Games are exceeding movies - Stan Lee

By Ellie Gibson Published 24 July, 2008

Spider-Man's Dad speaks out.

Spider-Man creator Stan Lee has said he believes games are catching up with films these days - and in even surpassing them in some respects.

Lee was speaking during a panel discussion at this year's Comic Con event in San Diego. "When you talk about games evolving over the years and becoming more like movies, in many ways, they've gone beyond movies," he said. "To do a movie is difficult, but it's linear. There's a beginning, a middle and an end, and that's it - you write a story.

"In a videogame, you're writing many stories within the story. It's a totally different structure and a totally different philosophy of writing and, I think, a much, much more difficult one. I get the feeling more work goes into these videogames than even goes into the movies."

During the panel discussion, trailers were shown for forthcoming Activision titles Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion. Lee confirmed he's also working on new movie projects with Marvel - but by the sounds of things, it's games that are really impressing him these days.

"I marvel at the fact the games look as good, and in some cases better, as the most expensive movies," he said. "[Those] guys are just geniuses. Now you watch one of these games and it's like watching the greatest superhero movie, except you're part of it. It's indescribable.

"And you know it takes a lot to impress me," he joshed.

Comic Con is going on right up until Sunday night at the San Diego Convention Centre. Our highlights of the show have so far included seeing John Barrowman signing autographs and looking frightened, grown adults walking round in Hogwarts uniforms and this quote, overheard from someone flicking through the event schedule: "Cliffy B and Peter Molyneux in the same room? That's a whole lot of awesome in one place, dude."

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • mattigan #1 4 years ago

    You don't know who Stan Lee is??!!??

    /Points finger at door

    Get Out, you're fired from gaming forums!

  • Ste105 #2 4 years ago

    Stan Lee created Spiderman and the Hulk....to name but a few..

  • Daymare #3 4 years ago

    I hate this kind of retarded comparisons. And from Stan Lee, no less! I wonder how he'd react if I'd say modern comic books are just a shadow of movies or some thoughtless shit like that. Movies are movies, games are games, comics are comics. Games have not "exceeded" movies in any way other then financial.

  • mattigan #4 4 years ago

    You don't get in here much do you? I can tell by the way my attempt at a humourous comment sailed majestically over your head.

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #5 4 years ago

    Excelsior!

  • megurushi Verified Consultant, 2e2 #6 4 years ago

    "Now you watch one of these games and it's like watching the greatest superhero movie, except you're part of it. It's indescribable."
    But technically, you did just describe it as "like watching the greatest superhero movie".

    As much as I love Stan Lee, he's wrong.
    A few games have been close, GTA IV most recently (for me), but they fall way short of the depth and quality of a good movie.
    I think he is thinking more about the creative process and they way films and games are constructed.
    A game does require more work, but maybe not the levels of quality seen in a great film.
    The quality of the writing and directing is not there in games, they are still limited by the rules of what is technically acheivable.
    GTA felt very linear to me, as many games do. Maybe I've just seen it all before.
    Movies however can often throw me suprises, this I feel comes from the breadth of genres available in movies compared to games.
    In that respect games are far behind movies...

  • Tyranix #7 4 years ago

    With the absolute garbage that is churned out over and over again by Hollywood these days, this is not a hard judgement to make. There is only the occasional genuinally good movie, and true the same might be said for games but at least they allow more interaction and depth than just staring blankly at a screen wondering "Why the hell am I watching this?"

  • Bezzy #8 4 years ago

    Thanks Stan Lee, for justifying the games medium. That's all we were waiting for... for someone to tell us we're better than movies.

    Groan.

  • mattigan #9 4 years ago

    Oh I don't know, the target audience are similar and the themes, story lines and imagry transfer quite well. Plus he was instumental in the creation of some of the most memorable characters in comicbook history so he knows how to spin a good yarn. If he is keen to see his empire expanded into the interactive arena then surely that can only be a good thing for the industry as when the boss has a vested interet in seeing that the output of developers is up to scratch, then maybe that will be a incetive to produce bigger and better games.

  • hulahoops #10 4 years ago

    Jeez guys, this sort of thing is the only hope our medium of choice has of becoming accepted as something more than a kid's toy, and yet we're all crawling over each other to kick it in the teeth.

    Until we learn to accept our dirty little secret the rest of the world sure as hell won't.

  • louyfitz #11 4 years ago

    Of course games are better than films, we all know that. Graphics quality is equal in most cases, personally I'd say Halo and Bioshock look much more advanced than films like Shrek and Robots.

    But graphics aren't everything, and I'd say the main advantage is interactivity.

    Games like GTA 4 tell an amazing story, but let you make decisions along the way and choose how you want to tackle each mission.

    I'd like to see a real cross between a game and a film, where you can choose to watch or play each chapter. this would give you the option to get involved or if you want to sit back and watch with a beer in your hand you can do that too.

    Dunno if anyone else thinks that is a good idea, maybe it's just me being lazy.

  • hulahoops #12 4 years ago

    "Dunno if anyone else thinks that is a good idea, maybe it's just me being lazy."

    No, actually I think there's something there.

