video game related fiction

[EricNoah]

Hi there, as some of you know I run a middle school library (grade 7-8, that's around 12-14 years old). I am aware that some computer games have novel tie-ins - I am thinking specifically about Halo, but maybe also about WoW. Having played neither of these games, I am looking for suggestions on product lines and specific titles that might make a good addition to my library. I don't think I want to get trapped in a "have to have them all" situation, so if you could recommend 2-4 essential titles in a given product line, that would be great. If you have a sense as to how appropriate they might be for middle schoolers (amount of adult language, sexuality, violence, etc.) that would be especially helpful as well.

Thank you!

 

[Umbran]

This won't be helpful, but I want to mention...

The Zork Chronicles, by George Alec Effinger. Based on a game your kids won't have played (Zork), and is also out of print. But some of the readers here are old enough to be tickled by the idea.

There are other Zork books (The Lost City of Zork by Robin W. Bailey (1991), Wishbringer by Craig Shaw Gardner and Enchanter, also by Bailey) but these I have not read.

 

[jonesy]

Staten's Contact Harvest is a first contact book in the Halo universe and a good military story that works on its own. It has too much exposition, but I guess that's unavoidable. Nylund's Halo books aren't bad either.

I wouldn't get the WoW books for anyone but hardcore fans. I have a friend who is and I've been borrowing his. The problem with them is that they all feel like recaps of game backgrounds (probably intentionally). Some of them are actually about quests in the game. And most of them are really bad.

The first Doom book, Knee Deep In The Dead, was actually surprisingly funny. Not good literature, but brainless fun. I wouldn't touch the others at all.

 

[Rhun]

Staten's Contact Harvest is a first contact book in the Halo universe and a good military story that works on its own. It has too much exposition, but I guess that's unavoidable. Nylund's Halo books aren't bad either.

I haven't read Contact Harvest yet, but I did enjoy The Fall of Reach, First Strike and Ghosts of Onyx. The Flood can be avoided, as it details pretty much the exact events of the first Halo video game.

I haven't read many other books based on video games.

 

[EricNoah]

Thanks, a couple of those Halo titles are at our High School library so I will get a chance to flip through them.

 

[Kzach]

You might like to try the Mass Effect series of novels and comics. I haven't read them myself but I love the Mass Effect game and as an RPG game it has a lot of backstory, character development and sci-fi action/adventure so should be interesting to middle-schoolers.

From what I understand of them, the comics and novels are fairly tame. I think the games themselves have a mild rating. Although, there is some controversy over the next Mass Effect game in the series (number 3) because they will be including homosexual and bisexual relationships to be roleplayed (and about freaking time!), and the previous two games did allow for a (very toned down and mostly hinted at rather than portrayed) romantic and sexual relationship to develop. Having said that, nothing they wouldn't have seen on TV already during PG hours.

 

[Welverin]

You might like to try the Mass Effect series of novels and comics. I haven't read them myself but I love the Mass Effect game and as an RPG game it has a lot of backstory, character development and sci-fi action/adventure so should be interesting to middle-schoolers.

They're M rated games and thus something that probably shouldn't be promoted by the school.

 

[Kzach]

They're M rated games and thus something that probably shouldn't be promoted by the school.

Pretty mild for an M rating.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

There's at several books for the Dragon Age game. The first of the series, "The Stolen Throne" acts as a prequel to the game. It's nothing spectacular, but a decent read. I've read it to see what this Dragon Age is about and decide whether to buy the DA RPG. The book was interesting enough to have me put the RPG on my birthday wish list.

This would at least steer your pupils in a proper fantasy direction.

 

[Dioltach]

Didn't Wizards publish novel tie-ins for the Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment games?