Hollywood games.

Following thursday's lecture on games and narrative, I have decided to do a mini rant on game-film adaptations and vice versa. Why are the majority so terrible?
Taking on the example that Kevin used in the lecture of Doom, I find this movie personally, to be simply average. Being a fan of the Doom series I was disappointed that the only time anyone mentioned demons in this movie, was in reference to the portagonists personal demons. In the total reverse to this, someone who has never played or liked the Doom game(s) found the movie to be quite good.
The same can be said for the animated Dead Space movies, although I also like these along with the game. On one occasion I made my family watch the Dead Space: Downfall film. They liked it, but if ever they catch me playing the game, its suddenly a chore to watch. I have noticed that while people who tend to dislike games, do actually enjoy any film adaptations that may be spawned from the great pit that is Hollywood. Why is that? Maybe part of the reason so many gamers dislike the film version of a game is because it is no longer a game. They have lost their agency in it, or maybe because the story has been changed to suit a wider audience. I have discovered that another film adaptation of Dead Space is in pre-production, this one being a live action prequel. Quite simply, if the film is rated anything short of R18, it will most likely be crap, due to the game's rating.

Now, game adaptations of films in my opinion are even worse. Having played the Transformers: The Movie game, I can quite confidently say I will never ever buy a movie-game ever again. When you watch a movie you will probably think at some point, "Wow, that would be cool in a game" and with Transformers you'd think to be right. The short answer is No. The long answer is Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. This particular game involved everything in a ridiculous time limit. I think maybe, that the creators of such games are held at gunpoint to make them. How else do they excuse such attrocious games?

Personally, I believe game narratives are only truly viable in a game form. Agency in games is what makes them incompatible for other forms of narrative such as novels or movies. Imagine Fable as a movie, to make it at least slightly related to the game they would have to have multiple versions of the same event filmed for the corresponding good, evil and neutral choices the player in the game can choose. Fable as a movie would either be a director's best achievement, or worse nightmare.