1. Nicole Pairlee

   

   Never. But, I would go to a WoW film for sure, especially when it makes its way down to the $2 theatre. I’ve handled a WoW novel, although I never have read one.

   Mar 17th, 2009

2. ASA

   

   What makes you think that the game industry doesn’t lose money? It is impossible to believe that the game business can take over the mass appeal of the movie business. For one game that catches on, they are hundreds that fail. If a film like Gran Torino starring Clint Eastwood, can make more than a 100 million then movies can easily kick the ass of the gaming industry.

   And why does everyone from the gaming industry compare themselves to the movie industry?

   The gaming industry is huge, but cannot displace the movies. Want to know why –

   Simple. Because a game, however well it is done, does not have – magic!

   Movies have that. Always have that. When the fimmaker is able to harness the magic that’s inherent in the medium of cinema – movies make money. And they keep on making money.

   Once you finish a game, that’s it.

   But you can watch a movie over and over again.

   Games, just don’t have the magic.

   Mar 19th, 2009

3. ivsyd

   

   ASA,

   I’d really love to get an explanation of the “magic” term you are referring to. Is your “magic” about a passive watching while your brain is literally turned off? Do you realize that in a process of watching movie you become a passive consumer? You just consume whatever they tablespoon you. In reality, your brain picks something from the environment your eyes are focusing on and YOU consciously or unconsciously make your choice every second. When you watch a movie that work is already done for you. You can’t make your choice by yourself anymore.

   That’s the particular reason why I can’t watch any kind of a recorded performance like ice skating of ballet – because I want to have my OWN perception of what’s going on, not just passively consume the perception of a person who is filming it. That’s also the reason why I prefer to play a game rather than to watch a movie.

   Is it the “magic” you are talking about?

   What’s the advantage of passively watching how does main character act versus controlling the action by yourself? I don’t get it. Sorry…

   Ivan.

   Mar 21st, 2009

4. Brian Johnson

   

   Will gaming kill the movie industry? No. Will gaming continually grab market shares of entertainment spending from movies? Absolutely.

   Cinema has been around much longer than video games and, as such, has naturally developed more a larger fan base. The link between video games and movies has always been much stronger than the movie tie-in, cash grab, video games and the always terrible movie adaptations of video games. To me, the “magic” that Asa speaks of, is present in both video games and movie. When both mediums make their consumers feel something, make them have an emotional experience… that is the magic. I completely disagree with Asa about filmmakers who capture the magic, make movies that do well at the box office.

   I am not sure which video games Asa is referring to about not having the magic, but there are plenty of games that offer an amazing story and interactive game play. Am I going to compare Bejeweled to The Godfather Part II? No. When you talk movies and games, and compare their likeness, make sure you correctly define the movies and games you are talking about.

   In order to not keep this discussion in the ether, here are some video games that I believe have the “magic” of cinema:

   Bioshock
   Half-Life series
   Grand Theft Auto IV
   American McGee’s Alice
   Portal
   The Oregon Trail
   Zelda series
   Call of Duty 2
   Call of Duty 4

   Obviously, personal tastes come into play when defining “magic,” but those games provided me with a strong emotional reaction to their story.

   Would I rather spend money on video games than 90% of movies at theaters? Heck yeah.

   Mar 25th, 2009

5. David Jones

   

   I agree with Brian on this point. Games will not kill the movie industry, but it definitely will continue to take a larger share of the entertainment market. IF we were to make the bold statement that video games could kill the movie industry, I would think we’d need to look at on a per genre basis. I could see a very slight possibility that in the future video games could kill the action/adventure movie (but again, only a very slight possibility). This is the space where you see most overlap between the two industries. The next would probably be the horror genre – think Resident Evil.

   Likewise, magic can definitely be found in video games. I consider myself an amateur filmmaker at times, and love film deeply. Having said that, it’s difficult for me to name 10 films released in the past 2 years which provided me that sense of “magic” to which ASA refers. On the other hand, I could easily name several games which kept me in rapture for hours on end. I also disagree with the idea that video games have a finite end – once you’ve finished, you’re done. Think of the all the hours you played Pac-Mac as a child. How about Mario Bros? Mario definitely had the magic having been the number game franchise since its introduction until just recently being surpassed by Wii Sports (in my mind an unfair comparison when you consider the fact that Wii Sports is bundled with every Wii Console sold).

   I was speaking with on our MCDM professors the other day about a similar topic, and something he said resonated with me. He compared the per hour cost of entertainment he received from a movie to video games (in this case it was Halo 3). For the average movie, he pays $5/hour. For Halo 3 he’s now at around $0.05/hour. Pretty good return on investment I’d say.

   Mar 13th, 2010

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