The Silicon Valley 10 & 1 3.17.10: Top 10 Movies That Should Have Video Games!

Posted by Steve Gustafson on 03.17.2010

From Die Hard and Titanic to District 9 and Cloverfield, 411’s Steve Gustafson lists the movies that should have a video game spin-off in his FINAL edition of The Silicon Valley 10 & 1! Plus, Denise Milani provides some eye candy!

Hello and welcome back to The Silicon Valley 10 & 1 by Steve Gustafson...for the last time! Yes, if you were paying attention then you would know this will be my last 10 & 1 for the time being. Due to schedule conflicts, doing 3 columns at 411mania plus several other writing gigs was stretching my limits. But you never know...I could be back!

Never fear, I'll still be writing two other Movie/TV flagship columns...
Saturday & Sunday: The Hollywood 5 & 1. Gossip and hot women.
Monday: Big Screen Bulletin. Movie news!

Last week: The Silicon Valley 10 & 1. Top 10 Coolest Final Fantasy Characters!

GAME OVER!
As you are aware this will be my final Silicon Valley 10 & 1. It's been a short ride but a fun one. Thanks to each one of you who took the time to read and took the time to comment. I'm not sure if someone else will be taking up the 10 & 1 or if it will morph into something else. I had enough topics for 2 years easily and plans to evolve the column, but I'll hold those back.

I want to thank Chris Lansdell for giving me the opportunity to write about something I love and to be able to share it with you. I write to draw out opinions and create debate. You, the reader, are an essential part of that when you say you like or hate something. You did that each week and made this column a success in the brief time it was here. See you in the Hollywood 5 & 1 and The Big Screen Bulletin! Thanks again!


Keep the comments coming and keep the emails coming as well ([e-mail]).

Let's take a look at...



Good, bad, insulting...all loved ALL the comments you all left. No joke. I understand stand they come from passion and I never take them personally. Let's look at last weeks:

10. Guest#8140: Wait a second, its the Top 10 COOLEST characters and Balthier is not #1? The guy oozed coolness. This is your top 10 favorites don't lie. If it was top 10 Coolest Balthier would be #1...through 10.

9. Santa Kermit: Cue the FF7 haters in 3....2...1....

8. impressed: There has been nothing but absolute shit for lists on 411mania.com recently. Given that said this is one of the best lists I've read. Steve: This comment actually threw me for a loop! Thanks!

7. Incorrect!: Sir, you fail. Do you know why you fail? Because Legend of Chun Li had Chris Klein as a tough guy, which makes it the worst thing ever.

6. Kurruption: "The kind of guy you want watching your back when it comes to a cock fight!" Sorry but I don't want a guy watching my back during anything cock related, with that said Zell blows, Shadow, Cecil or Riku should of replaced him.

5. Good: kefka was a better villian than sephiroth. both are great villians. both are not cool. they are evil. evil is not cool.

4. Loki: " I have an embarrasing story involving Auron but I'm hesitant to share it. I think I'll just dangle it out there and let you come up with your own tale." Was it the day before your birthday, and you had Auron over for a steamy, rigorous, sodomy session, and then the phone went as you were lying there naked, and you thought it would be fun to have Auron give you a nude piggy back ride to the phone, and when you got downstairs your entire family had thrown a surprise birthday party for you, and your Granny fainted at the sight of Auron's 'cool sword'...ya dirty fecker. Steve: So close!

3. Grymmbear: If by "Coolest Final Fantasy Characters", you really meant "Biggest Brooding Emo Assholes", then yes, your list is accurate, save for Balthier and Vivi.

2. JJ: Wow, you know this column has a bunch of nerds for readers given that the vast majority are bitching about Final Fantasy characters, yet none of them have commented on the smoking hot porn star at the end of the column.

1. Todd Vote: Packing it in already huh? Did you realize that lists will never make people happy? take care Steve, I've enjoyed the 10 & 1. Steve: Thanks Todd! Maybe I made these lists to make people unhappy. Ever think of that? Bwahahahaha!

Thanks again for everyone who left a comment or sent an email. I think what I enjoy most is even when you disagree, and many of you did, you explained why in a pretty good fashion.




