At the recent E3: Electronic Entertainment Expo, I had the opportunity to speak with Cliff Bleszinski, or Cliffy B as he is widely known among gamers. Cliff is the lead designer of the best selling game Gears of War on the XBox 360, which is in development at New Line to be translated to the screen. Strangely, for those who have played Gears, the experience is often described as being cinematic. When I asked Cliff about the movie-like elements of his game, he was very adamant that “…if game designers want to make a movie, then they should make a movie.” Good point.

Super Mario Brothers

As someone who at times, straddles the line between various industries, I have always admired the video game business. When a game is not ready, sometimes having to do with bugs, but more often having to do with concerns regarding the quality of the game itself, that game is delayed. Schedules are often pushed back, and while marketing departments at game companies push for release dates centered on prime holiday buying periods, a game that is not ready will not ship. Not every company in the games business sticks to this philosophy, but it seems to be a sound way of doing business when reputations are built and destroyed over the quality of one title.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

It might be nice if, say, the film business adopted the same philosophy. If a movie is not ready, if it’s not up to quality standards, then the release date should be pushed back. That might have improved films like Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which was entertaining and fun but clearly not good. A test audience might have mentioned that the inclusion of Galactus as a character would have added more weight to the story, but this is wishful thinking. Films are rarely ever delayed these days, and the quality, or lack thereof, would never impact the release date. The film business is so costly when it comes to major theatrical releases, theatrical releases that are tied into ad campaigns that must be booked months in advance, merchandising tie-in deals, partnerships with retailers or fast food franchises, to delay the release of any movie would ensure that film never made a profit. But it might make a better movie.

Wing Commander

Still, why is it that movies and video games, mediums that are so closely linked, just can’t seem to work when translating from one to the other?

Resident Evil

The history of video games made into movies is a very rocky one. In fact, compiling a “Top 10” or list of the “Best” video game movies is a complete waste of time. The simple reason is that there has hardly been one good film made from a video game, much less one that is remotely watch-able. The evidence is clear when simply creating the list from which to draw the “best.”

Street Fighter

Consider examples like Street Fighter or Double Dragon or Super Mario Brothers or Lara Croft: Tomb Raider or The House of the Dead or Mortal Kombat, which was kind of fun, but ultimately cheesy and tame compared to the game. You might find a list of the “Best” somewhere, but it’s more like reading a list of films made from video games, none of them rising to the top as being films worth seeing when separated from their video game roots.

The House of the Dead


Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Oddly enough, gamers will tell you that there has never been a decent game made from a movie, which is probably true. Most games made from film franchises are rushed to meet a release date coinciding with the theatrical release and include familiar, yet not particularly challenging gameplay resulting in a mediocre game at best. Still, like an idiot, I play them. I happen to enjoy video games based on movie franchises because they are not very challenging. They often result in games I can finish because my limited skills as a gamer would definitely keep me from being considered as a back up for those players in the MLG. (That’s Major League Gaming, and yes, it really exists.)


Gears of War (left) is in development at New Line, while the groundbreaking Halo franchise is in the able hands of Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, who is executive producing. Will either translate into a decent movie?

As my conversation with Cliffy B wrapped up, he did express enthusiasm about the Gears movie. He told me that a script was delivered by screenwriter Stuart Beattie and that it was going to be a good film first, not a video game movie. In fact, Cliff was adamant about staying focused on his career as a game designer with no aspirations about being in the film business. It’s a lesson many learn to late – just stick to what you know.

Gore gone.

In addition to being a movie geek, Chris_Gore continues to battle a lifelong addiction to video games.