Books you believe would make awesome video games...

@HandsomeDead said:

@superpow said:

@HandsomeDevil: @HandsomeDevil said:

@HandsomeDead said:

@HandsomeDevil said:

You're right. I can read the works of Nietzsche perfectly fine, but the writing of HandsomeDead is far beyond my grasp. If you actually study upon the subject you criticize so heavily, you'd see you're dead wrong about most things. If the subtext of your literary masterpiece is that you have dug around (I can guarantee you haven't), then it was so buried inside a wall of pretentious text it's practically invisible. Linking to Hard Reset is your idea of directly referencing PC stuff?

Great. You can read Nietzche, but I don't know if you can understand it when you're asking such obvious questions to such an obvious blog. I really kind of enjoy how I get called pretentious by the same people who think my concern is with shooters exclusively.

It's kind of hard to think your concern was with anything other than shooters when most of the games you mentioned were in fact shooters. You can't get so caught up on the shooting guys aspect of some games. Yes, you shoot guys in Mass Effect 2. But you also do a lot of other stuff that's way better and is the stuff that makes everybody else cough up $60. So yes, blame us illiterate saps (including the guys who write for this website you clearly have some loyalty to) for enjoying a hobby you so ignorantly call banal.

I'm still sure he's some sort of troll. You're wasting your breath on this. Everyone knows HandsomeDevil is right. This debate is over.

Nope. I talk a lot about shooters because shooting is the most common gameplay mechanic and it's suffocating the possibilities of games like Red Dead Redemption, Alan Wake and Mass Effect 2 and denies genres such as spy fiction from existing in a mainstream format. That is not difficult to deduce. Can either of you two dribblers even read?

I saw none of that in your blog. All I saw was you passive aggressively attacking games (and users, real classy) via linkage. Games you've never actually played. So before you call me a "dribbler" (that's what you Canadians think qualifies as an insult?), take a break from the trolling and try to get educated. Manage your expectations. Don't lower them, just realize there's far more to games than the possibility of laughing or crying. Have I ever gotten a real emotional response from Tetris? No, but it's still something I may call art.

Your blog was actually very well written, but there was zero subtext to it. Quit giving yourself so much credit.

@damnable_fiend said:

No one's made a good Lord of the Rings game yet, so I'll say that.

Battle for Middle Earth 1 and 2 were pretty good, and war in the north should be decent.

@CrossTheAtlantic: That is REALLY REALLY funny!!!!!!!!!

@HandsomeDevil said:

@HandsomeDead said:

@superpow said:

@HandsomeDevil: @HandsomeDevil said:

@HandsomeDead said:

@HandsomeDevil said:

You're right. I can read the works of Nietzsche perfectly fine, but the writing of HandsomeDead is far beyond my grasp. If you actually study upon the subject you criticize so heavily, you'd see you're dead wrong about most things. If the subtext of your literary masterpiece is that you have dug around (I can guarantee you haven't), then it was so buried inside a wall of pretentious text it's practically invisible. Linking to Hard Reset is your idea of directly referencing PC stuff?

Great. You can read Nietzche, but I don't know if you can understand it when you're asking such obvious questions to such an obvious blog. I really kind of enjoy how I get called pretentious by the same people who think my concern is with shooters exclusively.

It's kind of hard to think your concern was with anything other than shooters when most of the games you mentioned were in fact shooters. You can't get so caught up on the shooting guys aspect of some games. Yes, you shoot guys in Mass Effect 2. But you also do a lot of other stuff that's way better and is the stuff that makes everybody else cough up $60. So yes, blame us illiterate saps (including the guys who write for this website you clearly have some loyalty to) for enjoying a hobby you so ignorantly call banal.

I'm still sure he's some sort of troll. You're wasting your breath on this. Everyone knows HandsomeDevil is right. This debate is over.

