Saturday, August 29, 2020
A while back I tried to draw Sam Porter (Norman Reedus) from Death Stranding, but I'm having serious issues with making any portrait look like the person I'm intending to draw.. Any pointers/tips? ^^;-UNR
Friday, August 28, 2020
Norman Reedus and the Giant... | Death Stranding Funny Moments Gameplay-UNR
Norman Reedus and the Giant ... | Death Stranding Funny Moments Gameplay-UNR
This makes me think of an episode of Ride: with Norman Reedus-UNR
I think I may know the real reason why they cancelled Silent Hills.-UNR
You know, it's funny. I was an avid gamer when I was a kid, and if it hadn't been for my roommate Dave, I wouldn't have gotten back into it.
To give you an idea, the last console I played relentlessly was a Nintendo Gamecube. I missed the Wii and the PS2 & 3. Thanks to tax returns, I was able to get a PS4 and enjoy this new generation of amazing games.
The reason I'm telling you this is because, perhaps fortunately, I didn't get my PS4 until around 2017, so I missed P.T.
P.T., for those who don't know, was a playable teaser published by Konami in August of 2014. It was a first-person psychological horror game with a very simple play tactic: you walk along a hallway, only to walk through the door at the end and end up at the beginning of the same hallway. As you continue to walk through it, things slowly change. There are radio broadcasts about a father who murdered his own family; a deformed fetus appears in the sink of a bathroom; cockroaches swarm out of the cracks in the doors; loud bangs and noises are heard all around you; cryptic messages appear in blood on the walls.
Eventually, the player is treated to the ghastly sight of Lisa, a hostile poltergeist that you are completely unable to fight. If the player solved all of the puzzles and won, it would be revealed to them that the protagonist was actually a man played by Norman Reedus (from The Walking Dead) and that P.T. was actually a teaser for what would have been a new installment of the Silent Hill series, Silent Hills.
By the time I'd gotten my PS4, however, not only had Silent Hills been cancelled, but P.T. had been removed from the PS store. It was also removed from all the online gaming services; people began selling PlayStations with P.T. already installed on eBay, and those auctions were eventually pulled by the site.
So... why the hell would a company be so adamant about making sure a little playable teaser was unavailable to the public? The official statement was that Kojima Productions, the developers of the game, had taken the series in a direction that Konami, the owners of the Silent Hill series, was not interested in taking it in.
I'm terrified that I may have discovered the real reason.
In 2019, it was reported that a game hacker named Lance McDonald discovered that the ghost in the game was tethered behind the player's character early on. This hostile poltergeist is literally just behind the player for the majority of the game. This is why, from early on, the player can see unexplained shadows and hear strange noises from the area they just left.
The development team has never answered the question as to why they took this approach. They could have easily put in coding that allowed certain auditory or visual scares at certain moments but instead they chose to write a code that would make the ghost impossible to see but always there, following you.
I have a terrible feeling that Hideo Kojima and the other developers tapped into something that wasn't meant to be tapped into.
I recently went onto a few gamer chat sites to see if anyone had played it. I was surprised to get a few replies back fairly quickly. A good number of people seemed to have played it before it was taken down and they all had the same opinion: it was an awesome teaser for what would have been an amazing game, and it was a crime that we'd never get to see what would have come from it.
However, a few people mentioned that after playing the game, they began to see strange things.
Of course, all of these people from the site were complete strangers. Most of them lived in different states; some of them even lived in different countries. But they all said that not long after they'd completed P.T., they started to see something just outside of their peripheral vision. It always seemed to be the same thing: a pale face, with its right eye missing and the left eye misshapen and seeming to lightly glow. They described a mouth that seemed to be smiling and grimacing at the same time, with yellowed teeth and some kind of yellowish viscous liquid rolling down the chin. One of them included a picture of the ghost featured in the game, and of course it fit the descriptions to a tee.
They said that they saw it only at night, never during the day. It always seemed to happen in the hallways of their homes. They'd be heading to the bathroom in the middle of the night or just getting home from a late shift and heading to the bedroom when they'd see it, if only for a second. They swore that a few times, they felt fetid breath on the back of their neck.
Now, obviously I'm deeply skeptical about this. It's entirely possible that it's just a bunch of people using the anonymity of the internet to take the piss out of a stranger. It's entirely possible.
