In the last few years there have been a shedload of movie-videogame tie ins. Most of these efforts have been lame. But as the video game industry has grown Hollywood has taken an interest – well more than it has in previous decades anyway. Various games are constantly rumoured to be ‘in production’ and then cancelled and then back ‘in pre-production’. Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether these rumours have certified sources and are true or whether they’re lies from die-hard fanboys. In recent years games like Halo, Metroid and Spiderman (oh wait…wrong way around; easily done!) have been cited as films in the works but then the movies never materialised. The latest rumour I’ve read about is a Pac-Man movie. Now I love Pac-Man, but this is ridiculous! How could you make a movie about a big, fat (assuming he’d be fat in 3D) yellow ball that eats pellets when his vocabulary consists of ‘waka waka waka’ – according to the original game at least!

This got me thinking – would movies based on video games work? Would they be any good or is Hollywood just cashing in? And which video games would actually make a decent film?

In terms of how much smaller the video game industry has been compared to the movies, it’s surprising how many video games have been made into a feature length film. Who could forget Super Mario Bros., Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter? I could! A number of Pokemon, Resident Evil and Final Fantasy films have been made all with varying success. Perhaps one of the biggest franchises to make a successful transition was the Tomb Raider series. Looking at that list there haven’t been many great video game movies.

Perhaps as the industry has grown, and matured in many ways, we will see more sophisticated games becoming movies. Assassin’s Creed, Bioshock, Devil May Cry, Gears of War, Metal Gear Solid, Kane & Lynch (please no! – don’t want anyone giving poor reviews of that one!) and Prince of Persia are all in the pipeline. Apparently!

Personally I’d like to see some more retro games being made into movie phenomenon. Pong anyone? It could be a more thrilling, gutsy version of ‘Wimbledon’ except without the puppy love. Although, we can keep Kirsten Dunst. Or how about a proper Mario movie? The plumber has moved on quite a lot since that original film not to mention his accent has changed. I reckon a decent animated film would suit Mario perfectly. Metroid has been the franchise that’s recently re-surfaced as a potential movie with director Michael Bay apparently taking up the reins. Now wouldn’t most of us want to see Samus in all her real life glory; suited or not? No?! Maybe it’s just me then.

What retro classics would you like to be seen made into a movie? Let us know by commenting below. Name the game and briefly outline a plot. We look forward to reading your ideas – you never know, it might get picked up on!