There has always been a lot of enthusiasm around video games, but it’s fascinating to consider how they’ve evolved from a niche form of entertainment to one of the most successful and lucrative industries. The advancements in gaming technology increasingly allows for the medium to prove itself as a legitimate art form that delivers an incomparable experience.

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There has always been a connection between video games and movies, whether it’s through feature film adaptations or video game tie-ins. However, as video games grow more sophisticated, there’s an increasing number of notable directors that have crossed over mediums and contributed in big ways to video games.

10 John Woo’s Stranglehold Is A Sequel To One Of His Best Films

John Woo Guns Drawn in a Fight in Stranglehold.

John Woo is a legendary director that has made his mark due to his visionary take on the action genre and a very operatic take on gunplay. Sometimes collaborations between directors and video games are tangential, but in the case of Stranglehold, John Woo got very hands on and designed the game as an expensive sequel to his classic film, Hard Boiled.

Stranglehold is a solid third-person shooter that does an impressive job to recreate the bullet time-like effects from Woo's action sequences. The game even brings back Chow Yun-fat to reprise his starring role from Hard Boiled, inspector Tequila Yuen.

9 F.E.A.R. 3’s Unnerving Cinematics Were Helmed By John Carpenter

Carpenter FEAR 3 Powers Attack

F.E.A.R. is a creepy franchise that combines together the first-person shooter and survival horror genres. The titles pit man against monster and the third entry in the series tries to pull out all the stops with a script by comic scribe Steve Niles and cinematics that are directed by master of horror, John Carpenter.

The creatures within F.E.A.R. 3 certainly bear a resemblance to Carpenter's Thing alien and feel within the director's wheelhouse. Carpenter is also admittedly a major gamer and that comes through in his work on the sequences.

8 Steven Spielberg’s Boom Blox Was A Surprise Wii Hit

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Less can certainly be more and that's absolutely the approach that's taken by Steven Spielberg and Electronic Arts with Boom Blox, a surprisingly entertaining Wii puzzle and strategy title.

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Boom Blox heavily revolves around realistic physics as players try to topple block structures through Wii remote use. Spielberg is known for masterful storytelling which he had channeled into his other game projects, like Medal of Honor and The Dig but with Boom Blox he wanted to create something adult gamers could play with their kids and provide for them a more creative and less-violent gaming experience. Much of what Spielberg’s Boom Blox does has since been simplified down into the extremely popular Angry Birds franchise.

7 Guillermo Del Toro Helped P.T. Have As Much Depth As A Full Game

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P.T. has become one of gaming’s most fascinating lost relics due to how it’s no longer conventionally available. A very exciting collaboration between Metal Gear mastermind Hideo Kojima and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro resulted in P.T., a brief experience that’s still one of the most unsettling pieces of video game media that’s ever been made.

Admittedly, P.T. isn’t a full game and is more of a demo-like “Playable Trailer” as its name dictates, but the follow-up project was meant to be Silent Hills, which would have carried over this collaborative energy had it not been cancelled by publisher Konami.

6 Horror Savant James Wan Helped Establish Dead Space’s Style

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For a while it seemed like Dead Space could become the new dominant survival horror series and capable of even toppling Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Dead Space has a decent run, but it’s unfortunately fallen off the map.

The games blend the isolation and paranoia of space with the horror genre and the result is pure nightmare fuel, especially when it comes to the Necromorphs, Dead Space’s truly haunting breed of alien. James Wan of Saw, The Conjuring, and Insidious fame is responsible for Dead Space’s original pre-E3 “Loved Ones” trailer, which establishes the sterile universe and its aesthetic.

5 John McTiernan Uses His Action Film Expertise To Give Ghost Recon: Wildlands Credibility

ghost-recon-wildlands Open-World

Ubisoft’s myriad of Tom Clancy-inspired tactical shooters have gained increasingly bloated budgets and star-studded casts that headline these virtual wars. The Ghost Recon: Wildlands delivers a massive open-world environment that intensifies the chaos of combat.

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John McTiernan is a wildly influential action director that’s responsible for Die Hard, Predator, and The Hunt for Red October, so he’s more than qualified to craft a teaser trailer for Ghost Recon: Wildlands. McTiernan’s “Red Dot” trailer is a succinct yet brilliant take on the popular tactical shooter series.

4 Edgar Wright Is But One Of Death Stranding’s Many Cinematic Cameos

Death Stranding Edgar Wright Southerland

Depending on who is asked, Death Stranding is either the best or worst video game of all time. Hideo Kojima is used to creating ambitious and polarizing video games, but Death Stranding marks his first major independent effort away from Konami and Kojima pulls out all the stops with his contemplative epic.

Kojima has some of his favorite directors and celebrities, like Guillermo del Toro and Conan O’Brien, do motion-capture cameos for characters. Scott Pilgrim and Baby Driver director Edgar Wright also makes an appearance as Thomas Southerland, a friendly face that's encountered in the South Distribution Centre.

3 NBA 2K16 Receives An Incredible Story Mode That’s Directed By Spike Lee

Spike Lee NBA 2K16 MyCareer Story Mode Family Sweet

The 2K series of sports games have dominated the genre and become an annual foregone conclusion as a result rather than games that generate massive anticipation. There have been some significant efforts to improve upon this, such as expansive career modes that make sure that the game delivers beyond just the multiplayer experience.

NBA 2K16 goes above and beyond here and Spike Lee was actually recruited to direct the title’s MyCareer story mode. Lee adds real emotion and pathos to this side of basketball and it’s remarkable how what could be a perfunctory game mode becomes the title’s best feature.

2 JJ Abrams Applies His Spy Expertise As The Architect Behind Spyjinx

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JJ Abrams has become a major player in the film industry after he's revived some of the most popular science fiction series, but Abrams leans more into his days with spy drama on his television series, Alias, for his mobile title, Spyjinx.

Spyjinx takes the most exaggerated aspects of spies and espionage and translates them over into a chaotic action-strategy adventure. Spyjinx can feel somewhat disposable and like a copy of other better mobile titles, despite how there are some solid concepts involved. Admittedly, it feels like a lackadaisical effort from Abrams, but it's still a fascinating footnote in his impressive career.

1 A Certain Zombie Auteur Brings Resident Evil 2’s Japanese Trailer To Life

George A Romero Resident Evil 2 Trailer Leon Kennedy Shoot

Resident Evil remains the most popular zombie game franchise and the series has experienced a renaissance in recent years that’s made it feel more versatile than ever. In a masterful act of synergy, George A. Romero was enlisted to direct a zombie-filled commercial for Capcom’s Resident Evil 2.

Romero references a surprising amount of the game in the brief trailer, which only ever aired in Japan. Once upon a time, Romero was originally supposed to direct the Resident Evil movie, but this live-action take on the video game sequel at least offers a brief glimpse of what might have been.

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