But if it IS just that, then that still leaves the question of why Konami not only cancelled the game, but why they went to great lengths and spent God knows how much money to make sure that this simple playable teaser would never be played again.
Were they cheating us... or protecting us?
I may know the real reason why Silent Hills was cancelled.-UNR
You know, it's funny. I was an avid gamer when I was a kid, and if it hadn't been for my roommate Dave, I wouldn't have gotten back into it.
To give you an idea, the last console I played relentlessly was a Nintendo Gamecube. I missed the Wii and the PS2 & 3. Thanks to tax returns, I was able to get a PS4 and enjoy this new generation of amazing games.
The reason I'm telling you this is because, perhaps fortunately, I didn't get my PS4 until around 2017, so I missed P.T.
P.T., for those who don't know, was a playable teaser published by Konami in August of 2014. It was a first-person psychological horror game with a very simple play tactic: you walk along a hallway, only to walk through the door at the end and end up at the beginning of the same hallway. As you continue to walk through it, things slowly change. There are radio broadcasts about a father who murdered his own family; a deformed fetus appears in the sink of a bathroom; cockroaches swarm out of the cracks in the doors; loud bangs and noises are heard all around you; cryptic messages appear in blood on the walls.
Eventually, the player is treated to the ghastly sight of Lisa, a hostile poltergeist that you are completely unable to fight. If the player solved all of the puzzles and won, it would be revealed to them that the protagonist was actually a man played by Norman Reedus (from The Walking Dead) and that P.T. was actually a teaser for what would have been a new installment of the Silent Hill series, Silent Hills.
By the time I'd gotten my PS4, however, not only had Silent Hills been cancelled, but P.T. had been removed from the PS store. It was also removed from all the online gaming services; people began selling PlayStations with P.T. already installed on eBay, and those auctions were eventually pulled by the site.
So... why the hell would a company be so adamant about making sure a little playable teaser was unavailable to the public? The official statement was that Kojima Productions, the developers of the game, had taken the series in a direction that Konami, the owners of the Silent Hill series, was not interested in taking it in.
I'm terrified that I may have discovered the real reason.
In 2019, it was reported that a game hacker named Lance McDonald discovered that the ghost in the game was tethered behind the player's character early on. This hostile poltergeist is literally just behind the player for the majority of the game. This is why, from early on, the player can see unexplained shadows and hear strange noises from the area they just left.
The development team has never answered the question as to why they took this approach. They could have easily put in coding that allowed certain auditory or visual scares at certain moments but instead they chose to write a code that would make the ghost impossible to see but always there, following you.
I have a terrible feeling that Hideo Kojima and the other developers tapped into something that wasn't meant to be tapped into.
I recently went onto a few gamer chat sites to see if anyone had played it. I was surprised to get a few replies back fairly quickly. A good number of people seemed to have played it before it was taken down and they all had the same opinion: it was an awesome teaser for what would have been an amazing game, and it was a crime that we'd never get to see what would have come from it.
However, a few people mentioned that after playing the game, they began to see strange things.
Of course, all of these people from the site were complete strangers. Most of them lived in different states; some of them even lived in different countries. But they all said that not long after they'd completed P.T., they started to see something just outside of their peripheral vision. It always seemed to be the same thing: a pale face, with its right eye missing and the left eye misshapen and seeming to lightly glow. They described a mouth that seemed to be smiling and grimacing at the same time, with yellowed teeth and some kind of yellowish viscous liquid rolling down the chin. One of them included a picture of the ghost featured in the game, and of course it fit the descriptions to a tee.
They said that they saw it only at night, never during the day. It always seemed to happen in the hallways of their homes. They'd be heading to the bathroom in the middle of the night or just getting home from a late shift and heading to the bedroom when they'd see it, if only for a second. They swore that a few times, they felt fetid breath on the back of their neck.
Now, obviously I'm deeply skeptical about this. It's entirely possible that it's just a bunch of people using the anonymity of the internet to take the piss out of a stranger. It's entirely possible.
But if it IS just that, then that still leaves the question of why Konami not only cancelled the game, but why they went to great lengths and spent God knows how much money to make sure that this simple playable teaser would never be played again.
Were they cheating us... or protecting us?
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Death Stranding (PS4) - £18.94 Delivered @ evergameuk via eBay-UNR
The description of this deal was not provided by this subreddit and it's contributors.
