Blogpost # 7: Video Games vs Films

Who knows the difference between the animation of the video games and the animation of the movies? Well, video games required the audience to interact while the purpose of the movies is to be viewed and to be watched.  Video games and movies are at war. We are consuming money and time in both things that we will enjoy. These two have greatly influenced each other over the years. Have you watched the Harry Potter Series? Have you played the Harry Potter game? See how they adapt each other From films to games and from games to films.

In terms of technology, if we talked 3 Dimensional, what comes up in your mind? It is either movies or video games, or may be both, right? In movies, animator only need to focus about what is going to be on-screen of vision. They do not have to worry about making several environmental objects because it is non-interactive. However, video games must work on 360 degree level. The two genres in entertainment industry is competing each other. 

As I was researching through the internet about video games and film industry, I found a website entitled "Destructroid: Video Game News and Community" with an article "Movies vs Video Games: Which did it better?" written by Chad Concelmo saying that the competition between video games and movies is a "battle of the ages".

In the article, the author compared the two situations that is similar between the video games and movies. He took specific scenes that are near identical featured in both genres. We can see that the aesthetics from both genres might be the same but it is really different.

The first example he gave was the flying refrigerator from the movie "Indiana Jones And the Kingdom of Crystal Skull" and from the game "Mother 3". The movie was neglected by the viewers and fans because of its "nuked the fridge" situation. Indiana was trapped in a city wherein the atomic bomb is about to detonate. To avoid the explosion. he climb on the fridge to protect himself and he and the fridge were blown away in safe place.

In the role playing game "Mother 3" which he said that there is similarity in the situation on the movie above, the main character named "Lucas" and his friend while leaving the Snowcap Mountain hop on refrigerator at the top of highest peak and launch themselves like a ski jumper before landing on the graveyard. Because of this creativeness, Chad gave his thumbs up to the game more than the film.

The next thing is the rocket launching of the film Apollo 13 and the game Final Fantasy VII. The film showed a very magnificent edition, animation, stellar effects and direction. Because of it true story, you feel like that you are there while the launching was going on. While in the Final Fantasy VII, similar to Apollo, it provides good editing and animation but it lacks a story, a story that the audience will be moved.

The third thing that he compared was the sniping game game and movie, the  "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater" and  "The Hurt Locker". The MGS3 is an epic sniper battle for the author. The setting was in a jungle. For the author, controlling the war will make satisfaction for him. He decided to choose the MGS3 instead of the "The Hurt Locker" even though they have in common: stalking with each other with the deadly sniper rifles. 

The fourth situation is the train crash in the movie "The Fugitive" and the game "Uncharted 2: Among Theives". For those who does not know the story of "The Fugative", it is about a man who tries to escape from the police carrying in a bus. He was accused to be in jail for killing his wife. Going to the prison, the things went wrong, While the bus is rolling on the cliff, a train is fast approaching and then they died. Just kidding, they were safe. 

Common to this story is the game "Uncharted 2". It is one of the best produced video games ever. The train crash was remarkable in this game. The entire sequence - from riding and shooting on the back of the train, to climbing it as it hangs over a cliff - is exhilarating. But the author finds "The Fugitive" more interesting, more realistic and better.

Other situation is sandstorm. In the movie Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, the scene where Tom Cruise chasing an enemy through a whirling and violent sandstorm in Dubai. And in the game,  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. After arriving at an enemy compound, playable character Yuri is engulfed by a giant sandstorm. Once the sandstorm fully hits, the rest of the level must be played with almost zero visibility.

There are so many circumstances that video game is greater than film and film is greater that video game due of its storyline, characters, music and of course its animation. Different genres but same or identical situation may be compared by the person. May be this game is much appreciated by me or by us than this film. And this film is more magnificent that this game. It is just in our eyes and taste if what entertainment we will love.

Reading other articles about this topic, I found a site named "The Telegraph" with an article entitled "Video Games bigger than film" written by Harry Wallop, saying, "More money was spent on video games than on films – including both trips to the cinema and films on DVD".

The article showed the evidences about games and films. On September 2009,  £1.73 billion was spent on video games, according to the data company GFK Chart-Track. According to the UK Film Council exactly £1 billion was spent at the British box office during the same period, with a  £198 million spent on film titles released on DVD and Blu-ray. This means that £500 million more was spent on video games than on films over the last 12 months.

The author introduced Tom Watson who said that video games industry should be taken seriously. "Like anything digital, Parliament has a very narrow view of video games. Too many politicians think video games are played by teenage boys staying up all night shooting things in their bedroom. And yes there are plenty of those, but there also a huge range of people of many different ages who love playing games."

I agreed to this statement. As we all know that only teenage boys are playing video games, but we were wrong, the adults are also love to play such games. Like the teenagers, they bought their own game consoles and staying up all night. 

Arguing about the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to be the fastest selling game in history. Watson said that just debate about the violence content of it but not the history of it . Not the full story of the game.

Industry figures show there the number of games consoles being used in Britain has shot up from 13.5 million in 2008 ago to well over 25 million earlier this year, with enough consoles for nine out of every ten households in the country to have one.

I know that it will be a big loss for film industry if the mass media will continue patronizing the gaming industry as well as the games industry. However,  gaming industry or film industry are different genres they can be still together. Even though they are competing each other if which will be the best, their main purpose is to entertain the audience. To give happiness to the media. To serve as the stress reliever and most of all to unite the society as being one.