<![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games - Kotaku Comments]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games - Kotaku Comments]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> what I would like to see is a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel turned into a game. Say, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" turned into an RPG or "Chronicles of a Death Foretold" as an Adventure/ murder Mystery. It would be exciting to see how Magic Realism translates into some sort of game mechanic. But I don't want it to be an accurate retelling. Of course Post-Modernism should be applied to such works to extend the story and promote creativity as well as originality.:)

surft

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> I know Anne Rice will never approve of it because for some inept reason she feels the need to "write for Christ", but we desparately need a "vampire Chronicles" game. I can imagine it now:

-GTA style exploration as a tragically beautiful and immortal anti-hero, hunting an ever evolving cityscape for fresh blood.

-Dynamic and changing plot line means that no two games are alike:

-Become an egotistical living god who constantly tests the boundaries of his secret life and indulges in the pleasures of the kill...

...or a tormented creature of the night, ever lamenting his faustian bargain and bleak existence, only find solice in the taste of warm blood.

Look for it, fall 2009 for all systems and the PC (except for the PSP and PS3 because no one likes them =P)

KreacherOfBloodandRank

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> "Enders Game" anyone?

TheForgotenHero

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Kirth Gersen: I'm assuming you are speaking of the "Betrayal of Krondor" game. I don't remember a bird face magician, but as I say, my memory is spotty. I found screen shots for the game here:

[www.gamershell.com]

While looking for them, I found that on Gamespot, the game had a 8.8 rating, with a lot of users rating it highly too, and seeing the screen shots means I may have to go back and play it again for old times sakes. I recall it being slightly difficult too.

EnderLanik

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Garfield, The Book of Fishing and Johnny Cash's autobiography. Make game now. In fact combine all three for stupidity bonus points.

TearsandScreams

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> My personal choice: a video game based on the Envoys in the Takeshi Kovacs series of books by Richard K. Morgan. Yes the books are horribly formulaic, but they are enjoyable, and that's all I really care about in my entertainment. Series goes "Altered Carbon", "Broken Angels", "Woken Furies", with the first in the series probably being the best book.

@Kirth Gersen: On a Dark Tower videogame: At the end of it you'd have to cop-out..errr I mean start all over again! I liked the whole fallen-down world of the Dark Tower series, but the last book ruined the series for me. Kind of like the 3rd Matrix movie ruins the rest of them :-P.

NateN

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> You know there was a game based on War and Peace, it was an RTS published by Microids.

[www.gamerankings.com]

Oh and it is nowhere near worth the 85% it has supposedly received on gamerankings (which could be due to no reviewers actually playing it).

manusdei

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> There allready IS a game based on Don Quixote,an arcade game called Super Don Quix-ote,and it rules.
MAME doesn't emulate it,but DAPHNE does.


kidnicky

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> I'd like to see a game based on the 'Hatchet' Series,you crash land in the deep forest as a young man and have to survive for a unknown time in the untamed wilderness.It would make a great action survival game and have a realistic day/night system in game that you must adapt to to survive.

set89

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> A World War Z strategy/politics game would be pretty awesome. Do you quarantine, implement the South African solution, or try to save as many people as you can? Deal with zombies, local uprisings and foreign threats. Do you win the war but lose the peace? Even better, you could make it along the lines of X-Com or Total War, with large scale strategy interspersed with local skirmishes.

cdammers

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> I'm not very fast at playing games and I'm not very fast at reading books, so judging by how long it took me to read Tolstoy's epic I'd be playing War and Peace till 2010...

cubabit

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Kirth Gersen: Don't worry, he is going to be on 1up podcast next week again :D

Irenicus-the one and only

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Old Man's War

Just read it and you would ache for it to be a game

[www.amazon.com]

JakeDunn

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Good Omens!

Best book ever!!!

ixalth

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Thassodar: considering Goodkind has only really done the Sword of Truth so far... you could have just said that =P That would make a fun game, or gaming world. So long as Zedd is around.

A good Wheel of Time game would be nice... Patrick Rothfuss' debut book "The Name of the Wind" would be neat to. Hopefully The Wise Man's Fear is as good as it.

There are plenty of series that would be good to see though. The Death Gate Cycle (there have already been a couple, but a new one would be nice), The Templar Trilogy by Jack Whyte, the Earthsea series, Harry Turtledove's The Darkness series, The Dark Tower series, Lord of the Isles series, and naturally "Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way".

Plenty more, and to many to list. Blarg. =(

odyeiop

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> The warstrider books by William H. Keith, Jr I've recently picked up could be made into either a great mech or rts game. The universe and setting in this series is quite fleshed out and interesting.

