I used to find it very odd and kind of freaky when I'd go to the movies or play a video game at home, discuss it with my friends and find out that the same things I'd been saying about it were being discussed by proper reviewers. It was part of the reason I started this blog, this strange reassurance that I actually understood the pros and cons to a film or game and that I could potentially write about them without looking like a complete nob. Whilst thinking about my discussing reviews and undertaking reviews myself I'm reminded of some other things I remember discussing with friends yet never had a chance to act on.

The thing that sticks out the most when I look back also stems from discussions about a game or a movie. We'd become so engrossed in the world of this movie or show or game that we'd consider what other avenues it could be explored through. This usually lead us to discuss whether they should make said game or show into a movie or not and whether said movie should get a video game. It does not surprise me in the least to look back at the products we talked about and see a fair few of them have been made in to feature films. I always remember Transformers and Dragonball Z being the two most commonly talked about and in retrospect it was an easy decision to turn them into movies due to the immense popularity the two had. We always spoke about the issues the films would have when they made the transition, usually regarding believability and special effects. The special effects issue was always linked to timing, rush into production technologically too soon and the film would look terrible. We never thought things would develop far enough so that Transformers and Dragonball Z could be done just on the big screen, it was always too ambitious a task. Luckily someone undertook this task with Transformers, which in my opinion, was made just in time as the robots look fantastic and are key to the look of the film, screw them up and the whole thing goes with it. Unfortunately I didn't think Dragonball Z was as lucky. Things like Shenron the Dragon, the multitude of alien races and the Ki blasts the fighters used were always going to be hard to bring out of the manga and anime into the real live world. The film suffered from some average special effects which were not up to scratch in comparison to the anime and this should have stayed out of production a little longer. Aside from special effects we were always concerned with how Optimus Prime a giant transforming robot and Goku a spiky haired alien would work in the real world. In a TV show or manga it is easy to create a bizarro world were these things occur, people won't pick holes in the story and we generally accept the world of fantasy for what it is. Transitioning that to live action on the big screen does not go so well. Things as simple as character design, Goku's extremly spikey hair, do not look as good and powering up just seems lame. Transformers largely transferred it's key look and plot points over into a live action movie successfully. They explained why they were there and how they got there and all that stuff quite well and it seemed like a believable story. On the other hand Dragonball left out a whole bunch of key story elements which made the film seem stupid instead of real. Things like the parternship of Piccolo and Goku's alternate form Oozaru did not make sense to those who'd followed the series or were new to it. Still it was interesting to see that the thoughts of a bunch of early teens would become the thoughts of Hollywood big wigs and they would embrace the adaptation of these thinhgs. I hope that for now though they leave Naruto well alone because I just cannot see that on the big screen.

One thing that we never really discussed as much were ideas for video games. I guess it was because they seemed so technologically advanced that we couldn't really think of how to go about it. That being said one idea I do remember having was for a game based on The Scorpion King after seeing the Mummy Returns. I just loved the opening battle scene between the King's army and the Egyptians. Even though we were given so little information about him I thought a game based on the King's ascent from skilled assassin to King and general would be fanastic. The idea was you would play as the King, probably in third person style and would travel around Egypt and its surrounds encountering the numerous barbarian tribes which dotted the land. These tribes would serve as the basis of your army but first you would have to earn the right to command their troops. You would be given the choice of completing missions and quests for the tribes or assassinating the leader to gain control of their warriors. The choice would be made depending on the size of the tribe and the size of your forces and your daring, try to assassinate the leader of too big a tribe by yourself and you'd quickly find yourself dead. Quests would rang from recovering objects, to escorts, to raiding rivals, to sabotage and theft, pretty standard stuff. Each time you receive more troops the game would change to a real time strategy/risk game allowing you to organise and equip your armies and build up the settlements you now control. As the game progresses you will start to encounter the Egyptian army and the battles would become bigger whilst the King would gain a specialised group of bodyguards and generals and you would prepare to assault Egypt. When engaging in open warfare control would become more like the Kingdom Under Fire and Total War series where you must not only control the King but also your other troops. This would be done through a zoomed out battle map where you could witness the whole battle taking place and quickly move troops around and use abilities whilst being able to jump back in as the Scorpion King. It's quite surprising that there are now several games which have adapted a similar style including Creative Assembly's Viking: Battle for Asgard and Spartan: Total Warrior. Viking is so similar to what I imagined, controlling a hero, building an army and then engaging in open war. It's quite surprising that my idea, a pipe dream between me and my brother so long ago was actually something a video game company would later discover themselves and decide was good enough for a game.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that people have ideas all the time, sometimes they think they are crazy like turning a TV cartoon into a movie or an overly ambitious video game but in reality these ideas may not be quite so far fetched. Someone may be thinking a similar thing and you should try as hard as possible to speak up and act upon the ideas you have, you never know what might happen. I know I'm wishing I wasn't a 10 year old when I had my video game idea and could have had someone to tell it too.