Morning folks. Matty Flatt again here with the Hoddle while Fitzie is on sabbatical. Is that a euphemism? You’ll never know.
Menno upped the music game again yesterday with his Hoddle; I’ll be posting another trip-hop vid below but instead today I’d like to pivot in this little Hoddle spiel to video games (or rather, TV adaptations of video games).
There’s been many video games adapted for the silver screen over the years, but it feels like the transition to the television medium is a reasonably recent one (a couple of notable exceptions such as Pokemon aside). It’s hard to know exactly why that is – though video games’ breakthrough into the mainstream consciousness combined with modern TV production techniques making the visualization of fantastic worlds more viable probably has a little something to do with it.
More and more of these video game TV shows are popping up now. We’ve seen in recent years the likes of Arcane, Halo, The Last of Us, Twisted Metal, The Witcher, Resident Evil, and most recently, Fallout hit our screens, each with varying degrees of success.
Resident Evil is ridiculous schlocky rubbish and was pretty deservedly cancelled. Halo I personally find entertaining, but you’d be hard-pressed to argue that it’s quality programming, and it’s deviated from the source material in ways that have enraged certain sections of fans (I personally think if somebody came in looking for a light sci-fi action show knowing nothing about the games they’d probably enjoy it). The Witcher followed a similar trajectory.
The Last of Us is the show that really elevated the genre, perhaps in part due to the rich, complex narrative already embedded in the source material – and is perhaps the best TV show of the bunch, with the acting, production, and story all fantastic.
My personal favorite, though, after binging it over the last week is Fallout. Hoo boy, is that show fun. Of all the shows above, it feels like this is the one that really gets the source material. It’s campy, bombastic, gory, dark, and cynical, and from the first shot just drags you into that world. It’s pure escapism – though not a world to which you’d want to escape – and I had a blast (pun intended) watching it.
What are your feelings on video game adaptations, even to the silver screen? Any favorites?
Matty’s track of the day: Mysterons (Live), by Portishead
And now for your links:
Alasdair Gold on the things he thinks Ange needs to address before Spurs’ upcoming gauntlet of fixtures
After the slightly dodgy vid earlier in the week, here’s a better quality recap of Spurs Womens’ matchday that secured them and FA Cup final at Wembley
Harry Kane is interviewed ahead of Bayern Munich’s Champions League tie against Arsenal, and asked about the impact to Spurs
Speaking of Champions League, some pretty stunning matches yesterday as PSG turned the tables on Barcelona and Dortmund took a thriller against Atletico