Cavia

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Maggie Greene: Great choice for the accompanying image. I like that you chose the widescreen edition of the book.

PlayerX

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> -x3 on Ender's Game.

-Dante's Inferno (though you'd have to play the guys protecting Dante, not Dante himself).

-The Bible. Ya'll said it's been done and done terribly, but that's because it was done by church folks and not game developers. You've got to grab the crazy Old Testament shit and make a game out of that.

NoraHF

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Ender's Game.

Tei

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> "The Girl Who Owned a City."

[en.wikipedia.org]

"This is a post-apocalyptic book about leadership and survival. The author has stated that his intent in writing the novel was to translate the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand into terms children could understand." Hey, if it worked once.

GovernorWatts

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Impurethinker: You beat me to the punch! An MMO based on the book could be taken soooo many places.

XvCowboyvX

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @blackadvent: Yes that too. D: People suck.

Witzbold

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @NDub: They already made Bible Adventures... horrible - yes I have played it, it made me want to kill myself.

I say The Mind of the Primitive Man by Franz Boas, it could be along the lines of Endless Ocean, except set in like early 1900's and be called "Endless Indigenous People" and you could go and take notes on cultures to no end and without particular purpose. Then you could go on to challenge all of the social/cultural evolution theories abound in academia in the game's world. That would be sweet...

captronj

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Either the Robert Jordans Wheel Of Time series, or Jacquiline Careys Kushiel series. The Bible rpg. lol.

NDub

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> World War Z by Max Brooks.
Think about it, you could go many different angles (RPG,RTT,RTS,FPS) in a world full of freaking zombies. WORLD FULL OF ZOMBIES guys. You could even toss in some human on human action with the reble factions, ferals, and quislings.

Impurethinker

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @monkeysaresilly: Finnegan's Wake is one of my favorite novels. What was the joke? I haven't been reading everyone's comments!

baked ham

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Cell9song: NO!!!! I refuse to allow the perfection that was Legend Entertainment's Gateway to be bastardized by some modern hack videogame that sucks the life out of everything that is holy! Gateway represents the perfect union of two dead genres: graphic adventures & text adventures. I will not allow another game to be made from that material!

baked ham

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> 1984 sounds like it could actually work, and the Finnegan's Wake joke actually made me laugh, god help me. Damn you useless Liberal Arts degree!

monkeysaresilly

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Witzbold: Because 'no one' buys adventure games anymore?

blackadvent

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Stephen King's Dark Tower books could be excellent action games. George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series could translate pretty well into an action RPG. John C. Wright's Orphans of Chaos would make for a very interesting co-op experience.

Willows

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> I'd say I want Consider Phlebas or something like that but your side's AI would be so good you'd just watch the game play itself and always win.

Mister Adequate

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Foundation
A Song of Ice and Fire

Yithian

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @HOOPESKE2:

Dude, I came up with a Zombie Survival Guide Game a long time ago. Glad I'm not alone.

It could be for Wii...FPS...no HUD or anything...and you have to fight through varying stages of takeover.

Do_a_Barrel_Roll

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Wow...I'm writing a book now, but I'm, like, specifically making it game-like, so it can be an action/shooter rpg with a real load of story.

As for existing stories...Redwall? Anyone? How bout...Oh my god...ENDER'S GAME!!!

Also, to whoever said to make an Edgar Allen Poe game...I'm working on a game story loosely based on the Raven at this very moment.

Do_a_Barrel_Roll

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Not sure if any of these have been mentioned yet but here's my list:

1.) Gateway by Fred Pohl (done as a MMOG...also, I am aware that it was an early PC game done by Legend entertainment)

2.) Ringworld by Larry Niven (again, I am aware that its been done on the PC but I want to see a new game done on current hardware)

3.) EON by Greg Bear (would work better as a MMOG I think. I'd also like to see a movie but thats asking too much)

4.) RAMA by Arthur C Clarke (yes, again, I know it was done but I'd like to see a modern adventure game done in the Rama universe)

5.) Snow Crash or The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson

6.) The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Most of these would work best as either MMOG's or Adventure titles. Snow Crash would probably do well as a shooter/vehicular combat design.

Cell9song

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Dude, Snow Crash. Neal Stephenson is like a fiction god.

Jesse in Japan

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> BY THEFITZ2K6 AT 04:52 PM I know there is a computer game(FPS) out there but i would really like to see a proper Wheel of Time game or games done. Robert Jordan's epic story need to come alive on the game consoles!!

HELL F'ING YEAH

that story would work in any game setting.
Channeling the one power= fps, or adventure, platform
the battle for carhien, illian, allmoth plain,etc= best strategy game evermade!!!

