‘Age Of Wushu’ To Become A Motion Picture

Well, this seems to be getting more and more common. Movies and television shows based on or tied into video games? Sure! Defiance did it and now Age of Wushu is doing it, too. Back before the days of the Mortal Kombat movies, it was rare (unheard of?) for a video game to be associated with a movie, except when games came out based on films. So why now?

Well, that’s a simple question to answer. Until recently, gaming wasn’t very popular. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, media based on gaming was the exception, not the rule. Now, however, the world is brimming with gamers from all walks of life as the gamers of the late 20th century have given birth to the gamers of today and big companies like Microsoft have gone out of their way to capture the kinds of demographics which spend a lot of money on films: namely, 18-34 males.

Then, of course, we had that hack Uwe BolL who started making movies out of just about every game that hit the market. It’s a damned good thing he wasn’t making movies when Pac-Man was popular because that would have been suicidally depressing to watch. One thing his movies did do, however, was to teach the world that it is possible to make a feature-length film, however droll and vapid it may be, from a video game.

Fortunately, new directors and producers have come along and we’re starting to get some pretty good stuff. The Defiance series is pretty and I have high hopes for Age of Wushu. Here’s what Snail Games had to say about it:

The Age of Wushu game looks and plays like a major martial arts motion picture so bringing the property to movie screens is a logical evolution,” said Shi Hai, founder and chairman, Snail Games. “Our goal has always been for the property to reach the widest audience so evolving to a feature film and expanding the experience to consoles and mobile devices continues our plan.

I got a chance to play Age of Wushu at E3 2013 and it was hot. Super hot. The graphics are sick and the gameplay is new and refreshing. I have high hopes that the movie will follow in its inspiration’s footsteps.