Video Game Novels

[Evil Avatar]

Wired News has a short article (http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,68821,00.html?tw=rss.TOP) online talking about how some of the more popular video game franchises have become books, including Splinter Cell and Resident Evil.

Here are some details about Sam Fisher you probably didn't know: He's 47 years old, and his hottie martial-arts instructor has a major crush on him. He lives alone in a condo and struggles to figure out how to deal with his college-age daughter. His favorite pastime is gourmet cooking. He thinks the Iraq war is a bad idea.

Sam Fisher is, of course, the hero of the Splinter Cell video game. I've spent countless hours using my Xbox controller to sneak him past armed guards, scale walls and club enemies unconscious. But I didn't know much about his personal life until I wandered into an airport bookstore recently and encountered Splinter Cell -- the novel.

[VYPUR]

I think all the HALO books were pretty good reads.

[Blue]

I'm one of those people that can't shut-off my head when I read in the same way I can when going to see a film. I'll gladly pay to sit and be entertained by something like Transporter 2, but I'll thumb through, say, one of the Resident Evil books for kicks and my eyes roll into the back of my head and my mouth goes slack. I'm really picky/specific when it comes to what I read. The way words are used (or not used) is a big deal to me with what I'm reading as well as the story. It could have a really cool tale attached to it, but if the writing sucks, I won't make it through.

Was at Barnes and Noble the other day and I looked through this book called Eragon that got a wicked amount of hype and it's some of the worst writing I've ever come across and I had to put it down. Same with the Halo books. I think it's cool that they're out there for fans to read should they want to as it expands - obviously - on a popular world, but the writing was/is crap. I realize it's supposed to be popcorn reading and nothing something that's heavy handed in any way, but I can't stomach it. Nails on a chalkboard to me.

Ah well, I guess it's good they exist and I'm sure the story is interesting and at least "neat" to know, but I'll never be able to get through it.

[swiftdraw]

Heck, Star Wars, BattleTech, and about every other popular franchise has had a book series, nothing new with this concept. These things are nothing more than offical fan-fics, with equally bad writing in a couple of series (Magic: The Gathering books anyone?)

[Deathbane27]

Er... didn't all the Tom Clancy games (like Splinter Cell) start as books, THEN become games? Or just some of them?

Blue: I've got a similar thing, but with game styles instead of writing styles. There's plenty of games out there that people tell me have great stories, but I don't play them because they're third-person shooters, or RTSs, or some other type of game I don't enjoy. :p It's quite a shame.

Luckily I enjoyed the Halo books myself. Eric Nylund's, at least. I didn't read The Flood.

[A-Team]

Er... didn't all the Tom Clancy games (like Splinter Cell) start as books, THEN become games? Or just some of them?

Blue: I've got a similar thing, but with game styles instead of writing styles. There's plenty of games out there that people tell me have great stories, but I don't play them because they're third-person shooters, or RTSs, or some other type of game I don't enjoy. :p It's quite a shame.

Luckily I enjoyed the Halo books myself. Eric Nylund's, at least. I didn't read The Flood.
I know Rainbow 6 was a book well before the game was made. As for Splinter Cell, I have no clue.

[Zeal]

The Halo novels were killer, especially the first and third books. As a matter of fact, I've read they're following the novels to produce the movie.

[Arcon]

Splinter Cell was just some idea Clancy came up with and UbiSoft just snapped it up. like Gene Roddenbery's (insert idea here) theyre all just bits of crap he wrote on a post-it note somwhere and forgot about but the hype machine labels it as "from the pen of Tom Clancy" as if he wrote the script for it and sent it to UbiSoft.

