Stiq Flicks: Guild Wars 2 and Stand By Me

Stiq Flicks – from film and video game industry freelance writer Kevin Kelly – examines video games and attempts to pair them with matching films. It’s like wine and cheese, but with more aliens.

Guild Wars 2 seeks to revive the MMO genre that has been long-served by the now-aging World of Warcraft. While the game is different in many ways, you’ll still be questing, adventuring and most importantly of all, partying up with others in order to become better, stronger and more resourceful.

That makes me think of all of the movies where a band of different adventurers come together in the name of a quest. There’s actually a lot more than you would think, ranging from the ragtag group of time-traveling little people who snag hapless Kevin out of bed and into their hijinx in Time Bandits, to the motley group of kids in The Goonies who set out to find One-Eyed Willy’s treasure.

There’s also a slew of movies that deals with role-playing games. From Tom Hank’s first starring role in Mazes and Monsters - based on the book of the same name, which is in turn based on events detailed in the investigative crime book The Dungeon Master - all the way to the documentary The Dungeon Masters, which I highlighted on the Joystiq Box Office a couple of years ago.

But without a great film that combines both a group of adventurers and the role-playing experience, at least until The Knights of Badassdom finally comes out, I’m applying the tried and true archetypes of adventure-partying to the classic Stand By Me.

Gallery: Guild Wars 2 (2/20/12)