The big question, of course, is when the heck these movies are coming out. This movie has the best chance of doing well, but we've seen $80 million movies go horribly wrong before. Can you see Madonna in this dress?

So why an entire article on videogame movies? With the games industry reaching $7 billion a year, it's as big or bigger than the entire movie market, which means studios might finally start investing in fully developing some of the better games into movies. In fact, some games these days are so close to movies that making it a real movie is a no-brainer. Whether the studios will actually make them good or if they'll just throw money remains to be seen, though.

So check out the following 11 movies, and wonder if these can finally break the mold:

The Game: Descent
Who Makes it: Interplay
Who's Making the Movie: Interplay
Release Date: Unknown
The Scoop: For the first two games of this series, it was all about flying a spaceship through giant mining complexes to destroy renegade robots holding human hostages. Not a lot of story, but a heck of a lot of action and fans. However, Descent 3 finally got a solid storyline and a some reasoning behind all those crazy robot renegades, and Interplay, eager to expand its business beyond just games, decided to make it one of its first game/movie conversions.
The Take: Despite Descent 3's success, don't be looking for this movie in the near future. There isn't a lot of story behind the games, and watching a man in a spaceship hunting after floating robots isn't exactly gripping dramatic material. Unless Interplay can scare up a decent budget and scriptwriter, the title could be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Game: Diablo
Who Makes it: Blizzard
Who's Making the Movie: Unknown
Release Date: Unknown
The Scoop: For many, Blizzard's games like WarCraft and StarCraft, with their hugely-detailed storylines have had fans begging to see them on TV or in the movies. Diablo, a dungeon strategy and role-playing game, was one of Blizzard's biggest hits, and along with WarCraft, was being investigated for possible production.
The Take: It could be good or it could be bad, but no one knows anything about this movie at all. The last IGN Sci-Fi'd heard about it was more than a year ago, and at that time, Blizzard was only beginning to look for screenwriters and directors. We could be hearing something about it by the time Diablo II arrives later this year, but if Blizzard doesn't say anything then, it may be a long time coming, if in fact it hasn't been killed.

The Game: Doom
Who Makes it: Id
Who's Making the Movie: Columbia
Release Date: Never
The Scoop: A couple years ago, the hottest first-person shooter was Doom, Id's little game about a space marine on a mission to destroy the hordes of hell that have somehow invaded Mars. Didn't make a lot of sense, but millions got a kick out of using the buzzsaw on the imp. So, Id sold movie rights, and Bruce Campbell of EvilDead fame was reportedly on as the main character.
The Take: It's deader than dead. So many years have passed that Doom's succesor, Quake, is almost on its third version. Films rights are about to revert back to Id, and since all the scripts they've seen so far have been so bad, it probably has no plans to sell 'em again. Thank goodness.

The Game: Duke Nukem
Who Makes it: GT Interactive
Who's Making the Movie: Threshold Entertainment
Release Date: Unknown
The Scoop: 3D Realms' answer to Id's Doom first person shooter, Duke Nukem is a Schwarzenegger-esque (or on a bad day, Van Damme-esque) testosterone fest, with large amounts of ammunition expended on porcine aliens haunting strip bars and other unsavory places. Perfect for Hollywood. Threshold Entertainment holds the rights to the film.
The Take: Don't expect Matrix. Heck, don't even expect Universal Soldier. This is the company that made Mortal Kombat, but it's also the same company that put out Beowulf, which looks almost just like Mortal Kombat, except it's set in the distant future and stars Highlander's Christopher Lambert, whose dialogue is on par with Van Damme's in Universal Soldier 2.

The Game: Fallout
Who Makes it: Interplay
Who's Making the Movie: Interplay
Release Date: Unknown
The Scoop: Interplay's other title in development. Based off Fallout, the post-Apocalyptic adventure game, it's all about a man who leaves the Vault, a 50's-style bomb shelter for Suburbia, in search of spare parts and other signs of civilizations in a world of giant mutant scorpions and Mad Max people.
The Take: Think Blast from the Past but a lot darker. Fallout's got a great storyline, and out of all the straight game to movie conversions, this is one of the few that could actually succeed. Heck, the budget doesn't even need to be that big. However, will people still want to see post-Apocalyptic movies outside of Mad Max 4?

The Game: Final Fantasy: The Movie
Who Makes it: Square
Who's Making the Movie: Columbia
Release Date: Summer 2001
The Scoop: What more needs to be said about it? When it comes to videogame movies, this is the only one that anybody's seen anything concrete about it. There are some good celebrity voices attached, a release date announced, a script written, and if you're at all familiar with any Final Fantasy game, you know you're in for a heck of a good story. Heck, it's also the only one with screenshots and movies.
The Take: This is the only one that has anything to show, and it's utterly amazing. If it comes out in time, then it could be the best-looking movie of the summer, hands down. Otherwise, it's got Star Wars Episode II to contend with, which is a real possibility, considering that it takes a heck of a long time to model an entire universe. You've probably heard all this before, but that's because we're so enthusiastic about it.

