Kotaku: “Where Are Our Comic Book Games?”
For hardcore videogame fans, Kotaku is like an online CNN. They almost always get the news first. And they cover everything. From Halo 3 to weird Japanese titles that will never be released elsewhere. That obssessiveness has made them one of the top gaming websites.
So it was with great pleasure, that I read Luke Plunkett’s “Screw Comic Book Movies, Where Are Our Comic Book Games?” feature and see it become one of the most popular stories on the site. He argues that the gaming industry is ignoring a gold mine of great concepts and visuals for licensed games. Ignoring the heavily franchised superheroes, he cites Hard Boiled, Planetary, and The Goon among others. And made some nifty looking imaginary box art.
Since Kotaku is heavily read by both fans and the industry, I’m hoping his cry for more comic based games yields some results.
I would like to point out that he forgot to mention The Darkness, which basically falls under the type of game he’s talking about. It got good reviews and was a solid, if not runaway, seller. And there was a game released based on Bone. Which didn’t fare as well.
And if I could throw my 2-cents in, I think Mark Waid and Barry Kitson’s Empire would make a wickedly deep Japanese style RPG. Or ComicMix’s own Hammer of the Gods. ComicMixers, give us your suggestions in the comments.