Over at MTVNews.com, MTV Movies reporter Larry Carroll and I just published an article exploring some of the problems with the quality of video game movies.
Larry interviewed Hollywood stars such as Sam Raimi and Mark Wahlberg, whose "Max Payne" video-game-based-movie is out this weekend.
I interviewed game developers Kyle Gabler (2D Boy), Harvey Smith (Arkane Studios) and Chris Taylor (Gas Powered Games).
We wound up with seven problems, for starters. Such as:
Game Movies Are Rushed Into Development: Most of the best games ever made were in development for at least two years. Game developers know great creative work takes time; Hollywood, not so much. Chris Taylor, owner of development studio Gas Powered Games and developer of "Dungeon Siege" (which was turned into a movie by Uwe Boll), insists that a slower, more careful process is needed. "We need to have longer preproduction cycles so that all the kinks can be worked out cost effectively. ... Art is something that needs to be lovingly crafted, and generally speaking, if you want to make something good, it takes time," Taylor said. "If you take a look at most projects these days, whether they are films or games, it's clear that there is little patience, and everyone wants the project to be done in the shortest time." For the record, Taylor doesn't dislike all video game movies — he cites "Hitman" as an example of a Hollywood adaptation that worked.
Read the rest of the article at MTVNews.com for a discussion that includes everything from "Spider-Man" to "Pikmin." And, gamers, I hope Wahlberg's comments don't make you too mad.
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox