Does anybody remember the era of FMV games? FMV = Full Motion Video. It started with the arrival of the Sega CD system. Games like Night Trap and Sewer Shark. Later came Ground Zero Texas. It continued with games like Mad Dog McCree and Crime Patrol 2: Drug Wars on the Panasonic 3DO. It pretty much ended with Phantasmagoria in 1995 on the PC.

Anyways, most people think of FMV games as one of the worst ideas in video gaming history. People are glad that FMV games are dead and buried, never to be awoken again. But I honestly think a modern day FMV game could be pretty cool. You have to understand that some of the reasons that FMV games sucked so bad, had alot to do with the video quality and sound quality. Nowadays, you could have full screen 1080p video, instead of a small window in the middle of the screen full of pixelated video that you can barely make out. The sound was pretty horrible as well. Nowadays, you could have lossless 7.1 sound.

I know, I know... That's all fine and dandy, but FMV games lack any real interactivity. Well, that's partly true. But does a game like Scene It offer alot of interactivity? Not really. Does a game like Eye of Judgement offer a ton of gameplay? Not in the true sense of the word. There are all kinds of genres nowadays that can coexist with each other. I really think a modern day FMV game, marketed in the right way, could be a cool game that would gain enough of an audience to be profitable. Obviously the company behind the game isn't going to pretend it's some super interactive game or anything like that. It is what it is. But if you can accept it for being somewhat campy, and not truly interactive, I still think it could be pretty interesting.

Ground Zero Texas for the Sega CD wasn't that horrible of a game. Imagine something along those lines, but with modern day technology. 1080p video, lossless sound. Imagine having an interactive movie similar to Cloverfield or I Am Legend. Sure, it wouldn't really be like a true video game, cause you wouldn't have direct control over your character, but they could still do alot of cool stuff with it. It seems that alot of retro stuff is in vogue nowadays, and they have revisited just about everything except FMV games. I seriously think it's time for somebody to take a huge gamble with a modern day FMV game.

What say you?

I would totally be on board with a brand new, high-def Mad Dog McCree with a lightgun. I don't really know why- I guess for nostalgia's sake.

I'd also pick up a new D.

I'd be keen to see another Zork game with real life acting. I'm not 100% sold 1080p video would be necessary. 720p would allow over 12 hours of footage.

I was just playing Phantasmogoria 1 & 2 on my old Pentium 100 the other day. I always loved games like these.
Sign me up to ride in the front of the bandwagon for this idea! :cool:

Dragon's Lair (http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/dragonslair.html) and Space Ace have been remastered in 1080P for Blu-ray machines to play. Even the sound is now up to DD 5.1. It's animation, but the same gameplay concept.

The problem with FMV is simple: bad acting, directing and writing ruins the experience. Computer graphic story lines can get away with it a little more, but even that is changing.

Dragon's Lair (http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/dragonslair.html) and Space Ace have been remastered in 1080P for Blu-ray machines to play. Even the sound is now up to DD 5.1. It's animation, but the same gameplay concept.

The problem with FMV is simple: bad acting, directing and writing ruins the experience. Computer graphic story lines can get away with it a little more, but even that is changing.


The problem with Space Ace and Dragons Lair, is those are actually Blu Ray releases, not games. Yeah, supposedly you can "play" them with the Blu Ray remote, but that doesn't really seem right. Also, they are cartoons, and not what I'm really talking about. Those were made in the 80's, and were barely interactive at all.

I'm not saying Sewer Shark and Night Trap and Ground Zero Texas were dramatically more interactive, but they made you feel more a part of the action than games like Space Ace and Dragon's Lair.

Also, I'm talking about a "modern-day" FMV game. Advances have been made in the last 10 to 15 years. I'm sure a modern day game, made on the PS3 or Xbox 360 could be alot more interactive than the ones made in the early 90's. As for the bad acting and writing, well, in a way, that's what gives these games their charm. A game like Night Trap is fun to play "because" the acting is so bad.

A modern day Night Trap, (think something like Scream or Prom Night or something like that), with 7.1 lossless sound and 720p video or 1080p video or whatever, would be pretty freaking cool, bad acting or not. If you try playing a game like Sewer Shark today, one of the big problems, is that the video window is super tiny, and the video quality is horrible. Those are two problems that wouldn't exist today. There wouldn't be a "video window". It would be completely full screen, in a 16:9 aspect ratio (although 2:35:1 would be even cooler!). And the video wouldn't look like total crap, being all pixelated and hard to make out. It would be crysal clear in High Definition.

In fact, it would be really cool if somebody got the rights to all the old Digital Pictures FMV games, and then got the original film prints and transfered it to High Def, made it full screen, and remixed the sound to 5.1. I'd love to play a High Def transfer of Ground Zero Texas, with crystal clear video, full screen.

Even better would be a modern day production, filmed with actual HD cameras, and with modern day sound (7.1 lossless) and special effects. Bad acting or not, I would enjoy it for what it is. Obviously, it isn't COD4 or Bioshock or Uncharted or anything like that, but if you can enjoy it for what it is, I think it could be extremely entertaining.

In fact, it would be really cool if somebody got the rights to all the old Digital Pictures FMV games, and then got the original film prints and transfered it to High Def, made it full screen, and remixed the sound to 5.1. I'd love to play a High Def transfer of Ground Zero Texas, with crystal clear video, full screen.

Well, I doubt that the footage would be 16x9, since it was probably shot with 4x3 in mind. I don't like non-OAR movies, and I wouldn't like non-OAR games either. They messed up with the BD of Dragon's Lair, but with Space Ace they gave you a choice of original or 16x9.

However, I don't think there would be a demand for these games. I think the reason they failed really was the limited interactivity. The video was actually somewhat impressive for the systems at the time. Besides, FMV has already taken its rightful (IMHO) place in gaming, in the form of cutscenes between gameplay.

I just don't think we'll see it, especially as visuals get better, to the point where there's not a huge gap between in-game graphics and movies. Some games aren't even using pre-rendered movies these days because of the advancements in graphics.

BTW, they did remaster that Sherlock Holmes game for DVD several years ago.

man... i'd kill for a 1080p updated Burn:Cycle

I have yet to experience the lossless sound. I'm saving up for my next receiver.
Only hear good stuff about it so I'd like to have it for the videogames.