<html>

<head>

<title>loonygames - print happy version</title>
</head>

<body leftmargin="10" topmargin="10" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<table width="100%" border="0" height="58" bordercolordark="#000000" bordercolorlight="#000000">
  <tr> 
    <td height="57" width="26%" align="left" valign="top"> 
      <div align="left"> 
        <h1><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><i><a href="../../index.html">loonygames</a><br>
          <font size="1">a <a href="http://www.bluesnews.com">blue's news</a> 
          publication</font></i></b></font></h1>
        </div>
    </td>
    <td height="57" width="74%" align="center" valign="top"> 
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p><a href="../2.14/mouth/index.html">&lt;&lt; Back to Normal View</a></p>
<p>URL: <a href="../2.14/mouth/index.html">http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.14/mouth/</a><br>
</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>Vol. 
                2, Issue 14<br>
                February 8, 2000<br>
                </b>
              <b> 
                </b>
              
                <b><i>From 

                  the Mouth of Madness:</i></b></p>
                <b><i> 
                  License Me!</i></b></p>
                by 
                  Jason &quot;loonyboi&quot; 
                  Bergman</p>
              
              

<!--
       function gotoSite(obj)
          {
          var s;
          s=obj.options[obj.selectedIndex].value
                         location.href=s;
          }
// -->


              <?
              
              include("/home/loonygames/loony.timedoctor.org/includes/mouth.htm"); 
              
              ?> 
              
              
              
               In 
                the history of licensed games, there have been only a few games 
                that were anything but terrible. Games based on licensed properties 
                more often than not tend to be rushed to meet a movie/TV show/comic 
                book’s release date, and the end result is a steaming pile of 
                crap.</p>
              There 
                are a number of licensed titles in development, and several of 
                them actually look decent. And recently there have been a few 
                good licensed games as well (<b>Wheel of Time</b> and <b>Aliens 
                vs. Predator</b> spring to mind as two good examples). There’s 
                even a couple of Star Trek titles in development that might not 
                suck (an ongoing curse for the license).</p>
              But then 
                there’s the titles out there that <i>haven’t</i><b> </b>been licensed 
                yet (or announced, anyway). I’ve come up with a list of properties 
                that I think are just <i>screaming</i> for a decent game to come 
                along and license them. For each game listed, I’ve noted the type 
                of game, because as <b>Dune 2</b> proved, a license can work in 
                one genre (in this case, a real-time strategy game) but fail miserably 
                in another (the original <b>Dune</b> game was a lousy adventure 
                title).</p>
              Anywho, 

                let’s get to it, shall we?</p>
              
              <b>Batman: 
                The Animated Series: </b><i>first person shooter</i>. </p>
              I never 
                would have thought this would work, until I played <b>Thief: The 
                Dark Project</b>. Picture this – a game, played from a first-person 
                perspective, that has you sneaking around in the dark, using your 
                arsenal of bat-utilities instead of fighting. If done right, a 
                good mixture of action and role-playing could be included. Unfortunately, 
                this would have to be the animated series Batman, since the current 
                movie incarnation is such a joke (and DC would never let a Batman 
                game be made directly off the comic books – they’re not mainstream 
                enough and would confuse their audience).</p>
              <b>Night 
                of the Living Dead/Dawn of the Dead: </b><i>survival horror</i>. 
                </p>
              This 
                is sort of a given, really. The <b>Resident Evil</b> games are 
                all closely related to these movies, but they stray from them 
                by adding non-zombie creatures and ridiculous plots. A true adaptation 
                of either of these films would work really well – especially the 
                first one, if it were in black and white. There wouldn’t need 
                to be an excess of puzzles, just a simple “stay alive” mission, 
                where you have to keep yourself and the people with you alive 
                for as long as possible by using what’s at your disposal.</p>
              <b>Philip 
                K. Dick’s VALIS: </b><i>text adventure</i>. </p>
              Okay, 
                so maybe it’s 20 years too late for this one, but I’m convinced 
                that VALIS, by Philip K. Dick would make a great text adventure 
                game. Here’s the idea – it’s a game where you play a schizophrenic, 
                but you don’t <i>know</i> that when the game starts. You think 
                everything’s just fine and dandy. But as you go around, things 
                start to fall apart…and you eventually have to figure out what 
                all of it means (I won’t ruin plot points for those of you that 
                haven’t read the book). There are a number of great Infocom games 
                that work in similar ways, like <b>Suspended</b> and <b>A Mind 
                Forever Voyaging</b> (both highly recommended) but neither of 
                them goes as far as a game based on VALIS would.</p>
              <b>Richard 
                Matheson’s I Am Legend: </b><i>third person action</i>. </p>
              This 
                book was simply <i>made</i> for the action genre. Here’s the concept: 
                a virus has turned the entire world’s population into vampires 
                – except for one guy. You play that one person, and try and stay 
                alive, while desperately searching for a cure. Memorable sequences 
                include driving down the road shooting at vampires with your shotgun, 
                and of course, looking out the window to see them mercilously 
                taunting you. Then there’s the whole society of mutants…boy, this 
                is some good stuff here, people. There may be a chance that this 
                will get made…a new film adaptation (The Charlton Heston flick 
                <i>The Omega Man</i> was loosely based on it) is currently in 
                development hell, but at one point Schwartzenegger and Ridley 
                Scott were going to team up on it. If the movie ever gets made, 
                they may want a game tie-in to go along with it.</p>
              <b>Starship 
                Troopers: </b><i>first person shooter</i>. </p>
              Okay, 
                I know, you can definitely argue that this game was already made, 
                and it’s called <b>Doom</b>. But hey…there’s no reason someone 
                can’t make a great game out of it. There <i>was</i> a game in 
                development, a third-person action game, and GameStorm has a lame 
                online version, but neither of those gave the license what it 
                really needed – kick ass action, and nothing but. From what I’ve 
                seen of <b>KISS: Psycho Circus</b>, Third Law seems to understand 
                how to do this right. After they’ve proved themselves with that 
                license, if you ask me, they should pursue this one.</p>
</p>
              </p>
              </p>
              </p>
              <br> 
              