Movies move us. Thrill us. Inspire us. We can sit back and escape into a character or plot, enjoying the images and sounds before us. It makes sense that we would wonder what it would be like to "play" that movie. To put ourselves into story. So this week we take a look at the...

Top 10 Movies That Should Have Video Games!

Perhaps the hardest list of all. How can you possibly take into account every movie ever made and scale it down to 10 that deserve to have a video game? You can't. I sat down and made a list. I stopped at 100. I could have gone to 10,000. With a little imagination you could list Nacho Libre, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, Collateral, The Italian Job, Iron Eagle, Smokin Aces, Three Kings, Donnie Brasco, Four Brothers, The Prestige, Casablanca, The Departed, Back to the Future, The Wizard of Oz, Unbreakable...I mean I could go on and on and on. If I had more time I was going to break this down into several lists because it deserves it.

So how did I make the list. Random luck. I took 10 movies that would have a pretty good chance to sell at the stores. Movies that would have meat for the graphics people. That would be an interesting story and plenty of playability. I have no doubt you all will fill in the gaps I've left. But enough talk!

And now...The LIST!



10. Mona Lisa Smile

Why this hasn't had a game yet is beyond me! I was just IMing with Ashish and Larry about this and they both agree that it's time...

OK, I'm kidding! But I bet I'll get at least ONE commenter defending this movie. Don't let me down!



10. Titanic

Quick story: Originally Titanic was my "gag" number 10. Then I got to thinking about what kind of game Titanic could be and decided to throw it on the list!

While the movie focused on the love between Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater, in the game you would be one of the other passengers on the doomed voyage. What kind of action would it have? Well, this would be a mystery game. The Heart of the Ocean wasn't the only priceless gem on board. Your character is a soldier returning home to America and you befriend Captain Edward John Smith. He comes to you with a problem. Seems there is a band of thieves on board and they have stolen The Diamond Unicorn Horn. You have to find the clues, counter the gang attacks, recover the diamond horn, AND survive the sinking. But be careful, Caledon "Cal" Hockley wants that diamond as well and his bodyguard, former Pinkerton agent Spicer Lovejoy, will do anything to see that he gets it.

I'd have a level that you can unlock where you are in the modern day and can take a sub down and explore the wreck of the Titanic. And yes, I'd have My Heart Will Go On play over the opening credits. Get James Cameron involved in the game and you'll have a fine game for the second highest grossing movie ever.



9. District 9

I'm actually a little surprised this isn't a game already. Aliens vs humans, cool weapons, MECHS! You could play as a human (Taking out the aliens, stopping them from escaping) or alien (Taking out humans, get back to your homeworld) have the game start in the slums of District 9 and the streets of Johannesburg then work up to the ship. I see this as a first person type game with a ton of potential.



8. Assault on Precinct 13 VS. 16 Blocks

Something I would wanted to have started doing in my Top 10 is have two movies battle it out for a spot. I decided to throw it in for fun.

Both movies would make respectable survival games. Assault on Precinct 13 would follow the movie pretty close. With only a few hours until the new year, Detroit's oldest police station, Precinct 13, is about to close forever. Only a skeleton crew of officers are on duty to receive crime lord Marion Bishop. Bishop, along with a few other criminals, are brought there when a snowstorm and treacherous road conditions force the bus driver to make a detour to Precinct 13, where the prisoners are to be held until the storm is over.

Then the fun starts. Masked gunmen surround the building. Are they Bishop's men, there to extract him? Or something more sinister? You play an office inside District 13 and have to fight for your life while you are heavily outnumbered by a growing force made up of street cops, snipers, and elite SWAT troopers. Watch your back. You never know who you can trust.

16 Blocks would be similar in you're a detective escorting a witness through New York city, only to find that the city's police force want the witness dead. The action takes place on the streets and subway, using your wits and gun to make your way.

Which movie gets the nod? VOTE BELOW!



7. Cloverfield

Another one that makes me scratch my head? This was made to be a horror/survival game! At first I was going to go with you playing one of the peeps from the movie but instead want to go with you playing a soldier. You make your way through the city, playing into parts of the movie like the flying Statue of Liberty head, the creature laying waste to the city, and fighting the "Human Scale Parasites" that fall from the body. You help people escape to safety, battle the HSP in the dark tunnels, and get out before the Hammerdown protocol lays waste to everything...and everyone. As you make your way through the game you unlock details on the monster origin, details on Slusho, and maybe some hints leading to Cloverfield 2!



