Errrrrr: Hawken's Live-Action Series
Ah yes, escalation. One game gets a live-action trailer, then all the games get live-action trailers. And now, Hawken's taking things to new heights with its very own live-action series - a series being headed up by Warner Bros, no less. And it stars Edi Gathegi, who's played major roles on everything from House to X-Men: First Class. It's set to kick off in 2013, but the first trailer - which, if it were really staying true to the logic of these things, would only come in the form of a paperback novel - is now available for your viewing... pleasure?
Right then. By all accounts, it looks like a continuation of that live-action trailer from earlier this year - exceedingly low special effects budget and all - so I guess someone liked it. And while Hawken: The Web Series Of The Trailer Of The Game looks to focus on why we war, Hawken: The Game On Which The Trailer That's Spawned A Series has no real story to speak of. Adhesive has, however, expressed interest in eventually creating a single-player component, but it apparently doesn't have the resources to do so right now.
At any rate, hopefully the series will be better than it looks, but, well, games and live-action productions don't exactly have the best track record. Still though, between this and productions like Defiance, people seem extremely interested in directly bridging the very wide gap between the two sides. And I do think it could be pretty great if executed with proper care.
I mean, look at Metro: Last Light's live-action short. No killing, very little violence. Hell, there weren't even any metros in it. But it took the strengths of the medium into account and leveraged them to explore a place in the universe that the games had kept clear of in goosebump-inducing fashion. So these things can work. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to reading my novelization of Metal Gear Solid 2.