As is often the case with the translation of any geek property to the screen, this Friday's release of Max Payne seems to elicit just as many hopes and doubts as one would expect from a big-screen adaptation of a popular video game (well, one not directed by Uwe Boll, that is). So, coming from a position of relative ignorance when it comes to most titles (trust me, my PS2 gathers more dust than yours does), what's the current reading from fans on a film proudly rated PG-13, although based on a series of M-rated games?

And for which upcoming projects are you most hopeful: Halo -- that is, with or without Peter Jackson? Gore Verbinski's BioShock? Jerry Bruckheimer's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time? (And just when is The Rock's Spy Hunter coming out anyway? Do you care?) (Should I?)

As for my fellow ignorati: does this look to you like an appealing action movie regardless? Which video-game movies worked best despite your lack of familiarity with the source material? My vote goes to the first Resident Evil, with some moderate supporting love going to Silent Hill and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within -- no great blasphemy intended.

Oh, and just to keep things jumping, any thoughts on the following titles, or any left out, are more than welcome: DOA: Dead or Alive, Doom, Double Dragon, Hitman, the Mortal Kombat films, Street Fighter, Super Mario Brothers, the Tomb Raider franchise, Wing Commander.

This news has the gaming world all a-flutter. Variety announced today that Gore Verbinski is taking the director's chair for the big screen adaptation of Bioshock. Universal has the rights to the video game adaptation, which Verbinski will direct and produce. John Logan will write the screenplay, and Verbinski plans to jump into pre-production as soon as it is finished and approved.

Bioshock was a hugely successful game, winning numerous awards and making a movie inevitable. And Take-Two Interactive, Bioshock's publisher, is so determined to see it onscreen that they structured the deal to make Halo like failure impossible.

There isn't much you can't rely on in this life, but your favorite video games being turned into a movie seems to be something you can always count on. According to Joystiq, there is already talk of turning the best-selling game BioShock into a feature film. Joystiq reports that a trustworthy source at an as-yet-to-be named studio told them that the project has been garnering steam, and that big-wigs at Take 2 Interactive are already on board with the studio to bring the video game to the screen.

BioShock is set in a dystopian underwater city named Rapture in the year of 1960. The focus of the first person shooter is a man named Jack who has crash landed in the city and now is left with the daunting task of figuring out just what the hell is going on. The game was packed with plenty of style (tutorials are presented to the player in the form of vintage instructional films) and some pretty creepy characters. The game was praised for its open-ended game play and impressive A.I. The game has shipped over 1.5 million units already and Take 2 is already toying with the idea of turning the game into a franchise.

So like any game that is described as 'cinematic'; it was probably only a matter of time before talk of a movie surfaced. Already there is some speculation that BioShock would be another green screen extravaganza (like 300) to bring the world of Rapture to the screen. As we all know, video game flicks have never really lived up to their promise; it hasn't stopped studios from grabbing every title they can get their hands on. There is nothing official yet, but it would not surprise me in the least if BioShock is the next well crafted video game about to be turned into a crappy flick. So stay tuned to Cinematical to see if BioShock: The Movie becomes more than just idle Internet gossip.

[via CinemaBlend]