Hell, if they took the land as a whole they could make one MMO that would put a nail in WOW(yeah i said it, if you have read the books, you would say it tooooo) and even throw in the seanchan empire and lands beyond the aiel waste as expansions.

ROBERT JORDANS "Wheel of Time" is a once in a generation treat. To bad he died of cancer while writing the final book though.



schizorogue

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Redwall(one of the ones with a lot of fighting, like Salamandastron), the Zombie Survival Guide...um...hmm. Halo books?

hoopesk2

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> It's been done and done well.

Discworld.

Slick-Rick

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Forgot to add in there about it being from the Warhammer 40,000 universe. or crazyverse if you will.

Nadams1229

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> fuck what everyone else has said, Make a squad-based 3rd person stealth/shooter from Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series. that would be some rather insane shit right there. AND it'd be hella long.

Nadams1229

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Scazza:
Oh yes. It'd be an awesome dystopian psychological thriller (poor Winston) and pure fanservice for those who actually read and enjoyed 1984. Of course, more of Orwell's political and technological warnings. Maybe we'll have more of those sensitive boycotts and bannings of this game by irate parents and interest groups.


Plan303e

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @TheCleaningGuy: I wondered if I was remembering that book through rose-coloured glasses when I thought it should be made into an anime series. You have restored my faith in... that book.

Torgen got his apology faceplate but not his fixed GH3 disc

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @JohnnytheFuture:
that would be the single most disjointed, trippiest game ever.

Also, a Don Quixote game would be most awesome. I mean think about it, all those monsters he fights are in his head, right? Well instead of random encounters, you're in the normal world, riding along, and when you see a windmill or something, the view kinda goes hazy and all of a sudden you're seeing the world like he sees it, and it's a cyclops you have to fight. Or you could have a button that's like the eagle vision in Assassin's Creed, except instead of identifying friends and enemies, it shows the world how he would see it.

zacpol

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @thefitz2k6: I actually really really liked the original Wheel of Time game. It was a masterpiece, although I was never a fan of the books, so maybe I didn't go into it with some kind of bias. I just went into it wanting play a fun game, and it absolutely was fun.

baked ham

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Aren't Suda 51 and co. making a PS3 game based on a Kafka book?

blodia

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Consider Phlebas by Ian M. Banks! It's a nice space opera that could lend itself nicely to a game (flying around in spaceships, hunting on foot on alien planets...)

Or they should make it into a film, would play out in a similar fashion to the Fifth Element, but on a grander scale.

Sasuntsi|Davit

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @JustThisGuy: This is true. But almost all fiction falls into that description. It's a mold we'll never break out of, save for a relative few isolated cases.

(Note: I'm not saying that's bad, of course. There's a good reason that the "hero in trouble" template is the standard.)

So, why not go back to the original epic tale? Maybe a stealthy segment around the Cyclops, plenty of Mass Effect-style dialogue trees, a rescue mission involving your crew being hypnotized by the Sirens... a little Wii Waggle here and there... (kidding)

There's The Iliad too, of course, but I never cared much for that one.

ShaggE

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @red: Not arguing your points, except one: I'd be willing to bet that more people read books than play games. In fact, I'd say that the book-reading population completely dwarfs the gaming population. It's a bit misleading to say that not many people read.

JustThisGuy

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Wuthering Heights (19th Century Dating Sim)

Anything by Anton Chekhov (people sitting around a table and talking...it'd be a text "adventure").

myDingling

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Cathaoir: It was The Lost, made by everyone's favorite developers of '07 2k Boston nee Irrational. Apparently, the game was actually completed, but then scrapped under heaps of legal problems.

@ShaggE: Thematically speaking, many games are already based on The Odyssey, more or less. But that's only if we're talking about approaching game narratives as Campbellian myths writ small, and I never really bought into Campbell anyway; to paraphrase Vonnegut, the only thing that Campbell really did was come upon the startling realization that many myths essentially boil down to "hero gets into trouble, hero gets out of trouble." Yawn.

JustThisGuy

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> "The Odyssey" would be an amazing game if done right.

ShaggE

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> people wouldnt buy them. not many people read, even less proportion of gamers read, and most of those who do read have narrow tastes and wouldnt be interested in anything about any other genre or authors than they were familiar with and fond of.

besides which, you couldnt make anything but a point and click out of a book, since i never read one that follows a protagonist who shoots stuff or commands units or jumps around platforms - and no-one makes point and click games anymore because they ceased to sell.

red

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @BigMoose: I think a survival horror game loosely based on The Inferno was being made a few years back, but it got scrapped for some reason. I was excited for it, too...

