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The Game Archaeologist: Neocron and Neocron 2
It's the distant future. The high-tech battle armor you wear sharply contrasts with the ruins of civilization that you traverse. You spot an enemy and raise your pulse rifle, firing off shots as you strafe to cover. Technology hasn't solved the issue of war; it's just made it that much more bloody. PlanetSide 2? Nope -- this is Neocron, the quite-forgettable MMOFPS from the way-back era. I like to call it "that game with the most regrettable cover art in the history of video games," but that isn't quite as snappy. Going into this article, I have to admit that I previously knew absolutely nothing about Neocron other than the fact that it was a sci-fi MMO that vaguely reminded me of Anarchy Online. Oh, also the fact that nobody I know or perhaps ever will know played it. Is it just a myth? A practical joke to make us believe in a MMO phantom? Only sifting through layers of dust and grime would produce results, so I rolled up my sleeves and started digging.
CD Projekt Red's 'Cyberpunk' inspired by System Shock, Blade Runner [Update]
The Witcher series developer CD Projekt Red is deriving its latest game, Cyberpunk, from the pen-and-paper game of the same name – but that's not where all of its direction is coming from. Cyberpunk draws inspiration from William Gibson novels, Blade Runner, the Ghost in the Shell anime and manga, System Shock and "the first part of Deus Ex," community manager Marcin Momot says.Cyberpunk will remain faithful to its source material, traversing the world but focusing on a specific venue pivotal to the franchise, Night City. Cyberpunk will have an "open, living world" with more customization options than players had with Geralt in The Witcher games. Players will be able to change their stats, equipment, implants and more.The role system comes straight from the pen-and-paper Cyberpunk, and "as opposed to the regular fantasy set-up with mages, warriors and archers, we're going for something different," Momot says. "In Cyberpunk, each character role will offer a set of special skills that will impact your stats in many different ways."Update: Yes, what was first written in the interview as "Shellshock" was supposed to be "System Shock," and CD Projekt Red has altered the text to reflect this. If you don't believe it really said "Shellshock," ctrl+f the comments in the source. We were just as confused as you.
Engadget's holiday gift guide 2011: fun stuff!
Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! We're well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties surrounding the seasonal shopping experience, so we're here to help you sort out this year's tech treasures. Below is today's bevy of curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. For some, it's easy to forget about having fun -- fretting over buying the "right" tablet, e-reader or DSLR can strip the joy of unbridled silliness that Christmas allows you. This is your handy guide to stuff you can kick back and enjoy some crazy fun with. There's no ecosystem wars here, no desire to have the loudest or fastest plug-in gadget; just things you'd prefer to give and receive instead of a Sharper Image motorized tie rack... or back-hair shaver. So join us past the break, if you will, for a look at this year's collection of fun stuff!
Eye-tracking lie detectors inch a little closer to reality
If lie detection is your thing, choices aren't exactly scarce: you can go with Lego for the kids, Skype-centric for remote fibber identification, or even use a headband if you can corral your suspect long enough. Hoping to add to that list is the University of Utah, whose eye-tracking lie detector has been licensed to a local company in order to explore its viability as a commercial product. As with Blade Runnner's Voight-Kampff empathy test, Utah's methodology revolves around monitoring things like eye movement, pupil dilation and response time -- with the major difference being that you're trying to identify truth evaders rather than skinjobs. John Kircher, one of the lead researchers, claims results so far have been as good as or better than those obtained with polygraph testing, though he admits the project is still in its early stages. No worries, though, we're sure they'll perfect the technique in time for our post-apocalyptic, Vangelis-scored future.
Nissan's Leaf EV will sound like a Blade Runner spinner, get better mileage
One of the major disadvantages of electric vehicles, for petrolheads at least, is the lack of engine noise. How can you be proud of your beastly motor if it doesn't roar? There are mundane considerations like pedestrian safety too, but that's beside the point. Nissan seems to have uncovered an old copy of Blade Runner in its toolshed and decided that, yes, it might be a good idea for the Leaf EV to emit a whooshing sound inspired by the Philip K. Dick adaptation. If implemented, this will raise the car's price somewhat, but wouldn't you pay a premium to have your auto sound like a jet taking off? The Leaf is expected to arrive in the US in 2010, replete with its reputed 367 miles per gallon efficiency. [Via Autoblog Green]
UK film critic doesn't understand using HDTV to watch old movies, why kids are on his lawn
Another day, another ignorant article about high definition. This time it's Peter Bradshaw, film critic for Guardian.co.uk, claiming Humphrey Bogart would have any cameraman approximating a "high definition" effect thrown off the set. Blatantly ignoring the fact that movies of that era were made on 35mm film with more resolution than even 1080p Blu-ray can display, Bradshaw claims that instead of a HDTV, viewers would be better off with a standard definition projector and DVDs. This is all in response to a recent Sky ad campaign (check out the video with Sir Anthony Hopkins dropping in Rutger Hauer's Blade Runner monologue after the break, plus the original) promoting the broadcaster's new HD transfers, allowing home viewing of many older films in quality that would be impossible unless you'd seen it the first week in theaters, and with sound that likely surpasses anything available at the time. What someone should explain to Mr. Bradshaw and so many others with this misconception is that HDTV allows us to see the movie closer to the way it was meant to be seen when it was originally mastered, with all the detail that was present. Provided a high quality transfer, there's plenty of reasons to catch old flicks in a new format, so spread the word.
