It should come as no surprise as to how much video games have impacted the pop culture world of today. More video games are birthed each week, each one getting better and better as the years pass. Better quality leads to higher expectations, thus creating a legion of worldwide followers. Soon, fans are born and the gaming industry makes itself heard.

The impact that video games have had on the American culture is phenomenal. With each video game release, each advanced system, the gaming industry slowly expands. There was a time when those that played games were considered young and immature, but alas, those times are gone. Entire magazines, web sites, and advertisements are dedicated to the business and its hardcore fans. The trend has not gone unnoticed in Hollywood, where the movie industry has begun to make its mark into the scene.

It was only a matter of time before the film corporation sank their claws into such product. It seems that, after many adaptations of novels, comic books, and re-makes, Hollywood was fresh out of ideas. Video games were untouched material, so they opted to transfer them from your television set to the silver screen. Soon, an array of movies that were originally “virtual entertainment” became a massive fad that has had every couch potato jump for joy at the thought of having their favorite game portrayed on screen. There’s nothing better than seeing a game you’ve played endlessly about to be displayed in a huge theater, with a huge crowd. That is unless it’s done wrong.

Hollywood has had its fair share of misfortune with game-to-movie adaptations. With films like Street Fighter, Super Mario Bros, and Double Dragon, the movie industry seemed to be in it more for the money, instead of the game itself. The dedicated fans weren’t timid to show their disappointment and their disapproval for said films, and interest began to steadily wane. Efforts in Hollywood seemed to be an all-time low, with the release of films such as House of the Dead, and Mortal Kombat.

Hope came in the forms of Resident Evil and Final Fantasy, which showed game admirers that a decent movie adapted from a video game could be made, even if the story had nothing to do with the game itself. Things have since begun to bloom, and even the flops that came and went were not at the same par they used to be. Tomb Raider, BloodRayne, and Doom are equally terrible, but each attempt is better than the last one. There’s even more reason to set expectations high now, due to the success of the psychological thriller Silent Hill. Arguably the best game-to-screen adaptation yet, fans and critics alike both seem agree that the environment of the game and the execution of the motion picture couldn’t have gone better (whether it was a decent movie or not is irrelevant).

Hollywood is gradually expanding its knowledge of this business, and if they can somehow grasp the importance that these games hold for the truly hardcore, there is a high probability that the release of video-game-featured-films won’t suck. With movies like Spy-Hunter, Hitman, and the highly-anticipated Halo in production, it won’t be hard to set the standard high. All we can do for the moment is to wait and see.

Copyright © 2006 David Soria.  All Rights Reserved.