GameSpot data producer Dave Toister lives for the future, which is, incidentally, now. Send your insight on what the future holds to [email protected].

　　On a personal level, I think it's human nature to categorize something you care deeply about as "yours." It's not ownership in the proprietary sense, but it's ownership in the sense of identifying with something passionately and connecting with others who feel the same way. It's been going on in sports for years now. I'm not a partial owner, and I've never stepped on the ice at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, but the San Jose Sharks are "my" team. Similarly, I care a lot about games and have an intense interest in knowing what's going on in "my" industry. Honestly, I felt that way long before I ever got a job in the industry, and I suspect that my gaming friends did too. We may have only been trading NHL 2K3 goalie slider settings or discussing the best place to get NCAA 2004 roster updates, but as far as we were concerned, we were talking about "our" industry.

　　This sentiment of game industry "ownership" and inclusion by media outlets could be likened to movie critics claiming the movie industry is "theirs." Really, there is no good answer for either side of the argument--both need a little bit of each other to fully succeed, so they're dependent on each other.

　　What if movies seamlessly transitioned into game sequels, and vice versa?

　　And speaking of movies, with all the recent game-based motion pictures and the increase in higher-quality movie-based games, I'm waiting for the time when movie sequels and game sequels will carry over fluidly from one medium to the next. Imagine going to see a movie, a grand feature like The Lord of the Rings or even a simple action flick, and then playing the full-fledged sequel--not just a converted version of the current movie--on a game console.

　　The problem with movie and game tie-ins is that there is often a content (and quality) disconnect between the two products--and this is something that, if resolved, could really advance the way we look at media as a whole. If movies and games had the same development track--that is, if the producers took equal interest in both the film product and the game product and made sure they were of equal quality and story--we could really dive deeper into these universes.

　　As it stands, most movie-to-game translations either offer a vague reproduction of the film plot, usually throwing in a little more content, or offer a complete reinterpretation of the property, using the characters but not really tying in to the movie. And conversely, most game-based motion pictures deviate wildly from the original content, often to a ridiculous extent (such as Alone in the Dark and Street Fighter: The Movie). While a select few may remain fairly true to their original properties (the original Mortal Kombat movie comes to mind), those have been few and far between. In either case, we don't see a sequel, but rather some kind of a "reproduction" of the original.

　　Here's another possibility: television programs. With a typical series this would be a hard thing to do, because you couldn't reasonably expect most people to watch an entire season of a TV show and also play a game to get the full story. TV has always been a more-casual, less-hands-on medium, whereas movies, being stand-alone products, seem like they could cater more to the whole sequel-as-a-game thing. But it's still possible to tie in games with between-seasons TV. In fact, The Shield, a game that is currently in limbo, was supposed to take place between two of the television show's seasons, adding in a little bit of story and filling in some gaps. This sort of additional content could help keep a property fresh during the off-season with some bonus material, while not alienating those who only watch TV. Of course, this assumes the writing would be consistent and the game could live up to the show's original vision, since it could cause more harm than good if done poorly.

　　If movies and games can be fluidly combined into one continuous story, the face of entertainment could drastically change. People who enjoy both will be in heaven (assuming they're fans of those specific movies and games), and those who might normally not pay attention to a video game (or to a movie, for that matter) may find themselves diving into unfamiliar territory to continue the story. Heck, in the future, the line between movies might get so blurred that they'll all be one interactive adventure. That would be a sight to behold.

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