Gaming in Film and Television

sirpipalot

Hey guys,

I'm in the middle of witting an article for the escapist on how video games and gamers are depicted in film and television. If anyone knows of a particular film or episode of a series which features a character playing games could they post it up, for example scrubs did a terrible one recently enough with turk and jd mashing xbox360 controllers, clearly not knowing what they're doing... I'm trying to get as much reference material as i can to make a proper assessment of it.

cheers!

tman

Die Hard 4.0 showed someone playing GoW

Stephen

The film "The Score" (Robert de Niro, Ed Norton) featured some l33t hax0r kid playing Quake 3.

Stompbox

Didn't 'Phone Booth' with Colin Farrell actually have a direct reference to a Gamecube, the central character stating that the Gamecube was where he learned how to become such a good marksman? Or was it 'Tigerland'?

Genghiz Cohen

South Park - Make Love Not Warcraft

thelordofcheese

Denny Crane from boston legal is usually seen playing games at several points during the various series, i remember him playing Vice City and Wii Sports but there probably was more.

Also, Dr. House is usually playing some form of game in most episodes, i remember him playing Metroid: Zero Mission early in season 1 and various other stuff throughout the series (you'd want to check yourself, tbh)

TestTransmission

South Park- Guitar Hero, great episode

Bubs101

jackncoke wrote: »

South Park- Guitar Hero, great episode

That's a terrible episode if you haven't played the game.

TestTransmission

yah,but i have

tman

Sweet wrote: »

Didn't 'Phone Booth' with Colin Farrell actually have a direct reference to a Gamecube, the central character stating that the Gamecube was where he learned how to become such a good marksman? Or was it 'Tigerland'?

Same kind of thing in XXX...

Jim

You see Halo 2 and Halo 3 on two seperate occasions in "The Wire". Both times boys of around 14 are playing it, one time with a parent trying to get involved with what is going on.

Both times "HALO" was written across the screen in big letters heh.

Krieg

Hitman movie - Hitman; blood money
Although I don't think that counts

Creamy Goodness

Bubs101 wrote: »

That's a terrible episode if you haven't played the game.

i have and still think it's a ****e episode, the warcraft one was 1000's times better

sirpipalot

cool, thanks good few i hadn't heard about!

did someone actually play hitman (the game) in hitman (the film) or did i read that wrong?

rizzla

Disturbia, Shia Lebouf gets cut off from Xbox Live, also plays Ghost Recon I think and a PSP.

Spaced, one episode he's playing Resident Evil (Inspiration for Shaun of the Dead) and another they do a whole piss take of Tekken.

Krieg

sirpipalot wrote: »

cool, thanks good few i hadn't heard about!

did someone actually play hitman (the game) in hitman (the film) or did i read that wrong?

Yeah, its a bit where 47 comes through a hotel window and theres 2 kids in the room playing the game

BlitzKrieg

*cough*

the wizard

Malice

Don't forget Flight of The Navigator (I think he plays Defender or Galaxian in the beginning) and D.A.R.Y.L. (the kid rips through Outrun or Pole Position or something at superhuman speed).

L31mr0d

In BIG the young Tom Hanks is playing Colossal Cave Adventure.

In a recent episode of "The Big Bang Theory" (great show imo) called "The Dumpling Paradox" the guys are playing Halo 3.

Also this has to be the worst example of how the media sees video games. Its like they still believe games have midi sounds and feature levels.

What happened to you Cpt. Winters

Prince of Persia in the TV series "Life"

EDIT: I love the fact that by merely saying "i'm 30 years old, I live with my mom and I own a cpt kirk costume" is proof enough that he's going to be good at video games.

Rhyme

Steve Carrell plays a Tony Hawks game in 'The 40 Year Old Virgin'.

Gunmonkey

There was an episode of CSI Miami (3rd or 4th season) where some game players were reenacting a GTA style game and claiming they got "points" in real life when they killed someone, further proof why gaming + TV just doesnt mix.

Also, according to my recent PC Gamer, the film Inside Man had a scene where a kid plays another GTA style game with phrases like "Shoot that n***a" as he pours bullets into a corpse, haven't seen the film so cant give proof it exists.


