Over the years, video games based on a TV show or movie have been pretty common. Most often, players knew to be weary of these titles, since games made from other media were often rushed and cheaply made. There were exceptions, but most were flops (Atari’s E.T. ring a bell?)
Then, Disney switched the flip and creating Tron.
Now, here’s a movie about a game for a change, even if just a fictional one made for the film.
Then, they smartly made games people could play in the arcade and at home to emulate the scenes from the film. The movie didn’t fair as well as the game in the long run, but both still have a long-time cult appeal.
Years later, Hollywood suddenly discovered it could mine the arcades, consoles and PC games for movie ideas. Most of them were Doom-ed to failure. I know, bad pun.
Despite the number of turkeys like Super Mario Brothers or the 30 million wasted on Tekken, surprise hits like Resident Evil or Mortal Kombat (each hauling in over $250,000,000) meant that film studios would continue to plunk down their quarters and take a gamble on another winner.
Breaking the 4th Wall?
Now with the lines separating television, the Internet, social media and gaming becoming more and more blurred, those lines are starting to disappear.
After five years of development, Syfy and Trion released Defiance to some success. This new concept of having the game and show running concurrent with elements from both freely crossing back and forth broke the barrier between the medias. In fact, Trion’s first big contest was to put the contest winner’s character (not the player) in an episode of the show.
The developers of EVE Online have announced that a new TV series is in the works based on the popular and long-running sci-fi MMORPG.
Steven Spielberg even threw his hat into this rapidly growing ring by announcing he will produce a Halo TV series in conjunction with the release of the X-BOX ONE.
And do not be surprised if more and more of these types of ‘interactive’ media start popping up soon.
Ready for My Close-up
Does this melding of game media and video media mean that we will soon be watching what someone else is playing? Or vice-versa? Will our avatars suddenly have supporting roles in a TV series?
Who would play me? I’m thinking Charlize Theron, but only because she’s got the Amazonian bod and is blonde and gorgeous. They can teach her to swing a cutlass and sail a ship.
It certainly can be motivation to a player to think his Spartan could be appearing in a Spielberg-made Halo show. Or someone’s Irathient Ark Hunter could be showing up in Defiance next to Nolan and Irisa.
Will we be paid union standard?
We won’t be paid at all. Remember those agreements you click Yes to? They include a media usage clause. Actually, pretty much every game has them when you can create your own avatar. Your character could be used in ads, commercials, movies or even a TV series and you will get a nice fuzzy feeling – and that’s all.
Is this something we should be worried about? Will game players take the place of actors? Not likely. After all, not every TV series is prime material for a game.
Law and Order: MMORPG? Not gonna’ happen… I hope.
Nothing Good On
So what do you want to watch tonight? Grand Theft Auto on Spike TV? Assassin’s Creed on the History Channel? Part of Hollywood’s slow transition has been initial costs and the sheer amount of pre-production and production involved. These types of projects are huge undertakings.
In the case of Trion and Syfy, both are owned by the same company. Trion began game development some years ago with the series going into production a couple of years later. The biggest challenges are having a long-term strategy and being able to have so much of the media ‘in the can’ before releasing it to the public.
A hard core gamer can plow through a linear plot in hours, so you’d better have a lot of hours ready to go or have changing elements and a story with no definitive end.
And what about summer breaks? Most series only last 13-20 episodes but gaming is 24/7. That’s a lot to fill. Look what happened to modern journalism thanks to the 24/7 news cycle.
It’s very likely this kind of gimmick is just that. Even Spielberg’s Halo would have to continue to stay fresh week after week. EVE will be curious because they have to build a central cast for viewers to get attached to.
Software Catching Up to Hardware?
This is one of those situations where the console developers were ahead of the game. Both the X-BOX ONE and PS-4 have not only Blu-ray players, but both wired and wireless network options, HDMI connections and applications for use as media centers. Microsoft and Sony have already copped to the idea of a game console as complete home entertainment package.
Now, it’s just a matter of the media providers doing the same thing. And even then, will folks watch these shows?
Big risk, a lot of pre-production, large amounts of production, continuous updates and a steady hand on the rudder. Crossovers are not for the weak. So, if this type of program is the future, then the future is for the bold.
