video gaming


Video gaming is a big habit of mine, alongside home entertainment, cars, car audio, and computers (no, really?). After taking notice of computer animation in movies and the effect it has had on the industry, you can also go in the reverse direction and claim that movies had an impact on computer animation, namely video games.

 

The prime example of this idea would be the The Halo Trilogy. Halo combines not only an amazing story, but an awesome score and intense action. In essence, Halo is the interactive movie. It has cut-scenes which give you the movie-like feel, yet the action still keeps you involved in the story, immersing you in the world so that you feel that you are actually making the difference.

 

(Image Courtesy of Flickr user Strike08)

 

Games, like the Halo series, are taking a reverse direction on their approach. Movies (for the most part) tend to have the real footage of real people, and then enhance it with CGI and special effects. Video Games, however, make the digital characters and models, then use a technique called motion capture to achieve the movements of real humans. You could also use this analogy with voice-overs and creating dialog for the characters.

 

Although games cost almost ten times more than a movie ticket, they also last so much longer as far as replay value, especially considering you need to buy the DVD of a movie in order to enjoy it infinitely. So, when comparing a movie ticket+DVD price of ~$30 to a video game price of $60, you know it's dramatic when Halo 3's first week makes $300 million worth in sales, compared to a movie's good weekend Box Office of maybe $70 million.