@LP4600: Do you think most directors even WRITE original stories?

Ashurahori

@LP4600: Just strikes me as being ridiculously over critical, if you ask me. You don't have to be creative to direct a movie like 300? Damn.

dowingba

@everybest: No more than making a game translates to directing a movie. Perdy silly if you ask me. :P

Tulkamir

@dowingba: Good point Dowingba.

However, I never said he was "worse" because his source was an existing work (movie or graphic novel). I was merely pointing out that I would be more impressed if he had brought his own original idea to the big screen. Imagine being popular for doing a cover of a famous song, like Jingle Bells. Wouldn't you want to be known for writing your own songs instead of being known as that guy who sang that other guy's song.

If had done so, and came out with a movie with a story he wrote all his own, then I would be more convinced --"hey, this guy is creative enough to come out with his own stuff. Maybe having him do a game isn't such a half-bad idea after all. I mean, it's not like he's going to take an indy idea, dress it up, and pass it off as his own."

LP4600

@Kloud:

He plays games?

axiom

@LP4600: That's what irks me... they're paying him to step up from the director's seat, and go straight to game development. Does he have any experience with past games or ANYTHING?

Kloud

@LP4600: Most movies are based on books. How is basing it on a graphic novel any worse?

dowingba

His big break is taking someone else's work and putting it up on the big screen. Don't get me wrong. I love 300. I lined up hours to see it. And The Watchmen's on my watch list, but just because you can direct a movie, doesn't mean you can make a game.

And if he was really serious about designing a game, shouldn't he have, at the very least, a few ideas bouncing around in his head already? I know I would --that is, if EA were paying me a bazillion bucks.

LP4600

he mite be a great asset...or maybe not...time will tell..I enjoyed 300 even though frank miller didn't direct it sadly and I'm looking for to the watchmen movie so so far this guy is okay by my book

DespisedMC

All I can say is why? WhY,why,why?

axiom

300 made me nauseous.

dowingba

I'd say he should study closely how a game is made before making one.

Ashurahori

Does movie directing translate over to game producing just like that? Personally, I'd rather watch another one of his movies than attempt to play his first attempt at a game.

everybest

Ehehe, I thought he was flipping off the camera at first.

Anyway, this could be cool... that is if he doesn't just throw some crap together because the fans call for it.

That's right, I'm talking to you, Mr. Lucas!

ArgentAngel

They want his money.

zkotaku

i dunno, i bet he's the type of guy whose been playing videogames his whole life.

just because he hasn't gone to "videogame college" and he doesn't have any previous games under his belt... doesn't mean he's gonna suck.

he's worked on large-scale artistic developments before, he knows how to direct a team of people, and he's clearly got a knack for making things fucking cool.

...i gotta say, im excited, but i obviously do hold my final say until i see what he's working on, and actually hear some reviews, and try it out, before i say its any good.

but hell, that goes for any future game.

joeloliol

Its in my top 5 worst films ever, such an offensive film on so many levels

MortonCabarizzaaay

@dowingba:

It was a very empty movie, despite all the frat-boys whooping it up as though it were the second coming.

pylon_trooper

@dowingba: I am being hyper critical this morning aren't I? I apologize.

It does take a lot of creativity to put a movie like 300out on the big screen. Did I mentioned that I like that movie and that it was my first blu-ray purchase?

At any rate, I am officially cutting this guy some slack and hoping to be proven wrong by his first game. Maybe he'll make a LBP version of 300, who knows?

LP4600

@MortonCabarizzaaay: On which levels did the film offend you?

Sandvich

@lucifer_goosifer: 300 contained right-wing propaganda? Would you care to expand on that statement? I'm very interested in learning more about that.

Sandvich

@dowingba: Yup, same here.

Distorted history + right wing propaganda = funtime?

lucifer_goosifer

@lucifer_goosifer: @pylon_trooper: Er what? I mean literally nauseous. Because of the stupid amount of "randomly go into slow motion for a couple seconds" effects. It was really a rather poorly done movie.

dowingba

Snyder is a hack and a wanker.

Not that surprising he ended up signing with EA.

GrandfatherParadox

I have to say...

It's just "Watchmen", not "The Watchmen."

Sorry, I had to.

No, I don't have anything worthwhile to contribute.

punjabifury

So, before we got Hollywood actors to do voice overs, oftentimes badly. And now they're getting Hollywood directors to do games? Why do they think these people are any good at video games if they're good/okay at movies? It's like telling a musician to paint a picture, "since it's all art, right?".
Snyder is not the worst director around, but so far his big hit has been 300, a shot-by-shot movie of a comic, with visuals by Frank Miller and the worst scenes in it being the ones Snyder himself came up with. His next movie will be Watchmen, a shot-by-shot movie of one of the damn best comics. So why does EA think he could come up with 3 games of his own?