Cathaoir

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Witzbold: it was made.

What book should definitely be a game? Starship Troopers: tense, exciting combat in a cross between Tribes and Republic Commando, delivered in short bursts and broken up by long unskippable cutscenes of listening to the Fascist professor ramble on about what it means to be a citizen. Undergoes heavy scrutiny from the mainstream media for its racist undertones.

Gunhaver

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> you know, its not that hard to recreate* historical battles using advance wars. its actually rather fun. you just have to be careful so that everything mves properly.

I have a good one of WWII Europe that is you put 4 computers on, they follow the real war pretty well. i just cant figure out how to do D-day right.

*recreate, or to base a map loosely on...

glaeven

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Haven't finished reading it quite yet, but Monster Island would be PERFECT for a NYC-zombie-apocalypse game. Playing both sides to the story would be rad, trying to make it through the city OR controlling hordes of the undead ala Overlord. It could play like it reads, a switch between the two every chapter/level.
Are the other 2 books any good? Interesting so far...

Lysergio

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> No A song Of Ice and Fire? That could make a pretty sweet strategy game with rpg elements for main characters.

WiggyDee

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> The Belgariad by David Eddings would make an AWESOME RPG, or even an MMO.

jabedoben

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @baked ham: Of course. Sadism, whether virtual or printed, has never been popular with the mainstream. But if you spend more than a few minutes on the internet, it's readily apparent that people enjoy inflicting pain on virtual actors. Garry's Mod comes to mind. Or how about that PSN game where you use "physics" to hurtle your character into street objects? I'm not saying these things are bad. I'm just amused.

SrslyGuise

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Was there ever a proper Neuromancer game? I'd love to see a properly made hacking sim to contrast to the minimalist Uplink with trippy colours, strange representations of computer terms (a la Tron) and the idea of puzzle based cracking your way in. I think it would suit the Wii. Like Rez, but free-roaming/third person.
Oh and Ender's Game. I'd like to see both a Homeworld-esq battle against the Buggers and a small team based tactical game set in randomly generated or obviously stacked against you arenas where you must direct a team of soldiers in a zero-gravity environment. Preferably with voice commands as well as a first person viewpoint for yourself to guide the battle and deploy markers etc.
Gonna have to finally read Snow Crash now. Damn you all -_-

Mattz

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> I would love to see some game made out the "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series by Steven Erikson. At the same time, I don't think any kind of game could actually properly cover one (7 published, 10 projected overall) of the books in less than 80 hours of gameplay.

WhiskeyJak

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> I think I've already seen a game called War & Peace, a friend took it out at the library. It was a RTS set in the Napoleonic wars.
Finnegan's Wake would make an interesting game, just as impenetrable as the novel I'd imagine.
Crime and Punishment could work as a game, but I think Fahrenheit tread similar ground as far as getting away with murder went.
The Don Quixote idea is interesting, but it wouldn't work, and we'd end up with a game about the failure of the real game.

MajorMcMuffin

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> I know there is a computer game(FPS) out there but i would really like to see a proper Wheel of Time game or games done. Robert Jordan's epic story need to come alive on the game consoles!!

thefitz2k6

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @JohnnytheFuture:

I came in to say the same thing. I think virtually any Vonnegut book would loosely translate into a Lucasarts-esque adventure game.

Strangelove

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @SrslyGuise: Hahaha. But don't you think the game would canned or banned before we'd ever get to play it if a major company tried adapting that book into a torture simulator?

baked ham

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @baked ham: The real reason people play the Sims is to torture and sexually abuse their characters. So let's be honest with ourselves and delve into classic literary tradition while doing so ;|

SrslyGuise

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Playing NMH (and K7 before it), I'd love to see some games based on Chuck Palahniuk's books, Choke in particular. They would be too weird and fucked up for about 90% of the market (done correctly) but damn they would be like sweet, dark candy for those of us who did "get" them ;)

@MrBionic: The idea for a Stand game, that would be one game I might be interested in playing in MMO form, just two factions in that game really...of course any Stand video game that didn't let me burn down Des Moines and bring Randall Flagg "the big fire" in some fashion as Trashcan Man would be automatic FAIL ;)

DaiMacculate

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @SrslyGuise: The movie was too much, a game would never happened. It'd get thrill-kill'd before you could say "Help me kind sir!"

baked ham

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Will Wright's a "120 Days of Sodom"

Rated S for Sadistic

SrslyGuise

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> "Six Inches" by Bukowski, anyone?