6. Cannonball Run

We need to have a racing game on here! A cross-country outlaw road race from the Red Ball Garage in New York City to the pier at Redondo Beach, California, just south of Los Angeles. Have a wild selection of entrants from the movie to choose from or design your own! Not only do you have to compete against other wild racers but you have to contend with members from an unnamed federal agency who tries to stop the race because of its environmental effects and safety issues.

If the game does well maybe it can help greenlight the remake I've always wanted.



5. Fletch

This would be the ULTIMATE in mystery/comedy/action games. As Irwin M. Fletcher you are an investigative reporter with a menu screen of stories to take on. What story will you pursue? From there it's a crazy wild filled with disguise choices, zany supporting characters, and over-the-top action sequences. The cases range from investigating a random death (or is it?) at the local retirement home, political shenanigans that need Fletch's touch, or follow Fletch as a globetrotter working on the biography of fictional artist Edgar Arthur Tharp, Jr..

Here's another one that could help the movie get some legs under it. Just keep Kevin Smith away from this project.



4. The Big Lebowski

Here is my choice for one of the most wacky, eccentric, and trippy game EVER! Who wouldn't want to play as The Dude? Who wouldn't want to explore the world he lives in, with the cast he encounters? The movie is stands out for its idiosyncratic characters, dream sequences, unconventional dialogue, and eclectic soundtrack and the game would mirror that.

I would treat the game as a sequel to the original. The Dude buys a new comfy chair from the store and needs to get it home since he doesn't want to pay for delivery. Little does he know, someone else has their eye on that chair. Add in a bowling tournament (fully playable bowling action!), tons of sub plots with Walter Sobchak, Bunny Lebowski, Jesus Quintana, and a dueling storyline involving the ghost of Theodore Donald "Donny" Kerabatsos...you got yourself a wacky game.



3. Big Trouble in Little China

Too easy. You could make a serious franchise with this one. Follow the movie as truck driver Jack Burton, helping his friend Wang Chi rescue Wang's green-eyed girlfriend from bandits in San Francisco's Chinatown. They go into the mysterious underworld beneath Chinatown, where they face an ancient sorcerer named Lo Pan! Fill this game with elements from the movie that made it so cool; fight members of the secret society known as the "Wing Kong", a trio of mystical beings known as the "Three Storms" (Thunder, Lightning and Rain), get assistance from Gracie Law, the tour bus-driving sorcerer named Egg Shen, and the "Chang Sings", another secret society that oppose the Wing Kong. Fill it with lots of action, mysticism, and witty repertoire and you have yourself a game brewing!



2. The Great Escape

"There will be no escapes from this camp."

The simple premise: A game where you are an Allied prisoner who has to escape from a German POW camp during World War II. The potential this game has is huge. The Germans move the most determined and capable escapees to a new, high-security prisoner of war camp. You get familiar with the camp, plot escape options, take out guards, work with fellow prisoners (watch out for spies!), and stay alive. Getting out is only have the game. Once out you have to play it smart to avoid being recaptured or killed. And if you are recaptured, you're right back where you started from.

You can add in plenty of elements from the movie here. From Luftwaffe Colonel von Luger to the digging of tunnels "Tom", "Dick", and "Henry." You work to tunnel, make civilian clothing, forge documents, procure contraband materials, and prevent the guards from discovering their work.

Good luck.



1. Die Hard

First, I know Die Hard has had some games in the past. I'm talking a full on, full blast, balls-to-the-wall video game that is a true successor to the movie. John McClane has to clear the towers of terrorists, rescue hostages, and save his wife! First person shooter style, top notch graphics, get Alan Rickman to voice Hans Gruber and inject plenty of charm that makes the movie so mucho macho.

Yippee-ki-yay!

What about you? What makes YOUR list of Movies That Should Have Video Games? Remember, THERE IS NO WRONG ANSWER!




Gaming has come a long way. From the dark basements it has come up and been embraced by young and old. Man and woman. And super hot chicks! Let's take a look at Denise Milani!






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Finally, if you have some down time and are looking for a great place for great fun, check out Tiger Flash Games!

Thanks for reading!