Sure, we’d like to believe that the current video game market is laden with story rich titles that would make fantastic games. The fact is, most games would never make a decent, let alone good, movie. It’s an issue we’ve been faced with on numerous occasions as some smart-ass director comes along thinking they have the formula. I don’t believe that games, as a whole can never be turned into a great film. BioShock, in the right hands, could make a fantastic feature movie. The problem is finding someone willing to touch video game stories, which continue to have a stigma.

According to a piece in the LA Times, games just don’t work as movies. Screenwriter Josh Olson, who was working on the Peter Jackson produced Halo movie, said that games ”have aimless cycles. You go to A, shoot some monsters, then go to B, then start over and do it again." The Times then goes on to say that the weak narratives of games haven’t translated to film as well as comic books.

The edict appears to be: don’t create movies based on video games, because they will suck. The track record holds that to be true, but it isn’t inherently true. You can’t expect a Uwe Boll to make the great video game film. You need a Sam Raimi or Christopher Nolan to come along and tackle the task. That’s why gamers were so excited about Halo, because Peter Jackson was taking the lead. It’s not about how weak or strong the stories in games are, that varies greatly, but instead it’s about how strong is the creative team behind the movie. Get that right, and you’ll see the video game version of Superman.