The Halo Books (1 and 3) are awesome reads. Its not Tolkien by any stretch of the imagination, but no one expected them to be. What they do give you is more information about the universe. It explains the how and why of all those little things and gives you an insight into the overall storyline that just the regular players have no idea about. Dietz's The Flood was an absolute abombination of a book though. Whereas Nuyland had access to the Bungie notes about what the timeline is and he could tell new stories, Dietz had the inenviable task of writing out the game in longhand which, for anyone who's played it, is "the chief saw some flood, fired, reloaded, jumped and pistol whipped..." about 500 times. To say that the game is repetative is an understatement. Soo too is the book. As the article says, the worst part about the book is that he tells you that the chief is scared, he's afraid and doesnt want to show it. When i played the game, i wasnt, and the first book set up the chief so incredibly well that he would eat tornados for breakfast and shit bullets that "the flood" just didnt fit at all.
"first strike" rocked and patched up the gap, even if Halo 2 did contradict it slightly. All this expanded universe, like the books and "I love bees" from last year, while becoming another way for companies to milk the public and keep them interested in their games between releases, it also allows those fans who really do enjoy the universe, not just the blasting and killing, to learn more. I sure as hell didnt read the books thinking it was going to be a Hugo Award winner much like i dont expect films based on games to win oscars. Its trash entertainment for those who arent 'into it' and its a bit more knowledge for those that are.

[Heretic Machine]

They Halo novels are awesome, and really enhance the series in my opinion.

[Royal Fool]

I think Splinter Cell was perhaps a concept created by Ubisoft and Tom Clancy together... but originally a book, nah, don't think so.

[Eric_T_Cheng]

I'm still hoping they'll make a movie version of Rainbow Six (the book). Willem Dafoe, of course, played John Clark in Clear and Present Danger.

[Dirty Harry]

I think Splinter Cell was perhaps a concept created by Ubisoft and Tom Clancy together... but originally a book, nah, don't think so.
ghost recon is a semi diffrent story.

[Nameback]

As like many others I really enjoyed the Halo novels. I actually read them while on vacation before i ever played the game, really added to the experience. Also I really enjoyed the "Alpha Centari" novels, it really gave the open-ended game some focus.

[Kelegacy]

I'm one of those people that can't shut-off my head when I read in the same way I can when going to see a film. I'll gladly pay to sit and be entertained by something like Transporter 2, but I'll thumb through, say, one of the Resident Evil books for kicks and my eyes roll into the back of my head and my mouth goes slack. I'm really picky/specific when it comes to what I read. The way words are used (or not used) is a big deal to me with what I'm reading as well as the story. It could have a really cool tale attached to it, but if the writing sucks, I won't make it through.

Was at Barnes and Noble the other day and I looked through this book called Eragon that got a wicked amount of hype and it's some of the worst writing I've ever come across and I had to put it down. Same with the Halo books. I think it's cool that they're out there for fans to read should they want to as it expands - obviously - on a popular world, but the writing was/is crap. I realize it's supposed to be popcorn reading and nothing something that's heavy handed in any way, but I can't stomach it. Nails on a chalkboard to me.

Ah well, I guess it's good they exist and I'm sure the story is interesting and at least "neat" to know, but I'll never be able to get through it.

People called me conceited and asinine for saying this before, but I agree. It is exactly popcorn reading. If you want to read incredible fantastical writing, George Martin is a good example of a great storyteller. Same with Dan Simmons with the sci-fi genre, or Neal Stephenson. These guys I have never heard of writing books adapted from movies or games just never appetizes me. It's a marketing tool that I am digusted with. You could probably write a better novel, Blue! Granted, storytelling and writing skillfully are different things: a person with a great story to tell can lay down the foundation and entertain you, while a skillful writer with a firm grasp of the language could write his way into a Hugo or Stoker award, but without a good story to tell, he's screwed.

Popcorn reading is something I dont normally do. I like to be entertained, but I also like to feel like I'm doing my brain a service...not a disservice. I'll watch shitty comic-book movies or absurd films adapted from videogames for that. Once a writer starts to show his threadbare prose to me, I'm as good as gone. Then again, if you write for a living, arent as successful as King or Grisham, and need to put food on the table by doing whored-out writing jobs, creating novels based on videogame worlds isnt that bad of a deal. You basically have all the material created for you already; you just need to piece it together into a coherent story and you are done.

