GAMES AND TELEVISION CROSSING THE STREAMS
Quantum Break is an ambitious hybrid between a television show and a game. It’s not the first attempt at combining the two mediums and, increasingly, they are borrowing from each other.
Episodic storytelling
While this has long been television’s bread and butter, video games have long tried to emulate the model, and for much of their history, have failed. There are a few recent successes, however. In particular, Telltale Games has had success with its many adaptations, including The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, which are released as episodes and then collected after it has been completed.
Talent
While video games have long been a place for voice actors, Hollywood stars have noticed and are crossing the divide and donning motion-capture suits. Canadian actress Ellen Page starred in PlayStation exclusive Beyond: Two Souls in 2013, and recently Hayden Panettiere starred in last year’s horror game Until Dawn.
Celebs going mobile
While film stars are going for bigger budget games, others are focusing on smartphones, simply because where Kim Kardashian goes, many other celebrities follow. Since the reality TV star partnered with Glu Mobile to create Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, which reportedly made her over $80 million (U.S.), app games have become a legit celeb accessory. Demi Lovato, Ellen DeGeneres, Lea Michelle, Jason Statham and Shaquille O’Neal all have mobile games. Ellen’s Heads Up is pretty fun actually, while Shaq’s Shaqdown is amusing, although no one seems close to truly emulating KK’s success.
Interactive television
There have been all sorts of attempts to gamify television shows. One of the oldest was Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, a 1987 series that featured a portion of every episode that interacted with kids at home who had toys based on the show. More recently, reality shows, particularly in Britain, have used apps to provide an in-home activity for TV viewers.
Defiance
This television show, which ran from 2013-15 on Syfy, also tried to combine a game and a TV show. A console game was released in 2013, while the TV series aired on network television. There were supposed to be events in the series that tied into the games, but the actual integration was quite loose, and it never really caught on. It was cancelled after two seasons.