OC Screenwriters Association

No, I'm not dreaming or in the mist of a fantastic world created from my screenplay. I'm playing in the world, of what many writers think might be the last nail in the coffin of Theater going, of a video game. 

This particular game is called "Red Dead Redemption." One of the highest grossing video games of 2010. I have always been curious about video games but never really been curious enough about penetrating these cyber worlds were one can be lost for hours (and days if you have no job, friends or a girlfriend). They never interested me until the playing got really... well how can I say it "cinematic".

After a recent meeting at a studio that will remain nameless, but rhymes with Smashamount. We were met with a producer that has had some very big hits in the '80's and '90's, who was a friend of my producer. We all went to lunch, thinking wow, I'm not worthy. At the table we were talking about the economy, the sad state of movies, the actress that recently got two greenlights even though she's box office doom. And then the conversation got to video games. And big shot producer goes "Hey Gus you're the puppy here, what's your take on video games? Should we start learning about computers?"

Funny, that shows how some of the Hollywood players are out of touch with the "utes" like my cousin Vinny said. First he mentioned learning about computers and never learning to write code...anyway . What did I respond? I said I think they're the next thing. The room went silent. Foot in my mouth? maybe. Again I should have shut up since I'm not a huge gamer. But big shot perked up and I was amazed at what he said next. He said and I quote " Then we gotta learn their tricks and try to pull these kids from the living room back to the movies". That's a fearless leader right there. He wasn't shocked and ready to go back to his convertible Mercedes and drown the rest of his days in whiskey at his Malibu pad. He wanted a fight. And that got me curious... maybe we're being too stupid here, us writers in ignoring the wealth of information a video game can teach us. Tsun Zsu said : Learn thy enemy. And maybe he's right. We should go into these worlds, disect them see what makes them tick, what keeps a person glued and what can we learn to try to bring it to the page and maybe a movie. I remember how Blockbuster got his @#$ kicked to the curb when it ignored the future and let Netflix run wild online, when it came to it's senses the war was lost. I don't want to be another "Blockbuster" so there I went and bought the game.

As I continued to play I totally see why anyone would get enthralled in these plots. You're the "hero" and you get completely immersed in the story. You shoot, steal, deal, flirt all your way to the next challenge. Of course it's on rails since the programers take you on the journey. But it's very incredible, dynamic and real life like. The pixels are getting closer and closer to human likeness every day. But it's the small details that amazed me the most. I walk into the town of "Armadillo" ( I know,  when it comes to fun names these guys are programers not writers) I have to go to the bar but before I get there a drunkard stumbles and I kid you not, falls flat on his face!... I could have continued inside but I followed the guy and it's like it had his own life, he walks, crept, fell down, stood up and tried to get to the other side of town. I followed him for like 10 minutes and I'm amazed at the computing power these things have. It is total immersion and no movie can compete with that... for now. Being raised on a farm, I've done my share of horse riding, with a saddles and without and it's not as easy at it seems. After riding long and hard in the game I pause the horse and my character does the typical thing any riders does at a stop - lifts his ass to relieve the pain! Even the most minute details have been thought of.

Now the story, which is why we're here, is pretty much paper thin, my character gets wronged and is forced to do something to save bla, bla. But that's all it needs because you get to shoot, kick and cuss at everyone else in this world. You can be a good guy, a bad guy or a lighter shade of grey. I've been playing the nice lawman, but also loot the guys I shoot, hey nobody said the West was easy besides made a extra 7 bucks among the three "desperados" I searched. 

Overall here's one thing I learned, I'm going back to RDR, for more fun. So what else can I learn or take away? Not much aside that it's a great world that for $ 40 ( when the game came out last year it retailed for $ 60) it will keep you entertained for months and maybe a year to come. Hard to beat 4 movie tickets.  The cinematic style is good, but doesn't beat the movies. I think the two can co-exist but movies better start having some more engaging aspects, maybe 3 D might not be so bad after all. But I still have to play some to get a better sense of it.

Are we writers going the way of Blockbuster? I don't think so. I think that maybe we should learn how to bring our movie talents and story telling to video games. Most games are pretty flat story wise and RDR is no exception. But think of it, with a great plot and or twist a good game can become memorable.

To be frank one usually ends an article with a point or at least something to close your argument and I can't seem to find one that says movies are better than video games. They're not, but again movies have been around since the 1900's (curiosly the timeframe in which RDR plays), only color and image quality has changed, and that was 110 years ago! Daryl Zanuck or the Warner brothers couldn't even imagine anything like a video game would ever be possible and in many cases better than some movies being released today.

So is there hope?  Yes, should we stay put and see what happens? Absolutely not!

So get a video game, play it, get to know it. It will be one of the next frontiers of story telling. And who knows maybe your next blockbuster will come from a plastic box and not a ticket stub.