Gaming as an entertainment medium

I heard somewhere that gaming (PC or otherwise) was approaching the same level of revenue as Hollywood movies.

I can understand that...

I see maybe two movies a year mostly because the pickin's are pretty slim and I don't believe in wasting time or money on a lost cause...

I'm just not into vampire chic, dismembered co-eds, bad comic book adaptations, foo-foo chick flicks or comedies written by pre-pubescent 12 year olds.  I look at the pile of refuse offered up and I have to wonder about the collective intelligence of the U.S. if this junk passes for culture; popular or otherwise.

Then again I do live in a country that can't get enough of worthless people abusing each other on boring reality shows.  Sorry Big Brother and Survivor, you've been voted off my TV!

So where's the creativity gone?  Not much found in movies or TV but what about gaming?

Ah, there it is. 

As gaming platforms have become more powerful the opportunity for a more interactive experience has come to light. 

Sure, back in the day Freddy Kruger and Jason were pretty scary running around hacking up teenagers but that wasn't an interactive experience so you didn't have any real skin in the game (pardon the pun).
Remember how cool it was when a character on the movie screen would suddenly turn and act as though they were talking to you?  The best interactive experience you cold hope for was a midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture show and that, could get a little weird...

With a good narrative game that hint of interactivity is compounded a hundred fold.  So long as the developer doesn't destroy the illusion with convoluted controls or bad camera angles that is.  Anything that takes away from interacting with the narrative can quickly ruin an otherwise brilliant storyline.  Take a look at my recent post of Fallout: New Vegas for an example of a bad interface and poor narrative.

An example of a good narrative? Well that's largely dependent on  personal taste but I've personally enjoyed earlier Dungeon Siege titles, A few Need For Speed iterations like Undercover and even a shooter like Borderlands.  In each of those titles I had to care about the narrative if I had any hope of succeeding in the game.  The key to success is to hook you into the narrative just enough to keep you continuing on .  It still has to be fun with attainable goals, however.  After all, like a movie, you're supposed to be entertained not frustrated by sadistic level design. 

There's been a lot of crossover of Hollywood talent to the gaming world over the past decade.  So much so that now it seems that most of the summer blockbusters that aren't based on comic books are based on game titles. 

And why not?!  The talent and creativity involved in a good game title can provide 90% of the material for a decent movie.  It can even be woven into a franchise of gaming and movies if the movie studio doesn't screw it up (Think the DOOM movie)

It may be the case that gaming provides a less restrictive outlet to Hollywood talent than a movie studio could ever stomach.  Other than a sternly lettered ESRB rating there's not that much to prevent a creative idea to be fully realized by its creator provided the market allows it. 

I think the future holds a lot more interactivity in our entertainment choices.  It's inescapable actually with a culture demanding ever more interaction with their surroundings Hopefully it can prove to be a catalyst for more intelligent pastimes that don't involve wasting time on reality TV douchebags.