How Hollywood fell in love with video games

A new instalment of “Fallout”, a long-running series of video games, was released recently to rave reviews. Critics called the post-apocalyptic adventure a “rare gem” and an “absolute blast”. In its look and feel, the new “Fallout” is much like previous releases. The difference is that the latest iteration is not a game at all, but a television series.

Converting pixelated adventures to live-action narratives long defeated scriptwriters in Hollywood, resulting in turkeys like “Street Fighter” (1994) and “Doom” (2005). The developer of one celebrated game confides that its silver-screen adaptation around a decade ago was the worst movie he had ever seen.