A book I would really like to see turned into a game is Dante's Inferno. I would like to see the book turned into an atmosphere/exploration in the style of Knytt.

BigMoose

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @wildweasel:

On the Raistling subject...

If you like metal/rock, it wouldn't hurt if you did a search for "Soulforge" by "Blind Guardian" the lyrics and music are great.

There is another one by "Nightwish" called "Wanderlust" but I haven't checked that one.

Kirth Gersen

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @ssjmichael:

Sorry about that sometimes a read too fast too few. :D

Still I wouldn't like to be in charge of that project!.

Kirth Gersen

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @baked ham: Damn, turns out the first Discworld was made before the first Dynasty Warriors, my bad. Either way... uh ... my point has escaped me. I'll stop talking now.

baked ham

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Xagest: Define "the last time."

Dynasty Warriors is a spin-off of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which was a game series before Dynasty Warriors. And since Dynasty Warriors, there have been plenty of other books adapted into games, including, for instance, Discworld.

baked ham

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @notquiteallhere: I'm glad you agree. Snow Crash is in my top 4 printed properties I'd like to see adapted into a videogame.

My original post in this section.

baked ham

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Ashurahori: Well it is entirely possible to take a book and garner inspiration for a game from it, while not being a direct adaptation. This is evident in Gabriel Knight III: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, which was an adapted Gabriel Knight adventure based off of the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail. By using a book as a thematic inspiration, and using events from the book, you can turn pretty much any book into a good videogame, it would just require a title change and the invention of new characters and scenarios to make it all work. The Name of the Rose could make a good game, but it would have to take liberties with the original property. I don't fear that it would alienate fans of the novel by taking liberties with the material because I doubt that too many gamers who would have an interest in the type of mystery/adventure game that could be made from that novel have actually even read the novel.

baked ham

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> A game based on any of James Patterson's Alex Cross novels would be fun, I would think. As long as it's more interactive and interesting than the CSI games, anyway. I'm thinking first-person adventure, along the lines of Penumbra Overture, with occasional action sequences.

The old Dragonlance books need to become games. Gamers must be introduced to Raistlin.

And for cripes' sake, where's my Snow Crash game?

wildweasel

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Kirth Gersen:

That's exactly why I started out by saying I don't know how similar the two are. I stated that I'm basing my ideas on what I've seen from watching the "movie" a bunch of times and that I haven't read the book :)

LittleBigPlaneteer

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> The old Fasa RPG/novels in the "Earthdawn" series would make a killer MMO. Microsoft currently own the license too, from when they picked up the rights to all their IP during their "closing-down sale".

Some of Clive Barker's novels would be great too, especially "The Great and Secret Show" & "Everville" and "Imajica".

Sathias

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Even though I know the article in question was written in jest, the very thought of translating certain books into games makes me rather ill. Although an interactive version of Anna Karenina--complete with timed button press train suicide event!--does make me giggle, but only in a mad, guess-it's-about-time-I-shuffled-offa-this-mortal-coil type way.

But then again, someone did make a Kafkaesque attempt at a game several years back, and it did turn out... interesting. Anyone old enough to remember Bad Mojo? And there was The Dark Eye or some such, which was an Poe-based adventure game...

No. No. I do not want this to happen. Leave my books in peace, please. The first dev to touch Don Quixote is going to get cut, I swear to God.

JustThisGuy

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> What I meant was that the LOTR was NOT supposed to be a trilogy, as per Tolkien request.

Seems I need more coffee words are beginning to elude.

Kirth Gersen

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Witzbold: It's shockingly bad!

GOD

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Irenicus-the one and only:

I am waiting for "Too Human" and I couldn't care less about the whole drama around it, but it seems Dyack is relentless on his pursue to appear like a complete IDIOT.

Apart from that probably with out his knowledge the LOTR was supposed to be a trilogy the publishers weren't so keen on publishing a book with so many pages a Tolkien wanted and they had to "twist" her arm quite a bit to let them split his Opus on not two but THREE volumes.

Anyway I sincerely hope he can keep his yapper shut until the game hit retailers.

Kirth Gersen

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> The Odyssey, Animal Farm, and Lord of the Flies.

MasterJoefus

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Fahrenheit 451 would be an interesting game. Wouldn't mind playing as Guy Montag. Seriously though, where's the Bourn series of games already?

KeroseneClimax

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> The games would have to be adapted well and that can get difficult. They've made 3 Agatha Christie adventure games and they've had variable quality. They obviously needed to change the ending but the pacing, puzzle design and interface in some of them was quite broken.

There's also the Discworld games that have been made. I've not read those books or played the games so I don't know how the adaptations are.

