According to MarketWatch in the Wall Street Journal, “THQ Inc. … and the Random House Publishing Group … announced that a novel set in the Homefront universe and co-written by John Milius (Red Dawn and Oscar Award-winning Apocalypse Now) and New York Times bestselling author Raymond Benson (author of two Metal Gear Solid books and multiple James Bond novels) will be published by Random House's Del Rey imprint, and arrive in early 2011 to coincide with the release of the first Homefront game.
All of you gamers out there, would you read a book based on a game you play, if it offered new storylines and scenarios? Or would you rather the storylines were incorporated into the game?
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A side question: Any of you out there know about working with websites? I need to talk to someone about how I can make changes to the structure of a site. This will involve a lot of deleting and I'm worried about totally messing up the site. I called tech support and was told I cannot delete folders nor change the structure. I can delete htm or html files, but nothing more.
I'm a huge reader but not a gamer at all. I like the idea of games but it would take me too far away from the love of my life - books!
ReplyDeleteYour side question - site structure is often within HTML, so I am a bit confused that the tech support said you could delete html without affecting the structure! This leads me to think that the site has a generic frame owned by a company and you can only edit content within it, name navigation, etc. You may have already done it, but maybe explain to the tech support exactly what you want to do. You may have to pay more for it if they own the code. Hope that helps, would prob need more details to be more specific!
I'm not a gamer. I should ask my 12-yr-old son. Right now, he's still sleeping. He likes to play and read, but I don't know how he'd feel about mixing the two. The book needs to come before the game to be written well I think.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a chance, stop by my blog. I'm hosting a Halloween Haunting from 10/28-11/1. Enter to win a prize.
I am a gamer and a reader, although I've not read too many books based on games. Seen a few movies, though!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, sounds like they have a set structure that can't be altered.
Can't help you with either question but I sympathize about the website!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a gamer, but I like the idea of taking a subject matter or activity people are passionate about and bringing them to books. It seems like it'll work well.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely not.
ReplyDeleteI think, at one point, I picked up a thumbed through a Zelda book once and was so disgusted, so completely put off by the story, that I set it down and decided never to consider it again.
That's a different story with manga, though. I'll read those, but only because I'm reading them to my kids. Honest. Quit laughing and pointing, alright?!?!?!?
MJenks, I've come to appreciate Manga. I don't read it, but my son does. 'Course, he reads just about anything, from Manga to history books to Harry Potter to scientific tomes.
ReplyDeleteNot an avid gamer. And not sure I would've read a book based on RollerCoaster Tycoon. (I do own the board game though - LOL!)
ReplyDeleteNever heard of RollerCoaster Tycoon, Diane. Have heard of the board game, CandyLand.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to ask my son about that. I'm thinking he'd rather see the scenario clips in the game itself. The only *story* based on a game I've ever known him to pick up was Halo. It didn't keep his interest.
ReplyDeleteHe loves the Drizzt series by Salvatore and I know quite a few gamers who do, but as far as I know, there aren't any games based on his stories.
Be interesting to see how it all *plays* out with Delrey.
I'm a reader and not gamer. I find all computer games completely boring (there are a million more interesting things to do with a xomputer). My son is a gamer, but not much of a reader. So I guess in my case the answer to your question is no
ReplyDeleteCold As Heaven
I might know someone who could help you, Helen. He's a friend of Kissie's - tomorrow's tour host - and he's helping me with my new author site that will be hosting my blog soon. When he's done hooking me up I can ask if he'd be able to bop over and help you too? Really nice chap...smart, too. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not a gamer but I'm havig the same problems with changing my website as you are, Helen. The changes come up just fine on Explorer but not on AOL. Hiring someone to do the changes for me is expensive, but there are books about designing websites although I think you have to have more knowledge about codes than I do. Best of luck with your own changes.
ReplyDeleteJean, I have two books on Dreamweaver, which is what I use to build websites. The problem with this one is that it has triplicated itself on the remote site. There are three sets of pages, three sets of images, three sets of templates and I can't figure out what goes to what. The site, instead of having 51 pages, has 153, plus 3 that don't go anywhere.
