Dragon Force

Dragon Force

Astal

Astal

Saturn Bomberman

Saturn Bomberman

Virtua Cop

Virtua Cop

SEGA Rally Championship

Rally Championship

Panzer Dragoon II Zwei

Panzer

NiGHTS into Dreams

Nights into Dreams

Guardian Heroes

Guardian Heros

Virtua Fighter 2

Virtua Cop 2

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Panzer Dragoon

There is hope on the horizon and if films like Resident Evil (passable if not amazing) and the hefty price tag and big names Microsoft is trying to attach to its Halo franchise, the video game films stands a chance yet. Let us remember that only 10 years ago, the idea of a good comic book film was all but abandoned, save the anomalous success of Superman and Batman (in a small percentage of their offerings at least). And now we have franchises like Spiderman, and Nolan’s newer darker Batman that are really quite amazing films. If you attach the right director and put the right budget with any of these franchises, you could have one hell of a film.

Now, let’s do what fans do best and pretend. What could happen if the right time and attention went into any single video game? Which games deserve more than others the right to be made into film?

1. Zelda – This is the obvious number one game on this list, and here’s why. Of everything here, this is the one game you and I both know could make one hell of a film. Hollywood has proven itself not only with the technology, but the direction, in fantasy films in the last five years that they can be done epically and with style. Of course, it took 40 years for the defining epic to be made reality, so hopefully we’re not waiting so long for Zelda. Can you imagine though; Peter Jackson at the helm of a live action Zelda film.

2. Metroid – Science Fiction brilliance here. This shooter stylings of Nintendo’s Metroid series would be amazing on film. Technology can match it, so long as Hollywood has the balls to put down the money in making it. The science fiction epic is long overdue for a come back, and what better way than with Samus.

3. Halo – Peter Jackson was in the beginning phases of producing this baby, when the money fell out and the license floated back to Microsoft. Of course, the epic amounts of cash that they were looking for didn’t quite match what Hollywood though might come of the franchise, but if the games are any indication, the promise of cinematic excellence is endless here. Master Chief is the perfect smarmy badass for a film.

4. God of War – Come on. Tell me a film about a cursed Spartan warrior fighting the gods wouldn’t be awesome as hell. The production values of the game are enough to tell you that. If nothing else on this one, we can expect a PS3 sequel which is as good as a film any day.

5. Knights of the Old Republic – Now here’s an idea. Let’s take the game franchise born at Bioware that was infinitely better than George Lucas’s own prequels and make it into film. The Star Wars storyline is done, but that doesn’t mean that the franchise will disappear. Don’t count on it for a second. There’s more than a little bit of money to be made for Lucas and co.

6. Warcraft – I don’t know how they’d do it, and I don’t care. I just know that a game in Azeroth would be awesome. World of Warcraft took a few very popular strategy games and made them into a monstrous, fully realized world where millions of people play every day. All they’d have to do is shrink it back down and take out a few million people…or better yet, tie them in. Instant marketing genius.

7. Xenogears – RPGs are hard to imagine as film, because they’re usually huge. It would take a television series to realize the entire story of a good RPG. Xenosaga for instance ran a 12 episode anime in Japan with just the story of the first game. However, the story itself in Xenogears is incredible and with the right writer and director, and the willingness to write a different story (of the same ilk…just shorter), this could be one mind bender of a film.

8. Half Life – A rumor for years, and never even in preproduction, Half Life would still be one hell of a badass film. Shooters are perfect for film because they’re full of action, short on story (though Half Life isn’t as much) and have amazing, realized worlds and enemies. I’d like to see this done right though. A thriller along the lines of Die Hard, campy but not ridiculous.

9. Shadow of the Colossus – An ephemeral, epic game, much like Zelda but less populated and huge. This is another instance of how an amazing film maker, with the eye for beautiful visuals and smooth transitions, someone truly subtle in their art could make a wonderful film out of a game. And it wouldn’t even be a problem cutting it down. It’s already a very simple, straightforward game.

10. Metal Gear Solid – Ah yes, how I wish thee could be made flesh, Solid Snake. Solid Snake is a rough guy, the kind that film goers thrive on, James Bond with a cigar and an eyepatch. If you take Rambo, and make it…well, good and throw in some elements of Bond and the new wave of intelligent, hyper energetic, gritty spy flicks you’d have an adrenaline shot of great film here.

I don’t have the ideas that would make these great films, I just have the desire to see them. If Uwe Boll keeps snatching up licenses and making horrible movies out of games no one played, then we’ll never see the truly great franchises realized, but then again who knows. They said for decades that The Lord of the Rings couldn’t be done right, and look where that ended up.

Product Name	Sony PlayStation 3	Microsoft Xbox 360
Release Date	2006	Q4 2005
Controller	Bluetooth Wireless	2.4 GHz Wireless
Graphics Processor	RSX “Reality Synthesizer”	Custom ATI Processor
Graphics Core Clock Speed	550 MHz	500MHz
Embedded Video Memory	n/a	10MB eDRAM
System Memory	256 MB XDR	512 MB UMA (Shared with GPU)
Resolution	480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p	480p, 480i, 720p, 1080i
Video Memory	256 MB	512 MB UMA (Shared with CPU)
Controller Ports	Supports up to 7 Bluetooth Controllers	Supports up to 4 Controllers
Game Media Format	Blu-ray BD-ROM	Dual-Layer DVD-ROM
Digital Media Formats	Compatible with CR-ROM, CDR+W, DVD, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R	DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 CD, JPEG Photo CD
Integrated Communications	802.11 B/G Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0	802.11 A/B/G Wi-Fi ready, adapter not included
Plug and Play Storage	2.5in Removable Hard Drive (Unkown Size)	20GB Removable Hard Drive
Other I/O Connectors	Ethernet (RJ45), 6 USB 2.0, CF Slot (Type I, II), SD Slot (Regular, Compact), Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, 1 x Optical Audio	3 USB 2.0, 2 Memory Slots, Ethernet Port (RJ45)
L2 Cache	512KB L2 cache, 256KB per SPE	1MB
Standard AV Output Connectors	2 x HDMI, 1 x AV	n/a
Processor Clock Speed	3.2 GHz	3.2 GHz
Processor	Cell Processor	Custom IBM PowerPC CPU
Built-in Features	Backward Compatible with PlayStation 2, Stands Vertically or Horizontally	Backward Compatible with Xbox (limited), Stands Vertically or Horizontally, Interchangable Face Plates, Xbox Live Service, Media Center Extender
Surround Sound	Multichannel Output (software driven)	Multichannel Output (software driven)
Memory Bandwidth	25.6 GB/s main memory bandwidth, 22.4 GB/s video memory bandwidth	22.4 GB/s main memory bandwidth, 256 GB/s to eDRAM, 21.6 GB/s FSB

As you can see, the specifications of both the consoles are somewhat similar, with the exception of System Memory, Video Memory, Controller Ports and L2 Cache. So it is difficult to tell which is the clear winner. But the XBox 360 wins hand up in terms of memory, both system as well as Video. The games on PlayStation 3 run a bit faster but the graphics on Xbox 360 are better. Let us now take a look at how the games look like on both the consoles.

Need For Speed Carbon

Call of Duty 3

Spider Man 3

NFS ProStreet

IronMan