Talk:Interactive film

Merger?

Apparently, there is a proposal floating around to merge FMV games with Interactive Movies. That sounds reasonable to me, as long as both terms survive the merger and point to the newly merged content.David 06:18, 9 March 2007 (UTC)David

I don't support the merger. Interactive Movie is a specific game genre, FMV is just the technique of displaying video in a game. It would be somewhat akin to merging "Dance Music" with an article on "Synthesizers."

Interactive Movie is a specific genre of game wherein all action in the game is prerecorded video, while FMV in a game is simply the presence of video in a game whether or not it is interactive, and whether or not the action is prerecorded. NHL Power Play Hockey for my Sega CD has FMV (openings, etc.) while the gameplay itself involves no FMV-- it certainly isn't an Interactive Movie. Student Driver 22:22, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

That's why we have an article on FMV. This is an article on FMV games, which is about games that are dominated by interactive video. This article (FMV games) should be merged into interactive movies. The regular "FMV" article should contain information about game videos in general. 65.95.157.232 (talk) 22:30, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

This isn't a game genre. FMV-based games can be trivia games, dance games, shooter games, OR adventure games. Not all FMV-based games are adventure games (interactive movies), and not all interactive movies are FMV games. I've BOLDLY moved this page to reflect that this is a technology, not a genre. Randomran (talk) 07:43, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

I agree that this isn't a game genre. I would argue that Interactive movies are a type of Full motion video based game, in particular one that aspires to use the technology to recreate the feel of a movie. I tried to find a more authoritative definition, but no useful ones popped up. Most of the sources I have found generally classify interactive movies as a form of media... Video game genres are classified according primarily to gameplay mechanics, and also to theme to some extent; an interactive movie need not have any gameplay at all (and many of them didn't, but that's another story...) Regarding the (somewhat dated) merge discussions thus far, based on the content of the pages and the high degree of overlap, I would say it would make sense. Playclever (talk) 20:27, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

New merge proposal

I am renewing this merge proposal. I believe the two pages cover a lot of common ground and relate to games which present their content primarily using FMV (as opposed to using sprites, 3D, etc). (I also think that it is inappropriate for Full motion video to link to Full motion video based game since FMV is used in cut-scenes... this may have caused Student Driver's confusion above.) I personally would favour one article on FMV (the technology), perhaps referring to cutscenes and interactive movies, and one titled "interactive movie" (the merged page) describing its application in full-FMV games. Playclever (talk) 21:27, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure that a merge is appropriate here. Games like Phantasmagoria (video game) are interactive movies in a way that a game like Space Ace isn't. Phantasmagoria is like watching a movie that's interspersed with puzzles to advance the story. Space Ace may be based on FMV, but it's basically an action game. At least, that's how I understand it. It doesn't help that these articles are poorly referenced. I might support a rename of one or the other article to make the distinction between interactive movies (like a visual choose-your-own-adventure) and other games that make heavy use of FMV or laserdisc. But let's discuss. Randomran (talk) 00:17, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

That wasn't how the term was used at the time, though -- most "interactive movies" were actually action-based, using quick-time events and the like. The Space Ace page describes that game as an "Action interactive movie", although that could easily be wrong too. I do plan to do some research into references at some point. Playclever (talk) 10:37, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

That's why I might support a rename. There's still a distinction here between a technology and a type of adventure game. That's my understanding of what makes an "interactive movie". Randomran (talk) 15:12, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

I see. the trouble is that interactive movie is a marketing term that has been applied so broadly to FMV games that it is not possible to define it any more precisely than "FMV-based game" unless we ignore a bunch of reliable sources when adding references... See Ernest Adams' 1995 talk here for a discussion of some of the games that described themselves as interactive movies... certainly, the term hasn't been limited to adventure games.