Oh, and Blue, Eragon and Elder (the sequel) are young adult fantasy books. The author is only 19 years old. He started writing Eragon when he was 15 years old, if that is any indication. Pretty remarkable and jealousy-inspiring for this 24 year old lazy writer, if you ask me. People like him make me want to undergo some severe time-structuring discipline in order to write a successful novel before I'm in diapers again.

[Edwin]

Actually alot of the stuff the has Clancy's name on it isn't even his. He uses ghostwriters and has no control over his name as a brand. So basically the companies can do what they please with it.

[Rirath]

Meh, my favorite "Video Game Novel" is still Thera's Awakening, the freebie novella that came with Stonekeep for the PC way back when. (Possibly the last great First Person RPG until Morrowind.)

[Blue]

People called me conceited and asinine for saying this before, but I agree. It is exactly popcorn reading. If you want to read incredible fantastical writing, George Martin is a good example of a great storyteller. Same with Dan Simmons with the sci-fi genre, or Neal Stephenson. These guys I have never heard of writing books adapted from movies or games just never appetizes me. It's a marketing tool that I am digusted with. You could probably write a better novel, Blue! Granted, storytelling and writing skillfully are different things: a person with a great story to tell can lay down the foundation and entertain you, while a skillful writer with a firm grasp of the language could write his way into a Hugo or Stoker award, but without a good story to tell, he's screwed.

Popcorn reading is something I dont normally do. I like to be entertained, but I also like to feel like I'm doing my brain a service...not a disservice. I'll watch shitty comic-book movies or absurd films adapted from videogames for that. Once a writer starts to show his threadbare prose to me, I'm as good as gone. Then again, if you write for a living, arent as successful as King or Grisham, and need to put food on the table by doing whored-out writing jobs, creating novels based on videogame worlds isnt that bad of a deal. You basically have all the material created for you already; you just need to piece it together into a coherent story and you are done.

Oh, and Blue, Eragon and Elder (the sequel) are young adult fantasy books. The author is only 19 years old. He started writing Eragon when he was 15 years old, if that is any indication. Pretty remarkable and jealousy-inspiring for this 24 year old lazy writer, if you ask me. People like him make me want to undergo some severe time-structuring discipline in order to write a successful novel before I'm in diapers again.

Martin is amazing. Absolutely some of the best stuff I've ever read, fantasy or otherwise. My brother recommended them to me a few months back and I just tore through them. Actually about to start a second reading as I'm almost positive there's stuff in there I missed.

And you know, I had actually heard about a kid that wrote a fantasy story and I never thought to really look into it. At least Eragon makes more sense to me now (and, after seeing what you posted, looked into it more....his parents actually owned/ran the publishing company the book came out of). Funny thing, though, picked up the second book in the series that just hit and the writing really isn't all that terrible. Nothing mind-blowing, but he certainly grew as a writer and it kind of makes me upset I doubt I'll be able to get through the first so I can try my hand at the second. Perhaps a book on tape.

Also, I fully agree with you about the writer vs story-teller bit. They are two totally different halves that, sometimes, are well fused. It's a rarity for me, however. George Lucas I a perfect example. Nine times out of ten, the man can't write himself out of a paper bag but he is a phenominal story-teller. Indiana Jones, Star Wars....Howard the Duck...cough....you get the idea. So I couldn't agree more. There are people that give me something interesting to mull over and then there are people who paint worlds. Martin is easily one of those people.

We should start some sort of support group. As a struggling writer myself (ie - every English major that didn't go the literary side of things), I'm often flat-out angry at some of the crap I see on shelves. The Evil Avatar community needs to try and bust down some doors. Maybe all of us can either a) submit a short story and we'll collect 'em all together and guerilla warfare our way through Barnes and Noble or b) all pick a game that would benefit from an adaptation and turn the genre on its head with a story and writing to boot.

I just wrote a whole lot there. And a call to arms.

[Kefkataran]

Was at Barnes and Noble the other day and I looked through this book called Eragon that got a wicked amount of hype and it's some of the worst writing I've ever come across and I had to put it down.

