As the recession bites, studios have started to turn to computer games for inspiration rather than just smashing out endless sequels. There are a couple of games, bright sparkles in an otherwise black abyss that I’m hoping will buck the trend of bad game to film translations.

Avatar


The game and the film are being released at the same time and it should be a real cinematic event, yes you guessed it, it’s James Carmon’s Avatar.

The 3D spectacular that will turn going to the Cinema in to an event again (the best way to fight the pirates) will also spawn an MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role playing game).

Based in the same world as the film, you will be able to experience his vision first hand with another couple of thousand people. James was heavily involved in the creation of the game so it should be up to standard.


Prince of Persia



A Jerry Bruckheimer blockbusting extravaganza, featuring an extremely ripped Jake Gyllenhaal and Ben Kingsly doing his standard villain routine.

It has been in production for a while and apparently they are just finishing up the special effects so it should be out soon. The film follows the 2003 console reboot Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, with the hero (Gyllenhall) tasked with retrieving the Sands of time -an ancient relic that can control time itself...surprisingly.

I have a feeling it will have a similar tone to Transformers – huge explosions, stunning girls and great combat. It should be worth watching you want to turn your brain off.

Bioshock



I was excited about until it got put on hold due to budget concerns. It was going to be filmed on a green screen, think 300 but under the sea. It’s based around an underwater city called Rapture that a bunch of Scientists built to escape the aftermath of the Second World War.

They chose the best and the brightest to build the perfect society but things went a bit wrong. It was to be directed by Gore Verbinski of pirate Caribbean fame and written by John Logan who penned Gladiator and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. So it has potential and I really hope it gets made.

Halo



Peter Jackson and the Wheta workshop were working on this one. They got themselves a cult director from South Africa (Neil Blomkamp). They made some test footage that got the Internet very excited because Wheta had created a bunch of amazing props including a fully working Warthog, a type of army truck you can drive in the game.

However in 2007 the project got declared dead by Neil although Peter has said that the movie will be made. Neil and Peter have been working on another film - District 9.

It’s Sci-fi and you can see the potential of how good the Halo film could have been or may still be. Fast forward a few months and the Mighty Steven Spiel berg has been linked with the project as an executive producer...

The World Of Warcraft


Blizzard's unstoppable snow ball of a franchise has finally had a director linked with it. And in typical Blizzard style, they have the very best to turn their game in to a film - Mr Sam Raimi - The veteran of the Spiderman films and the Evil Dead series.

That is all we know so far but this is set to be a biggy, he has probably got the hardest task ever in film making history. He has to please 11 million internet geeks that will start an rampage if the film doesn't live up to expectations.