Why are video games about war so hugely successful, when movies about war fail to attract sizable audiences in theaters?
NY Times examines the topic – HERE
Video Games About War V.S. Movies About War
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Why are video games about war so hugely successful, when movies about war fail to attract sizable audiences in theaters?
Videogamers and the demographic are vastly different than the mainstream demographic. Realism is much better portrayed on an actor (thereby the queasiness factor) than on a video game.
My 2 cents.
I agree that realism is better portrayed by a real person then by a computer image, but don’t you think the people that play video games want the most realistic game they can get? I figure they would, and imagine the difference in popularity can be more attributed to the fact that with video games you are immersed in the character and the gamplay, where as with movies you are just sitting there doing nothing.
um how about a few things modern war movies seem to be missing? Respect? They treat soldiers as dishonorable, mindless, cliches and other tragedies. They are too preachy and Hwood knows it.
Playing MW2 – You’re playing as the heroes (unless in multiplayer) and its exciting, suspensful. People love heroes, there is a reason MW/MW2’s Capt Price was named one of the best heroes in Video Games. And audiences crave that. He is the modern John Wayne.
A modern adventure/war movie with good acting, that had heart and fun that was intense would do well at the box office. But HWOOD is blinded by politics. They want to make “statements.”
Until then I’ll play my games.
You make some good points harm. They definitely don’t make war movies now like they used to.
Dude it’s the NYT you are going to get a dishonest and heavily slanted antigun answer.
Although I don’t sometimes agree with the NYT point of view, they have great war correspondence and I find that their articles on the military and on guns are usually pretty fair.
Mmmmm, it not rocket science as to why. Well because you can actually play a video game, interact with others, OH Hell, shoot the sh*t out of everything and anything. Movies are for the most part are a passive experience, you just sit and watch. 3D isn’t going to change that much more.
I agree moi. Also, I’m glad to hear you’re not one of those guys that tries to turn movies into an interactive experience by yelling at the characters. I hate those people in the theater :P
The war movie genre really isn’t comparable to video games, but action movies? That’s a lot more plausable. Basically the action flick has the same objective as the game, and that’s to get your heart racing with explosions and special effects. It’s for pure fun that you don’t have to take so seriously because you know it is fictional.
It seems like a lot of the war movies now are kind of crossovers with other genres like action and comedy, but I agree with you on what the goal is of both the movie and game industry.