£18.94 - eBay
Decent low price here for the game, is a bundle copy, if that is a factor before buying.
MetaScore of 82 https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/death-stranding
**
Description**
From legendary game creator Hideo Kojima comes an all-new, genre-defying experience for PlayStation 4.Sam Bridges must brave a world utterly transformed by the Death Stranding. Carrying the disconnected remnants of our future in his hands, he embarks on a journey to reconnect the shattered world one step at a time. With spectral creatures plaguing the landscape, and humanity on the verge of a mass extinction, it’s up to Sam to journey across the ravaged continent and save mankind from impending annihilation. What is the mystery of the Death Stranding? What will Sam discover on the road ahead? An unprecedented gameplay experience holds these answers and more. Starring Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, LéaSeydoux and Lindsay Wagner.
**
Features:**
- From legendary game creator Hideo Kojima comes an all-new, genre-defying experience
- Carrying the disconnected remnants of our future in his hands, Sam Bridges embarks on a journey to reconnect the shattered world one step at a time.
-
With spectral creatures plaguing the landscape, and humanity on the verge of a mass extinction, it’s up to Sam to journey across the ravaged continent and save mankind from impending annihilation.
Credit also to @TheWrecker7477__ who spotted the deal earlier (highfive)
Hope it helps someone.
This deal can be found at hotukdeals via this link: https://ift.tt/32mTXvu
I decided to try a Monster to see what Norman Reedus was enjoying and found my least favorite beverage I've ever tasted.-UNR
Like for real, I would rather eat a cryptobiote.
Sculpting Norman Reedus from Death Stranding-UNR
Sculpting Norman Reedus in DeathStranding 1/12 miniature-UNR
Death Stranding (PS4) £18.95 (Prime) / £21.94 (Non-Prime) Delivered @ Amazon-UNR
The following description is not provided by this sub or any of it's contributors.
£18.95 - Amazon
Fab price.
From legendary game creator Hideo Kojima comes an all-new, genre-defying experience for PlayStation 4.Sam Bridges must brave a world utterly transformed by the Death Stranding. Carrying the disconnected remnants of our future in his hands, he embarks on a journey to reconnect the shattered world one step at a time. With spectral creatures plaguing the landscape, and humanity on the verge of a mass extinction, it’s up to Sam to journey across the ravaged continent and save mankind from impending annihilation. What is the mystery of the Death Stranding? What will Sam discover on the road ahead? An unprecedented gameplay experience holds these answers and more. Starring Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, LéaSeydoux and Lindsay Wagner.
- From legendary game creator Hideo Kojima comes an all-new, genre-defying experience
- Carrying the disconnected remnants of our future in his hands, Sam Bridges embarks on a journey to reconnect the shattered world one step at a time.
-
With spectral creatures plaguing the landscape, and humanity on the verge of a mass extinction, it’s up to Sam to journey across the ravaged continent and save mankind from impending annihilation.
This deal can be found on hotukdeals via this link: https://ift.tt/2QqST4d
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
[Gamedev] How Kojima chose the themes to Death Stranding-UNR
Been on a rabbit hole of MGS conspiracy/analysis videos recently and it occurred to me how much it reflected his state of mind
Konami and Metal Gear Solid - MGS1 started off as a story about super soliders, giant mechs and nuclear war, about genetics and choice. By MGS4 and V, there were triple agents, civil wars, proxy wars, people backstabbing and lying constantly.
I imagine this was what he was experiencing as Konami refused to let Kojima end MGS until he was fired, his studio Kojima Productions vs the other subsidiaries of Konami and him fighting with his bosses to get a chance to make Silent Hill or any other games.
Sony and Death Stranding - Kojima got a new start with the help of his relationship with management at Sony and strong fanbase. Death Stranding tells the story of a start of a new world, where people get stronger through network and helping each other. It's a story about 1 guy vs the world, but gains companionship from collaborators, (literally in the form of real life Norman Reedus and Guillermo del Toro). He mentioned that he wanted the game to only be positive because of the state of the world, but I'm guessing his internal state of mind reflects the freedom and responsibility he was given.
Death Stranding (PS4) £18.95 (Prime) / £21.94 (Non-Prime) Delivered @ Amazon-UNR
The description of this deal was not provided by this subreddit and it's contributors.
£18.95 - Amazon
Fab price.