It sounds like the article you are describing is (more or less) Full motion video adventure game -- "FMV adventure" gets me 4,240 google hits that seem largely relevant, so it is a fairly established categorisation. If we were to rename this article Full motion video adventure game and edit appropriately, we could redirect "Interactive movie" to the Full motion video based game page, add a section discussing the use of the term "interactive movie" there, and make sure it links to the FMV adventure page. We could then also add a section to Adventure game describing FMV Adventure games and linking the article... Thoughts? Playclever (talk) 08:51, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

You know what, I'm starting to think we should just do the merge based on the technology. These FMV adventure games are fundamentally graphic adventure games. I went through the "interactive movie" category and found these adventure games:

• A Fork in the Tale
• Advanced Warriors
• Braindead 13
• The Dame Was Loaded
• Double Switch
• Dracula Unleashed
• Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster
• Gadget: Invention, Travel, & Adventure
• Night Trap
• Onyx Project
• The Pandora Directive
• Phantasmagoria (video game)
• Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh
• Psychic Detective (video game)
• Quantum Gate (video game)
• Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
• Star Trek: Borg
• Star Trek: Klingon
• Tex Murphy: Overseer
• Thayer's Quest
• Under a Killing Moon
• Vortex (PC game)
• Voyeur (video game)
• Wirehead (video game)
• The X-Files Game
• Ø Story

... I'm not sure what you write about FMV adventure games that you don't just write about graphic adventure games. I'm thinking out loud. I know a lot of adventure games are called "interactive movies" in a derogatory sense, too... What do you think? Randomran (talk) 16:59, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Formally or Formerly?

"Aftermath Media (formally Trilobyte) released..." - is this correct? That would mean that the official name was Trilobyte, but "Aftermath Media" was used informally. If we mean that Trilobyte was a previous name, then the correct word is "formerly". This difference matters, so someone please check it! 86.132.142.246 (talk) 22:12, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Johnny not historical

I removed this paragraph from the history section because the game isn't really historical. Someone could use it as part of a Johnny Mnemonic video game article, I guess, but it doesn't belong in the history section of this article.

In 1993, Sony Imagesoft and Proganda Code used the Cine-Active engine to create the interactive movie "Johnny Mnemonic". This Windows and Mac CD-ROM was notable for being a full screen experience without an onscreen interface. When the film showed Johnny's POV the shot became letterboxed, allowing the user to select the next shot in the film. If no decision was made the interactive movie returned to full screen mode and continued with the story.

Peace. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 03:13, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Laserdisc

It isn't an interactive movie when it is using neither a laserdisc nor other similar formats, correct? Does this article deserve to mention Nintendo's EVR Race and the original 1974 Wild Gunman? Although mechanical, they use video footage and are interactive. Parrothead1983 (talk) 07:29, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Not all "Interactive movies" are video games

The description of "Interactive movies" as it currently stands is not completely accurate. While it's true that many interactive movies are indeed a form of video game, there have been DVD's and CD-Roms that are not video games but the what I understand the definition of video game to be. There have been "interactive movies" on DVD and CD_Rom that are simply movies in which the plot is not completely pre-determined and instead you are presented, every so often with the option to choose what happens next in the plot by selecting from various choices, which determine what scene/clip is played next. They are sort of like a digital video version the Choose-Your-Own Adventure type books. The "Adult" DVD industry, back in the late 90's/early 2000's was making a number of such interactive movies on DVD and CD-ROM. In them you could choose how they movie "plot" went. such as by showing the main male performer's POV and then allow the viewer to decide what female performers the guy hooked up with or what he did with them. There have also been some non-adult interactive DVD movies (that were not video games) though I believe it's been mostly adult titles that dominated that genre of film. Would such a interactive movie where you don't have a specific goal to accomplish and don't win or loose but simply decide the course of the plot not be considered a form, of video game? If not, then the definition of Interactive Movie needs to be broadened. Now maybe there is another name for the type of film I'm describing but I have heard the term "Interactive Movie" used to describe what I was referring to. Unless there is some significant disagreement then i think we should expand the article to cover non-video game interactive movies including adult interactive movies (remember that Wikipedia is not censored). --50.152.139.176 (talk) 00:46, 24 January 2015 (UTC)