For my research paper topic, I was thinking of writing about how the film industry has influenced video games. I am not sure how specific I am required to go with this, but I was considering how modern games, which now possess considerable processing power, are taking cues from movies to generate drama in games. Key examples I can think of at this point are series like Mass Effect, Uncharted, LA Noire, and Heavy Rain to name a few. Most of these games have heavy influence from movies (Star Wars/Trek, Indiana Jones, CSI, etc.), so an idea I have is to compare how these games are taking the dramatic ideas from famous movies, and amplifying them in game form, where the consumer can personally interact with these situations.
I also wanted to talk about how many Triple-A games these days are taking almost a film-like approach to their in-game characters. Many games model their characters off of real people, and use motion-capture animation for them. More recently, LA Noire is actually using motion actors, a technique used in films like Beowulf and Avatar. There is a lot of effort being made to realistically portray game characters, to give them the same sort of fame as John McClane, Rocky, or Indiana Jones.
Still not sure how I'm going to relate this to the topics we discussed in class.
You can take some time defining your terms. What does cinematic really mean? Alternatively, is there drama in a game like Space Invaders? Interestingly "realistic" and "cinematic" have diverging definitions so I would like for you to expand on your statement "There is a lot of effort being made to realistically portray game characters, to give them the same sort of fame as John McClane, Rocky, or Indiana Jones". Mickey Mouse is famous, but it he for real?
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