Nope. I talk a lot about shooters because shooting is the most common gameplay mechanic and it's suffocating the possibilities of games like Red Dead Redemption, Alan Wake and Mass Effect 2 and denies genres such as spy fiction from existing in a mainstream format. That is not difficult to deduce. Can either of you two dribblers even read?

I saw none of that in your blog. All I saw was you passive aggressively attacking games (and users, real classy) via linkage. Games you've never actually played. So before you call me a "dribbler" (that's what you Canadians think qualifies as an insult?), take a break from the trolling and try to get educated. Manage your expectations. Don't lower them, just realize there's far more to games than the possibility of laughing or crying. Have I ever gotten a real emotional response from Tetris? No, but it's still something I may call art.

Your blog was actually very well written, but there was zero subtext to it. Quit giving yourself so much credit.

You can't tell me you didn't see a core inference of my blog and then tell me to give myself less credit. And then stumble over another missed point by defaulting to petty extremes. I get that this is a video game website so it was always going to be a controversial opinion, but it seems that unless I wrote about every game that's out there and ever been played, you'd pick a hole somewhere in my points while avoiding the bigger picture. Just look at you talking about Mass Effect 2 like the combat mechanics in that game aren't both arbitrary and context breaking.

@HandsomeDead said:

@HandsomeDevil said:

@HandsomeDead said:

@superpow said:

@HandsomeDevil: @HandsomeDevil said:

@HandsomeDead said:

@HandsomeDevil said:

You're right. I can read the works of Nietzsche perfectly fine, but the writing of HandsomeDead is far beyond my grasp. If you actually study upon the subject you criticize so heavily, you'd see you're dead wrong about most things. If the subtext of your literary masterpiece is that you have dug around (I can guarantee you haven't), then it was so buried inside a wall of pretentious text it's practically invisible. Linking to Hard Reset is your idea of directly referencing PC stuff?

Great. You can read Nietzche, but I don't know if you can understand it when you're asking such obvious questions to such an obvious blog. I really kind of enjoy how I get called pretentious by the same people who think my concern is with shooters exclusively.

It's kind of hard to think your concern was with anything other than shooters when most of the games you mentioned were in fact shooters. You can't get so caught up on the shooting guys aspect of some games. Yes, you shoot guys in Mass Effect 2. But you also do a lot of other stuff that's way better and is the stuff that makes everybody else cough up $60. So yes, blame us illiterate saps (including the guys who write for this website you clearly have some loyalty to) for enjoying a hobby you so ignorantly call banal.

I'm still sure he's some sort of troll. You're wasting your breath on this. Everyone knows HandsomeDevil is right. This debate is over.

Nope. I talk a lot about shooters because shooting is the most common gameplay mechanic and it's suffocating the possibilities of games like Red Dead Redemption, Alan Wake and Mass Effect 2 and denies genres such as spy fiction from existing in a mainstream format. That is not difficult to deduce. Can either of you two dribblers even read?

I saw none of that in your blog. All I saw was you passive aggressively attacking games (and users, real classy) via linkage. Games you've never actually played. So before you call me a "dribbler" (that's what you Canadians think qualifies as an insult?), take a break from the trolling and try to get educated. Manage your expectations. Don't lower them, just realize there's far more to games than the possibility of laughing or crying. Have I ever gotten a real emotional response from Tetris? No, but it's still something I may call art.

Your blog was actually very well written, but there was zero subtext to it. Quit giving yourself so much credit.

You can't tell me you didn't see a core inference of my blog and then tell me to give myself less credit. And then stumble over another missed point by defaulting to petty extremes. I get that this is a video game website so it was always going to be a controversial opinion, but it seems that unless I wrote about every game that's out there and ever been played, you'd pick a hole somewhere in my points while avoiding the bigger picture. Just look at you talking about Mass Effect 2 like the combat mechanics in that game aren't both arbitrary and context breaking.

The core inference of your blog seemed to be "I'm better than all of you", which is basically the focus of every post you make. The sad part about this is a lot of the points you make are salient and right on, but you're way to smug about it which is why people often default to the "troll" response. If you want people to look at the bigger picture, try treating them with respect.

