Japanese gamemaker Konami is moving its headquarters to sunny Southern California. The relocation is motivated in part by a desire to take advantage of Hollywood's interest in adapting video games into movies.

Konami has already licensed the movie rights to "Silent Hill", to be directed by Frenchman Christopher Gans ("Necronomicon", "Brotherhood of the Wolf"). The company is now looking to bring its other best-selling games - "Castlevania," "Contra," "Metal Gear" and "Silent Scope" - to the big screen.

Konami licenses the concepts, but leaves the details of the films to the filmmakers. "Konami isn't a movie company so we're not the experts at it," Konami CEO Kazumi Kitaue said. "When we license a title, we're going to let the production company run with it."

Game-to-movie conversions have had mixed results - from the audience favorites "Tomb Raider" and "Resident Evil" to the critical dud "House of the Dead". The quality of "Silent Hill" could decide just how long the game movie craze lasts.

Source: Variety [1]