It’s no secret that great books get turned into movies and these days it’s all about YA. But what about books being made into video games? If you think about video games that are based off books (Harry Potter, LOTR) they all came out after the movies.
Out of all the games I’ve played there’s only been two that feature a book character. Demon Stone an RPG that released in 2004 and the Baldurs Gate II Collection for PC. Both games are based off the Forgotten Realms campaign in Dungeons and Dragons. In each game, Drizzt Do’Urden–best fantasy character EVER–makes an appearance. In Demon Stone, he’s playable during part of the quest. I can’t tell you how awesome it is. I have it saved right before that part. In Baldur’s Gate II, his entire party shows up while questing. You can try to attack them, but they are impossible to beat–at least for me.
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance for the console also had Drizzt as an unlockable character. I still haven’t beaten this game and now my PS2 is on its way out : (
But other than dear old Drizzt, I’ve never come across a game that featured literary characters (not talking about the movie based ones).
Why do you think that is?
I have a theory.
Because the gaming industry is still pre-dominantly male based and the YA fiction world is woman based. Let’s face the truth, video games are rarely made for the girl audience unless it’s a younger generation. Then you have games like Cooking Mama. It pisses me off. How awesome would it be to play a game like DIVERGENT? I bet even if they did TWILIGHT right, it could be good.
Agree or disagree?
I'm with you–although apparently most people who play The Sims are female fans–at least predominantly more than males. <3 Sims. So maybe it's a matter of targeting that audience. Same with the ADORABLE Harvest Moon farming games.
P.S. Used to love Drizzt even bought my bf the first few books. Altho after about 4 books I just wanted some romance for the guy! lol
Love the sims! I use it for setting and character ideas-great excuse to play a video game, right?
Drizzt and Cattibrie don't get together until…I don't know 13 books in?! And even then, it's not enough!
That's what I'd heard!!!! So I kinda was a bad girl and gave up reading…I COULD NOT wait that long.
I haven't tried The Sims for that but seriously I ought to. I'm debating playing now haha. But I should Fast Draft…hmm coffee I need coffee. 😛
I've been thinking about installing Sims 3 again, but then I end up spending hours on The sim resource downloading mods…
I never thought about it before but you're probably right.
I'm not a gamer ( I lack the thumb-eye coordination), but I would love to see books made into video games. I think it could open a whole new population of kids (and adults) to the wonderful world of reading.
Agreed!
Absolutely! If they did it right, they could appeal to a large population of women, but since most video game designers are male, it's prolly not gonna happen soon.
Hopefully, more women will go into game design. I know I should have.
I never thought about it before, but your idea makes perfect sense.
(I'm still getting over the fact that people are still playing D&D, which I played in the 70s.)
~ Laura at YALitChat
http://lexacain.blogspot.com/
I was playing tabletop up until a few years ago : p
I completely agree. It would be nice if the two worlds could merge a little bit. We're counting on you to help it happen!
I so want a DIVERGENT video game!
I would LOVE to play Divergent! Great post!
Totally agree. I'm so in for a DIVERGENT video game. 🙂
Cool post Eliza!
Alright ladies, it's official. We need a Divergent Video game. Time to start making some noise!