this last regard. I truly never understand why producers and scriptwriters choose this option, it's like Ubisoft management, they should realize it's not working at all
So i guess what i look in vidya films is that they finally go back to take things seriously, and just make a cheap cash grab shit product, but a small production ensuring as much quality as they can instead. But i severely doubt will get that soon

>Postal
>Uwe Boll
Go back to Alone in the Dark and House of the Dead for the REAL shit

>What do people actually want out of film and TV adaptations of video games?
I want you to stop making them.

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It really only works in on direction (TV->game), and even then only sometimes.

I found most game´s stories are really difficult to translate movie format. Mostly due to pacing issues and the problem to adapt the feel one gets by being an active receiver (a player) to a passive one (a movie spectator).
The best solution I can think to that problem is make an original story that´s set in the same world as the games is adapting. But even then Kikewood is so doomed quality wise that no good game movie will get out of them, so it´s wishful thinking at this point

None. Stop adapting things and put an expectation on the multi-million dollar franchises to work on their games. Most of the franchises shown have declined in quality or are dead.
I just got done watching the Guilty Gear anime and that was a giant waste of my time. A sudo sequel with who cares villain of the week being able to trap two of the strongest characters for a majority of the anime. Half of the characters in the game were shown. And it is an unoriginal idea of resurrecting gears for another crusade. Also I didn't even bother watching the DMC anime after everyone was somehow surprised another videogame anime adaptation was shit.
All of the videogame directors who love hollywood need to stick to videogame stories because their writing alone doesn't make the cut and only makes shit that is cringe for one watch. Any videogame  adaptation that hollywood makes is going to distort the original message of the videogame and will try to bend to whatever movie director wanted to make.

More focus on the spirit and atmosphere of the game than simply copying its plot verbatim into movie form. In other words, start with the game world and characters and think how they can all fit into a movie plot, before considering the plot of the game itself.
Also for the love of god enough with the cheap references and "fan service" used as a substitute for good writing.

I generally don't want adaptations (I can't think of a single one I would want to see.) Adapting an IP to a different medium will mean changing things, so I suppose the producer should simply "do a good job." See VN -> anime for examples of good and bad jobs.

>>281036
Actually, there was one good adaptation I enjoyed. The Doom movie was good fun.

>>280984 (OP) 
Since most good video games are about action, all drama and "serious" genres can be forgotten - there's not much talent nowadays for those kinds of movies anyway. Analyzing the Mortal Kombat game and movie provide some general tips on what could make an adaptation work... and what doesn't.
>plot & themes
There isn't need for a "clever" plot or super deep themes. In the hands of incompetents, these tend to turn into convoluted nonsense and pseudophilosophical platitudes, delivered through exposition. Just provide enough backstory for most of the cast and what their goals are.
>extra shit that wasn't in the source material
Stupid CGI Reptile monster form doesn't work on any level.
>revealing too much too early
(I'm looking mostly at you, Minecraft) Even though the target audience knows everything, don't reveal everything at once in the adaptation - keep some things a mystery, at least for the characters.
>can't even get the main thing right
The fights are mostly lame, soundtrack is unmemorable and the look is half assed. Can you imagine a more generic outfit for Sonya?
>wasted potential: characters
Johnny Cage: the idea of an action movie star suddenly fighting for his life in a real tournament gushes with potential, but nothing is done with it.
Then there's Raiden: he's supposed to be a fucking thunder god, ageless, mysterious and terrifying immortal being - a god in a human form but a GOD nonetheless - not some discount Ben Kenobi.
>wasted potential: charater interactions
There's a tacked on romance subplot that eats minutes away from the fight scenes, even if they are lame. It sucks because actually interesting character interactions are one of the flavors that could make the movie, well, a movie. Example: there's a heartwarming scene where Goro is hanging out with Kano, who is enjoying some chicken, and the guy who is playing Kano actually tries to act.
Given how different Johnny Cage and the rest of the humans SHOULD be when compared to Raiden who is a GOD, it would have been interesting to see how differently they react to the ongoing tournament: the humans are fighting to stay alive while Raiden has bigger, preferably mysterious goals that potentially conflict with the others.

Conclusion: it takes motivation, talent and clean breathing air (as opposed to one's own farts) to make a good video game movie but there is none. At this point I recommend watching Bloodsport and Enter the Dragon instead, as they mostly avoid the aforementioned pitfalls while delivering some enjoyable martial arts action.
>>281023
>But nowadays any film associated with vidya, comics, TV shows, etc, really feels like they don't take themselves seriously anymore: meta commentary, forced jokes every two fucking seconds, an overall dumb plot dragged even further down because of bad acting. 
I'd give the Minecraft movie a pass for all of that, save for bad acting, if it wasn't for the numerous other faults. A movie based on a silly game is perhaps the one instance where all the silliness could work.

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>>281038
>soundtrack is unmemorable
Fuck you!

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>>281038
>>281046
Apparently all the little kids were doing karate kicks while leaving the movie theaters.

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>>280984 (OP) 
>What do people actually want out of film and TV adaptations of video games?
Something faithful to the source material, not some Hollyjew abomination with some nods here and there
>>280984 (OP) 
>Or what makes a "good" adaptation?
-The characters MUST look like their vidya counterpart, and not just be named after them
-The characters' role and alignment must be the same as in the vidya (unlike what the Silent Hill movie did by making Dahlia Gillespie a victim)
-The game's plot's key points must be unaltered

I would argue that considering the technological advancements and the fact that many video games are already interactive movies, that the concept of vidya movies is nowadays obsolete.

bump

1: It must be animated
2: It must produce official lewds of the female characters

>>281046
I agree, of all the things you can criticize the first MK movie for, the soundtrack is not one of those.