This struck me when discussing games elsewhere, why are so few games inspired by books? There are plenty of book to movie adaptations, quite a few movie to game adaptations but not many book to game adaptations.
I imagine a lot of people would love the opportunity to play in their favourite story-world.
I can just see The Culture story universe of Iain Banks working well as a MMO is set up correctly for example. Plenty of oppurtunity for player character custimisation and shenanigans as a member of Special Circumstances.
I’d guess it’s because very, very few books (particularly those of genres which would adapt well to video games) have anywhere near the readership / viewership of genre-appropriate movies or TV shows.
The Culture universe is great, and I buy each Iain M. Banks (note the M. - it’s important :)) book and read it as soon as it comes out. But his books are not describing it very well - that is, they are not all “space operas”, some only concern a tiny corner of it, and some are only related to it tangentially. There is also a great spread of time covered. Not sure how much that would lend itself to an MMO.
There’s likely more than you think…though the Megami Tensei metaseries likely skews the count significantly.
Just among the ones available in English, there are over a dozen games in the metaseries - the Persona series, the Digital Devil Saga series, the Shin Megami Tensei series (Nocturne, Strange Journey, and Imagine, only), the last two Devil Summoners, Devil Survivor, two of the Devil Children games, and one Last Bible game. There are a lot more in Japan - 50 games (including remakes) across 8 series, plus a number of one-offs, all based on a trilogy of light novels from the mid-80s. (And the series is still going! Devil Survivor’s sequel and 3DS remake only just recently came out in Japan, and both are slated for North American release.)
It’s not always easy to tell what order the light novel/manga/anime/video game cycle works in, but I’d be surprised if Megami Tensei was anywhere near the only one to start off in light novels and take off in video games. Not to mention that there’s likely a number of games that never leave Japan (or whatever the home region is) that are based on proper novels, and some based on proper novels that never leave their home region.
Good question. The Commonwealth society is described better, IMO, and is more consistent, but the Night’s Dawn society lends itself more to the MMO - more fun protagonists to blow away.
You’re probably right but I do think game-designers are missing a deep and rich source of inspiration. Though they’d probably prefer to make their own stories out of whole cloth.
All valid points but I think the basic elements of the Culture universe would lend itself well to some game genres. I mentioned MMO’s but I’ve never actually played one, just going by what I imagine they’re like (which is probably totally wrong)
That would also be a good one, I remember really liking The Reality Dysfunction and enjoying The Neutronium Alchemist but The Naked God left such a bitter taste it retroactively tainted the previous two books and I’ve never read anything else by the same author.
It is definitely an interesting story-universe though.
One thing to keep in mind is that the vast majority of movie-themed video games are really just commercials for the movie, and wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the movie studios’ marketing departments. Books don’t get that sort of media blitz.
Uh huh. I invite you to take a look at my collection of dead tree books, and then my collection of video games.
As for the OP, I think it’s because many video games don’t rely much on storytelling. Some arcade type games do have some background (R Type and Arkanoid did, that I recall), but most are simply clickfests.
I believe that Parasite Eve was inspired by either a book or a manga. Other than that, I don’t know of any games that were inspired by a specific book.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was loosely based off the book, Roadside Picnic. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s Deathgate Cycle had a video game adaptation, and there have been a couple of Discworld video games. Of course, there are the various (pre-movie) Tolkien games. A number of Tom Clancy novels have been adapted, as well.
Thanks for telling me that - I didn’t know there was a video game. The book was amazing (I never read it in English though, I wonder if it loses in translation). I mean, every book written by Strugatskii brothers is great, but that one was socks-off-knocking.
On edit: hm. When you say “loosely”, you mean “extremely loosely” don’t you Maybe it is an indication that it is very hard to make a game out of a book without being extremely loose with the book. I mean, books are by their nature narratives, while video games (well, MMOs) are wide open and free-ranging.
It’s more the other way around. Tie-in games are created to capitalize on the bigger media blitz for the movie. There are very few book releases that can provide the sort of marketing buzz that could justify the hassle of making a derivative product.
Interestingly, Rainbow Six started as an independent product. It wasn’t until the game was well in production that Clancy decided to turn it into a book.
Loosely as in it draws many concepts from the book (and the Tarkovsky movie), but is its own story.
They’re making a game around Game of Thrones, due out soonish (no doubt to capitalize on the TV series). I’m also pretty sure there was a Wheel of Time game planned at some point, don’t know what became of that. Lord of the Rings has always been a font of video game goodness.
There was a pretty good Blade Runner game, primarily inspired by the movie but of course the movie was inspired by Do Androids […] Sheep, so it counts.
There was a pretty bad hack 'n slash game drawing much from Dante’s Inferno.
As for oldies, I seem to remember a *Riverworld *game was released somewhere in the mid 90s
Can’t believe I forgot that one when I made my earlier post. I’d have had an actual example for ‘games based on proper novels’ (although the original novel has since been translated, so both have spread out of their home region). The game (which I have yet to actually FINISH) is actually a sequel to the novel. There are two manga - one adapts the novel, one adapts the first game.
Maybe it is an indication that it is very hard to make a game out of a book without being extremely loose with the book. I mean, books are by their nature narratives, while video games (well, MMOs) are wide open and free-ranging.