For someone about to get his Master's Degree in Literature, I was relatively unfazed by the somewhat-recent announcement of EA's upcoming Dante's Inferno. The iconic imagery of Dante Alighieri's epic poem has been exploited by so many people for so many years, it was a given that some developer would eventually adapt this Lit class favorite for the world of electronic entertainment. And for some reason, I don't feel insulted by EA taking a few liberties with the content; after all, I doubt many mainstream gamers are interested in playing Bible fan-fiction starring Italy's most famous Mary Sue--though I imagine that's a whole new market waiting to be tapped into.
Since I perpetually have games on the brain, I can't help but think of how whatever I'm currently reading could be adapted for my beloved pastime. For the most part, this usually doesn't work out very well; I'm currently trapped in a 19th Century women writers class, and my brainstorms usually result in high-society simulators where you avoid social faux pas and marry the guy (or gal) from the richest and/or most inbred family. But there is a certain style of Lit out there that's almost perfect for video games, though so far we've only seen homages, parody and straight-up thievery: hard-boiled fiction.
If you ask most gaming guys if they like hard-boiled fiction and the film noir it later inspired, you'll mostly get nods of approval--but more likely than not, these folks are more familiar with modern takes on the genre, like Sin City and Max Payne. But there's a wealth of material out there that, despite its relative popularity to book nerds, is relatively unknown to gamers: works by authors like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Jim Thompson, and other major authors in the pulp crime fiction canon. Translating these works into video games would give players some much-needed literacy in knowing where some of gaming's most popular stories draw their inspiration, and the procedural and mystery-based elements usually found in the genre (most notably in Chandler) seem perfectly suited for the video game format; a company like Telltale delivering episodic Philip Marlowe adventures could be one of the best ideas waiting to happen.
In doing a little research for this post, I was delighted to find out that Japanese developer FuRyu is adapting Raymond Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely for the DS in what looks like a very Phoenix Wright-ish game. So far, there's been no word about this title coming to the US, but the fact that it even exists is definitely a step in the right direction. Not all Literature can be given a respectful and appropriate video game treatment, but it's surprising to see how many great books (and genres) have gone unused by developers.
Related Links:
Dante’s Inferno and the Lit-Based Game
Summon Baphomet With Pokemon
Trailer Review: Dante’s Inferno is Looking Even More… Something