Ever wanted to play a game based on Shakespeare? How about Melville?
Well now you can! ” Great Books Games aims to develop gaming franchises centered about rich stories contained in the Great Books.” And they will start with Dante’s Inferno.
This isn’t real, but it should be. A game based on Red Badge of Courage? Don’t we have that with Sid Meier’s Gettysburg? How would you capture Hamlet in a game? It’s like a grand love letter to overambitious game designers around the world.
I love how they trumpet the educational value: “GBG games will have great educational value: as long as kids/teens are shooting/flying/racing, why not expose them to classical art and literature?”
Hilarious.
I can imagine the Inferno game now.
“YOU ARE IN A ROOM OF RIGHTEOUS PAGANS. WILL YOU SMITE THEM?” YES
“SORRY. THEY ARE ALREADY DEAD.”
If they borrow from Daikatana, you’ll probably get killed if Virgil gets stuck on a doorway. And what exactly will you be doing here? I know I asked for religion in games, but medieval Catholicism isn’t quite what I expected.
(Thanks to Josh over at Cathode Tan.)
Dude, books can make great games. R.A.M.A (newer version) is one of my favourite games of all time.
It’s just that it’s more subjectible to designer’s intepretation than say movie to games, so most of the people jump and lynch because the armors weren’t green.
WHY THEY WEREN’T GREEN?
Doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me either. Unfortunately, I find it a little hard to take a company with no track record (that I could find, at least) that has already planned its next 10 games very seriously.
I’m thinking it’s satire, Michael. It’s just too perfect to be true.
Perhaps you’re right. But then again, there is a lot of domains (did you try following the Autumn Rangers link) and a lot of time gone into it, if that is the case.
I have seen (some would say thought them up as well :-) ) quite a number of completely delusional game development and novel ideas, and this one doesn’t strike me as much sillier than so many others. Sad, but true.
Ooh! There’s hope for my Jane Austen game: http://www.phobe.com/austen.html
When Parody Becomes Real // Nov 3, 2008 at 12:57 pm
[…] Three years ago I pointed to a parody that promised “Great Book Games” including a game based on Dante’s Inferno. […]