From legendary game creator Hideo Kojima comes an all-new, genre-defying experience for PlayStation 4.Sam Bridges must brave a world utterly transformed by the Death Stranding. Carrying the disconnected remnants of our future in his hands, he embarks on a journey to reconnect the shattered world one step at a time. With spectral creatures plaguing the landscape, and humanity on the verge of a mass extinction, it’s up to Sam to journey across the ravaged continent and save mankind from impending annihilation. What is the mystery of the Death Stranding? What will Sam discover on the road ahead? An unprecedented gameplay experience holds these answers and more. Starring Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, LéaSeydoux and Lindsay Wagner.
- From legendary game creator Hideo Kojima comes an all-new, genre-defying experience
- Carrying the disconnected remnants of our future in his hands, Sam Bridges embarks on a journey to reconnect the shattered world one step at a time.
-
With spectral creatures plaguing the landscape, and humanity on the verge of a mass extinction, it’s up to Sam to journey across the ravaged continent and save mankind from impending annihilation.
This deal can be found at hotukdeals via this link: https://ift.tt/2QqST4d
Monday, August 24, 2020
That one time I made Norman Reedus-UNR
Sunday, August 23, 2020
Hello! Come join my stream of Death Stranding! @ghsttheking-UNR
Back at it again with Norman Reedus and the freaky fetus!!!! Come watch and drop a follow for more great games and great fun. 18+
Friday, August 21, 2020
I finished the game (I think). Here are my thoughts on the performances of the main cast (No Spoilers).-UNR
I won't write a full review of the game, because I'm still trying to digest it all.....and honestly, I'm not sure I'll be able to wrap my head around it for some time.
But, what is easy to write about are the performances. This game is very character driven, so, it is important to talk about how the actors and actresses conveyed their characters. Especially when we have such a wildly differing range of performances.
Norman Reedus as Sam
He fit the role, and he played it quite well. I won't say he had the best performance, but traveling across the country with him was quite enjoyable. Also, given Sam's character, it was pretty easy for him to get through the more uncomfortable moments in this game (and there are PLENTY of those).
Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff
Mikkelsen was criminally underused in this game, because he easily has one of the best performances. But he certainly made the best of his limited screen time. That being said, he still doesn't have THE best performance.
Lea Seydoux as Fragile
She was.....ok....I guess? Kind of forgettable, to be honest, because I actually did completely forget about her towards the end. There were some cringey moments with her ("I'm not that fragile"), but, when she needed to get serious, she did quite well.
Margaret Qualley as Mama
At first, I was not impressed. Hearing a boring, drab, monotone voice explain to me every new piece of tech I got was starting to get pretty annoying. Until I got to Mama's story, and that's when her character actually made sense. But even after that, it didn't improve alot. While her performance was certainly better when Mama was the focus, she missed the mark during the more critical moments of her story.
Guillermo del Toro as Deadman
del Toro is a fantastic director. It makes sense now as to why he's always behind the camera instead of in front it, because he is an awful actor. He doesn't have the worst performance in the game, but he easily comes in second place. Every line felt forced, unnatural, and as if he was talking to a 5 year old. I'm guessing he was meant to be the comic relief of the story, but, he failed quite miserably in that regard.
Nicolas Winding Refn as Heartman
Despite having limited screen time, he knocked it out of the park. Nicolas portrayed a character that was honestly fascinated with the world he lived in, but also hid a dark and haunting past to perfection. There is only one scene that I would criticize, but besides that one flaw, he did an awesome job.
Tommie Earl Jenkins as Die-Hardman
As the game went on, I was starting to feel as if Die-Hardman would become the most forgettable character in the game. His performance wasn't bad, but he was given hardly anything to work with. That is....until the ending. There is one moment at the end where Jenkins shines so much, that it was the only moment in the game to make me tear up. And it is that one moment that makes his entire performance.
Troy Baker as Higgs
Easily, hands down, no questions asked, THE best performance in the game. His portrayal of someone just straddling the edge of insanity was FLAWLESS. He made your skin crawl, he made you question his motives, he made you fear him. He shined from the first moment he spoke, and it never stopped.
Lindsay Wagner as Amelie
And we go from easily the best to easily the worst. Amelie was meant to convey a sense of mystery, and wonder. Instead, all we got was an annoying damsel in distress. I'm actually surprised she didn't put her hand to her forehead and "faint" at some point. The horrible performance is only made worse by the fact that Amelie is meant to be the most important character in the game. Granted, she didn't have an easy role to play, but, that's not much of an excuse for the train wreck we got.
