I don't know about you, but I'm a little dissapointed with what we've seen of 'Enter The Matrix'. It seems another good license has been wasted. Our staff look at the issue.

Have games developers been wasting licences?

bjlangley: Yes, I was a little disappointed with the the look of Enter The Matrix. There's no time to really alter the game now either, as they will have to release it at the same time as the movie.

I do believe that there are some decent licenced games out there though, Rocky was a fantastic example. It captured the spirit of the movies perfectly, and was possibly the best boxing game I've ever played.

Also, Konami did a wonderful job with the Turtles licence in the past, and hopefully they'll be able to put it to good use again.

But these games would have to be the exception, rather than the rule. It's a shame, because some movies have great potential. I'm still hanging on for an all new Back to the Future game, featuring exploration, action, and skateboarding levels. That would rule!

Link: I have to say that overall licenses have been completely wasted, movie licenses anyway. Apart from that most licenses usually do well. Ok, so there haven't really been any good Superman games, but the Spiderman games are pretty good. Then, though, we come to the movie licenses. There hasn't been a decent movie-to-game transition, except for The Two Towers. From what I have heard the Die Hard game, while not being that bad of a game, just doesn't compare to the newer games. Other games such as The Sum of All Fears also haven't lived up to expectations. And now there is talk that The Matrix game also will not live up. From what I have seen it looks pretty decent, but for The Matrix decent won't cut it. I personally don't think that games should be made from movies because movies are made to be watched, not played.

Maybe we should try to encourage games being transformed into movies instead? Ok, Final Fantasy wasn't the best movie, but it certainly wasn't bad amd RE was a fairly good movie. I hope that the Metroid does for game movies what it has done for games. That would be noting short of amazing.

Ash: Yes, liscences have been wasted. And part of the blame should go to casual gamers. They see a game based on their favourtie movie (or whatever) and they think it must be good so they buy it. This encourages developers to make more.

I can't see how they're not seeing that it is costing them money to make a bad game, if they made a good game surely they would get more money back. I think having a liscence is a good thing and should be treated with respect, they should see it as something of a possible cult following, not a big dollar sign.

That being said, there are a few good liscences, things like Buffy for the Xbox and Spiderman: The Movie for all three consoles and PC. So it can be done, its just rare.

Blackbird: Aren't licenses just a way to boost up sales for a cranky old engine? Take all the movie-licenses: Daredevil, XMen, Spiderman, blablabla. On GBA, all these games are almost identical. Not a single bit of originality, just some wellknown titles with poor content. (period)

The Enigma: Now we all know that Goldeneye is the best example of a license using game. If you disagree, you're insane. The boys at RARE made a fine game in it's own, Bond license or no Bond license. It just happened that they did have a Bond license. And what a game. You don't see 'em like that these days.

Look at all the licenses that have been used in recent times; X-Men, Spiderman, Lord of the Rings. All of them, it seems, have just been used as facials to the mundane, recycled games that they are, adding extra life and attraction.

If developers are going to buy ideas from other places because the tap of innovation has run dry, then they could at least try and do something special with it, to honour the license. To cut a long story short, yes, licenses are being wasted. All those who want to use them in future could take a leaf out of RARE's book.

Conor: I agree with the rest of the staff here to be honest. Licenses are like gold to publishers, they fight over them and then exploit it until it's bleeding dry. Because all those stupid, stupid gamers out there guarantee good sales.

There have been very few great licensed games. Obviously Goldeneye has been the absolute best, and we get good games like Tony Hawks every now and then, but the majority of licensed games are crap. Pure crap. The Barbies, the Sabrinas, all those other platformers. Who remembers 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'? It was fun for one go, and then you realised just how boring it was. But it went straight to the top of the charts and stayed there, because all those gullible, unintelligent gamers out there voted. They voted with their wallets.

What chance do the original, fun, quircky, well-designed games out there have against the guaranteed-sellers? Publishers just have to quickly tape together a mediocre game and slap on a well-known license and BAM!, they've got a seller on their hands. And congratulations casual gamers. Well done. We might never see the end of this license crap now.