The Top 10 Best Movie Depictions of Video Games

Hollywood is really excellent at grabbing hold of and leveraging social movements, activities, and popular culture as it lays out the plots and sub-plots in movies, and the video game as a device has not been spared the Hollywood treatment. That said, most of the time they tend to get it wrong...

When we say 'get it wrong' while speaking of video games in the movies, what we mean by that is the much over-used habit of using video games and gaming to emphasize and illustrate stereotypes - and usually negative stereotypes at that.

The typical gamer according to Hollywierd is either a young kid who spends way too much time playing video games, or an old guy who still lives in his parents basement, and may or may not have a job but even if they do, their life revolves around video games.

We don't actually know anyone who fits the description of the latter, while we know tons of kids who fit the description of the former - but we think that in the case of the kids, they are pretty much justified in taking that position!

Seriously, think about it for a minute... When is the last time you saw a movie get video games right?

Despite the fact that they rarely get it close to right though, there are the odd movies that somehow manage to get it right. Those are the ones that gamers really like to watch, to support, and to share with their mates.

We thought we would share our pick of the Top 10 Best Movie Depictions of Video Games with you - our mates - because hey, that's how we role.

The Top 10 Best Movie Depictions of Video Games

Ever since the first home video game system was introduced to a public hungry for home video game systems, Hollywood has taken an interest in the technology, adding it as an often trite vehicle for sub-plot development, and as an instantly recognizable way for movie parents to rag on movie kids in a way that requires very little dialogue yet delivers the emotional message loud and clear.

Still sometimes the movie people get it right - or at least present games and gamers in a flattering light.

10. 'I Wanna Play Those Games'

In a headline ripped right out of 1983, four gamers with mad hacking skills were charged with 18-counts of various computer crimes by a federal grand jury in the District of Delaware on April 23, 2014.

What did they do?

Well, the government claims that the four gamers hacked into the servers of some well known game development studios -- and the US Army -- and swiped copies of unreleased games for the Xbox One, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Gears of War 3 as well as a game called AH-64 Flight Training Simulator being developed by the US Army to teach pilots how to fly the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter!

Considering that a major sub-plot for the incredible and award-winning film WarGames (1983 Matthew Broderick and Dabney Coleman) is just this scenario, you have to start wondering how often this sort of thing happens in real life? All the time? Not only were the gamers after games that had not yet been released, but they went after a military game as well!

The plot of WarGames revolved around the desire of the protagonist, teenaged wunderkin David Lightman (Broderick), to hack into the servers of a video game development studio and swipe copies of their newest games before they are released to the public.

His efforts are partly successful - though the server he eventually gains access to is NOT the one he thinks it is...

Still he does get to play the games - until his game is foiled by Dr. John McKittrick (Coleman) who is not only in charge of NORADs computer with all the games, but also a ringleader of a major conspiracy - but hey, we won't spoil it for you!

If you have not seen this movie yet, we urge you to rent it, watch it, and enjoy a film that actually portrays video games and the people who play them pretty realistically... Well, except for Lightman's spastic vandalism of a Galaga arcade cabinet. But still...