              <b>Akira: 
                </b><i>third 
                person action game. </i></p>
              This 
                is one of those licenses that baffles me. Why hasn’t anyone undertaken 
                this one? Anime and video games are Japan’s two largest forms 
                of entertainment, and yet one of the best anime movies has never 
                been adapted. <b>Ghost in the Shell</b>, while not too related 
                to the movie, was a pretty good game, I have to admit…and it only 
                made me wish someone would get off their butts and make an <b>Akira</b> 
                game. Can you imagine what a great Playstation 2 game this would 
                make? The motorcycle scenes alone would make for a great game. 
                Once the giant guns get pulled out…well, you’ve got great fodder 
                right there.</p>
              <b>Buffy 
                The Vampire Slayer: </b><i>third person action</i>.</p>
               Here’s 
                another baffling one. I would have expected a cheesy shovelware 
                game by now, but even that hasn’t happened. Hey Warner Brothers 
                - give someone the Unreal Tournament engine, a decent sized budget, 
                and let them go nuts. If the game were playable from a number 
                of characters (Buffy, Angel, possibly Willow?) it would be tons 
                of fun. </p>
              <b>Lord 
                of the Rings: </b><i>real-time strategy</i>. </p>
              I had 
                a tough time thinking of game that would make for a decent real-time 
                strategy game, since that’s a tough nut to crack. <b>Dune 2</b>, 
                I’m convinced, was total luck. Who knew how well that was going 
                to work? <b>Lord of the Rings</b>, on the other hand, just screams 
                for a strategy game. You’ve got a detailed layout of the land, 
                a great (and large) cast of characters, and hey! There’s even 
                a new movie coming out. It’s definitely tough to make a strategy 
                game based on a license (look at <b>Braveheart</b> as an example 
                of how not to do it) but <b>Dune 2</b> proved it can be done. 
                Let’s see something done right here, people.</p>
              <b>Milk 
                &amp; Cheese: </b><i>third person action. </i></p>
              Okay, 
                so maybe this doesn’t need to be a full-fledged <i>game</i> or 
                anything, but I sure would love to see someone try. If you’ve 
                never read the comic, here’s the concept – there are two characters, 
                a milk carton, and a wedge of cheese, that go around beating the 
                crap out of everything in sight, and generally terrorizing the 
                populace of the tri-state area. Sound like a great idea for a 
                game to you? Well, it’s better than <b>Grand Theft Auto</b> or 
                <b>Postal</b>, and those games got made, didn’t they? Frankly, 
                I don’t think there’s a chance in hell that this will ever happen, 
                but I’d settle for a mod that lets me take on the body of one 
                of them and run through a supermarket with an axe. But hey…that’s 
                just me.</p>
              <b>Douglas 
                Adams’ Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency: </b><i>third person 
                adventure</i>.</p>
               Back 
                in the Infocom days, Douglas Adams made a couple of : <b>The Hitchhiker’s 
                Guide to the Galaxy </b>(in my opinion the single best game ever 
                made) and <b>Bureaucracy</b>. His return to gaming, <b>Starship 
                Titanic</b> wasn’t bad by any means, but it wasn’t particularly 
                good, either. Work has begun on a new game in the <b>Hitchhiker’s 
                Guide</b> universe, and while I think that could very well be 
                fantastic, I can’t help but think that Adams’ <i>other</i> series 
                could very well be better suited to adaptation. With Dirk, you 
                get a bumbling film-noir hero, plus a wild plot that includes 
                the extermination of the human race. What more could a game ask 
                for?</p>
              Well, 
                there you have it. Ten games, that if you ask me, need to be made. 
                I wouldn’t be too surprised if a couple of them are announced 
                at this year’s E3…but some of them (<b>Milk &amp; Cheese</b>, 
                for one) I don’t ever expect to see. But boy, it sure would be 
                fun. :)</p>
              
              <i>- 
                Jason &quot;loonyboi&quot; Bergman is the editor-in-chief here 
                at loonygames. He is fully licensed for this position.</i></p>
              </p>
      
               
              <br><p>&nbsp;</p> 
<p><a href="../2.14/mouth/index.html">&lt;&lt;Back to Normal View</a></p>
<table width="100%" border="1" height="29" bordercolordark="#000000" bordercolorlight="#FFFFFF" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
  <tr> 
    <td height="20" width="99%"> 
      <div align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><i>loonygames 
        - the best damn gaming magazine online </i></b></font></div>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Print CGI is 
  &copy; 2000 <a href="http://www.square8.com">Square Eight</a>. Used with permission. 
  Article is &copy; 2000 its original author. All other content is &copy; 2000 
  loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. You got that??</font></i></p>
 