Movie director bloke Paul W.S. Anderson (Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, Resident Evil, Alien vs Predator) has been speaking this week at the "Hollywood and Games Summit" held in the US. His keynote speech concluded that "its no easy task to put games on the big screen - since gamers are a seriously demanding lot".

"If you stray too far from the source material you're doomed, but if you stay entirely true, you're equally doomed. And that's not your only problem - there's the challenge of working out how to appeal to your target audience. Take Mortal Kombat, If it was to be a successful movie, it had to be PG-13 or the kids who actually played the game could not come and see it. Or worse, they would buy a ticket for another movie and sneak in."

He went on to explain that you need to navigate and understand what parts of the IP you can bend and which you can't.

"You have to develop a true love of the IP. You have to love it as much, or even more, than its most hardcore fan base, because really, only when you have that knowledge and you're equipped to not only satisfy the fanbase, but also broaden it to a wider non-videogame playing audience, can you have a successful movie."

You'd be foolish to think that Anderson has cracked this genuinely difficult crossover - alot of gamers had a very bitter taste in their mouth after they watched Resident Evil, it strayed too far from home.

With that said, Anderson does have talent as a director, Event Horizon was an excellent Sci Fi / Horror movie and a definite recommendation. "I believe that some games weren't meant to be movies," I guess we've yet to find that particular game just yet.

[source eurogamer.net]