It’s worth noting that I played the Discworld video game before I finished reading a Terry Pratchett book. I don’t know if this says more about the cultural heritage of video games, or my own ignorance of literature growing up, but in late 20th century England not having read Terry Pratchett by the age of 11 is pretty amazing unachieved. Of course, I quickly corrected one.
That was decades ago (I’m getting older), and you’d think that, if anything, the acceptance of video games as a valid form of artistic expression would have grown since then. I’m not sure it has, although luckily we do seem to see behind the dreaded “game art?” Debate, if only because everyone involved is either dead or so bored with the topic that they happily admit that it doesn’t matter either way. Who cares, shoots the diabolical idiot (or, in fact, the diabolical idiot).
But I can’t help but think that Pratchett, who was in every way a thoughtful, kind, visionary man, would be interested in me getting into his work through a PS1 game starring Eric Idle, rather than, say, by reading Only you can save humanity as part of the syllabus. More progressive than Andrzej Sapkowski, who has publicly stated that he sees gaming as an unserious form of entertainment that renders his work irrelevant.
Terry loves games. He loved The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and was enjoying Tomb Raider on PS1 while I was playing a point-and-click adventure based on his Rincewind novel, helping to build his daughter Rhianna’s take on Tomb in the process. Raider’s love medium. Of course, she’ll go on to be a titan in the industry, and her extensive resume includes modernizing Lara’s character and origins for 2013’s critically acclaimed reboot of the game, as well as writing an extremely rare video that’s truly entertaining in the form of the Overlord series Game fantasy example.
Books and games always seem to do this little dance. They steal characters, settings, themes and concepts from each other. Their respective industries feed on talent. And, most importantly, their intertwined relationship inspired the theme of this podcast, namely:
The best games are based on a book no one has actually read.
Be sure to let us know what you think of the show – if this is your first time listening, come back and listen to the previous episodes. If you have suggestions on topics, we’d love to hear them, as Tom has a right about having to google “books” this week, and I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes every time I suggest a group has to do actual research.
“What is iGamesNews’s best gaming podcast ever?” you ask? Well, it’s essentially a 30-minute panel presentation where people (Jim Trinca and colleagues) decide the best game in a particular category. That’s it. very good. listen to this. We’ve got some details on the show’s content below, and we’ve also got a fan-created artist’s impression of what Chris Bratt would look like in a wooden tub. (Supporting friends at iGamesNews on Patreon, People Make Games).
The best game, based on a book no one really read
This is the topic of episode 24 of this podcast. Here’s a rundown of who chose what.
Tom – Jurassic Park on Mega CD
By his own admission, this is a very bad game for a very bad platform. At least you tried, Tom!
Alex – Parasite Eve
The Square Enix game is based on a little-known book that’s still critically acclaimed, and comes with a convoluted origin story that includes further evidence of Square’s love-hate relationship with the West. Classic Donaldson play, this one. If big cats were in it, we could call it the most Donaldson game ever (he loves big cats).
Kelsey – The Binding of Isaac
Another excellent left-field option by Kelsey is only slightly disappointing, since the book in question is the Bible, so it’s not particularly obscure (I don’t know anyone reading it, though, so it’s nitpicking the most OK).
Come back in a week for another exciting installment of iGamesNews’s Best Gaming Podcast of All Time.
Table of Contents
