The media world is cannibalistic, books become movies, video games are based on movies, books are written for video games with every permutation in between.  Granted a large number of these tend to be real stinkers but every once in awhile something is actually gained in translation.  Over the years a few movies and books have really stood out as prime candidates for the video game treatment, some of which are below:

"Ultraviolet"

This 2006 movie came out to some pretty bad reviews but since I'm a sucker for anything Milla Jovovich I laid down my hard earned cash to see this on the silver screen and the only thought in my head as I walked out was how great a video game it would make.  It's high on visuals and fast-paced combat with a smorgasbord of "future talk" vernacular while not overly stressing the plot which is high on drama, low on surprises.  In other words the perfect elements for a video game.  It comes with built-in factions and feuds, uneasy truces, a bevy of places to draw talents/skills/powers from, vehicles, gadgets and even some mini-game ideas like driving up the sides of buildings and quickly shifting the direction of gravity.

As much as the style was ridiculed in the gaming press I see this as Shadowrun-style game play, quick rounds with chances in between to upgrade abilities and powers.  It would need a single-player story though, there are just too many elements that wouldn't multiplayer well yet would be great in a solo or co-op fashion.  Basically a slightly beefier Halo that's not so static in the initial player load-out during multiplayer.

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

Anyone that's read this book or any of the other Takeshi Kovacs novels, Broken Angels and Woken Furies, probably harbors the same thought I do, that these books are just crying out to be turned into a video game.  There is already a great death handling mechanism in the form of "cortical stacks", basically backups that can be used to slot you into a new "sleeve" or body, which is where you have a rich source of player upgrades and customizations.  There is even a black-ops force, Envoys, which work on either end of a game plot line, either starting as an Envoy and having to track down the baddies or working towards the ultimate goal of becoming an Envoy.

Given the detective anti-hero narrative of the books any game based on this franchise would need strong RPG elements, with a good plot, a bit of snooping yet a great combat system.  I'm thinking a mix between Gears of War and Mass Effect with a heavy upgrade and player customization system.

Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds

This is the first book in one of most intelligent space operas I've read in a long time.  Great interweaving plots and layers of interactions are spread out across the books and there are some very distinct factions all with their own career and upgrade paths yet they do mix so you get some common equipment, plot and upgrade items.  The books span a huge range of time and there are a ton of great events to center a game around as well as enough unwritten history that new timeline slots could be opened up.

Given the shifting alliances, rich characters and plot thick aspect of these books a RPG in the vein of Oblivion and Mass Effect would be perfect.  A great twist would be to mix in some ship-to-ship combat and perhaps a sprinkling of the RTS genre, though I'd keep it grounded in RPG.

There are tons of books and movies that could be given the game treatment but these few I've listed seem like natural candidates, you can practically image the various selection screens and character creation systems.  Of course they'd need first class treatment vs. the usual rush job with the hopes that fans will buy anything as long as it has they're favorite franchise name splashed across the front.  I'd even put good money that someone has already approached Richard K. Morgan about licensing his world for a video game.

I just got done playing the Project Sylpheed demo on my XBox 360 and if you were ever a Robotech and Starblazers watching young teen then this is the game for you.  No, nothing transforms and it's nothing more in-depth than flying through space blowing up fighters and ships but something about the fast-paced action and constant steam of little anime characters yelling at you makes you feel like you're smack dab in the middle of one of those huge space battles you used to watch as a kid.

The control scheme takes a little getting used to (and six separate tutorials) and you get the feeling that it was actually a meth head that created the fast-paced combat because they needed something "faster" but if  you can come to grips with all of that you end up with a pretty enjoyable experience.  Very pretty graphics, responsive controls (when you remember to actually pretty the right combo), an AI that is just the right difficulty for my skill level and there's even a stock anime story wrapped around the action which is always fun to give your wrists a break.

Best yet I believe the game is only going to be $40 at launch, unlike the usual $60, which means it just might end up as a purchase.  Since it doesn't have multiplayer or any online component I'm guessing the replay won't be high but given everything else coming out soon that'll work ok for me.  This is one of the few times a demo is actually pushing me towards purchase, because I probably would have skipped this otherwise.

Ways the Zune could rock:

- Small/indie bands can embed info into the metadata so once the song gets locked people can still see things like their URL, so people can buy the music directly from the band.

- Show up at location X and get some unreleased tracks from Band Y.  Whether it's at a local gig or a promotional event (Warp Tour, X06, X-Games, etc.) 

-  My mother-in-law plays in a Blues band and people are always asking for her CD's at gigs and sometimes she runs out.  Instead she could share the tracks and keep the music fresh in their mind.  If they have the song still on their Zune, even if locked, it's a reminder that "Oh, yeah, I liked that, I should go buy their music off their site."

- Transfer XBox 360 music, videos and downloaded media content to the Zune.  I'd honestly never watch a movie on a 3" screen but I wouldn't mind showing off the "Gears of War" or "Mass Effect" trailer to my friends.

- Enable profile and game content transfers onto the Zune from the XBox 360.  I often go to a friend's house and want to play the latest demo of some game but some of these demo's weigh in at 500MB, meaning I don't want to wait for him to download it and it didn't fit on my small memory card.  I hate lugging my 360's HD around but if I could dump a game demo onto my Zune and play off of it instead that would rock.

- Wireless kiosk to get new XBox 360 exclusive content.  Really fold it into the Live ecosystem.

- Wireless connection in your car.  Forget the FM transmitter and its loss of quality or the special cup-holder dock or the dangling cable.  Just get in, rock out.

- Wireless streaming party mode.  Don't get it?  Imagine being at a party where *everyone's* Zune was being used in the party mix.  One wireless laptop in the corner pulling the music and randomly selecting songs off of anyone's Zune, or just those tracks that have been tagged with "party".  Imagine the cry's of "that song was HOT!  who was that?" or of course "Seriously? That song? Seriously?"

- 3rd Party Integration.  Imagine SlimPlayer, Sonos, anyone that already uses wireless putting out a firmware update that allows that system to pull directly from your Zune.

There are a ton more but I see too many people comparing the Zune to an iPod on little things like hard drive size, colors, lack of a scroll wheel, etc.  There is a *huge* amount of things that just the WiFi aspect could bring when wielded by Microsoft.  A lot of the suggestions I made can easily work with a cable but sometimes just that extra bit of effort to dock/cable your player is enough to make sure it never gets off the ground.  If you can walk into a room and things just *work* you have a winner.