I'm not thinking of any books that would be neat to see as games off the top of my head right now.

hikergirl

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @(sadkermit) want to trade AC:WW codes?: A Too Human post can not get by without a quote from EGM's podcast with the Denis Dyack interview, which is -"Too human is the first real trilogy ever made, lord of the rings was never a real trilogy"

Irenicus-the one and only

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> any of Lee Childs' Jack Reacher series as a 3rd person action/adventure

monkey11477

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @SilentPredator:

Well I can see you point with Poe and Dupin but what about the other stories, the man was prolific insane (literally).

Kirth Gersen

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @baked ham: Nah man, Crime and Punishment would be an adventure game like Fahrenheit. With the psychology meter and whatnot. Minus the crappy sci-fi stuff, of course.

Spiffyness

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> The Alphabet Of Manliness: The Best Game In The Universe.
Make it happen.

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @ssjmichael:

The thing is that you are not thinking in the book you are thinking Kubrick, which would be a VERY tough act to follow.

BTW did you know that King hated that adaptation?. I love both the book and the movie, I don't know what he disliked so much.

Kirth Gersen

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> I am strongly opposed to any media conversion, be it book->game, game->movie etc.
Just like in chemistry, the state cannot be changed without some loss, and UNlike chemistry, I cannot fathom the utility of ever inducing such a change.

Only very poorly written books (i.e. should never have been books) can hope for a game version that sufficiently conveys their essence. Most of these would be comics, then.

Swift_

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> The Vorkosigan Saga would be easy--take the Sins of a Solar Empire engine and change some names around. Maybe add a campaign :)

Edgehopper

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Kirth Gersen: I hadn't even considered The Dark Tower. I think the game would be fine as long as it ends before the beginning of the fifth book (at which point the series took a nosedive).

Having just read Poe's Dupin stories (Rue Morgue, Marie Roget, Purloined Letter), I don't think they'd translate well to games.

Silent Predator

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Okay I haven't read the book, only watched the movie, so I don't know how similar the two are. But after watching the movie for like the 5th time I'd like to see The Shining made into a game.

Just imagine a virtual Overlook hotel where you could explore every single room, and you play the role of the boy and you see and hear things that others can't. I'd want something along the lines of Bioshock in terms of a haunting suspenseful feeling.

LittleBigPlaneteer

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @EnderLanik: Is that the one were you start like a magician with a weird bird kind of face with a mission to save some king or something?.

Kirth Gersen

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> HP Lovecraft gave some inspiration to SK on Eternal Darkenss, that's bleeding over into Too Human.

It'd be interesting to see if a well known book was made into a game.

sadkermit - soon to be banned for standing up to the ummm nazi.

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> The article's take on 1984 actually sounds interesting. It could borrow from Metal Gear Solid for the torture scenes (or from whatever game did it first, MGS is just the first that comes to mind).

Silent Predator

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Sonic_and_Tails: I remember playing a *really* bad Animorphs PC demo a while ago. Standouts- finding checkpoints to morph, on-rails treebranch-dodging forest running sequences, and turn-based combat.

ZinkO: USA WE DA BEST

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" as a espionage-based MMO. Imagine tracking a gargoyle by goggling in to the Metaverse and finding his real-time video feed. Then jumping on your RadiKS smartboard and surfing traffic all the way there.

notquiteallhere

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Sugestions from the top of my hat?.

Dark Tower series:
Part third person shooter/adventure ala "Uncharted" with strong elements from RPG. Just the dialog well pulled would be priceless "Say Thankee-Sai".

Harry Bosch series:
We can't get enough Noir games being Max Payne or Hotel Dusk ol' Harry would make a dandy and flawed hero.

Demons Prince/Alastor:
Of course being the biased son of a b.. that I am how I could not mention the Grand Master Vance. With such a vivid imagination, colorful characters and beautiful ecosystems and alien cultures with a knack for vengeance themes, a game with a Mass Effect quality production with less space opera, missions assignment and a more personal character approach would be great.

Rue Morge/Any Poe:

A well elaborated Poe story or book, ANY with a mix with the best from the Silent Hill/RE series and Barker's Undying should do the job, if we stay away from the shooting element and focus more on exploration and ambiance.

Don't get me wrong Lovecraft is great but it has been overdone lately and badly if I way so.

Ok guess that's it, any more and I would be boring you to death the whole day.

Kirth Gersen

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Xagest: You're right.
But that's technically an action game based on a fighting game based on a strategy game based on "Romance of the Three Kingdoms."


TheCleaningGuy

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> The Island of the Blue Dolphins!!!