    What if your input was just to change a few things at the start of the film. Say it's like a puzzle and you're trying to get the good ending. Then you watch a 30 minute film where all your decisions have a consequence.

  • spekkeh #13 4 years ago

    While it's true that it's more difficult to convey a story, it also opens up new possibilities in the medium. I have yet to see a game really capitalize on this. What's more, how come we can be moved by a slow moving film about a boy losing his dog, while in videogames we couldn't care less and probably would have shot the dog in the first act. In fact, we can't identify with any character's intrinsic motivations, unless some maniac creates a doomsday device with which he threatens to destroy the world and you're the only one to stop him. In videogames it seems to be impossible to induce any sort of emotional response in the player, unless the characters and storyline go completely over the top and beyond; hence all the incredibly bad movies based on games.

    Furthermore, while a very few (Suda 51 and Kojima) game designers experiment with cinematography, it's not even remotely on par with the artistry in movies. Game developers generally choose one camera position, and stick with that. It's hard to fathom how they're ever going to catch up with movies.

    So I don't really agree with the guy, but there certainly is great potential.

  • hulahoops #14 4 years ago

    This is what frustrates me; people assume that games must compete with movies' strengths, but no-one ever says "well movies have come a long way toward interaction with the fast forward and rewind button, but they'll never match games for their level of interaction".

    Yes, movies are better than games at conveying stories. Of course they are. They're linear.

    In terms of emotions, again, we're trying to expect games to match up on movies' terms, but games will never be able to make us cry like Bambi can (of course in my case there was something in my eye), but for me personally no scary film has come close to scaring me like Silent Hill etc., simply because for the first time it was me being chased by the monsters, and it was never assured in the back of my mind that the hero would escape because it was only twenty minutes into the film.

    But then, movies have never made me feel a sense of achievement like Halo when I completed it on Legendary. Nor justice when I get a headshot on a whiny yank in CoD4. Nor tension like when my kart pips my annoyingly arrogant mate who ALWAYS wins at Mario Kart to the finish line.

    Games will never compete with films at what films do well, because they're not films. But it works both ways. If we really preferred films we'd all be hanging out on Empire's forums, not the comments section of an only vaguely newsworthy article on a videogame site.
    Edited by 1 at 25/07/08 @ 11:35

  • Chaote-Imagicka #15 4 years ago

    You don't know who Stan Lee is??!!??

    In his defence he reads Mervyn Peake.

  • Azazel #16 4 years ago

    "It's a totally different structure and a totally different philosophy of writing and, I think, a much, much more difficult one. I get the feeling more work goes into these videogames than even goes into the movies."

    +1000000

    However, anyone who played Planescape Torment knew this about 8 years ago.

  • BobsUncle #17 4 years ago

    "personally I'd say Halo and Bioshock look much more advanced than films like Shrek and Robots."

    Then you're blind.


    And comics are for kids anyway.

  • spekkeh #18 4 years ago

    @BlankOBlank!

    I admit you've got some very good points. The thing is though, some games do aim at conveying a story, and it wouldn't exactly be a bad thing if games were better at eliciting subtle, ambivalent emotions, instead of the primal ones you listed.

  • Ryze #19 4 years ago

    @louyfitz

    I think it's an excellent idea, and developers should take note. This format would be great for certain game types - especially some types of interactive comic / graphic novel. It could be marvellous.

    I don't buy comics - so I'd love to watch some of these comic stories, with full spoken dialogue and limited animation, but actually get to make a few decisions affecting the outcome, and maybe even play the boss battles in real time, with the outcome affecting the story as it continues.

    THIS would expand the gaming audience, as it could be accomplished say on the Wii where you only need to pick up the Wiimote when a decision is to be made.

    Would work great over the Intrernet as downloads as well, as they could stream in real-time.

    You're on to something. This is better than renting old / rip off films from XBL.

  • Buztafen #20 4 years ago

    Comics are for kids...?

    Someone get BobsUncle some more meds, he's senility due to 'extreme and excessive old age' is showing through again...
    Edited by 1 at 25/07/08 @ 14:30

  • hulahoops #21 4 years ago

    @spekkeh

    I think the closest we're going to get (assuming no-one changes things with a ground breaking new genre -- louyfitz I'm looking at you! ;) ) is the intrigue of something like Portal, or the ending of Call of Duty 4, which I admit I actually felt quite touched by.

    Yes, you may now laugh at me. :)

    But really, complex emotion is the domain of linear story telling. But just because games can't compete at that particular aspect of entertainment doesn't place them on a lower par... just a different par.

    And as someone said before anyway, 99% of TV and film is absolutely bloody cack anyway.
    Edited by 1 at 25/07/08 @ 14:44

  • darkprince72 #22 4 years ago

    I dont think its at the point yet where games have caught up with movies (except in the Case of MGS4, cutscenes that are Cinematic Gold, Snaaaaake!!). But Stan Lee said it, games have evolved over the years.

  • Lin #23 4 years ago

    If he loves video games so much, why does he sit back and let them make such sucky film tie-ins?

  • samadriel #24 4 years ago

    I guess this makes Ditko the mum -- maybe he caught girlyness off Ayn Rand.