Can Video games surpass Movies in Storytelling ?

A few days ago, Star Ocean 4 designer Yoshinori Yamagishi ranted on about how video game storytelling could exceed books or film. Yesterday, it's Mad Max director George Miller. According to the filmmaker, "Games were the poor cousin to feature films when it came to storytelling but I think it's flipping. Games allow you be much more like a novelist." George Miller is currently teaming up with God of War II director Cory Barlog to make a Mad Max game.

Miller continues, "I'm curious how much you can engage with the characters through the game-play," "It's the opportunity to make a novel." George Miller has a great point with a few games this generation merging the power of storytelling and great graphics, with such games being Bioshock and Heavenly Sword.

Star Ocean 4 producer game developer Yoshinori Yamagishi thinks game storytelling can eventually superseded other mediums. According to Yoshinori, "But in a game developer's case we always have to think about how players might react to each depiction of a character or storyline, and that's the part we can't predict," Yamagishi continues. "Nevertheless we have to make these predictions to a certain degree, and incorporate this into our work." He adds that this is more of a challenge.

"But if we manage to get over this hurdle," Yamagishi says, "then I regard video games as a greater medium to provide people with deep emotional and exciting experiences."

Bioshock with it's great twist at the end has shown developers that an engaging spellbinding tale can be woven for a console if done right. Heavenly Sword for Sony PS3 also prove you can have complex acting in a game to drive it's story while merging advance graphics. Killzone 2 has used advance graphic and sound as a weapon of immersion. Video games is currently in it's infancy and has unlimited possibilities for growth and advancements, as technology evolves at the current pace Video Games one day will surpass movies and other mediums in it's ability to tell a story and engage it's audience.