Spoony Bard

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Stephen King and Peter Straub's "The Talisman".
Open world environments, puzzles, and a bit of combat. (Almost like zelda but not quite) Being able to go between the territories and the real world to escape enemies would be awesome.
It would be hard to make though, because the book involves going from oneside of the US to another.



TheCleaningGuy

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> If I'm not mistaken, the last time a book got turned into a video game, we ended up with Dynasty Warriors...

Xagest

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> I will throw out one more book I would love as a game, Big Fish, that made a great movie too so why not try and make a game of it. I bet it could be great :)

Irenicus-the one and only

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> i still wanna make Frank Peretti's "This Present Darkness"...

TalKeaton

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Ashurahori: Someone beat you to the punch :P

I think they make great games, well Name of the rose would.

And MGS2 is way more complicated then some books, and it sold well so as long as the game is fun many books could make it :)

That doesn't mean they have to bring every dialogue or sentence from the book into the game, just as they skip a lot when adapting books to movies.

Irenicus-the one and only

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @baked ham: I'm with you in being quite certain it is Umberto Eco, and not vice-versa...

gramblor

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Alright this is gonna show my young age, but oh well:

The Animorphs all the freaking way.

Think about it, it could be in like an open world like an Elder Scrolls game, where you need to catch the animals in order to become them, and you could have the whole main quest of defeating whatever it is you fought (wow I legit can't remember) and then the side quests of helping people. I always thought when I was 6 it would be sick, and now I still think it is.

Imagine catching a hawk becoming one then flying into Rachel's room to have a late night rendezvous.

Sonic_and_Tails

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Irenicus-the one and only: His name is Umberto Eco. Name of the Rose, Foucalt's Pendulum, Baudolino... They're good books, but I doubt that they'd make good games.

To be honest, most good books nowadays are too complicated for the average gamer. If we see people complaining about MGS2's ending being too complicated, imagine what they'd think about one of Haruki Murakami's dialogues, or one of Franz Kafka's explanations.

Ashurahori

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> The Circle trilogy by Ted DeKker.

Hollowcow

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @baked ham: I got the book here, but in Swedish :) Awsome book indeed. I did not know there was a movie though :O Italian movie? As for the name, you are correct, it is Umberto Eco, my bad.

I think it would be great though, just as Nineteen Eighty-Four would be. Speaking on this subject, a bit OT because it is movie related, but I would so want another "The Thing" game built around an online component kinda like the ship on steam but less shitty :D And "they live" :P I want some paranoia games with a great script.

Irenicus-the one and only

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Way back in the day, they had a "Betrayal of Krondor" game for the PC that I remember to be fun (though my memories aren't always accurate).

The "Death Gate Cycle" by Weis and Hickman was also made into a "point and click" type first person game that wasn't too shabby for the time.

I think books would make better games, overall, than movies, because you have a lot more options in the design of the world visually, and it's exciting to see those types of things brought to life.

I'd love to see George R. R. Martin's worlds brought to video game (AND MOVIE) life. Eric Nylund's "A Game of Universe" is open to some good game design ideas as well.

EnderLanik

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Chuck Norris vs. Vandame in a game called "Vandamage"

balla4real

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Witzbold: Lord of the Flies should be a video game, insteda of sticks and rocks they get guns like lost

balla4real

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Anything by Terry Goodkind (action/RPG), Piers Anthony (adventure), or Robin Hobb (adventure) would be extraordinary. They would also be RIDICULOUSLY long.

Oh and how about a Dune game that ISN'T a RTS? That'd be wicked awesome.

Thassodar

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Irenicus-the one and only: I thought it was Umberto Eco? I could be wrong. I read In The Name of the Rose. Fucking awesome book. I dunno if it would make a good game though... it made a pretty damn fine movie, though!

baked ham

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Any Chuck Knorris game would be great haha!!

Gbirrueta

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Witzbold: Yeah I never played it, but I remember when it came out. I heard it wasn't too good, actually, so I'm all for a proper version of it being made! From what I understand, the one that came out was just a crappy, shameless movie tie-in.

baked ham

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Kirth Gersen: D::: If it was based on the movie thats no good...since the book was by far superior.

@ssjmichael: Oh man that is rather sad.

Witzbold

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> 1984. But a game based in that world, not just on the content of the book...

Scazza

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Witzbold:
There was a video game based on the movie- based on the book...

As always with this things, you don't want to know how it turn out, let's just say it wasn't pretty.

Kirth Gersen

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Some of the Canterbury tales seem like they could be pretty well adapted to video games. The Knight's Tale, in particular, has elements that could work well in either a strategy game or an RPG (though probably not both.)

