J.J. Abrams Confirms Half-Life Movie, Teases Official Portal Film Announcement

[heisenberg]

Director J.J. Abrams says that both the Half-Life and Portal movies are in development now.

We've been hearing about movie adaptations of Half-Life and Portal for years now, and this week, director J.J. Abrams confirmed to IGN that both it and a movie adaptation of Portal are "still very much in development."

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/new...ovie-Teases-Official-Portal-Film-Announcement

This news is quite old but it looks like JJ wants to crap on other franchises after he has finished his business with Star Trek.

 

[Joelist]

Well at least with Half Life there isn't the same kind of established canon to mess up.

 

[Overmind One]

JJ Abrams?

For me, it's like that. I don't want to see anything JJ Abrams does. If it does well, then I will hear about it.

 

[Overmind One]

Well at least with Half Life there isn't the same kind of established canon to mess up.

Welll.....there is a canon for Half Life. Ever played the games? There is a definite canon which forms the whole premise of Half Life, and the main character has a name (Gordon Freeman). There are events which create the conditions for the game to progress, and that is a story that they play out in cutscenes.

 

[Joelist]

It doesn't even compare to Trek canon. Half Life canon is pretty simple all told.

 

[Overmind One]

It doesn't even compare to Trek canon. Half Life canon is pretty simple all told.

Agreed, but Abrams will not be able to ignore the origin story if he wants fans of Half Life to go see the thing. The game is a first person shooter, so he can do a variety of different stories with Gordon, but he has to be Gordon and the premise of the story has to remain intact in order for it to be Half Life. This might help:

http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Half-Life_Wiki:Canon

I have only played two of the games, but there are several.

 

[PussyGalore]

Half Life is one of the few games I gave up on. It just didn't do it for me. I don't know why. As for a movie of a video game I won't get my hopes up. They often don't work out that well. (Assassin's Creed anyone?)

I am worried about the day that they decide to make the Uncharted games into a movie. They're awesome games and could make a fun adventure movie but it could also turn out really bad too.

 

[Overmind One]

Half Life is one of the few games I gave up on. It just didn't do it for me. I don't know why. As for a movie of a video game I won't get my hopes up. They often don't work out that well. (Assassin's Creed anyone?)

I am worried about the day that they decide to make the Uncharted games into a movie. They're awesome games and could make a fun adventure movie but it could also turn out really bad too.

Yep, I get bored of first person shooters quickly. They are always the same type of gameplay...you run around loaded up with weapons and shoot stuff in different locales while others shoot at you. Initially, these new locales are fun and interesting, but after a very short time, you realize that you are still just playing a first person shooter game that is not much different in gameplay from Quake or Call of Duty. I am mostly a Strategy gamer. Not much movie making potential in strategy games though. I think that is a good thing!

 

[PussyGalore]

Yep, I get bored of first person shooters quickly. They are always the same type of gameplay...you run around loaded up with weapons and shoot stuff in different locales while others shoot at you. Initially, these new locales are fun and interesting, but after a very short time, you realize that you are still just playing a first person shooter game that is not much different in gameplay from Quake or Call of Duty. I am mostly a Strategy gamer. Not much movie making potential in strategy games though. I think that is a good thing!

I also get tired of "run and fetch" type games. Skyrim quickly devolved into this type of thing with a million little quests that were nothing more than "go here, collect that" nonsense. I like having a sandbox to explore in a game but I wish the creators could be more clever than simply making players run from one end of the map to the other simply to collect some inane item.

 

[Overmind One]

I also get tired of "run and fetch" type games. Skyrim quickly devolved into this type of thing with a million little quests that were nothing more than "go here, collect that" nonsense. I like having a sandbox to explore in a game but I wish the creators could be more clever than simply making players run from one end of the map to the other simply to collect some inane item.

This syndrome killed Diablo. The first one was great, until the multiplayer was hacked and people started cheating with patches which would allow them to be invisible, kill you at spawning, kill in Town where weapons normally don't work, etc. Diablo 2 feels and plays more like Warcraft than anything else, and now the game franchise is on it's deathbed.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

Agreed, but Abrams will not be able to ignore the origin story if he wants fans of Half Life to go see the thing. The game is a first person shooter, so he can do a variety of different stories with Gordon, but he has to be Gordon and the premise of the story has to remain intact in order for it to be Half Life. This might help:

http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Half-Life_Wiki:Canon

I have only played two of the games, but there are several.

Actually it doesn't have to be Gordon. It could be a completely different character operating in the same series of events but unrelated to Gordon. Or Gordon could come along a couple of times.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

Half Life is one of the few games I gave up on. It just didn't do it for me. I don't know why. As for a movie of a video game I won't get my hopes up. They often don't work out that well. (Assassin's Creed anyone?)

I am worried about the day that they decide to make the Uncharted games into a movie. They're awesome games and could make a fun adventure movie but it could also turn out really bad too.

I recently played Half Life for the first time. I saw it through to the end, but man o man was that a long game. It's not really my thing.

Now Portal on the other hand... GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!

 

[Overmind One]

Actually it doesn't have to be Gordon. It could be a completely different character operating in the same series of events but unrelated to Gordon. Or Gordon could come along a couple of times.

True, but the first game started with Gordon. Also they have to do the rift accident at Black Mesa to set up what happens in the Half Life universe. Sure, they can change it but then it will come off like all of Abrams' other shit...ripped off and not true to canon or look.

 

[Atlantis]

He is like trying to follow in the steps of Jerry Bruckheimer and michael Bay by being involved in every big blockbuster movie.