The Game: House of the Dead
Who Makes it: Sega
Who's Making the Movie: Dreamworks
Release Date: Unknown
The Scoop: Think Resident Evil meets the Living Dead sequels. Bio-engineered zombies get loose in a giant mansion, and two top detectives go to investigate. Last heard more than a year ago, it could be the walking dead at this point, for all we know.
The Take: Zombie movies are always in, and when you mix zombies, giant spiders, and biomechanical monsters, you could be looking at Virus II. . If Dreamworks brings it all together under Mark Verheiden's (Timecop) script, it could be a great, mindless action film

The Game: Parasite Eve
Who Makes it: Square
Who's Making the Movie: Madonna
Release Date: Unknown
The Scoop: Square has always been in the business of making huge, cinematic games for various platforms, including Nintendo and PlayStation. While its biggest series is Final Fantasy, Parasite Eve was a big winner last year, winning a lot of fans for its vivid portrayal of New York under siege by evil alien mitochondria and the psychic Opera Queen from Hell, who goes from mutates into one heck of a monster in a low-cut red evening gown. Natually, Madonna, being fond of low-cut red evening gowns and mitochondrial mutation, decided to buy up US movie rights to the game (not related to the Japanese live action game of the same name).
The Take: With today's technology and Madonna's pull behind it, if she can guarantee a budget of $50-60 million, this movie could be really cool. Understanding her limitations after Shanghai Surprise, Madonna has wisely decided not to put herself in the lead role. Instead, it's likely she'll assume the opera queen's role and go for campy villain status instead.

The Game: Resident Evil
Who Makes it: Capcom
Who's Making the Movie: Constantin Films
Release Date: Unknown
The Scoop: Ah, the zombie movie with troubles that refuse to die. When it first started up, it was big, because Resident Evil was absolutely perfect for the movies. Zombies take over a town and it's up to the Racoon City Police to stop them. George Romero was tapped to direct, and that was nice since he's considered the grandaddy of zombie movies. However, it turned out that the script written by the same guy who wrote Spawn wasn't so good, and George Romero got fired by Capcom, and all of a sudden, nobody knows what's going to happen to it.
The Take: We like the idea, but we still don't know whether Romero can direct big-budget action films, and if that script still sucks, we see another Phantoms is the near future. But, if the Tyrant and Plant 42 make the cut, we're all for Resident Evil.

The Game: Shadowman
Who Makes it: Acclaim
Who's Making the Movie: Takoma Entertainment
Release Date: Unknown
The Scoop: Shadowman, a.k.a. Michael LeRoi, who died and got resurrected by Nettie, hoodoo woman. Now he's got superpowers and the ability to travel to Deadworld, where there are a lot of unpleasant dead people and heavily symbolic creatures. Occasionally, he's also Nettie's lover, which is weird, since she's old enough to be his grandmother, which she is, in a sick, magic way..
The Take: Everybody loves the game, but Barry Levine's developing and directing this movie, and after Detroit Rock City absolutely tanked at the box office, we're wondering if he can pull this, The Inhumans, and Magnus: Robot Fighter off.

The Game: Tekken
Who Makes it: Namco
Who's Making the Movie: Unknown
Release Date: Unknown
The Scoop: This is not AD Vision's atrocious anime title. Announced several years ago, this is Namco's attempt to take the fine FMV openings and endings you see in the Tekken games for the PlayStation and turn them into a full length feature. Out of all the realistic CG animators out there, the Namco computer graphics staff are the only ones to not only match, but beat Square when it comes to character animation. Last time Namco said anything, though, this was only vaguely hinted at, despite a potential budget of $60+ million. But if it's real, look for incredibly detailed people, right down to indiviual hair follicles and flexing muscles..
The Take: While the animation will be excellent, there's no telling how the story's going to turn out. Unlike Square, the story has never been one of Namco's strong points, and while it'll look darn good, how do you tie together a ruthless businessman, a Hong Kong cop, Bruce Lee, an American kickboxer, a wooden training dummy and an alien ninja together?.Final Fantasy at least has a strong story going for it.

The Game: Tomb Raider
Who Makes it: Eidos
Who's Making the Movie: Paramount
Release Date: Unknown
The Scoop: The big-breasted, wasp-waisted Lara Croft climbed her way into gamers hearts two years ago, with her Indiana Jones adventures and her Image Comics body. For a while, when Paramount and Eidos announced a Tomb Raider movie with producers from Die Hard and Predator assisting in the film's development, it looked like the sure thing. However, the script was heard to be execrable and for some reason, it was extremely hard to pick a Lara Croft, despite of multitude of nicely-rounded actresses who could fake a credible British accent. So this project is on and off again, animated and then live-action. Currently, Elizabeth Hurley, Heather Graham, Angelina Jolie, and Catherine Zeta-Jones are being courted to done the hot pants, and the plot somehow involves the Antarctic, Asia, and an $80 million budget.
The Take: If the whole wisecracking archaeology thing working for Harrison Ford, there's no reason it couldn't work for one of these fine women. Archaeology doesn't require knuckle-dragging testosterone or Arnold-esque feats. All you need some fine gunplay, wits, and a good stunt double bungee jumping off the Himalayas. One word of advice for the staff, though. Too many boob jokes and you're looking at Barb Wire II, so watch it.

Anything else you'd like to know? Are we missing any games? E-mail us at letters@dailysci-fi.com and give us your two cents.

Gundam Wing, The Lonely Battlefield - anime - 6.28.

Talking Star Trek - tv - 6.28.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Movies - movies - 6.28.

The Week in Comics - comics - 6.28.