Sad how they label us as all ADHD, psychopathic monsters and then complain when games feature characters + levels loosely based on real world characters or settings :rolleyes:

sirpipalot

L31mr0d wrote: »

Also this has to be the worst example of how the media sees video games. Its like they still believe games have midi sounds and feature levels.

this is exactly the kind of stuff i'm writing about
thanks for all the info everyone

mayordenis

seth in the OC.
also though you have to see this film if you are going to comment on this topic is "reign over me", its an adam sandler movie not comedy though shadow of the colossus features heavily throughout. great film.

thelordofcheese

Gunmonkey wrote: »

Sad how they label us as all ADHD, psychopathic monsters and then complain when games feature characters + levels loosely based on real world characters or settings :rolleyes:

Yeah, i really hate it when they do that, and giving us made up diseases is the last straw!

mayordenis

ADHighDefinition ITS REAL.

Shryke

There was something about a Halo night in the tv show The Big Bang Theory that was on recently. I was in the middle of something and didn't get to watch the whole thing though, but maybe someone else did?

Edit: Already mentioned I see... I'll get my coat.

conzy

Southpark - Guitar Queer-o

WarGames! only the greatest 80s film ever

Grandma's Boy is all kinds of great, Its about a Game Tester and it has some pretty good (or bad depending on how you look at it) examples of mainstream video game perception..

Makaveli

Spaced as already mentioned, but Simon Pegg plays Tomb Raider in it too.

Entourage, Turtle enters a Fight Night Round 2 tournament in season 2 I think. Vince plays Halo or Halo 2 (whichever) in season 1. They play Mortal Kombat at one stage too.

Hackers - Wipeout.

corcaigh07

cant believe no1 hasnt mentioned swingers yet, vince vaughan and some other dude play NHL '95(or possibly simliar version but pretty sure its 95), they end up having a scrap of their own because vaughan is acting the bollix!

BlitzKrieg

Doesnt mall rats also have NHL 95, it actually has an accurate protrayal to a small extent (people leaving the game on all night on pause because there was no save feature)

also Shaun of the Dead had timesplitters in it.

Niska

IT Crowd had Roy and Jen playing Guitar Hero (or GHII). Think it was "Men Without Women" (S2E6).

Watching "Grosse point Blank", and there was a DOOM II arcade machine in the quickimart (or similar) that gets boomed.

Dont be at yourself

Spaced, one episode he's playing Resident Evil (Inspiration for Shaun of the Dead) and another they do a whole piss take of Tekken.

Spaced represents the pinnacle in terms of videogames in Film/TV. A whole episode is based around Simon Pegg's addiction to Resident Evil, and there's references to the likes of Tekken and Tomb Raider in other episodes.

As has been said, Simon Pegg was also behind Shawn of the Dead, which also features them playing videogames.

L31mr0d

South Park and The Big bang theory did episodes featuring WoW

danbhala

halo 3 was in the background in one of the sets in the show Terminator: The Sarah Conor Chronicles a couple of times...

Mitch Connor

Charlies Angels, can't believe no one has mentioned this - two kids playing multi-player Final Fantasy (8, i think).

Vyse

Tauren wrote: »

Charlies Angels, can't believe no one has mentioned this - two kids playing multi-player Final Fantasy (8, i think).

Was just about to mention that one. There was a good article (I think it was in GamesTM) that covered this side of it i.e. producers not actually having a clue on how games are meant to sound/ be played/ look.

L31mr0d

Vyse wrote: »

i.e. producers not actually having a clue on how games are meant to sound/ be played/ look.

I think they basically have a set of sound bites under video games that haven't been updated since the days of Space Invader. I mean even in the recent episode of "The Big Bang Theory" where they are playing Halo 3 all you hear when they are playing is "pew pew" "crackle" "pew pew"

KoKane

Vince Vaughn - Playstation. American Football game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XCTSrgBGjk

Tails142

In movies only dialogue is generally recorded while filming.

All sound effects such as footsteps, doors closing, EVEN VIDEO GAMES are provided by what are known as 'Foley Artists'. Named after some guy called Foley, the first person to provide such sound effects for radio.

Now; chances are if someone was playing a computer game in the background of a film scene and it wasnt making the 'lazers pew pew' sounds it would be very disorientating and distract from the actual film dialogue - so that is probably why you will see the likes of Halo 3 on screen but it will still make the pew pew sound

koneko

Off the top of my head, other than already mentioned...

Chuck
In the first episode they're playing Gears of War, in nearly every episode since then they've been playing COD4 (and mention the "COD5 beta" invite they got from Infinity Ward, which Infinity Ward aren't making).