Paviel

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Notebook: The Game

Len Bias Cocaine Surplus

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Witzbold:

It was based more on the movie than the book I believe and was released the same time. it got crap reviews though: [www.metacritic.com]

LittleBigPlaneteer

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> I was hoping someone here have read a book by Eco Umberto :(

Hes a great author.

@JoBo: Read that book in the original edition and your head will explode with that crazy english, mine did anyway :P

Nineteen Eighty-Four By Orwell would be a great book, even animal farm.

Irenicus-the one and only

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> War and Peace doesn't get going until the second quarter of the book, so pick it back up!

But for the full eight hour experience on DVD you can't go past Bondarchuk's 403-minute masterpiece, arguably the best film ever made:

[www.dvdbeaver.com]
[www.ruscico.com]

Something like the Total War engine could suffice for a strategy component although I could see it lending itself to a MMO or RPG. Even a sandbox game a la GTAIV, now that would be something.

Blacky

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> maybe naked lunch by J.G. ballard, it would have an interactive alien rape scene.

mossberg

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> They should make more of Tom Clancy's books (the good ones) into games. The only 2 I know of that became games where Rainbow Six and The Sum of All Fears. Clear and Present Danger would make a good 3rd person action game.

Silent_Shark

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @baked ham: Oh yeah? I wasnt too familiar with that since didnt hear any real news of it. Interesting though, I wonder how it is.

Witzbold

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> What about the Heart of Darkness?

Oh wait, that's Turok.

a mediocre game to match a mediocre book? The Horror!

magically_delicious

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Witzbold: They made an adventure game out of Da Vinci Code for PS2, Xbox, and Windows. I didn't play Hotel Dusk, though (it's on my list) so I dunno how similar they are.

baked ham

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Crime & Punishment. A mix of Broken Sword style graphic adventuring, Assassin's Creed style play mechanics, and Phoenix Wright (the courtroom seens, not the evidence gathering) style wit matching.

Promethea. The 32-issue comic book series by Alan Moore about the Tree of Life, magic, and superheroes. Would made a hell of an action-RPG with some killer storytelling and sublime graphics and art.

Doom Patrol. The Grant Morrison run. Crazy quirky awesome funny. Would make a ridiculously fun action game where you can control all the characters with all their crazy funky surreal abilities.

Snow Crash. Neal Stephenson. Good times.

baked ham

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> The Illiad could be interesting. Borrowing some ideas from Dan Simmons Illium, you could play the role one of the Gods, choosing which side to favor, and when and where to boost the power of one of your heroes to turn the tide of battle. You'd of course be limited by the other Gods ability to do the same, and mighty Zeus would act as a head referee, keeping any one God from over stepping their bounds.

Vydas

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> The Stand.

You all know you secretly just wet yourselves.

MrBionic

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> War and Peace the game would need to have the voice of the developer interjecting his opinion on everything you should have done at length at regular intervals.

Anna Karenina was extremely good... except for what he did to Levin at the end.

Minister of Fun

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Pride and Prejudice - the exciting new dating sim. Work your feminine charms and capture Mr. Bingly's heart! Secret unlockable player - Elizabeth Bennet.

the-red-terror

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> I'd love to see some Vonnegut books made into games.

JohnnytheFuture

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> A Lord of the Rings game that covers the entire expanse of the trilogy and Silmarillion...oh, wait, they already made it and cancelled it.
Thanks again, EA.


CitizenTian

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Moby Dick would be a pretty cool game, IF done right.

JoBo

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> I personally would like to see an autobiography turned into a game. Odd premise I know...but what other way to get interesting gameplay then to re-enact someone's life. I've been saying they should do this with one of the Tony Hawk games for a while. I truly believe it could work. You may not get all the choose your own adventure options of a "Mass Effect" or "Kotor"...and let's face it, most of the decisions you get to make in those games are fairly arbitrary.

Post-Comment Disclaimer: I'm a big fan of Kotor and Mass Effect.

ShadowFFVI

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> @Witzbold: Good question.

Irenicus-the one and only

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> except that War and Peace is more about love and marriage than actual war....hmm.
Would be an interesting concept though. Maybe a Hybrid RPG/RTS with an extensive dialouge system??

nikolajz1

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Harry Potter, but making it a good game.

Nah, okey, a good book made into a game... What about Eco Umberto's books? That I would like.

Irenicus-the one and only

]]> <![CDATA[Books That Ought To Be Made Into Games]]> Im suprised the davinci code wasnt made into some sort of "adventure" game kinda like Hotel Dusk: Room 215. I mean not exactly the same but you get what I mean.

Witzbold

]]>