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aelingil
Mmm Burnt Toast
Premium Member
join:2008-10-22
Mesa, AZ

aelingil

Premium Member

Portal/HL2... The Movie?

I'm not sure what to make of this.. It might be awesome it could fail..

»www.wired.com/gamelife/2 ··· ories%29

*************

LAS VEGAS — Valve, the game developer behind Half-Life and Portal, and J.J. Abrams’ production studio Bad Robot will work together to produce games and movies, the heads of the two studios said at the DICE Summit on Wednesday.

“There’s an idea we have for a game that we’d like to work with Valve on,” said Abrams while sharing the stage with Valve head Gabe Newell.

“We’re going to figure out if we can make a Portal movie or Half-Life movie together,” Newell said.

The surprise announcement came at the close of a brief joint keynote by Abrams and Newell, titled “Storytelling Across Platforms: Who Benefits Most, the Audience or the Player?” The opening presentation at the game industry’s annual high-level business summit featured two creative minds at the top of their respective mediums of choice: Lost creator Abrams was recently tapped to direct Star Wars: Episode VII, and Newell’s company Valve is redefining how games are made and sold with its Steam service, which it intends to push into the living room this year with an entry into the hardware market.

Abrams and Newell made the surprise, succinct announcement at the end of their keynote speech, which took the form of a carefully rehearsed discussion between the two creatives about the strengths and weaknesses of games and movies as storytelling mediums.

“Players are often asked to imprint themselves or relate to insanely mute empty vessels,” Abrams said, playing a clip from Valve’s Half-Life that showed its mute protagonist Gordon Freeman.

Newell pointed out that it can be frustrating for a viewer to not have agency while watching a movie, pointing to Abrams’ film Cloverfield as an example — why, he said, doesn’t the character just drop the camera and run away from the danger? The “self-paced” nature of games, he said, can create a more optimal experience.

“Movies let you experience moments that you might not think are the point, but really are everything,” Abrams said, pointing to the early introduction of compressed air canisters in the opening scenes of the movie Jaws, which initially seem unimportant but prove consequential to the film’s ending. Newell pointed out that the “take your child to work” scene in Portal 2 accomplished the same thing, setting up important plot points in a way that made them initially seem like humorous throwaways.

This seems to have been exactly what Abrams and Newell were doing with their DICE Summit keynote: Setting up the audience with what seemed to be a lighthearted, friendly discussion about games and movies, then surprising them with the revelation that they weren’t just going to chat about it at a conference but actively working together to create movies and games that learn from one another.

Krisnatharok
PC Builder, Gamer
Premium Member
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit

Krisnatharok

Premium Member

But JJ Abrams!
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to aelingil

Premium Member

to aelingil
I cannot see how one could get a movie out of Portal. the HL setting has some movie material. But you could not do HL1 as a movie because it would just be Die Hard in a research base.

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County

CylonRed

MVM

Done well -that would be fine. Many movies are copies of others - just in a different setting.
CylonRed

CylonRed to Krisnatharok

MVM

to Krisnatharok
said by Krisnatharok:

But JJ Abrams!

Far better than Michael Bay.
Deschain
join:2012-12-13
Blighty

Deschain

Member

said by CylonRed:

said by Krisnatharok:

But JJ Abrams!

Far better than Michael Bay.

Or Uwe Boll

aelingil
Mmm Burnt Toast
Premium Member
join:2008-10-22
Mesa, AZ

aelingil to Kearnstd

Premium Member

to Kearnstd
Portal 1: Pre-game timeline.. "Take your daughter to work" day.. They could easily show how Apature Science went to hell. Turning on the new GlaDOS system, having her go crazy and getting the fail-safe installed.

Portal 2: The place has gone to hell. They could have a group of people hiding from the Combine find a back door into A.S. facilities.. While they are trying to find out what is going on, the boot up Wheatly and try to escape. Wheatly afterwards goes back to his normal programming and wakes up Chell..

HL1: Freeman is not always fighting the world w/o help. Barny is around, so is Dr Kliner and Eli Vance. Trying to get out of Black Mesa is something every last scientist was trying to do.

Hl2: You could easily make into a movie.. you would have to cut out some parts, but the first 15 minutes of the game could be used. Getting to White Forest, to the Citadel and away could all be done in a 2 1/2 hour movie.. you do not need the boat part.. or the car part... and that is most of the game..

If they had writters who have played the games and really wanted to stick w/ the story line, these movies could be very cool...

Or they could go the way of DOOM.... take our hopes and dreams... tell them how wonderful they are... and throw them off a cliff.

puppy
join:2010-01-28
San Diego, CA

puppy to aelingil

Member

to aelingil
Actually I liked a lot of JJ Abrams shows such as Alias. He keeps the story pace very well.

How does Uwe Boil keeps getting work? I'm pretty tolerant in terms of "artistic value" of movies, especially video game ports, but my god he sucks.

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County

CylonRed to Deschain

MVM

to Deschain
I never heard of him - looked him up and can honestly say - I don't remember seeing any of the movies names - ever. Sounds like that is a good thing.

Goggalor
Psychonaut
Premium Member
join:2009-06-09
Your Mind!

Goggalor to puppy

Premium Member

to puppy
Uwe Boll can get away with what he does because of the tax laws of Germany (I believe that's where he lives/works) allowing his friends and he to write off their movie/artistic projects as tax breaks.

Government: Spend two million Euro on a movie/artistic piece? Then don't worry about your taxes!

I AM
Premium Member
join:2010-04-11
Ephrata, PA

I AM to aelingil

Premium Member

to aelingil
IDK. Do I have to log into Steam first?

puppy
join:2010-01-28
San Diego, CA

puppy to Goggalor

Member

to Goggalor
That's interesting point, Goggalor.

I guess I'm not part of the 99% but I don't understand this either. Even if my tax rate is 90%, I still keep 10% of it, rather than blowing 100% of it on a piece of turd.

Unless of course they hire hotties and I get to mingle with them as an investor

My favorite Uwe moment - "Alone in the Dark". There are these soldiers that are killed by the monsters. As the scene moves off/fade to the next scene, you can see one of the soldiers getting up. Good editing!

Edit: OMG there's a movie named "Blubberella" on netflix under his name. The cover is this fat chick holding 2 blazing guns.... The catch phrase is "half vampire... two and half woman..."
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to aelingil

Premium Member

to aelingil
Anything but the way of Doom, I have no clue why they changed it to a portal to Earth and made the creatures be some genetic bullshittery. What was wrong with the game version of a portal to hell, undead and demons?

that said the BFG still was faithful in being a big fucking gun.