See, but Eragon is weird. It got a lot of love, but was pretty shunned critically. I've heard the early reviews for the next book in the series are saying that it's just horrible too.

I can't stand videogame novels. I dunno. I used to read tons of fantasy and sci-fi, but generally I can only read any of it now if it's of the really good variety (read few and far between). Fucking English major killed my love of genre literature.

[Sion]

The RE book was better than the game.

[Blue]

The RE book was better than the game.

Can someone please escort this gentleman from the site?

[agentgray]

I'm still hoping they'll make a movie version of Rainbow Six (the book). Willem Dafoe, of course, played John Clark in Clear and Present Danger.
..and Liev Schreiber seemed more contemporary in Sum of All Fears

[Xerxes]

Actually alot of the stuff the has Clancy's name on it isn't even his. He uses ghostwriters and has no control over his name as a brand. So basically the companies can do what they please with it.

You sure about that? :confused:
Didn't ubi try to take his name off all the SC games following the first after it was a proven hit. I remember about two years ago I use to talk to this guy who worked at Red Storm and they said he kinda kept his hand in the mix.

[GreenNinja]

Although I enjoy the better sci-fi and fantasy novels from authors like George Martin, I also like the occasional popcorn reading. I will pick up random paperbacks that look cheesy or goofy. One book that I got that way that I really enjoyed was kind of a sarcastic take on the whole fantasy genre, the main characters were orcs who stumbled upon a cache of contemporary military weapons and training materials; basically they became marines. It was fun to see the marine orcs pitted against fantasy armies.

I thought the Eragon book was a good start, it had some good ideas, but it suffered from just about every cliche in the fantasy genre. I'm impressed that the author was dedicated enough to write a book, I would love to but I am an absolutely terrible writer. I'll probably pick up his next one in paperback (maybe used) just to see how he's progressed.

[Mr_Snuffle]

Under a Killing Moon was quite an excellent book. As I understand it they wrote the book then pulled the game out of it

[Evil Avatar]

You guys are thinking of Rainbow Six. Rainbow Six was a novel at the exact same time as it was developed as a game. Tom Clancy came up with the idea, wrote the novel and the company he owned and founded, Red Storm, made the game.

This was significantly pre-Ubisoft.

[Evil Avatar]

Actually alot of the stuff the has Clancy's name on it isn't even his. He uses ghostwriters and has no control over his name as a brand. So basically the companies can do what they please with it.

That isn't really true. Check any Tom Clancy book and it will say right on the cover who the author is. The Net Force books were all written by other authors as was the whole Op Center series, but the authors names are right on the cover.

You are right that "Tom Clancy" is a brand name, but the books with his name on them as the author are still written by him.

[Kefkataran]

I think the important thing to keep in mind with Tom Clancy that irregardless of how good his books are or whether or not he's built a successful brand name or anything else, he's still sort of a douche. Man, I just can't get over my dislike of him.

[Jaded Fool]

Nothing to do with Halo or Tom Clancy so I feel a bit out of place, but when I was about 9 I had these Nintendo books on Mario and Bionic Commando. They were kids novels, so kind of like 100 pages max, but I remember absolutely loving them.

That was quite a while ago, I'm sure they're trash, but at the time they were the only way to experience video games on weekdays (damn parents).

[Rangoth]

Regarding Tom Clancy you can always tell if he was written a book. If he writes it on the cover the title normally comes first and his name will not be a plural. They sometimes omit the plural but his name will always appear above the title if he is not the author. In those cases he writes the plot outline and someone else writes the actual words. Clancy still has input into the book as he does with all items in his little world. ;)

[MrMeatshake]

the halo books are terrible. i couldn't finish one. they're aimed squarely at 12 year old boys. if you are target audience, then go ahead.

