Hollywood's Bad Influence

GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann Criticizes Video Games For Going All Hollywood On Us

(CBS) 
William: So it is, at the very least, a difficult transfer.

Jeff: And conversely, a lot of movie narratives wouldn't necessarily lend themselves to video games all that well. Especially if you're directly translating a movie. I mean, that's part of the problem with games based on movies. You kind of already know how it's going to end.

"Oh, I remember this part from the movie." You get that moment of recognition coupled with, "But wait, but why am I punching all these guys in the face over and over again? That part wasn't in the movie. Where in the movie was the bad jumping puzzle where I keep falling off this building to my death over and over?" It's all over the place.

William: Any parting words?

Jeff: They all need to stop! I don't know, so much damage has been done on both sides from the movie to game and game to movie thing that it's going to take a whole lot of work from a whole lot of people that are not only extremely dedicated but have the resources to really do this stuff right. It seems like it’s something that might have to happen earlier than, you know, this game's been out for six months and then someone walks in and goes, "You know what? This game's hot, let's make it into a movie."

Maybe that sort of collaboration needs to start happening earlier rather than later so that they can work together and have something that satisfies both ends of the audience.

William: Maybe take the video game idea and have filmmakers working with the production team as it's being made?

Jeff: Maybe, I mean, they tried stuff like that in the past. That was the whole big thing back in the 90s when everyone kept saying the word "multimedia" over and over again like it was going out of style – because it was.

That was what everyone said the future was going to be and it lead to a whole lot of really awful full-motion video games. You had games like Hell with Dennis Hopper in them, you had the full motion video sequences in the Wing Commander games with Mark Hamill and Malcolm McDowell.

So, the last time the two sides got together it just lead to a bunch of B and C actors getting work in games. I'm all for that I guess. Those guys need to work too. But if those two sides can work together in a more meaningful way it would probably result in better products.

William: Dr. Phil is...oh, good. I'm watching Dr. Phil now [on a studio monitor]. He's about to tape a segment from down in New Orleans, actually.

Jeff: He's finally bringing the healing to the region.

William: He can feel their pain. It all has to do with their childhood and cookies, somehow, I'm sure.

Jeff: Exactly.

William: If they would just acknowledge that they hate their moms..."Really, your problem is internal."

Ye gods.

Jeff Gerstmann is a Senior Editor at GameSpot.