I'm not asking you to play every game that's ever been made, just to look at games with a different set of eyes than film or books because they are an entirely different medium than those. Film, TV, and books all share similarities. Games largely stand on their own. Also, try out some games the guys talk about often that you conveniently ignore when making the "It's all about shooting guys" argument that got us here in the first place.

I'm not going to get into Mass Effect 2 combat. I enjoyed it, you call it arbitrary and context breaking which makes absolutely no sense.

@SSully said:

A Game of Thrones game, that isn't like the one coming out. My ideal Game of Thrones game would be like Civ, where you have a big focus on both combat and diplomacy. You would start as a small lord and choose your sides with the many different families of the universe and play accordingly to rise in power. Also a game based on the Nights Watch alone would be very interesting.

Also a game based in the Foundations Universe. You could literally make a game of almost any genre in that damn universe.

Sounds like Mount and Blade

@HandsomeDead: To you, it seems like you just keep repeating yourself with no actual evidence of anything you say is right, which declassifies it as a fact on that ground alone.

@HandsomeDevil: And to you, you are just arguing over a seemingly annoying user that is often out to cause contraversy over stupid things that have no truth to them whatsoever. If you admit this, then please jus do this over personal messages and stop infecting this topic.

@rebgav said:

@HandsomeDevil: @HandsomeDead:

Could you two geniuses perhaps figure out how to private message each other? Or maybe take your pissing contest to the blog thread that you're whining about?

Either would be fantastic, thanks.

Also, this I agree with.

That book with the dude who has a gun and he shoots it at other dudes.

The Night Angels trilogy. They're dumb as shit, but man, I read all of them. Like, I finished the first, thought it was dumb as shit, but still loved it.

@Jay444111 said:

@HandsomeDead: To you, it seems like you just keep repeating yourself with no actual evidence of anything you say is right, which declassifies it as a fact on that ground alone.

@HandsomeDevil: And to you, you are just arguing over a seemingly annoying user that is often out to cause contraversy over stupid things that have no truth to them whatsoever. If you admit this, then please jus do this over personal messages and stop infecting this topic.

@rebgav said:

@HandsomeDevil: @HandsomeDead:

Could you two geniuses perhaps figure out how to private message each other? Or maybe take your pissing contest to the blog thread that you're whining about?

Either would be fantastic, thanks.

Also, this I agree with.

Sorry for the thread derailment fellas. I'm certainly done with my side of the argument.

Just so that my entire existence on this thread could be justified, I think an Ender's Game game could be cool.

Sorry to say, but the film industry would always make a better story of the book because they have good screen writers and it takes atleast 2 years or more. To make a good script. I don't know how the video game folks make the stroy but my guess is they more or less don't give two flying shits about it.

I can name more good story's in films then video games.

@biospank said:

Sorry to say, but the film industry would always make a better story of the book because they have good screen writers and it takes atleast 2 years or more. To make a good script. I don't know how the video game folks make the stroy but my guess is they more or less don't give two flying shits about it.

I can name more good story's in films then video games.

Considering the best the movie industry even does these days. Even DC comic books... hell, even Naruto filler is actually more well written then any modern movie these days, but I digress on this because I guess saying that film is inferior to video games is taboo.

Also, you are not helping your side of the arguement out by saying video games don't care about story when you can't even spell story correctly. Hell, even Gears three had more emotion in it then many movies have had in a long while.

lets not get in on this because I get flagged for this opinion almost constantly. I don't like that.

@biospank said:

Sorry to say, but the film industry would always make a better story of the book because they have good screen writers and it takes atleast 2 years or more. To make a good script. I don't know how the video game folks make the stroy but my guess is they more or less don't give two flying shits about it.

I can name more good story's in films then video games.

It does not take two years to write a good script. It has taken some scripts at least that long to become good, but not every script requires such a lengthy writing and editing process to be of quality.

