The holiday video game season is already fast upon us, and over the next few weeks several highly anticipated video games will finally be hitting store shelves. However, none of them has a big-budget (or even indie-sized budget… that would be a fun experiment) film adaptation hitting the theater concurrently, which is probably a good thing, because we’d end up with a lot of half-assed video games.

But which new games should be turned into movies? Thankfully, imagination has finally been creeping back into games, and it’s high time Hollywood pays attention (although, of course, the guys blasting aliens with guns will still be there.) Here’s a list of video games that should be turned into movies.

LittleBigPlanet

Sony’s cute-as-a-button game has been touted across the nation with enormous billboard featuring a representation of the main character, Sackboy, along with the phrase “Fun Will Overcome.” While the gameplay is open-ended and the emphasis is on creating your own levels to share with friends online, you can’t ignoring the compelling adorability of Sackboy. He’s mute, cute, and would be the perfect star of a Miyazaki-esque film, following him as he explores his noew world and meets new friends. British comedian Stephen Fry narrates the game beautifully, so when you play it you already feel like you’re part of a movie… or a documentary about a newly discovered race of tiny, animated stuffed animals.

Dead Space

Electronic Arts released this “horror in space” game last week, and it’s one of the most frightening games I’ve played in a long while. Resident Evil may have cornered the market on scary zombies, but imagine mutant zombie aliens in zero gravity, and that’s a bit like this game. You play engineer Isaac Clarke, sent to repair an ailing mining ship in a remote part of the galaxy. However, there’s a reason the ship isn’t responding to calls and is listing in space. Although not a combat soldier, your engineering suit is fairly robust and you can pick up helpful tools along the way to keep you alive. The plot combines elements of Alien and is reminiscent of Danny Boyle’s Sunshine, but it’s also gorgeous and scary at the same time.

Braid

Jonathan Blow’s Braid is an extremely touching and emotional story about a man named Tim who is searching for a princess. Evidently Tim and the princess had some sort of problem in the past, and Tim wants to change things so badly that he can now turn back time. During his search, he can use this ability to aid himself as he travels from world to world, ostensibly learning lessons about forgiveness along the way. It has a simple artistic style that manages to be charming and emotional at the same time, and the moody ambient soundtrack helps as well. A man who loves a woman so much that he can channel that energy and turn back the clock? Sounds like a movie to me. Think The Fountain meets Back to the Future. It also has the dubious distinction of having an extremely bizarre video review from rapster Soulja Boy.

Gears of War

The highly anticipated sequel to Gears of War comes out on November 7th, and it’s a fairly straightforward story of humans vs. aliens. Although in this case, the aliens are called the Locust Horde and are loosely based on insects, if insects were eight feet tall and wanted to kill you. You play through the game as Marcus Fenix, a soldier with a dark past who is freed from military prison in the opening scenes of the game. As the Locust attack, Fenix is grudgingly reinstated and throughout the game the other soldiers who meet him are either impressed or revolted. The upcoming sequel takes things further as Marcus and his soldiers begin drilling through the planet so they can take the fight to the Locusts. In March 2007 it was announced that a Gears of War movie was in development, and this summer they named Len Wiseman (two Underworld movies and Die Hard 4). Currently it’s in the early stages of development, and is expected to be released in 2010.

Portal

This is a perfect example of a simple game that really opens up in scope when you apply a rich story to it. You play Chell, a human experiment subject at Aperture Science. Although there is a suspicious absence of other humans at the facility, you are guided through the levels by GLaDOS, an artificial intelligence who promises you cake and other rewards. However, she begins turning malevolent and the game takes a turn for survival. Luckily you’re armed with the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, or Portal Gun, that can open up wormholes to let you teleport around obstacles. The entire game is set in the austere bowels of the Aperture laboratories, and is a bit like THX-1138 if HAL-9000 were running things. The Jonathan Coulton song that plays over the end credits will stay in your head for days.

Fallout 3

The third installment of this post-nuclear apocalypse survival game comes out next Tuesday, although this game is so graphically different from the first two that it might as well be an entirely new game. In their alternative timeline, World War III happened, but in the 1950s. As a result, the look and feel of the game is stuck in retro-vintage, complete with campy humor and advertising. You play the a young vaultdweller in search of your father, voiced by Liam Neeson, and set out from the safety of your nuclear fallout shelter in search of him. Along the way you’ll encounter plenty of survivors, learn how to upgrade your skills and keep radiation at bay, and listen to charming fireside chats from the President, provided by the dulcet tones of Malcolm McDowell. Thankfully you have your wrist-mounted Pip-Boy 3000 computer to help you through the tough times.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

We’ve previously mentioned this Lucasarts game set in the period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope (or the last prequel, and the original Star Wars movie for those of you less fluent with Star Wars geekery), but it holds up on its own as far superior all three of Lucas’ prequels. Darth Vader pulls some Machiavellian schemes in this game as he secretly plots against the Emperor, employs a secret apprentice, and begins to form the basis for the Rebellion. Lucas also announced this week that a brand new massively multiplayer online game called Star Wars: The Old Republic is being developed by their company and BioWare, and is set some 3,500 year before the events in Star Wars. It’s ironic that the Star Wars games are much better than the recent films, animated or otherwise.

Mirror’s Edge

You play a courier named Faith who carries sensitive information from point to point in a dystopic future that has begun distrusting electronic communication. She used by people who want to transmit messages and avoid detection by the government. Although that doesn’t stop the government from wanting that information. Faith doesn’t come equipped with guns, although she can briefly use one if she disarms an enemy. Instead the gameplay is focused on running, leaping, sliding, gapping, and uses the concept/sport of parkour to get from one place to another. Just reading about the game will make you remember how bad Johnny Mnemonic was, where Keanu Reeves played a courier who stored data in his brain. It’s refreshingly to have a character who doesn’t tote around 38 different kinds of guns, which emphasizes non-violent gameplay. Let’s hope it doesn’t lead to a rash of kids hurling themselves off of buildings in an effort to imitate their newfound runner-courier idol.