I know for a fact that I am in a small minority, especially in this office, but I cannot wait for James Cameron's new film Avatar. First of all, the man's resume as a director is absolutely impeccable. This is the guy responsible for Aliens, Terminator 1 & 2, True Lies, and Titanic; so it's really hard to see how he can miss. But more importantly, the previews for the movie look absolutely amazing. It appears to have it all - space marines, giant mech robots, crossbows, flying dinosaurs that eat soldiers. It's almost a can't-miss. As far as the Avatar game is concerned, well, that could very well be another story.

You don't need me to tell you the long sad history of games based on film franchises, and how they inevitably suck. Sure, the games based on the Riddick movies and the most recent Wolverine turned out okay, but how can we forget games like Enter the Matrix, GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra, or any of the countless lousy film licensed games? The point being: just because a movie has a big budget and a big name attached to it does not necessarily mean that the game based on it will be worth playing.

Which brings me to the following trailer:

Now I will say that the trailer gives me reason to be optimistic. There looks to be a good amount of action, a nice mix of storylines split between the space marines and the blue native population, and a overall attention to detail. However, what's not made abundantly clear is whether what we're seeing is cinematic or actual gameplay. Couple that with the fact that Cameron has said that the only way to really enjoy the game is in 3D, which is a technology that isn't in a large number of homes yet. In all honesty, in order to get Cameron's full enjoyment of the game, you'd be looking at several thousands of dollars invested in new hardware, which is a price tag that many gamers simply can't afford.

So, long story short, I'm optimistic about Avatar: the Game, if only because of its pedigree. But I've been burned on movie games before.