Video game collisions I'd like to see

By Keith Shaw on Mon, 11/17/08 - 1:53pm.

I spent most of my Sunday night playing the new video game, "Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe" in anticipation of getting the review into our holiday gift guide (read review). The game did a pretty good job of taking two distinct genres of science-fiction / video gaming / geek culture and merging them into an entertaining product.

This wasn't the first time such an endeavor occurred. The "Kingdom Hearts" series of games merged the Japanese video game characters from Final Fantasy with characters from Disney (Goofy and Donald Duck are major players in those games). Earlier this year, Soul Calibur IV was released, which included the change for Yoda and Darth Vader from the Star Wars universe to mix it up with characters from that game's universe. An earlier version of Soul Calibur (part 3, I believe) included the comic book character Spawn. Nintendo characters all got to fight one another in this year's Super Smash Bros. Melee version for the Wii (including the character of Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series).

It's obvious the idea of mixing and merging (after all, this is the mash-up generation) is working for video games, so here's a few more suggestions for video game developers. I'll be on line when the following games are released:

Harry Potter Halo: Master Chief lands on a planet where magical creatures have taken over an English prep school. Our chief has to roam the halls fighting Lord Voldemort's minions while avoiding blasts from magic wands.

Star Wars Trek: Finally, we can see whether Han Solo would kick Kirk's butt in some serious one-on-one space battles. Seriously, they should do this one. I need to settle a bet I made in the '70s.

Lord of the Matrix: A hobbit wakes up one day in the Shire and realizes that nothing in his world is real, and that machines are using people as human batteries. He embarks on a great quest with some other elves, dwarves and wizards to destroy the central computer, buried in the middle of a large mountain volcano.

Grand Theft Indiana Jones: Your main character is an archeology professor who gets hired to find artifacts in an ancient city. Hijack jeeps and other transportation vehicles, but watch out for the Nazis.