It's a relationship that I think Crichton anticipated to some degree, but it's become much more complicated than even he could imagine."Ĭritics recently posted their reviews for the first four episodes reviews are mostly positive. "It's a qualitatively different relationship than the one screenwriters have with their characters, because video game characters don't just recite dialogue-they do sh**, and the players interact with them. I was listening to directors' commentary from Ken Levine about building Bioshock Infinite and the affection that game developers and designers develop for their characters," he said. The NPCs have lives that happen whether you're there or not. "In Skyrim, when you walk into a village, you aren't necessarily the most important person there. Nolan also talked about how NPCs in video games can "have their own lives." He's fascinated by that concept. How do you write a story in which the hero's moral component exists on a spectrum? That's a fascinating challenge." In games like The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption, or the sandbox games that Bioware make, morality is a variable. I've never worked in that industry, but we have friends who have, and I was fascinated by the concept of writing a story in which the protagonists' actions aren't part of the story. "Now, video games are a bigger industry than film or TV. "A lot of interesting storytelling that's happening right now is in video games-which literally didn't exist when Michael Crichton was writing the original film," he told Vice. In other news about Westworld, showrunner Jonathan Nolan has talked more about the program's video game inspirations. All you have to do is visit this HBO site and enter your birthdate and email.Įpisode 1, which premiered on October 2 and had strong ratings, is titled "The Original." It introduces the futuristic world where people can pay to visit a highly sophisticated amusement park of sorts inhabited by lifelike robots known as hosts. The first episode of HBO's Westworld is now available to watch completely free-no HBO subscription required.