ReplyDeleteThanks Marvin. If he knows Dreamweaver, maybe he can figure it out.
Helen, let me know if you need more help with your Web site. My daughter does Web design and support and knows Dreamweaver. She is also an avid reader and gamer, so I can ask her if she would read a book based on games she enjoys. I'm guessing she would.
ReplyDeleteIs she married Maryann? My son's into Game Design. He's not looking, but I'm keeping my eye open. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI may call on her. I swear, I've been working on getting the site working right for weeks now. It's been a saga of my work and techs who are so not helpful. Today, I've gotten the pages looking right except for two. They work but two of the template buttons are not in the right position, but for the life of me I can't figure out why. It's the same template as on the other pages, and they look fine. Grrr. Gonna quit for the day.
We don't have any gamers in our family, so I can't really help you out there :)
ReplyDeleteThat's okay, Jemi. I really needed someone who uses Dreamweaver to create websites to help with a convoluted website I maintain. Thanks anyway!
ReplyDeleteY'all have been great trying to help.
I'm a gamer and a reader. As to whether I'd read something based on a game, it depends on two things. One, whether the game has a world, plot, and characters that lend themselves well to extra-game stories. Two, whether the book is well written. I've looked at books based on games and found them dreadful, not because of the story but because of the low-quality writing. But if I stumbled across a well-written book that expanded on a game-world that I've been immersed in, then yes, I'd probably enjoy reading it.
ReplyDeleteIf I play a game and no stories bloom in my mind, I probably wouldn't read a book about that game, because I couldn't see how it would lend itself to other stories. On one extreme, I can't imagine stories based on puzzle games; at the other extreme, I wouldn't be interested in a book based on a game that already had a highly-developed story with tightly-defined characters. What's left to imagine?
Also, if a book simply retells the story of a game, why bother? Novelizations of movies are typically awful, and novelizations of games are likely to be thus too. (I'm looking at you, God of War, with your novel that lost my interest before page three.)
However, some games are like blank slates. Games where you create your own characters, who have no defined personalities and no scripted dialogue, leave much room for the imagination.
Personally, I like single-player games. One old game that I keep playing over and over is Diablo II. The plot of the game is always the same. The order of quests never varies. You are limited to a small set of playable character classes, whose physical appearance (race, gender) does not vary within the class. During the course of the game, you acquire a mercenary. There are four types of mercenaries you can choose from, but beyond that, all mercenaries of each type are identical.
Now, this sounds very limiting. However, every single time I play, my mind is filled with dialogue and character interactions that are not on the screen. Sometimes I imagine that the character and the mercenary are lovers, watching each others' backs during the battles. Sometimes they're rivals, seeing who can rack up the most kills. Sometimes they outright hate each other, but they are forced to cooperate because neither is strong enough to fight the demons alone. The game never changes, but the story in my head is never the same. That's what keeps me playing over and over again, because I want the next story.
If someone were to write a book about the relationship between their Diablo II character and the mercenary as they traveled through the game world--camping, hunting, bickering, and all those regular-life things that the game doesn't bother to show--I'd probably read it.
For another example, I love strategy games where you get a huge army of characters who are essentially little more than chess pieces. The gameplay is all about battlefield tactics. My mind explodes with imaginary dialogue and intricate webs of relationships when I play games like this. I'd probably read a book based this type of game if the focus was on the pawns in the army, but not a book about the main characters whose story has already been told.
I don't play any MMORPGs, but I've watched friends play World of Warcraft (looking over their shoulders because some cool-looking monster caught my eye), and that world looks like it has tons of potential for original stories.
All that being a very roundabout way of saying, yes, I'd read a book about a game if it offered new stories or alternative perspectives.
Anj, sounds like you could write one. You know what you'd want and what you wouldn't. Perhaps you could choose a game or character and try to build an outline or plot points.
ReplyDeleteI believe World of Warcraft is one my son plays.