Andy Serkis: Game narrative is lacking, but has much potential

If Gollum says it, it must be true. Andy Serkis, who played the loathsome creature in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie adaptation, has said that he feels game stories are generally lacking. "There's no heart in them. We put so much into the writing of film scripts and plays, but not into games. And games are where the audience is going to be. I absolutely think that gaming is a massive storytelling arena in the making and now the technology has arrived to do that. It's a fascinating time."

We absolutely agree with Serkis that this generation is the launchpad for real cinematic storytelling. Games like Uncharted and Metal Gear Solid 4 are paving the way, but with such a young medium there's still plenty of room for improvement. Serkis' background may be in Hollywood, but he did a lot of motion capture and dialogue work for the under-represented PS3 title Heavenly Sword, stating afterward that he'd love to work in games again. Perhaps if game stories keep improving at the rate they have over the last couple of years, it won't be long until we see him donning the skin-tight motion capture suit again.