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I regularely read Penny Arcade, which is a tri-weekly comic strip on video games and gaming. I knew that the authors of the strip, Gabe and Tycho, were Orson Scott Card fans. That's why I wasn't surprised when I saw that they had some concerns about the upcoming Ender's Game movie. And they voiced those concerns in a rather amusing comic that I laughed a bit over.
Just a fair warning, the comic uses some foul language.
While I think their concern is valid, it also got me thinking of how OSC has done work on videogames in the past. Could we possibly see a videogame tie-in that OSC helped develope? If that happened, it could potentially be the best video-game tie-in since Enter the Matrix.
Anyway, that's all. Ciao
Posts: 2 | Registered: Feb 2004
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Ender's game as a videogame? That sounds to hard too imagine, I mean, to me it seems it would be doomed to be like the Harry Potter video games. I mean, sure, battle school has the posibility to be good fun, but, aside from the few battleroom battles he's in, what else would you do? Play the minigames in the Fantasy Game?
Posts: 87 | Registered: Jan 2004
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Maybe you could also go to the arcade room. Or maybe you could make it like Harry Potter and go through the entire story very briefly.
Posts: 853 | Registered: Feb 2004
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Assuming they could figure out a way to make a good Battle School game, they could easily make it into a video game. The player gets control of one Army, and controls them throughout the year (season?). There would probably be a year-end championship tournament added in, and at the beginning of next year your veteran players would graduate and move on, and you'd have to draft Launchies. If anyone has ever played Final Fantasy X, the Blitzball mini-game is a good example of what could be done.
And that's just "Campaign" mode. With online play becoming so popular for console games, playing versus other people online is an option. "Challenge" scenarios could place you in the same game situations Ender was placed in (maze of stars, healing enemies, etc).
If done properly, this could be an incredible game; much more has been done with much less. They just need to look at the credentials and past games of a company before giving them the rights, instead of just giving it to whomever offers the most money or has the flashiest ideas. The trick is to make sure that the game has more than just the licenscing tie-in going for it; there HAS to be a rock-solid foundation underneath, or it'll be passed over as just another bad movie game.
Posts: 1 | Registered: Feb 2004
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That seems to be the main thing the Penny Arcade comic is worried about. That this will just lead to some rushed out game that has absolutely no redeeming qualities except the license itself.
Posts: 2 | Registered: Feb 2004
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The real challenge of creating an Ender's Game game is figuring out WHICH game(s) to make.
The kids' adventure through Battle School? (e.g. Harry Potter)
The online tactical shooter set in the Battleroom? (e.g. Battlefield 1942)
The space combat simulator? (e.g. Homeworld)
The Fantasy Game? (e.g. Nothing Ever Made Before)
I mean, this series could be plumbed for great game ideas for freaking EVER.
What about a ground-based squad shooter based on the events of Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow Puppets?
Anyway, blah blah blah, I think that Tycho and Gabe are jumping the gun a little. This isn't a title that game developers will be able to trifle with, and Warner is in the perfect position to commit a serious effort to creating a good game or set of games.
As for who should make the games, I have at least ONE suggestion ... Posts: 1907 | Registered: Feb 2000
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