Another episode of the IT Crowd (other than Guitar Hero mentioned above) had Roy on a date with a girl, she had a 360 at her place along with Assassins Creed (not out at the time). Didn't show games playing on a screen though.

Shadow of the Colossus in Reign Over Me.

thelordofcheese

Tails142 wrote: »

In movies only dialogue is generally recorded while filming.

All sound effects such as footsteps, doors closing, EVEN VIDEO GAMES are provided by what are known as 'Foley Artists'. Named after some guy called Foley, the first person to provide such sound effects for radio.

Now; chances are if someone was playing a computer game in the background of a film scene and it wasnt making the 'lazers pew pew' sounds it would be very disorientating and distract from the actual film dialogue - so that is probably why you will see the likes of Halo 3 on screen but it will still make the pew pew sound

^ This.
They're making films and are more concerned with doing that then giving an accurate dipiction of our favourite hobby.

Dr Bob

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

Spaced represents the pinnacle in terms of videogames in Film/TV. A whole episode is based around Simon Pegg's addiction to Resident Evil, and there's references to the likes of Tekken and Tomb Raider in other episodes.

As has been said, Simon Pegg was also behind Shawn of the Dead, which also features them playing videogames.

In the spaced commentary at one point , he has a fairly valid rant about "bad video games playing acting" where the actor just mashes buttons and its painfully obvious to anyone who's picked up a controller since 1985 that they're not actually playing the game.Apparently he(Pegg) used to actually play the games onscreen ,which made it look more authentic , although apparently meant he missed cues a fair bit.

koneko

Oh and the movie Stay Alive. Terrible terrible horror film, but video games are pretty much the plot (the reason people are dying).

Stephen

Tails142 wrote: »

In movies only dialogue is generally recorded while filming.

All sound effects such as footsteps, doors closing, EVEN VIDEO GAMES are provided by what are known as 'Foley Artists'. Named after some guy called Foley, the first person to provide such sound effects for radio.

Now; chances are if someone was playing a computer game in the background of a film scene and it wasnt making the 'lazers pew pew' sounds it would be very disorientating and distract from the actual film dialogue - so that is probably why you will see the likes of Halo 3 on screen but it will still make the pew pew sound

You get the same kind of shyte when people use cameras on film and TV. You see guys using digital SLR cameras that make a 35mm film-winding noise each time they click the shutter release Decades old sound effects banks strike again!
All you should be able to hear is the click of the mirror going up. Then there's the likes of TV3's xpose that uses a totally fake camera noise every 2.4 seconds and drives me insane :mad:

Nevyn

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087597/

The Last Starfighter (1984)

This is the story of a videogaming boy, named Alex Rogan who lives in a remote trailer court where his mother is manager and everyone is like a big extended family. Meanwhile, Alex becomes the top player of Starfighter, a stand-up arcade game where the player defends "the frontier" from "Xur and the Kodan armada" in a space battle. After achieving his best score, he is approached by the game's inventor, Centauri. Stepping into Centauri's vehicle, he is seemingly doomed to stay at his trailer park home all in his life, he finds himself recruited as a gunner for an alien defense force when Centauri is a disguised alien who whisks him off to another planet.

Creature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc7mhiRJEkI

Mark Hamill

I think there was an episode of Heroes where Nikki was playing Heavenly Sword on the PS3 with her son Micah (months before it was released too, I believe)

Branoic

Mark Hamill wrote: »

I think there was an episode of Heroes where Nikki was playing Heavenly Sword on the PS3 with her son Micah (months before it was released too, I believe)

Yeah, I was just about to post this. It's clearly a pre-release version of the game as the format of the prompting icons on the screen is different to the released game.

Dr Bob

Getting way off topic here ,but wasn't one of the minor SG1/S.G. Atlantis characters (Dr Lee) a World of Warcraft player .Apparently he'd a level 70 mage , which at the time sounded like a gaffe as the level cap was 60.However a few months later an expansion was announced which did indeed bring the maximum level to 70.
Either the writers had a bit of inside knowledge , or screwed up but got lucky...

Earthhorse

Don't think it's been mentioned but there's a parody of Grand Theft Auto in Training Day. At least I think it's Training Day. I'm starting to doubt that as I type this.

Maybe it was that other film, Inside Man. It's in something anyway.

po0k

Mallrats
Mentions some hockey game.