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3. Racquetball
The license: A staple of gyms everywhere, racquetball is like tennis played in a giant, enclosed box. Players alternate hitting a squishy blue ball against the front wall before it bounces on the floor twice. Played shots can be hit off the side walls and even the ceiling, as long as they hit the front wall before the bounce.
While there was a racquetball game for the Atari 2600 and Agetec limped out with Street Racquetball for the original PlayStation in 2003, there has yet to be a game that has secured the license of professional groups like the USAR or WPRO.
The video game: Since both players share the same limited play space, high level racquetball is a game of positioning and angles played at high speeds.
Completely accurate physics wouldn't be as important as easy playability and the all-important ability to follow the ball and place shots without slowing down the action.
A traditional console controller could use one stick for movement, one stick for shot placement, and shoulder button for various types of shots (drops shots, ceiling shots, etc.) Mini-games could train players in kill shots and winning positioning.
The developer: Sega seems like the obvious choice, with the Virtua Tennis series proving it can create a fun, fast-paced racquet-based sports game with just the right mix of realism and playability. Clap Hanz could modify the Hot Shots Tennis game to work, in a pinch.
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On the other hand, I don't agree with any of this list's references to "reality TV" productions. And could you really make Shaun of the Dead without getting sued? Capcom's already having enough problems with George Romero as it is....
Big Lebowski Bowling - would have to be a killer bowling sim, but the charachters and teams are pretty much laid out in the film. Would have to liscense Gypsy King's version of Hotel California for the theme music.
Hellraiser- survival horror with puzzle boxes and intricate ways to cause pain.
Auto-Duel- an update to the Steve Jackson pencil and paper game and to the C64 port. Half RPG, half Twisted Metal where you could drive city to city and compete with people online in the arena after battling them on the road like Road Rage.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre- an update to the Atari2600 game where you play as Leatherface. TCM lends itself to more structure than other slasher films as Leatherface's family has control of his actions making it easier for a designer to structure.
Gonzo:The Game- You play as Hunter S. Thompson, you are given assignments and your goal is to warp your view of reality in the most extreme way you can while still making deadlines and meeting expense budgets.
Another good series would be the Chronicles of the Shadow War by Chris Claremont and George Lucas (based on his movie Willow). There are a lot of interesting characters and locations in these books that would make for a good action rpg type game.
something like Guild Wars PvP, where players could unlock weapons and items for their vehicles with earned experience
I was taking a racquetball class back when my friends and I were really into Virtua Tennis on Dreamcast. I thought it'd be awesome if Sega made a racquetball game -- so I could relive the thrill of the sport on my couch at home, of course. I tried thinking about how it'd work but it seemed like a difficult game to translate because of the ability to play off of the ceiling and back wall.
Later I discovered that Sega released Cosmic Smash for Dreamcast in Japan, which seemed pretty damned close to a racquetball game. But played more like a one of the Virtua Tennis challenges with visuals like Rez.
As bootleg as it may be, I'm interested in checking out Street Racquetball to see how they executed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dZND99l6LM&feature=related
Speaking of Alan Moore comics, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen would make a pretty awesome team battle game like X-men Legends or something.
I agree with Rose Aloseth regarding the Discworld series. The series is just waiting for a great walk around adventure game and imagine if it'll look like 'Curse of Monkey Island!' it'll be heaps of fun!
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/out-of-this-world
Flashback: The Quest for Identity
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/flashback-the-quest-for-identity
BlackThorne
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/blackthorne
The Lost Vikings
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/lost-vikings
Cybernator
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/cybernator
Metal Warriors
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/metal-warriors
Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/desert-strike-return-to-the-gulf
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/zombies-ate-my-neighbors
The games speaks for themselves.
@Ribas...Out of this World and Flashback. Great choices
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringeworthy
The second of my list's Underutilized Licenses is Brave Soul, a an unusual combination of the role-playing game and dating sim genres.
An updated and Yuri edition of Bave Soul, a game that never made it past the talking stage, would something I would love to see developed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_Soul
The third and last franchise in my list of Underutilized Licenses is Tékumel, a fantasy world created by Professor Muhammad Abd-el-Rahman Barker. This is a very cool world and one that could be linked with the Fringeworthy franchise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A9kumel
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081633/