An overview of what has gone is:
Games into movies, with nealy everything being rather awful. (Street fighter, Mario, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, etc)
Movies into games, a bit more successful, with LotR, Bond, and some others.
And then there is the middle ground, which is games that are affiliated to a movie, but stand on their own. The best example is the new 007 game Everything or Nothing, which is a bond game, but at the same time not based on anything up to now, as EA had a movie script written for it, together with casting various famous actors. Another example is Enter the Matrix, which tied in with the second movie.
At the end of the day, I think that movies based on games will never have a big appeal because gamers know what to expect from it, and usually it doesn't live up to their expectations. On the other hands, a game based on the movie, even though it doesn't have any storyline surprises, it has the appeal of you, in a way, taking the movie in your hands. Therefore, I think the most appealing is the type of game that has some attachments to a movie but evolves on its own. However, how good the game is will always boil down to its playability.
A side note, EA signed up the Godfather franchise to make games rivalling the GTA series. Interesting to see how they handle this license, because if it goes wrong, lots of Corleone fans will be seeking to make EA an offer they can't refuse!:-)
I think the main reason that helped GAIN take off into the big time was that it was bundled into kazaa. As a result every Britney Spears loving teen, whose only computer knowledge is that with kazaa they can get Britney's latest songs, downloaded kazaa and accepted to install everything included with it.
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An overview of what has gone is: Games into movies, with nealy everything being rather awful. (Street fighter, Mario, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, etc) Movies into games, a bit more successful, with LotR, Bond, and some others. And then there is the middle ground, which is games that are affiliated to a movie, but stand on their own. The best example is the new 007 game Everything or Nothing, which is a bond game, but at the same time not based on anything up to now, as EA had a movie script written for it, together with casting various famous actors. Another example is Enter the Matrix, which tied in with the second movie. At the end of the day, I think that movies based on games will never have a big appeal because gamers know what to expect from it, and usually it doesn't live up to their expectations. On the other hands, a game based on the movie, even though it doesn't have any storyline surprises, it has the appeal of you, in a way, taking the movie in your hands. Therefore, I think the most appealing is the type of game that has some attachments to a movie but evolves on its own. However, how good the game is will always boil down to its playability. A side note, EA signed up the Godfather franchise to make games rivalling the GTA series. Interesting to see how they handle this license, because if it goes wrong, lots of Corleone fans will be seeking to make EA an offer they can't refuse! :-)
I think the main reason that helped GAIN take off into the big time was that it was bundled into kazaa. As a result every Britney Spears loving teen, whose only computer knowledge is that with kazaa they can get Britney's latest songs, downloaded kazaa and accepted to install everything included with it.