Stephen King’s Influence on Video Games – 1UP (2013)

TITLE
Stephen King’s Influence on Video Games

AUTHOR
Nadia Oxford

PUBLICATION
1UP

YEAR
2013

ARTICLE TYPE
Article

FROM THE ARTICLE
Ecclesiastes 1:9 states that there’s nothing new under the sun, and that might be especially true as far as creative inspiration goes. Books give birth to movies, movies inspire books, and both have provided foundations for the premises behind many of our favorite video games since the dawn of the industry. Metroid is Alien. Donkey Kong borrowed enough of King Kong for Universal to ignite a (failed) lawsuit. Mega Man X is a mingling of Blade Runner, Mad Max, and Terminator. Kid Chameleon was made possible by the blood-choked screams of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (search your feelings; you know it to be true).

[…]

In 1980, famed horror writer Stephen King penned a novella titled The Mist. The plot, which was adapted faithfully in a 2007 film by director Frank Darabont, revolves around an unnatural mist that pours across a Maine town. The mist, which is heavily implied to come from another dimension, is home to nightmarish alien creatures. Sound familiar? It should: The events, creatures, and environments born of The Mist inspired Valve’s Half-Life and Konami’s Silent Hill.

GAMES MENTIONED
Half-Life
Silent Hill

PEOPLE MENTIONED
Stephen King