“YOU’VE SEEN THE MOVIE, NOW PLAY THE VIDEO GAME”: RECODING THE CINEMATIC IN DIGITAL MEDIA AND VIRTUAL CULTURE Stefan Hall A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2011 Committee: Ronald Shields, Advisor Margaret M. Yacobucci Graduate Faculty Representative Donald Callen Lisa Alexander © 2011 Stefan Hall All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Ronald Shields, Advisor Although seen as an emergent area of study, the history of video games shows that the medium has had a longevity that speaks to its status as a major cultural force, not only within American society but also globally. Much of video game production has been influenced by cinema, and perhaps nowhere is this seen more directly than in the topic of games based on movies. Functioning as franchise expansion, spaces for play, and story development, film-to-game translations have been a significant component of video game titles since the early days of the medium. As the technological possibilities of hardware development continued in both the film and video game industries, issues of media convergence and divergence between film and video games have grown in importance. This dissertation looks at the ways that this connection was established and has changed by looking at the relationship between film and video games in terms of economics, aesthetics, and narrative. Beginning in the 1970s, or roughly at the time of the second generation of home gaming consoles, and continuing to the release of the most recent consoles in 2005, it traces major areas of intersection between films and video games by identifying key titles and companies to consider both how and why the prevalence of video games has happened and continues to grow in power. By looking at a wide variety of games – those found in arcades; on home consoles and home computers; for portable devices included dedicated gaming units, cell phones, and other personal digital assistants; and games that exist in other forms, such as those found in web browsers or as bonus features on digital video discs – this dissertation illuminates a iv complex history that intertwines technological development, economic forces, and aesthetic considerations of visual and narrative design. v For my Mom and Dad who bought me my first, and certainly not last, Atari. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank all of the members of my dissertation committee for all of their thoughtful insight, valuable advice, and earnest enthusiasm: Ronald Shields, Chair; Donald Callen, Reader; Lisa Alexander, Reader; and Margaret Yacobucci, Graduate Faculty Representative. The formative stages of this work were informed by the film classes I took with Cynthia Baron, and her input shaped the initial stage of this project and provided one of the major lines of inquiry in the analysis. I would also like to thank Joe Elkins, who asked some very useful questions during the prospectus phase of this project. For technical support par excellence, many good discussions about games, and a healthy debate about the meaning of mise-en-scène, I extend (even despite his love of Painkiller) a sincere thank you to Tony Avruch. Another good friend who aided in this project was Marc Petersen, who played some games both wonderful and awful, in helping me with titles in the Appendix. For his valuable insight as a person who actually makes games for a living, Jason Booth provided an interesting perspective on what defines a video game and fielded numerous technical questions about game design and the state of the industry. Neil Shepard and Erica Kubik also shared their passion for gaming with me through many spirited and always positive evenings of media laden conversation. Stefan Stingl provided me with many games to examine in this project. For all my other friends, both online and offline, who expressed any sort of interest in this project and engaged with it, I thank you most sincerely. Finally, I would thank Julia Fiely for the gift of time, understanding the importance of video games and seeing their potential, and being a proud and patient supporter of my work. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 Economic Collusion and Colonization ...................................................................... 11 Versions of Verisimilitude ......................................................................................... 17 Pixel-Swapping: Digital Characters in Film and Video Games ................................ 24 The Interaction of Spectacle and Narrative ............................................................... 34 What is a Video Game? ............................................................................................ 36 The Cinema of Attraction Becomes the Game of Attraction: Towards a Typology of Film-to-Game Licenses .................................................................................. 40 Dissertation Overview .............................................................................................. 46 CHAPTER I. THE CLASSIC ERA OF VIDEO GAMES, 1975-1984 ................................ 50 “Have You Played Atari Today?” ............................................................................. 52 Parker Brothers Strikes Back ..................................................................................... 57 Atari Turns to Movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. ......................................... 63 Twentieth Century Fox .............................................................................................. 73 Wizard Video Games ................................................................................................. 80 TRON – “See the movie. Play the game.” ................................................................ 83 CHAPTER II. VIDEO GAMES, 1985-1994 ........................................................................ 98 Film + Games = Art: Lucasfilm and the Evolution of LucasArts ............................. 106 Tapping the Movies: Star Wars, Star Wars: Rebel Assault, and Star Wars: X-Wing ........................................................................................................... 111 Playing with Power: Nintendo ................................................................................... 122 viii CHAPTER III. VIDEO GAMES, 1995-2004....................................................................... 133 Adaptation and Sequel: The Thing ............................................................................. 140 Narrative Play in Blade Runner ................................................................................. 145 Reflections in a GoldenEye ........................................................................................ 149 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 167 “Play the Game, See the Movie” – Games to Films .................................................. 177 Product Placement in Games ..................................................................................... 184 “Press Start to Continue” ........................................................................................... 187 APPENDIX: LIST OF GAMES ............................................................................................ 190 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................ 298 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 Film-to-Game Licensed Properties ............................................................................ 45 INTRODUCTION “You’ve Seen the Movie, Now Play the Video Game”: 1 Recoding the Cinematic in Digital Media and Virtual Culture “In the ideal form of transmedia storytelling, each medium does what it does best – so that a story might be introduced in a film, expanded through television, novels, and comics, and its world might be explored and experienced through game play. Each franchise entry needs to be self-contained enough to enable autonomous consumption. […] Reading across the media sustains a depth of experience that motivates more consumption. […] Redundancy between media burns up fan interest and causes franchises to fail. Offering new levels of insight and experience refreshes the franchise and sustains consumer loyalty. Such a multilayered approach to storytelling will enable a more complex, more sophisticated, more rewarding mode of narrative to emerge within the constraints of commercial entertainment.” – Henry Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling: Moving Characters from Books to Films to Video Games Can Make Them Stronger and More Compelling,” MIT’s Technology Review Introduction Video games are everywhere. They can be found in watches, cell phones, handheld units, on a variety of home consoles and computer operating systems, and within arcades, played by solitary gamers as much as groups of friends or strangers, in private or public, across networks, and even at professional video game competitions. They are a pervasive component not only of American society but also of global culture, with a complex history that intertwines technological development, economic forces, and aesthetic considerations of visual and narrative design. In addition to being consumer products themselves, video games have established ancillary