Famous movie scenes recreated using game development tools
The Game Artist forums recently held a competition to determine who could best recreate a scene from a movie in a real-time game environment. The winners were a trio of forum users, going by the names of shadows, in3d, and Alina, who appropriately called themselves "The Replicants." They recreated the the classic Blade Runner scene you see above, and we're sure we don't have to tell you why it's the best of the bunch. Rounding out the rest of the winners were scenes from Hook (Ruffio! Ruffio! Ruf-ee-oh!), X2: X-Men United, I am Legend, and Aliens. You can blast your eyeballs with those entries by clicking here.[Via Fidgit]
Video: Blade Runner starring the iPod shuffle and Kindle 2
You've probably heard the text-to-speech capabilities of the Amazon Kindle 2 and iPod shuffle by now. But you probably haven't heard them act out Leon's VK test from Blade Runner. Check the newest nerd-legend after the break, then come back and tell us about your mothers.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Born for Wii: Blade Runner
It's always dark in the city. Always raining. The light from a thousand neon signs is refracted and scattered by the smog that hangs in the air, ominous and ever-present. Spinners pass by quietly overhead while those too poor to own a car travel by foot, hurrying with umbrellas clutched tightly and collars upturned against the cold and rain. A handful aren't even real -- fake, synthetic, the creations of man in his own image, now considered a threat and forbidden to walk the streets of L.A. For them, the chase is a fight for survival. They have no right to life. For you, it's just another day on the job. Retiring replicants is your business. You're a blade runner.More than 25 years after its release, Ridley Scott's Blade Runner still stands as one of the best science fiction movies of all time. It's a haunting dystopian noir, a gripping mystery, and a special effects marvel. In a fitting tribute to the film, Westwood Studios revisited L.A. circa 2019 in their 1997 adventure game, simply titled Blade Runner. The events of the game play out in parallel to the story of Rick Deckard, as rookie blade Ray McCoy hunts down his own set of dangerous replicants. Westwood's point-and-click adventure was an ambitious project for 1997, but it succeeds on all fronts: it's consistently atmospheric, delivers a solid and well-acted script, and alters the traditional gameplay enough to be a fresh take on the genre. #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } NEXT >> %Gallery-42597% Every week, Born for Wii digs into gaming's sordid past to unearth a new treasure fit for revival on the Nintendo Wii. Be sure to check out last week's entry in the series, BattleTanx: Global Assault, and for more great titles that deserve your attention, take a look at Virtually Overlooked.
EVE illustrator breathes a dark, gritty life into the game's setting
Writer Annalee Newitz from the sci-fi centric io9 blog recently took a look at some of EVE Online's memorable artwork, by Icelandic concept designer B. Börkur Eiríksson (apparently also known as "Nag" according to The Art of EVE book). Börkur has been the Lead Artist/Illustrator at CCP Games since 2004, imbuing New Eden's futuristic backstory with his very dark, gritty style that really helps set the tone. On Börkur's "Industra" -- a depiction of a gloomy, burn out industrial city -- Newitz writes, "This image of a future city... feels to me like some anachronistic mashup of impressionist art and science fiction. The people in their hats and bonnets look almost nineteenth century..."io9 has a sampling of Börkur's artwork, but his online gallery -- Björn Börkur Eiríksson: Industrium -- is the prime place to find numerous examples of his work, divided between Concepts/Illustrations and Sketches/Speedpaints. EVE Online fans will recognize much of this artwork, which has been featured alongside fiction appearing in E-ON magazine and the official site's Chronicles over the years. If you're a fan of unidealized depictions of the future -- hell, if you just liked Blade Runner -- you'll probably appreciate the artwork of B. Börkur Eiríksson. [Via CrazyKinux]
Keepin' it real fake, part CXIII: the Blade Runner MP4 player doesn't make calls, retire Replicants
Like peanut butter and jelly, oil and vinegar, and Benny and Joon, some things just go together. If you thought the words "Blade Runner" and the industrial design of the RAZR were always "meant to be," your day has finally come. Enter the Blade Runner MP4 player -- the PMP that looks like a phone, but acts like far, far, far less. The device has lots of familiar media player features, but let's be honest: all the information you need about this baby is up in that photo above. Own the magic today for $49.99.[Via Crave]
Why Fantasy, and not Science Fiction, Part Eleventy-Billion
As my compadre Eli writes here, there is reasoning available that Fantasy MMOs have flourished due to there being a greater preponderance of Fantasy titles, in various media, upon which to draw inspiration to sustain an MMO. The lack of substantive Science Fiction titles of the time, therefore, leads to the correlating dearth of such MMOs. However, this argument only mentions in passing what I think is the more crucial element, which is this:Fantasy titles are about the Hero's Journey, or the Epic. Science Fiction titles are about exploration of ideas. One of these story types makes for better adaptation to immersive gameplay. Guess which?Now, I will back up a bit and acknowledge that as a blanket statement, what I said does not (and should not be considered to) cover every Fantasy or Science Fiction title everywhere. Clearly, Star Wars is the most well-known Epic SF story, but then again, Lucas based the plot almost entirely on Joseph Campbell's monomyth, which was itself formulated around the epic myths and stories of history. And perhaps one of the finest Fantasy titles ever written, John Crowley's Little, Big, uses Fantasy tropes to examine the idea of the complexity of human relationships, rather than one character's journey to overcome evil. But having made those concessions, let me make my case.
