Just two of the humorous takes on Twitter.
By Matthew Hawkins
Last week saw the long-awaited debut of "Indie Game: The Movie," which had a world premiere at Sundance. Independent video game makers and their devoted fans believe that the documentary has the potential to shatter preconceived notions about the world of gaming as a whole.
And aside from enriching the overall landscape, there is also the hope that it may also lead to greater visibility and therefore success for everyone featured, plus their work.
So it was these same people who expressed a wide range of emotions Sunday afternoon on Twitter?in reaction to news that?HBO had picked up the rights to the remake.
Sentiment ranged from confusion to sadness, even disgust. Details on the show are fairly sparse, but there's still enough intel to upset, particularly because it sounds like it's going to be a fictional half-hour comedy series.
The fact that power-producer Scott Rudin is already attached gives the project an uncommonly high degree of name value and expectation of quality. This definitely increases the chances of it actually making it on-air.
Indie game maker Joakim Sandberg?sounded off?with: "Soon on HBO: The Indie Bang Theory." Then you have musician?Danny Baranowsky???who worked on "Super Meat Boy," one of the games featured in the movie ??who tweeted: "Indie Game: The Movie - sets acceptance of industry ahead years. Indie Game: The Comedy Series - resets game acceptance to 'lol Donkey Kong.'"
Even less happy about the situation is Phil Fish, creator of "Fez" and a major part of "Indie Game: The Movie." His overall feelings can be best summed up with: "NO SIR, I DON'T LIKE IT." I asked Phil, via Twitter, if he had sold his likeness when agreeing to be part of the project. The answer was no.
The question stemmed from another, very much well-known and successful video game documentary, 2007's "The King of Kong." When New Line Cinema bought the rights to distribute the movie, it also obtained its remake rights and had the two primary stars, Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell, sign off on fictionalized likenesses, for an upcoming mockumentary remake.
In the end, there won't be a character named "Phil Fish" in the upcoming sitcom adaptation, though there maybe be the chance that someone closely resembles him ??and anyone else the source material chronicles.?And as the comments above indicate, the primary fear is that a comedic take on the lives on indie game makers risk marginalizing and making a mockery of those actually involved, and may even further reinforce erroneous stereotypes.
But not every game industry pundit is immediately down on the idea of "Indie Game: The Movie: The Sitcom." Take writer Gary Whitta, who is familiar with both the worlds of sides of the fence firsthand; he's a former game journalist and author, whose book is being adapted to a major motion picture starring Will Smith.
Whitta's response to the negative outpour? "LOL at all ppl already deciding an HBO comedy about indie developers must suck. Remember everyone saying a 'Facebook movie' would suck too?"
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