Games vs. R-Rated Movies

[Omni]

So, in this vacuum of films with mature themes and content, will games take their place? Are games like San Andreas and Half-Life 2/Halo 2, which are essentially highly fluid interactive action movies, going to take the place of R-rated gangsta and action movies?

They can never actually "take their place" because video games and movies are inherently different. What I mean is that what I get out of playing a video game and what I get out of watching a movie are very different things, and I think most people would agree with this.

So just because I'm getting a whole bunch of gore and violence and nudity in a video game, I'm not going to all of a sudden not want to see the same thing in a movie (if it's called for in the movie, of course). It doesn't make me feel better about the fact that producers and directors feel the need to make everything so accesible nowadays at the cost of good and realistic content.

[Diff-chan]

They can never actually "take their place" because video games and movies are inherently different. What I mean is that what I get out of playing a video game and what I get out of watching a movie are very different things, and I think most people would agree with this.

So just because I'm getting a whole bunch of gore and violence and nudity in a video game, I'm not going to all of a sudden not want to see the same thing in a movie (if it's called for in the movie, of course). It doesn't make me feel better about the fact that producers and directors feel the need to make everything so accesible nowadays at the cost of good and realistic content.

However, will it get to the point where people understand that if you want something with mature themes and content, you have to turn to videogames because movies are sanitized?

I believe so. Its happening now.

[Omni]

However, will it get to the point where people understand that if you want something with mature themes and content, you have to turn to videogames because movies are sanitized?

I believe so. Its happening now.

Eh, I think you're exaggerating how sanitized the movie industry really is in the first place. We still have hordes of horror movies coming out that, while they tend to be crap, still manage to cram in a decent amount of gore and violence.

There will always be directors like Quentin Tarantino who just want to tell a realistic story. About killing people.

[Drewbacca]

Yesterday, I played San Andreas for the first time, and I was pretty surprised at the adult language and themes. The game has more cursing than all the other videogames ever made combined. Of course, compared to movies, its nothing - the dialogue is pretty much ripped straight from Boyz N The Hood and what not.

HOWEVER, Boyz N The Hood was made like 12 years ago. And that brings me to my point. Movies today are being sanitized for the PG-13 rating, and R is a pariah for even action filmmakers - there's no reason why AvP should've been PG-13 when all the Alien and Predator movies were rated R (at least, I think they were). This is a very bad thing for film in general, as it means director's visions are getting marginalized by the studios to turn in a bigger audience.

So, in this vacuum of films with mature themes and content, will games take their place? Are games like San Andreas and Half-Life 2/Halo 2, which are essentially highly fluid interactive action movies, going to take the place of R-rated gangsta and action movies?

It makes sense to me, and it means that videogames will become more attractive and accessible to the audience at large - adults will increasingly lack films that are made and marketed for them, and will in turn start to play videogames for them.

Opinions?

Movies, on the whole, are far better devices in which stories are told. Most videogame stories that start out cool end up like Halo, in which loose ties to philosophy ruin the experience by overshooting their bounds. Also, games still use movies to tell their own stories in the form of cutscenes. This is why the Halflife series is so revolutionary and still is to this day. It storytells in a whole new manner, and in a manner that can only be done in its particular medium. It's an experience you truly cannot get outside of a videogame.

So no, I don't think they will replace them. Perhaps ride aside them if game makers learn how to tell a decent story through their own device, but not replace them.

Really, one of the worst things to happen to games in the last 7 or 8 years is that people started to put focus on the question, "What is the game about?" and only after that asking, "What do you do in the game?"

VERY interesting and good point. Get yourself an avatar and change your custom status. Posts like this earn you more than simple noob status.

[AstroBlue]

Get yourself an avatar and change your custom status. Posts like this earn you more than simple noob status.

Indeed

[Dipstick]

Videogames (and they really should be called something else, since the term 'game' is a heavily loaded word) as a linear narattive is a complete waste of the medium. You may as well just make a movie out of it (no Xenosaga jokes, please), except then one would quickly realize that the narrative does not hold up. It is interesting only because it is wrapped in a new shiny gimmick, where you have to senselessly beat on 100 slimes or solve some lateral-thinking puzzle to get the next part of the story.

Half-Life (2) is well-regarded because it is one of the few 'games' to get this -- even while having a completely linear progression. Everything happens around the player; the game is all about the player's experiences, not what some writer or designer prescribes to you.

The odd thing is, games that are normally thought of as having nothing in the way of narrative (sports games, fighting games, etc.) make much better use of it. These games still have a story to them, a narrative and a flow, but they are dictated only by the rules of the game and the actions of the players.

-Dippy

[Tones]

Everyone is getting lax these days. 5 years ago I would have never expected to hear the word Bitch on TV. Now they sling it all over the place. Bitch that, bitch this.

I'd say the opposite for movies. I remember Revenge of the Nerds showing bush, and a lot more 80's movies, at least percentage wise of R's, showing boobs.

[Fe 26]

There is seems to be some very subtle shitting on jrpgs in this thread. Despite a lot of jrpgs beating you over the head with moral lessons like "ZOMG IF WE WORK TOGETHER WE CAN DO ANYTHING XD !!111!!!!" I still think credit needs to be given to them for doing a few things movies can't.

They offer the player the ability to see a greater amount of the story’s world. They also allow the viewer to get to know the characters involved in the story a lot better than a movie can.

When movies try to do the former they fall flat on their face. Many would say that is exactly where george lucas has went wrong with the newest installments to the Star Wars franchise in that he tries way to hard to show the viewers larger and larger amounts of the world, instead of telling a good story.

[James]

The problem with J-RPGs isn't the large world to explore, it's that the story forces you to go through the whole thing. Personally, I'd love a more compacted story taking place on a segment of the world, with the rest of it open to explore if I want to. I still love a good RPG but I just can't commit to the 60+ hours they want from me, not to mention the story in most of them runs out of steam usually around the 3/4 mark.

Story in games should be as transparent as possible. Games are about doing, and every time I watch a cut-scene I'm not doing anything. One of the things GTA gets right is that it's 1% story, 99% gameplay, and the player is almost never rushed into doing story if he doesn't feel like it.

As for the mature/kiddie content, I just don't worry about it any more. I love Katamari Damacy, I love GTA:SA. Movies getting wussier and wussier over the years doesn't really enter into it, annoying as it is.

James

[Fe 26]

The problem with J-RPGs isn't the large world to explore, it's that the story forces you to go through the whole thing. Personally, I'd love a more compacted story taking place on a segment of the world, with the rest of it open to explore if I want to. I still love a good RPG but I just can't commit to the 60+ hours they want from me, not to mention the story in most of them runs out of steam usually around the 3/4 mark.

I would like to see something like that made. The entire "OMG EVIL DARK GOD, we must beat HIM WITH GREAT JUSTICE, and HEART" is getting tired.

And why hasn't there been a jrpg about being evil and taking over the world? It is fucking obvious, and everyone would buy it, so WHY, WHY has it not been made yet?