Movie Gadget Friday and Blade Runner return!
Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema. To warmly welcome back an old Engadget classic, Movie Gadget Friday, we figured it might also be best to take a second look at a staff favorite also recently revived. Three years ago we analyzed the dystopian sci-fi sexiness of the Voight-Kampff and Esper machines, but just as we watched Blade Runner: The Final Cut again for the first time (now on remastered DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-ray), we're taking a deeper look at a few more of the film's off-the-beaten-path devices. Vid-Ph?nPacific Bell's video phone network, which uses massive, junky, old-school CRTs to transmit calls from just about any location, be it Deckard's car or the local bar. A call costs $1.25, and is sure to make drunk dials of the future just that much more horrifying. Vid-Ph?ns do not have embedded Voight-Kampff machines, so they can be considered fairly safe to use for confidential chats between replicants. More after the break.
Blade Runner Blu-ray Complete Edition arriving with botched Workprint disc?
Although we just heard that the five-disc Complete Collector's Edition of Blade Runner was a solid buy for HD DVD aficionados, things aren't going so well for those hoping to enjoy the same experience on Blu-ray. Granted, we're sure the actual image / audio quality is up to snuff on the BD version, but in a mishap similar to that seen with the latest Harry Potter box set, some BD packages are apparently arriving with duplicated discs. More speficially, a growing number of individuals are claiming that their Disc 5 (correctly labeled as the rare Workprint edition) is actually a copy of Disc 1 (the Final Cut iteration). A surefire way to check is to see if your Disc 5 has a Dolby TrueHD track on it -- if so, you've received a mislabeled disc. Of course, considering the general unavailability of the Blu-ray set, simply exchanging these may prove difficult. We'll keep you posted if an official announcement is divulged.[Via Blu-ray]
Blade Runner HD DVD box set gets reviewed
Blade Runner fanatics have been waiting for this five-disc collector's edition for a long, long time, and thankfully, the wait is finally over. 'Course, we're fairly confident the BR faithful will be snapping this one up regardless, but for those sitting squarely on the fence, BlogCritics has went ahead and given the HD DVD set a once over. Irrespective of your opinion on the actual storyline, the scenery throughout the film was said to be "stunning," and moreover, it reportedly exhibits "one of the greatest restoration jobs you'll ever see." Granted, only the latest cut of the movie was so "lovingly redone," so we're warned to prepare for subpar quality when viewing the theatrical cut and workprint version. On the audio side, the Dolby TrueHD mix managed to impress, and while the package is chock-full of extras, it should be noted that two of the five discs (holding the three-hour documentary and an array of featurettes) are actually standard DVDs. All in all, this one sounds like a surefire winner for fans of the original, but make sure you give the full review a glance before deciding either way.
Harry Potter, Blade Runner coming to Blu-ray and HD DVD in Q4
More news from the Home Media Expo, as Warner Home Video made it a point to show off its upcoming deluxe box sets, few more widely anticipated than the high definition releases of Harry Potter and Blade Runner. Fans of the Harry Potter series can get all five films, on Blu-ray or HD DVD along with "exclusive memorabilia", at a price of $149.99, a $30 premium over the standard DVD set. Blade Runner is getting a five disc DVD re-release that will also hit Blu-ray and HD DVD, but no word on prices for the HD editions or special features. According to VideoBusiness both should debut sometime in the fourth quarter, it appears that Total HD or not Warner is taking advantage of its support for both formats by releasing its heavy hitters sooner, rather than later.
'Blade Runner' Coming to Blu-ray and HD DVD
Talk about a great film for high-def! Warner Bros. is going to re-release the '92 Blade Runner: The Director's Cut for a short four month run. The next year however, they are going to celebrate the films 25th anniversary with a box set of the original '82 version, the '92 directors cut and tons of extras. The great news is that Warner Bros. currently supports both Blu-ray and HD DVD and has plans to bring these titles out on both of 'em. There is going to be more details to follow so we will keep you up to date.
