The 'Mogulization' Of Gaming

GameCore is a weekly column by CBSNews.com's William Vitka, Chad Chamberlain and Joey Arak that focuses on gamers and gaming.

It was late arriving but all consuming nonetheless.

The sweats broke out during a conversation about rumors of Microsoft hiring Alex Garland, writer of 28 Days Later, to pen the screenplay for the film adaptation of Bungie's Halo.

Are they serious about making a Halo movie? And if they are, what kind of movie? One true to Halo, or one that will eviscerate it?

Game-to-screen translations are usually poor at best. I don't think I've recovered from Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider freak show. There is no antidote whatsoever for Uwe Boll's repeated cinematic assaults on games I hold dear (Alone In The Dark, House Of The Dead). Does Alex Garland really think he can avoid those tartarean moments of Film Crapeau?

The story, from the rumor mills (Microsoft has made no official announcement, telling me, "In general, we don't comment about rumors or speculation."), is that the company has hired Garland to write the script. After it's completed, Microsoft will sell it to the highest bidder. At that point neither Microsoft nor Bungie will have any say in what kind of film is made. The minds that created and distribute the game will surrender all control.

It goes without saying that Halo is hot property, and what the Hollywood Machine sees in it is the chance to exploit it.

Halo 2 topped 125 million bucks on the first two days of its release alone. To date, the Halo franchise has moved 13 million units. A Southern Belle somewhere is fanning herself saying, "Aw, sir, I do declare!"

Does a Halo movie sound like a good idea to fans? Maybe to some that hope for an entertaining big screen fantasy, but it may be like the Chinese proverb, watch what you wish for. When fantasy becomes a Hollywood reality, it's usually far less attractive than the dream in your twisted little cerebrum.

Games licensed to Tinsel Town have become a mark of shame. By the time they hit the multiplex they are not only deprived of creativity, they are anti-creative.

Look at what's happened to Hollywood. They used to make original movies. Now they make sequels. The mirror image is beginning to infect video games. What was once an inspired enterprise threatens to devolve into a bastardized echo.

For now, the video game industry seems content to cannibalize itself. But I suspect the Age of "Mogulization" is at hand. "Mogulized" because games used to be (and some still are) a creative exercise, even a work of art. But the people who make the games (and the people who play them) matter less and less to the power brokers, the deal makers, greed heads who make nothing themselves but sell the sweat and blood of someone else.

"I blame capitalism," says Tim Hogarty, an angry gamer. "Most of these companies have literally boiled it down to formulae. Let's take EA, for example. We have one game for every major American sport for the last five years or so. That's hardly original, but I guess it's forgivable due to the nature of the beast. Lord knows they're milking the Medal of Honor series for all it's worth. Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Vietnam, now we've got Battlefield 2: Modern Combat coming out. They took over the Command & Conquer line then ripped off the engine to produce such items as Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth."

"The only thing these people are good at doing is buying s--- other people have made and grinding out as many variants as possible in as little time as possible."

Carolyn Cohagan, of Slamdance, the independent film festival, shares that concern, "There's this danger that the video game industry is becoming like Hollywood. It's becoming risk adverse."

Slamdance has recently launched the BIG C, an independent gaming competition.

"We support independents. We make sure that they have an avenue to be strange and different. We're giving independent developers a place to take risks," she says.

"Independent games will only grow if there are a means of distribution. The means of distribution are usually through big companies. Of course, once that happens, the games are no longer independent. Catch-22."

"Slamdance's goal is to help Indie developers circumvent the big companies."

But size matters. Like the studio system in Hollywood, the Gaming OPEC is well known, but Sony is the first member that comes to mind.

Make no mistake, they are entitled to make a profit, I, myself, like to get paid. But if game makers follow the Hollywood pattern, the creative spark and the voice of the individual could be on the endangered list.

Companies push the same games over and over and they've been doing it for years. In a way, you can look at the video game industry and see the automotive dinosaur Detroit has become. The new car is the old car but with fins.

So too games: the '99 model shooter, the '03 third person adventure, the '05 cross-genre mix and match. Like Ford remodeling the Mustang, we have Doom 3.

We don't have new, we have "add-ons" and "features" and "innovations." Code for Recycled. We've got new stickers on old boxes telling us why we need this game now.

That's not to say that I haven't been enjoying gaming recently. Doom 3, Half-Life 2, Halo 2 and San Andreas are all good games (and all top-sellers and all sequels). But that's not the point. The point is that the game industry now threatens to be more about deal making than gaming.

Look at all the tie-ins, product placements, and ads while you load. Even in an escapist exercise like gaming, you can't escape marketing. Buy! Buy! Buy!

But I digress.

Mr. Garland, I hope you prove me wrong. I hope you write a script even Hollywood can't screw up.

By William Vitka