[Eric_T_Cheng]

..and Liev Schreiber seemed more contemporary in Sum of All Fears

In the movie, that's a much younger John Clark. However, in the book both Ryan and Clark are much older. The younger cast, as you recall, was because Harrison Ford bowed out, which is regrettable as he would have been a great president (like in "Air Force One") in Debt of Honour, Executive Orders and The Dragon and the Bear.

[Ka_Feosh]

Worlds of Power was the name of the series, if I remember correctly. I remember loving them when I was little, too, but I picked a couple up and tried to read them again and it was like every 12 year old's terrible self-insertion fan-fic, only someone got paid to write them. Scott Sharkey (http://www.solidsharkey.com) actually has the full text to a couple on his website (http://www.solidsharkey.com/wop1.html) if you think you can get your rose-tinted naustalgia specs tuned juuuuuuust right.

Also, I'm surprised noone has mentioned the Doom novels. Overall bad, but they were fun in middle school. I remember hating the ending but not much else and can't justify re-reading them when I've got a growing stack of Terry Pratchett left unread.

[KamaItachi]

You know, terrible as most of these books based on games may be, I`d be happier that 12 year old boys are doing somehing with their brains than watching Yu-Gi-Oh and comparing their console of choice on GameFAQs. It may be popcorn, it may be crap, but it`s still a dam sight better than makig Final Fantasy 7 gif sigatures.

I draw the line at fan-fiction though.

[bapenguin]

the halo books are terrible. i couldn't finish one. they're aimed squarely at 12 year old boys. if you are target audience, then go ahead.

I found them enjoyable. What's nice is they are such easy reading you can basically finish them in a day.

[Arcon]

the halo books are terrible. i couldn't finish one. they're aimed squarely at 12 year old boys. if you are target audience, then go ahead.
No need for that. How about you loose your preconceptions for a second, let your imagination take control and just forget that its trash fiction. I seriously think that if it wasnt based on a video game people would find them a lot more accesible.

[Xerxes]

Ok it's a little fuzzy to me. Red Storm is a ubisoft company. Do they even still make the ghost recon or rainbow six games?

[balamoor]

Well some folks can't let their hair down and enjoy a good popcorn book...I call them constipated dickweeds. They feel that they continually have to prove their intellect…. mainly because its a pseudo element.

Saying that I really enjoy the Blizzard novels the Warcarft series especially. After a long day at work it's nice to be able to do some light reading. I enjoy other seriouse authors as well Howard, Morecock, Zelanzny, Williams, Goodkind, and Martin...though Martin seems to have this thing about incest..... Those are steak..but every now and a again I want a hamburger.

[Kelegacy]

Well some folks can't let their hair down and enjoy a good popcorn book...I call them constipated dickweeds. They feel that they continually have to prove their intellect…. mainly because its a pseudo element.

Saying that I really enjoy the Blizzard novels the Warcarft series especially. After a long day at work it's nice to be able to do some light reading. I enjoy other seriouse authors as well Howard, Morecock, Zelanzny, Williams, Goodkind, and Martin...though Martin seems to have this thing about incest..... Those are steak..but every now and a again I want a hamburger.

Maybe an overcooked McDonald's hamburger. I still wouldnt even go that far with the analogy.

Why waste your time enjoying a shallow popcorn book when you can read an entertaining, well-written original tale that isnt based on or copied from a videogame or movie? There are good popcorn books out there...these just aren't it, IMO.

[Kefkataran]

No need for that. How about you loose your preconceptions for a second, let your imagination take control and just forget that its trash fiction.

Er. That's the same argument one of my friends uses for reading only romance novels. So...

Well some folks can't let their hair down and enjoy a good popcorn book...I call them constipated dickweeds. They feel that they continually have to prove their intellect…. mainly because its a pseudo element.


My problem has never been that so much as that I just can't comprehend people who read only this nearly self-proclaimed "trash literature" and then go on to praise it. I still love me a good popcorn novel once in a while and, hell, I read comics, the vast majority of which are lite-fiction. But I also read a lot of good, serious, well-written stuff.

Of course most the authors you listed aren't exactly what most people would consider 'steak'. :) Though they're certainly probably the cream of the fantasy/sci-fi crop.

