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Halo Novelization A Bestseller
According to Gamerfeed, the latest novel based on the Halo gameworld, called "Halo:The Flood", is a bestseller, cranking it up close to the Top 10 in the 'mass market paperback' category. Do people think that game novelisations, as discussed in this USA Today report, can be worth reading? Marc Laidlaw's CD-ROM novelization, Gadget: The Third Force, is at least one game-related novel I enjoyed a lot.
The only game-related novel I've read was Myst - The Book of Atrus. I read it a few years ago, but I remember that it was excellent. (Did I get the first post?)
This is typical Bungie quality plot work. Marathon is still the best plot I've ever seen in a game, and would love to see serious book writen around it.
karma: ouch!
So long as the novel is good, I see nothing wrong with that. The problem I've seen was mostly that those novelisation tended to be quite bad. They brought nothing new to the game world, they had no strong and interesting characters, they had no passion put in their writing. When you add onto that that the writing itself was not particularly good, it's not a surprise that they're not very well regarded.
But should someone with talent decide to write one of those, and was careful to write it so that people with no knowledge of the game can understand and appreciate it, then there's no reason why it should be seen as any different from other novels.
Daniel
Carpe Diem
Well, there were two game novelizations I liked a LOT. One was based off the Doom series. As far as I know, it was a 4 book saga. The first two covered Doom 1 and 2 (respectively) the other two went on some acid trip of a plot about mormons and aliens called "Freds" so I stick with just the two. The Resident Evil books have shown unwaivering quality in their writing, even the ones where the authors made up their own plot not existing in one of the games. The odd numbered ones tend to be the ones on games and the evens are non-game plots, but still good. I still would like to see a book based off of System Shock 2...
Viva La Revolucion! Buy a Mac!
i remember my copy of spectre vr(years ago) came with a copy of snow crash. i actually avoided reading it for years, since i assumed it was a game novelization and it sucked. imagine my surprise when i actually did decide to start reading it one day...
hot foreign sheep.
I was just reading an interview with Orson Scott Card about Advent. It sounds like all he's doing for the game is dialogue, but he's apparently doing companion books to be released alongside the games. I might read that, but I don't know that I'd want to read a novel about Halo. Is this book any good?
And how long is anonymous posting going to be disabled? Make an announcement already!
Max Payne has by far the best dialog of any game ever, if anything deserves to be novelized its this.
The only novels based off of games I've ever enjoyed were the Myst novels. I was a pretty big fan of the first game during it's time, and when I stumbled across one of the books I couldn't help but pick it up (The book of Ti'ana). Most other books on games I could never bring myself to do much more then flip through, they just didn't have any depth and felt like the writer put no effort into them at all. The Myst books are fairly decent reads, even if you weren't a Myst fan they are worth picking up at the library and giving a shot.
There is no spork.
My favorite game on Linux has always been Koules.
I am not sure how a novelization would work though. But Koules is one neat game.
How far back to game novelizations go? And I really mean novels based on the games, not just novels that mention board games or something... For sake of argument (and to avoid any Dragonlance mentions), let's limit ourselves to computer games.
So far I've tracked the Infocom novels to 1988. Anyone care to go back further?
This sig intentionally left justified.
Well, they were well respected.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
I've read both Halo: The Fall of Reach and it's sequel Halo: The Flood. I've gotta say, both books are great. If you've played Halo, I really suggest reading both of these books, they explain alot of the backstory of Halo, such as how the Spartan's came to be, the discovery of the Covenant, and other cool things you can't find out by simply playin' the game.
RaGe
We're all just noise on the wires..
I think this has been done before. Was it called Ringworld? . Seriously, the plot of Halo wasn't special enough to make me want to read MORE about it. There just aren't any characters that interested me. It's fun for multi-player, but the campiagn is tedious. Not near as cool / involving as system shock or marathon.
But hey, anything that gets kids to turn off the TV and READ is a GOOD THING (TM), especially if they discover the great Ringworld series
"Cheeze it!" - Bender
Ive read the three books based upon the Descent universe, and yes, they are done well. Although the author stretched a few technical details, like physical size of things, it was a very nice read. (by Peter Telep, who also seems to write books based on other games as well)
If you see Outpost 2 (Sierra) on the bargain rack, its a good get. The gameplay isnt as fast paced, but it is difficult. And each mission, you get a decent section from the storyline book. Very nice integration. If nothing else, go buy it for the story.
Yes, I loved Marathon, Durandal, and Infinity. I think my old PowerMac 5215 will occasionally boot if I ask it. Also, the fact that Bungie made Halo boosted my expectations. (Yes, I love Halo. No, I havent read the book(s) )
The first novel, The Fall of Reach, is WAY better than this one.