Games' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Players, Pawns, and Power-Ups

13. Gaming on the Silver Screen

100 13 Gaming on the Silver Screen The story lines of many games, whether video or not, have proved fertile ground for development when it comes to both the small and the big screen. Conversely, some of the most popular movies and books of the twentieth century have inspired the development of numerous games. Regardless, games and pop culture seem to share a symbiotic relationship, with both massive successes and dismal failures. Here are several examples of each, along with some of the clever ways games have worked themselves onto the silver screen. 1. LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY If there is one, defining source that served as significant inspiration for much of the fantasy genre today, it is the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, specifically the Lord of the Rings trilogy of books. These books, with their fantasy races of elves, dwarves, orcs, and hobbits, are peopled with similar characters as numerous fantasy games. More generally, the idea of epic quests and exploration of ruins, and the image of the gray-bearded, robe-wearing wizard can also be traced to inspiration from Tolkien’s works. Gary Gygax claimed that Tolkien had not really influenced Gaming on the Silver Screen 101 the Dungeons & Dragons game to a great degree, citing a number of other authors with similar stories. What might be more accurate to say is that Tolkien inspired Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy games in the way in which the players play their characters. Most gamers have read the works, or are familiar enough with them to get a strong idea of what the books are like, and borrow liberally from the personalities and character types they encountered in their reading. This imitation of sorts is not always a bad thing. The fact that so many games have emulated aspects from these famous works gives proof to the popularity of the works and pays homage to what are regarded as classic pieces of modern literature. The downside to this, of course, is the same. Because so many games emulate portions of Tolkien ’s works, it has taken years and many games to move away from that “traditional” fantasy to explore new aspects of role-playing. With the recent film adaptation of the famous trilogy, and the current adaptation of Tolkien’s other well known novel, The Hobbit, interest in and the popularity of Tolkien’s work continues to this day, and will likely continue to influence more fantasy works for years to come. 2. STAR WARS No list about Hollywood’s influence on gaming would be complete without a serious nod in the direction of George Lucas and the original Star Wars trilogy of movies. These movies excited the imagination of many young men and women who had discovered role-playing games likely only a year or two earlier, if not soon after the movie’s release. While Dungeons & Dragons was opening up the world of fantasy for many new and would-be gamers, the Star Wars trilogy helped to open up eyes to the possibilities of sci-fi gaming, providing inspiration for countless adventures and exploits in space with the heroes made by other players. 102 Games’ Most Wanted™ Star Wars would also prove to be a very successful intellectual property when it came to role-playing games. The first incarnation, produced by West End Games in 1987, ended up publishing nearly 140 rulebooks and sourcebooks before the company went into bankruptcy. Wizards of the Coast picked the license up from that point, producing their own version based on the rules for the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons. This version also benefited from the renewed interest in the game as the prequel trilogy had begun with the release of The Phantom Menace. 3. THE GUILD An Internet success story, The Guild is a Web-based sitcom that revolves around a group of individuals who all play a World of Warcraft–like MMORPG. Launched in 2007, the series’ first season was funded solely by fan donations. Subsequent seasons saw the show truly take off with distribution via Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE with a sponsorship by Sprint. DVD releases of the show’s season were opened up to a wider audience when it was placed in Netflix’s library. Each episode of the sitcom runs from five to ten minutes , with each season comprising around a full hour. The main characters represent common stereotypes often found in...