Word is out that Hollywood screenwriters David Weisberg and Douglas Cook (responsible for blockbusters such as Double Jeopardy and The Rock) are set to bring the videogame Darkest of Days to the big screen. Hotshot producer Joe Roth is said to be behind the project.

Adapting a videogame for the big screen has always been an exciting project, but some videogame fans don’t know how to feel about this latest adaptation yet–given the fact that the game is not exactly garnering positive reviews in the gaming world.

The plot of the game revolves around a soldier named Alexander Morris who is fighting in the Civil War. When he is wounded, he is rescued by a man who takes him to a futuristic portal called Kronotek. Apparently, the people at Kronotek have found a way to make time travel possible, allowing them to protect history at all costs. Morris is then invited to participate in this cause by helping protect people who have key roles in history.

Despite the potential of the game’s premise, many gamers found themselves questioning the game’s plausibility especially since the main character does little to question the unusual situation that he finds himself in. The mechanics of the game are not much better. The players spends long stretches of time walking and the weapons are poorly designed.

There is no doubt that gamers are hoping that the skills of the screenwriters and producer combined will turn Darkest of Days a better movie than it was as a game.

Due to the nature of board games, tracing a specific history is impossible. Board games are seen in records and archeology as early as Predynastic Egypt, and have stuck with us ever since. As a result, the History of Board Games should be divided into a few categories: Ancient games, Classic Games, and Modern Games.
 
 Ancient Games – Many of the ancient games we have today (or have records of), are those which were played by the social elite. Although the first game seems to be an early version of Chess, games such as Go, Mancala and Backgammon also found early popularity. Through the years, Chess developed through dozens of iterations, ranging from as few as eight pieces per player to as many as twenty! It was a very long time before one “correct” version took world domination, approximately 5000 years.
 
 Classical Games – These are the games that were introduced and rose to worldwide popularity in the early 20th century. Monopoly, Risk, Clue, and so on. These games were published mass market, and are almost all still available today. Each has had several versions of it created, such as Risk 2020. Monopoly in particular has had dozens (if not hundreds) of versions, from Cat-opoly to Basketball-opoly. They tend to have few if any changes to the actual rules, but the names of each property differ based on the theme.  
 
 Modern Games – In the last 20 years, a great revolution occurred in the world of board games. Focus shifted from the massive American conglomerates to smaller, independent European games. These tend to focus on strategy and diplomacy, and reduce the luck factor significantly. Although many still use either dice or cards, luck is less relevant to who wins. These games include Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, and Carcassonne.