And frankly, there are far too many films with shitty scripts and stories to count.

'The Yiddish Policeman's Union' by Michael Chabon

Like a Jewish LA Noire/Grand Theft Auto! I'd play it

The difficulty is in crafting an interactive experience from something that was painstakingly created to tell a specific story in a specific context. It's not that games have poor writing or can't tell a quality tale (though often that is the case), but that you lose so much control over how that tale is told when you adapt it to an interactive medium. If done carefully, you can create something within that universe, but it's hard to recreate a specific story from that universe.
 
That said, I'd love to see that Tom Clancy guy's books turned into a videogame or two.

@Jay444111: Woooooow just wow. You have probably not seen many films that have a real good story, I have seen atleast 5 films this month that have a better story then gears3.

I am not a native english speaker, so you can expect more misspelling and bad grammar from me. I am truly sorry for that.

@Hailinel: that is true that there are allot of bad scripts for films and bad films. But most of the time I see bad storyline in games not the other way around.

@biospank said:

@Jay444111: Woooooow just wow. You have probably not seen many films that have a real good story, I have seen atleast 5 films this month that have a better story then gears3.

I am not a native english speaker, so you can expect more misspelling and bad grammar from me. I am truly sorry for that.

@Hailinel: that is true that there are allot of bad scripts for films and bad films. But most of the time I see bad storyline in games not the other way around.

Then those movies must be from years back then. I myself own over 400+ DVD's all ranging from the black and white days to only a very few of todays with the only notables being district 9 and Inception. Movies have gotten worse, FAR worse. To the point where many, not just me, as saying flat out, that video games are a more sophisticated medium these days. Judging by this year alone also has shown this to be very true. Espicially compared to the crap medium known as movies.

@Jay444111: Nah, I'll just eat a bit less. Besides, I am getting paid from work next week, so no harm done! Good books always comes first!

@Jay444111: they are actually from this year, except outrage came out 2010.

But still its better then gears3, I just finished it and I will not say that the story sucked or anything but in my standerds its just avarage. Most of the so-called emotional things that happend I could only think off was, what would happend if they did not looking like a steroid junky, would it be more appropriate for this to happend?

Don't get me wrong I like video games, I just think that no developers have found the sweet spot of the medium other then the fun part. I think Bioshock has a really good story but the twist in it is not as impactfull as oldboy.

The Wheel Of Time series

The Dark Tower series as well. Some time of Red Dead Redemption mix with crazy fantasy elements would be awesome. I'd love to play as Roland.

If you'd stop responding to Jay's threads maybe he'd stop making them

@DeviTiffany: The Wheel of Time. Wow, epic. Plus huge scope for sequel after sequel. :-)

My Goodreads list just got longer - and I already had the Malzan Book of the Fallen on there - that's like a few months of heavy reading. Thanks for the suggestions (okay, that's not what they were meant for, but that's what they've become).

WWZ and ZSG is a good pick. Needs to be very carefully done tho.

Don't know if you guys have ever heard of it, but I think the book series "The Hunger Games" by Susane Collins would make a great video game. Basically it takes place in a dytopia society where there is only one city left in North America called Prem. Within Prem there is The Captial and it's surronding districts, the people who live wihin the districts are oppressed and live in poverty and starvation, while the Captial is the only real place that is well off. Every year the Captial hosts a spectacle called "The Hunger Games" where they take one boy and one girl from each of the 12 districts (or 13....I don't remember) and have them fight to the death, only one can win and whoever is left alive that persons district get's food.

 
I highly recommend reading the series and I think it would make a GREAT game! It has alot of violent scenes and is full of actioin,  it also has alot of survival elements to the story. I think it would work if it was implemented well.... 
 
Also they are making a movie of "The Hunger Games", but unfortunately it doesn't look too good and it I think they will screw it up. Still I hope they don't!

The Kite Runner

lovely bones