Poison

I think that he may make better games then movies.

zoemgs2

@MortonCabarizzaaay: Yeah... I would like to know as well.

zoemgs2

@punjabifury: I was gonna point that out too.

locusta

Interesting to read all this hate. The guy's a visionary, a good one at that. The directors primary role is to convey the story to the audience in an interesting manner and everything I've seen come out of this guy has been pretty fucking solid.

No, he won't be down in the trenches doing all of the grunt work such as modeling the assets and what not, but his job will be in presenting the content to the gamer and he seems pretty well qualified to do just that, much like Spielberg did with Boom Blox.

i_9

SNYDER! WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION!?
...Nothing to do with making games

MegamanPhantom

i'm sorry, but what the heck does 'making a game' mean for a film director?

this is just attaching a name to someone elses talent.

gique

@zoemgs2: Well it angered me more than it offended my. BTW im not the OP. For one it was a very shallow film with nothing but violence glorified by special effects. It twisted history to portraying the persian empire as savage perverted monsters, so yeah it was fairly offensive.

Cue2

@lucifer_goosifer: Right wing propaganda? Seriously, I am a Dem and all I can say if WTF. Its a movie. Distorted History? It is a MOVIE based of a GRAPHIC NOVEL, not a history book. I bet you were one of the people who went on Yahoo! Movies and rated it 1* because it wasn't historically accurate.

Quicksilver4648

@i_9: A visionary?

Well, I'll have to agree with that; nobody else outside San Fran (teehee, I'm so bad) would have ever thought to make the Spartans so detailed. And unclothed. Yes, from a visual perspective, his movies are something else. Something else entirely.

AvidAbey

300 is very similar to Halo 3. They're both awesome, but there is always a group of haters out there that are "too cool" to like them.

Friscodude

@i_9: Wow, a visionary? Really?
You're easy to please.

lucifer_goosifer

He's making Boom Blox with spartan blocks?

CockroachMan

@Cue2: Oh I just HATE it too when comic writers take the liberty of making a fiction-based fairy tale.

Speaking of liberty, doesn't it just make your boil your piss that ID portrays the nazis of being in possession of lasergun-wearing-zombies and other shit that be freaky!

Cavefish

I think its really interesting how many people consider 300 a movie for testosterone driven frat boys. I loved the movie and I am pretty far from a frat boy (I hate frats!). I can understand people not liking it because it wasn't historically accurate but c'mon unless you were there, no one actually knows what really happened and for all we know, all of world history is inaccurate. The whole displaying Persians as monsters thing, I thought that was just visually displaying how the Spartans viewed them. I can see how some thought it was shallow, I think I could argue that, depends on what you idea of deep is.

RET_Ghost

@Friscodude:
Too cool is right! Ever seen some "fan" quote 300, just to have others chiming in like it was some Buddhist mantra?

Space_Cakes

@RET_Ghost:

Interesting you say that about the Spartans viewing the Persians...that's exactly how it was, it was the speaker's depiction of everything. The entire movie was a story told by him. Note he wasn't even in a lot of the scenes he so vividly depicts...Zack Synder even said as much in the commentary about the last scene, that the scene was so extra embellished becuase he wasn't even there to see it - probably just making crap up.

SuperMaxZero

@Cue2:

Oh no. Don't tell me they're still trying to demonize the ancient Perisan Empire. That's incredibly offensive, with all the relevance it has today and how advanced and civil society was back then.

SuperMaxZero

@SuperMaxZero: uh no, persia and iran are interchangable just as iranian and persian is so yes I would say its relevant just as distorting any country's history or race is. Look up The Eternal Jew just because jews existed a thousand years ago doesnt mean people will not relate to it now. Would you say that it will not be offensive to show that movie because its talking about jews from 50-60 years ago?

Cue2

Alright EA-ians, tonight we dine in SIMCITY!

Japanties

@Cavefish: Actually it does annoy me since you asked. I see no reason why they should be Nazi's and are you comparing the Persian empire to Nazi's, well there you go. There is no reason why they would have used the spartan army or persian empire if it were truely fictional would it have been so hard to come up with the name of two empires I doubt it.

Cue2

As happy as I am to see some new IPs being developed, it's criminally unfair that someone who's as unproven as Zack Snyder gets the opportunity to create them. New IP creation in the game industry is just too rare to give it to an outsider. There are people in this industry who've worked for 15 or 20 years making great games who still have to toil away on licenses and other garbage. Give *those* people the chance to create some new IPs, not this scrub.

ShyamalikaJiblical

@Cue2: "are you comparing the Persian empire to Nazi's, well there you go"

Way to miss the point, dude. I was comparing added fiction to added fiction. Meh, you are going to hear exactly what you want to hear anyway.

Cavefish

@Cavefish: I hear nothing but I do read what you write very well. I dont think I missed the point because I did comment on the fact that it annoys me. I think you mean fact with fiction because Nazis did exist anyway all I was saying is with that comment is I think Nazi's were used because evil and nazi is almost a synonym already because of HISTORY(not that I agree with using Nazis in alot of films/games) where as this was demonising for the sake of demonising into a historical event. If you ment something else then fair enough.

Cue2