Films have been around for many more years that video games, but of late I've been realising that some of the things that video games do would make my film and series watching more enjoyable.

Subtitle Audio Balancing
Maybe it's because I'm getting older, or maybe it's my post-Covid tinnitus, but I find myself frequently struggling to hear dialogue in films. When this happens in a video game I can most often drop the level of the music and sound effects and raise the levels of the voices.

Even picking different sound presets on my television I don't have the same level of control (and listening comfort) as I do when playing video games. Come on Netflix and Disney, this would be a brilliant option. Although I guess this would have to be solves at the point of content creation.

Subtitle Subtitle Size and Contrast
Watching films with subtitles I often find myself reaching for the controller to increase the size or contrast. But most often the subtitles on streamed video don't have these options.

Subtitle Wandering Off Camera
One of my favourite things to do in video games is to poke around the world and spaces to see what extra information I can discover. Now of course, there's no surprise that this isn't something that film can offer. And I understand that having a directed experience is really valuable.

However, I still find myself wishing that I could rewatch Succession and wander around the rooms not on camera, or see what's in the desk drawers, or walk up to the photos on the wall to see who they are.

Subtitle Ratings and Descriptors
One thing that films and series do (Netflix in particular) is to pop up the age rating and descriptor when ever you start watching content. I'd love to see video games to pop up the ESRB or PEGI rating in the corner of the screen when you start playing a game.