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Games And Books Getting Along
The Guardian and Wired are taking a look at the connections between books and games this week. The Guardian's Games Blog has a look at games in literature. Wired, on the other side of the coin, has a look at books written in gaming worlds. From the Wired article: "Sam Fisher is, of course, the hero of the Splinter Cell video game. I've spent countless hours using my Xbox controller to sneak him past armed guards, scale walls and club enemies unconscious. But I didn't know much about his personal life until I wandered into an airport bookstore recently and encountered Splinter Cell -- the novel. That's right: the novel. In the last few years, publishers have taken a cue from the booming world of fan fiction and have begun commissioning novels based on famous games. It's now such a successful cottage industry that when you wander into any Barnes & Noble, there are shelves groaning under the weight of books written from Resident Evil, Halo, Tomb Raider and MechWarrior."
I've seen plenty of books based in game world, but I've always avoided them like the plague. It always seemed like another money making scheme from game publishers.
There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.
Sorry, but actually, the "MechWarrior" books were out before the game... although it was under the Battletech umbrella.
Sorry, just had to.
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My instincts tell me that game-based books will eventually go the way of the Magic: The Gathering books - they'll find their target audience in only the most hardcore of hardcore fans. (Of course, that might not be a bad thing.)
Lets not forget the classics like the Doom books. I just picked up a copy of the first one last weekend after losing my original. Knee Deep in the Dead, Hell on Earth, Infernal Sky, and Endgame
Wouldn't you rather just read an actual Tom Clancy novel?
English is easier said than done.
Oh fer chrissakes.... How long have D&D novels been on sale? There were Zork novels in the 80s, one by George Alec Effinger, which I still have....
Books written in game settings? Ok, not exactly video games, but Infocom had novels set in Planetfall/Stationfall, Wishbringer/Enchanter, and Zork between 1988 and 1991. Adding graphics (though, perhaps still not exactly a video game, to purists), I've always heard a lot of good things about the Myst novels (1995-1997).
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Would anyone like to make some recommendations for game-based books? It'd be interesting to see which books people would recommend from various genres (Sci-Fi, Fantasy etc.). Also, an idea of the book's writing style would be useful - i.e whether it's aimed at younger, teen, or adult, readers.
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More interesting by far than this old marketing ploy of taking a popular brand from one saleable medium (games) and transplanting it into another market (books), is the phenomenon which is occuring within gaming itself with regard to story-telling. The most interesting convergence of recent years between literary story-telling and gameworld story-telling occurred not in literature but in games themselves. I consider one fascinating example of that to be the creation of the Planescape: Torment Novelisation.
Not a book written based on the gameworld. Not a book written in imitation of the game's story. There was a Torment novel. It was absolutely atrocious. What's more interesting is the novelisation of the game's text. What's more interesting is the quality of writing that comes through even when the medium changes. What's more interesting is that the game's text doesn't need to be rewritten to be considered a cohesive piece of storytelling.
Game writing has come of age over the last decade (although some would argue we're merely rediscovering what text adventures had already managed to create in the '70s and '80s). What's significant is the transplantation of narratives which stand on their own as cohesive storylines with coherent character development into gameworlds where gameplay itself does not by nature necessitate high quality narrative story-telling.
The reinterpretation of game stories into novels is, by comparison, trivial as a marketing phenomenon. It's not, in Planescape's case, the fact that the game narrative was transplanted into a horrifically bad knockoff novel that is interesting. That kind of merchandising bridging the gap between various media formats is nothing new. What's remarkable is that the horrifically bad knockoff novel can be held up against the quality of the in-game narrative in the present and the latter, the game narrative, as it was written and novelised stands up and has always has stood up as the far superior narrative of the two.
I'm taking a long time to get through Morrowind because of all the interesting books in the game itself. They serve a game function by granting you skill levels, but nearly all of them are interesting and well-written pieces of micro-fiction. I'd love to have a compilation of all those little stories.
Don't blame me, I voted for Durga.
There are three books released under the Myst story and intergrate well with the game's storyline. IMHO, they made novels based on video games readable. To be honest, I'm suprized the reporter Clive Thompson didn't mention Myst. It certainly proved that novalization was possiable and rewarding.
Go to your local book store and look in the Sci-Fi/Fantacy section and look for "The Myst Reader". Instead of three books, they put them all in one huge softcover. Some from of Myst book has always been in stock since they first came out with them.
AnamanFan - Trying to find the Truth, one post at a time.
As for the book Flood, don't bother, it is written version of Halo:CE, and reads poorley (not written by Eric as I recall). Only worth it for a read for a little more insight into the Halo universe, but thats it.
Hopefully Eric will pick up the next few books (If there are going to be any).
"I may be full of crap about this game, and I may be wrong, and that's fine." -Jack Thompson
Easily the oddest example of this phenomenon. It started with Raymond E. Feist writing an acclaimed series of fantasy books. Sierra felt that the universe that Feist created would be a good basis for an RPG, so it got the license and had him write the plot for Betrayal at Krondor. Later, Feist decided to write a novelization of the game which was based on his books. He also did it with the game's sequel by writing Krondor: The Assassins. Probably the most "meta" thing I can think of in video gaming history.
Rob
Another face of this trend that I fully respect is the return to games with somewhat more involving storylines - often delivered through mediums outside of the game. The backstory doesn't have to be necessary, but often sets the feel of the gameworld (assuming it's a good bit of writing instead of garbage). Some of my favorite games - the Quest for Glory series, were very good at this. Not short stories, but more the humorous pamphlets and instruction manuals that seemed to be anything but an actual manual. Furthermore, I welcome with open arms the rise of games with storyline and dialogue done by competent writers. Stale dialogue was (and still is) really starting to get on my nerves.
In these days, bleeps and bloops mean something more
I read Doom. The first two books. Where I learned that the Mormon church has a secret army of tanks underneath the Temple to defend themselves against the combined armies of Hell and the IRS.
After getting that far, "groaning" is certainly the right word I'd used to describe it.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
The Imperial Library has everything you want and then some.
Transcriptions of all of Morrowind's (and all Elder Scrolls games) books, interviews and commentary from the creators and fans, timelines, glossaries, you name it.
Enjoy.
As a fan of Ultima, Baldur's Gate, and Lucas Art's adventure games, I thought I was familiar with the cream of the crop for video game stories.
I played through Planescape a month ago, and nothing has compared. I've devoured "Best of" lists looking for something comparable- but nothing comes close.
I worry that PS:T set the bar so high that I can't enjoy game storylines like I used to anymore.
Planescape is to videogames what real literature is to Dragonball manga. I just wish more companies would rise to the challenge and make something as thought-provoking.
Hey, I can remember having books for Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania II back when I was about 12 years old. I thought they were pretty cool at the time, especially the whole CIA aspect for Ninja Gaiden. I'm sure If I went back and looked at them, they'd be crap.
Two of the first games I bought in the early 80s were The Hobbit and Elite.
The Hobbit adventure game of course was based on the book and included the book in the box.
Elite was an original game however it came with an excellent little novella based on the game by Robert Holdstock.
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I never thought it would happen to me. It started one day when my girlfriend invited me in for some coffee, little did I know....
Don't blame me, I voted for Cthulhu.