[balamoor]

Of course most the authors you listed aren't exactly what most people would consider 'steak'. :) Though they're certainly probably the cream of the fantasy/sci-fi crop.

Most people? Hell, most people can't read beyond a sixth grade level.....I was referring to the genre.

As for other genres I like the works of, Miller, Faulkner, Hemmingway, Steinbeck, Checkov, Scott....but as I said I was referring to a specific genre.

All caught up now. :cool:

[Kefkataran]

Most people? Hell, most people can't read beyond a sixth grade level.....I was referring to the genre.


Hey, who said we were talking just Americans here? Still, good point.

As for other genres I like the works of, Miller, Faulkner, Hemmingway, Steinbeck, Checkov, Scott....but as I said I was referring to a specific genre.


Very cool. I dig the Hemmingway I've read, but can't stand Faulkner. I've yet to try one of his larger works though. Surely will next semester in American Lit II.

As for fantasy lit that (at least as far as I'm concerned) works as "straight" lit as well, ever tried Terry Pratchett or Tad Williams?

[balamoor]

Hey, who said we were talking just Americans here? Still, good point.


Well I hate to break it to you but Europe isn't the bastion of literacy many lead you to believe it is. Germany very literate country, The Uk Meh.. About like the States, Spain....not so much France? HA! You haven’t lived until you have been called an Ignorant American by some shmoe who hasn't bathed in six months and can not read or write in any language. Asia is another story all together..... For technology centric society Japan has ravenous readers.


Very cool. I dig the Hemmingway I've read, but can't stand Faulkner. I've yet to try one of his larger works though. Surely will next semester in American Lit II.?


For Faulkner try the Reavers, you can see a lot of correlations to Twain in that work. But admittedly I view Faulkner’s stereotypes of the south as Americana Humor, he's not as Narcissistic as say Whitman. But really who is?

As for fantasy lit that (at least as far as I'm concerned) works as "straight" lit as well, ever tried Terry Pratchett or Tad Williams?


Yes loved the Dragon Bone Chair and To Green Angel Tower by Willams and I'm currently reading Shadowmarch in fact. Pratchett not yet but he is on my to read list. Another straight Fantasy lit author I am fond of Is Meredith Anne Peirce. She wrote the Dark Angle Trilogy, and the first one when she was about Thirteen…. Highly gifted author.

[Heretic Machine]

Classic Literature is, as my friend put it, "somthing everyone wants to have read, but no one wants to read."

[Heretic Machine]

the halo books are terrible. i couldn't finish one. they're aimed squarely at 12 year old boys. if you are target audience, then go ahead.

I find MrMeatShake's posts to be terrible. I couldn't finish one. they're aimed squarely at 12 year old boys. If you are target audience, then go ahead.

[balamoor]

Classic Literature is, as my friend put it, "somthing everyone wants to have read, but no one wants to read."


Your friend is a Dumbass. :rolleyes: Because that's a huge generalization. Sir Walter Scott, Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson....these guys have produced awesome works that modern day Authors plagiarize daily.

[Rangoth]

the halo books are terrible. i couldn't finish one. they're aimed squarely at 12 year old boys. if you are target audience, then go ahead.
Must...Resist...Making..Michael Jackson... Joke :D

[Kefkataran]

Pratchett not yet but he is on my to read list.

He's British and his books are humor-based. If you love Python-esque humor, you'll adore it. A lot slower-paced than some of the American fantasy you might be used to, but beautifully written. Lemme know what you think!

Classic Literature is, as my friend put it, "somthing everyone wants to have read, but no one wants to read."

You're friends with Mark Twain? Impressive. Anyways, I used to share those sentiments, but now find myself mostly disagreeing with them. I think this is how the case would be with most people if they gave classics even a shot. It's all taste-based. There are some classics I abhor (Jane Austen, for example) and some that I can't get enough of (Shakespeare, Doestoevsky, etc.).

Your friend is a Dumbass.

You don't like Mark Twain? :(