Hi everyone! I'm trying to put together a list of video or computer games with 30 minutes or more of movie footage, particularly movies that are well done. I'm specifically looking for CGI or 35mm films that were created for a game, not pieces of hollywood movies that were recycled into a game. The list will be used to examine what themes are being discussed. Anyone know of any good ones? I already have all the final fantasy and metal gear solid movies.

To find a full thirty minutes of CGI would be fairly hard. However, for some good stuff, you can't go wrong with the Onimusha series, Final Fantasies X and XII, And, um... that's about all I can think right now.

There are parts of Tales of Symphonia that do movie cuts....it's got some amazing footage. No where near 30 minutes though.

Video games don't normally do that because after a while, it would deplete the attention span of the player.

The only game footage I can think of anywhere near that length would be the climax to Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty. But, thats not in CGI and may well be a little short of the half hour mark. Don't really think there is any out there to be honest.

I'm guessing Wiseacre means 30 cumulative minutes, rather than 30 consecutive minutes?

If the latter then, as stated, you're going to have trouble...

Yeah, the former. It'd be downright foolish to do the latter. Of course, it's downright foolish to attempt this in the first place....

I heard that the first Star Wars: Jedi Knight had live action movies that were shot just for the game, anyone know if that's true? For the list it doesn't really matter if they are live action or CGI...

The Myst series, perhaps?

The combined movie scenes of Viewtiful Joes 1, 2, and Viewtiful Dante might be something cool.

The only game I've played with scenes that come close to that long is Grandia II.

How about the Final Fantasy VIII CGI sequences? They're pretty numerous and I'm sure you could get at least, if not more, than 30 minutes out of them.

Having recently played through it again (and actually quite enjoyed it) I can vouch for Enter The Matrix having lots of footage shot specifically for the game that never appears in the films.

My favourite example of good story-telling in a game is 'Shadow of Memories' but the cut-scenes are, in the vast majority, created by the game engine.

You'll likely find that most big-budget games these days have 30 mins of CGI in them; do you mean prerendered CGI? Technically any game-engine cut-scene is CGI, so do you mean 'any sequence that is non-interactive' or fully prerendered graphics that play in the manner of a movie?

I assume that this is for an academic study, but I suspect you'll have a tough time trying to locate any coherent aesthetic in the games. Most modern games do not have strong thematic content, and so attempting to find links between them on that level will be very tough. At the most I expect you'll demonstrate how shallow the story-telling in games really is at the moment.

Xenosaga Episode I.

Lots and LOTS there. Definitely 30 consecutive minutes at times...and I think the cummulative cut scene time is something like 15 hours? I can't remember. It's a LOT, anyway, and I think they're rather well done. There's quite a bit of religious symbolism. It's interesting...at least I thought so when I played it.

I wonder... do you speak of CGI (Like the gloriously pretty scenes in Onimusha or Final Fantasy) or just up and up movie scenes? There are lots of of movie scenes that utilise the games in game graphic engine to tell the story - certainly much more plentiful than CGI.

But I'm with Candice on this one, I, too was just about to bring up Xenosaga. And for continuing a similar graphical and story premise, it's sequel Xenosaga II.

And Mata liking a cyber punk game? I'm amazed! Next thing you know, I'll be liking something put out by Capcom!

I've just become addicted to Knights of the Old Republic 2, which probably has more than enough cut-scenes to keep you happy.

These are all great suggestions, thanks.

As to what I mean by movies, really any sequence in the game that is non-interactive.... it really doesn't matter, I just need the story of the game to be told more through non-interactive segments than through interactive segments. I should have just asked for "games with good stories".

While searching I found a game called "Act of War", http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/actofw...tion/media.html
that has a bunch of 35mm movies shot for the game, fake newsreel footage and the like. Has anyone heard anything about the game or played the demo? Any good?

You heard right! If I remember rightly, most levels had a cut scene between them - and most combined live action with CGI.

The acting left a lot of be desired, however.

Believe it or not, San Andreas has a pretty good storyline.

Yeah, you're right, I just finished it! I think I'm gonna use the Mike Toreno thread for my list.

I've not played enough of San Andreas to pass judgement on its storyline. I'd wager that you could get a decent amount out of Kingdom Hearts, though. The Metal Gear Solid series definitely has enough in-game-story telling to do you.

The story in GTA: San Andreas is actually remarkably good. The acting is good and the visuals generally support the performances. Also, considering the amount of bad press that Vice City got, Rockstar have created a far more balanced and mature portrayal of the characters.

As I've said before elsewhere, my favourite part of the game isn't anything that I had control over, but a moment when the main character and his friend are talking in the car on the way to a mission. The main character also hangs out with a post-1960s hippy/conspiracy theorist, and the friend is asking why the main character likes the hippy. The warmth between the two characters is something completely fresh in that sort of game. It's very rare that friendship and mutual respect is conveyed so convincingly, but this was startling because of how accurately it had been observed.