@rocketpig,

"" I hope we will see real writers start taking on video game plotlines and dialogue but I just don't see it happening anytime soon.""

==> can u give me some game name where the plotlines and dialogue are good enought for you ? (or maybe, what is your top5 ?).
Just to have an idea.

(In fact, I dont see tha gap between cinema and video games u are mentionning, and I would like to see it ^^)

Hmm... I'll constrain it a bit to the last 10 years of games and none of these were particularly impressive to me, they just didn't completely suck.

In no particular order:

Half-Life/Half-Life 2 (take your pick)
Mass Effect (Interesting dialogue, fleshed-out (sic) characters, villain you love to hate)
Heavenly Sword (best voice acting ever IMO)
Psychonauts (one of the "smartest" games ever created, truly clever in every sense of the word)
Grim Fandango (love me some Tim Schafer, very dark, very different, complete flop commercially)

edit: I'll take back one part of my earlier statements. Tim Schafer is a truly gifted writer, storyteller, and game designer. He constantly breaks boundaries with his games, it's just too bad that no one fucking buys them.

but, what do you praise ?

voice acting ?
or
dialogue ?

what about older games like Planescape torment ? Fallout 1/2 ?
(I know u played them ^^)

And also, to compare, what is ur top5 MOVIEs in the same category.
That would be interesting.

Most of Fallout is text-based so I didn't really include it. The dialogue is funny and some of the characters are great, but it still falls short unless you classify it purely as a comedy, which it's not. I haven't played Planescape enough to judge the game. My friend owned it and I dabbled with the game, that's it.

Ugh, movies? I could list you 50. Breaking it down to 5 would be impossible for me and putting them in any sort of order would be even harder. My point is that there are so many different things going on in movies that it all depends on what you're looking at in that particular moment. Picking a movie "overall" is impossible. There are too many flavors and varieties depending on mood, something video gaming has yet to match in stories and plotlines.

OK, let's forget this discussion.
I suppose I dont try to compare videogames and movie.

But, maybe u will be interested in this :

http://softrockhallelujah.blogspot.com/2008/04/you-hear-thunder-of-stampeding-rhinos.html

2) Also, I can confirm I was right (as were many others), that PS3 title the BBC journo said was going on about is indeed Heavy Rain. The teaser trailer, which will see release sometime in the next few months, follows the main character from a morning ritual to the frantic reaction to a seeming lacuna in time (the subsequent journey is the game's main plotline) and the explanation of the game's title. The technology is quite impressive, all the characters in the game are aware of the environments and contexts that they are in--it effects how they behave, what they say, how they feel, et cetera--while taking in their personality and personal experiences into account so that a character's behavior is consistent, realistic and varied.

I often get worried about too much film in films and too much music on CDs, so I can see where the OP is coming from.

I am definitely intrigued by Heavy Rain, though the complete dearth of information on its story and gameplay are worrisome. I would like to see something a little more substantial about the game pop up in the next few months, perhaps a gameplay video.

The other day, I picked up a book and there was nothing but words inside... Pages and pages of them.

I was furious.

 You have to be joking... Gears of War story, dialogue and voice acting are simply horrible...

 It's just a number. I have no idea how many people like the voice acting :)