It finally happened. I have found my inspiration drought so this week will not have anything relevant or eye-catching here. Unless you consider some lines of words to be interesting... So, I will mix and match whatever comes in mind. Remember that some of these statements may not match my actual opinion but these are the ones that came to mind when I force myself to think about them.
Hype is something that annoys me a lot since it is encouraged to promote sales and so, it happens all the time. As a sales strategy, it is effective in encouraging sales and in the video games industry, it is done to boost pre-order sales. However, as a result of this, fans end up overly excited with the titbits announced and wind up building expectations about the product even before it is released. On Youtube, I have already encountered so many overly hyped individuals that are excited about upcoming games even with the brief teases and demo of said games (which include Fallout 4 and Dishonored 2). The hype is powerful enough to prompt pre-orders of these unfinished games which baffles me as the act of pre-order, to me at least, seems like the most unsafe and least profitable method of gambling (aside from Kickstarter though there have been some gems from Kickstarter). While I do respect these opinions, the annoying bit is when they try to force their opinions down the throats of any perceived dissenters.
For the record, I consider hype-mongerers to be individuals that pre-order games (and not the limited edition copies that have collectibles and extra goods provided) upon the announcement trailers and are extremely optimistic about said game while not being reviewers that have pre-ordered the game to submit their own review. I am among those that do not think Fallout 4 will be the best in the franchise. The extreme amount of freedom and lack of skill-based stats (from what I can tell) concerns me as a lack of progression may arise as a result of these new implementations. Suddenly, one does not experience the journey of a fresh rookie to hero of the land but rather the bland path of an action hero being an action hero.
Thanks to the hype raised, those caught on the hype train may be more than willing to defend or even criticize others who disagree with their views. I am however willing to acknowledge that this is not the case most of the times since a good number of people can be rational and even discuss their views whether it be positive or negative. Then again, those that pre-order probably feel the need to constantly justify their spent money and should the product be terrible, the satisfaction from defending a game will soothe their aching wallets. I bring up the effect of hype as I have recently faced criticism for my lack of faith in Bethesda's writing and ability for Fallout 4 despite not actually insulting said game directly. Somehow, some individuals are over-excited for an unreleased product to the point that they already imagine the game being perfect or being amazing. The reason I repeat the notion that hype mongerers believe their beloved game to be perfect is the excitement raised from titbits provided by the developers which help build expectations for the game and even result in them imagining more from the product. I admit that I have done this a couple of times with Skyrim, Colonial Marines (a blatantly misrepresented product that I thankfully never bought or played - see the E3 demo), Watch_dogs, the Evil Within (never played it but watched enough playthroughs to realise the flaws in the narrative and how action-based it was - the scars of Resident Evil 6 have not healed) and Fable 3 with each time leaving me disappointed. It hurts the game itself since a decent game that was hyped up would be forced to meet the unrealistic expectations that overly hyped individuals have drawn up for said game and once they end up disappointed, they criticize the game without realising that they expected the world from a product that only promised them a plot of land.
I guess the best option for most gamers with average income is to retain the ability to be excited for a product but avoid being excessively excited for the product. Even if a trailer, a gameplay demonstration or a behind-the-scenes video appears flawless and paints a good picture of the final product, pragmatism is still a valuable trait to have since the final product may differ in appearance and/or content. The outrage surrounding Witcher 3's graphical downgrade shows the danger of having a final product that differs from the pre-release materials though it made up for this by being a decent game that has good writing, well-written characters and solid gameplay (To see an example of a heavily criticized product that differed from pre-release materials, look for Colonial Marines and to a lesser extent, Duke Nukem Forever which was marred by old assets being used for the final product)
Video game movies have a bad reputation and while Uwe Boll has helped maintain the reputation of said movies, there is a stigma attached to most video game movies. What usually happens is the movie is barely connected to the source material as the movie is either actionised to an excessive extent or has very little ties to the source material. To see proof of this in effect, one only needs to look at Mila Jovovich's meal ticket or her husband's kinky dominatrix fantasies being adapted into a movie franchise with very little ties to the actual game series that is eerily resembling said movie franchise by the sixth instalment. The problem from what I can tell is the difficulty of adapting a game into a movie format seeing as how a game shows the entire method to achieving a goal whereas a movie has to handle a time limit to ensure that it's audience is not asleep by the first five minutes.
For movies that involve stealth and sneaking around, the methodology of the stealth cannot be fully shown to audiences and usually ends up with a brief montage or scene that depicts an example before cutting to the aftermath of a successful stealth run. In games, these moments end up being more interesting due to player involvement that influences a flawless success or a frantic cover-up of mistakes made which leave a stronger impression. For video game movies that involve horror, spectacle is usually prioritised which winds up leaving less room for build up and more shock being brought in. I once watched a bit of Silent Hill: Revelations and had to turn it off when I realised that this was a Resident Evil movie except Wesker was replaced with Pyramid Head. I guess what I am trying to say her is that a video game movie is unable to capture the essential moments and effort that make a video game good. Even if a movie can capture the moments well, it does not mean much if there was no real build-up to the moment. Pivotal moments in games, which may include climaxes, may falter as the effort and investment by players will not be present in an audience that views a movie.
I guess the best alternative to a movie adaptation of a video game is a loose adaptation instead whereby the setting is used rather than the game itself. This would limit the options available to movie makers as they would be forced to find game franchises with large settings that are capable having these stories (i.e The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Warcraft, Deus Ex) and even these movies are not guaranteed to work (i.e Dungeons and Dragons, not a video game movie but a game adaptation with actors so bad that they don't even act). However, the potential to make a gem is more likely with these franchises with a large world capable of exploring with a movie since little stories do exist within these worlds. To cater to the video game audiences, these movies can even reference the original works with cameos of signature side characters along with mention of main characters and their deeds.
What I say here is not a sure-fire way of making a good movie since I do not know how to make a movie but I am giving suggestions. Perhaps someday a good video game movie will appear and be as popular as comic book movies are today (except for Fantastic 4). Until then, I know that Hitman: Agent 47 is not one of these movies (I have not seen this movie yet so the review is not up and hence I am making a post to distract you from the above fact) and that the promised movie to end all movies have not shown up.
Time to go back to Blood Money or Terraria or Xenonauts or The Nameless Mod or The Witcher 3 or a tub full of pie.
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