That's just my thoughts on the individual performances. I'd go in to more detail, but that would entail the use of spoilers. What did others think?
I became a nasty MULE and managed to steal Norman Reedus's cool hoodie!-UNR
Wednesday, August 19, 2020
[Giveaway] Sam posters from Death Stranding pop-up exhibition in NYC-UNR
Hi, I have two Kojima Production official Sam posters from the Death Stranding pop-up exhibition in NYC last year. I would like to give them to someone who likes Death Stranding (or Norman Reedus)
The poster is covered in plastic bags so I can’t took a clear photo of it but it’s the same pic as the first image.
Pick up in Brooklyn NYC, please DM me if you’re interested. Thanks.
Shower thought: Norman Reedus' Ride is just like a TWD spin off, but surviving & escaping fans instead of zombies.-UNR
I was watching season 2, ep 1, and noticed how many people kept running up and touching them for selfies. They seem really cool, or maybe without the cameras, theyd buzz off on their motorcycles really fast.
I do think it would be funny, if they left fan-crowded areas, like they were being chased by zombies: looking back in fear, running, quickly dodging fans, before they run up to them and snap selfies without asking. (Add suspenseful music)
Any films like Death Stranding?-UNR
Specifically looking for films about “paranormal dimensions” bleeding through to our reality lol... I’ve watched a lot of films very similar to the themes in DS such as Sorcerer which deals with dangerous traversal of trucks carrying explosives, Pulse is a Japanese film about the deceased staying in reality as these odd dust shadow like ghosts, I watched the Margot Qualley film Iø which is very DEesque, Oblivion with Tom Cruise, Moon had the protagonist literally say “I’m Sam too”, the Norman Reedus film Air is semi Death Stranding. These are a few I can recall, anyone got any recommendations?
Norman Reedus. The ultimate dirty crush.-UNR
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
PlayStation Studios: List of Confirmed, Leaked, Rumored Games-UNR
Due to current lack of notable news regarding the PlayStation 5 and how long it passed since a detailed overview on SIE's current and future line of games here, I decided to lump all them together and gather all notable information, confirmations, reports and rumors we've been hearing over the past 2-3 years.
There are so many repetitive question posts, console warring and the like. So consider this just a nice little ('little') post to go through until we'll have new stuff and interesting news in the coming weeks. I hope this will be informative and organized enough.
In case you have more sources, links, credible tweets and the like, don't hesitate to share them so they can be added to this list.
SIE Worldwide Studios - Projects
Naughty Dog
After over three years of anticipation, fears, doubts, delays and controversies, Naughty Dog finally released The Last of Us Part II back in June to critical acclaim and high sales.
- Naughty Dog's next big project still seems to be lightyears away, and according to vice president and creative director Neil Druckmann mentioned in a June interview with him that at the time he is still unsure what will be Naughty Dog's next project; it could be a third installment in The Last of Us franchise, or it could be an entirely new IP - which would be ND's first new IP since the original The Last of Us in 2013.
- Naughty Dog has been reported (and later confirmed in a tweet) to be working on a successor to "Factions", the multiplayer mode of The Last of Us. The Last of Us Part II was Naughty Dog's first game since Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (2007) to not include a multiplayer mode at launch, partly to focus most of the resources into the single-player campaign, and partly to fully realize Factions' own ambitions as its own thing. Recently, we also had leaked footage of what appears to be the game in progress.
- Finally, and take this with a massive grain of salt given the source, a post originating on 4Chan and later getting reposted on both Reddit and ResetEra claims that Naughty Dog is already working on a new IP, tentatively called Stray's Cross. This game is rumored to be some post-apocalyptic, Steampunk title with first-person perspective, a departure from Naughty Dog's usual third-perspective style. The rumor also mentions that the two leads are a female scientist and a male fugitive. An even earlier rumor (dates to October 2018) by a man called Daniel Richtman (who is apparently correct with his leaks on entertainment stuff) mentions details of one of the leads' casting preferences, of a black/African-American man in his 40's-60's, with a picture of The Walking Dead actor Chad Coleman. Whether this casting refers to the new IP (whose 4Chan rumor came a year later), or something TLOU-related remains to be seen.
Insomniac Games
At the time of this post's writing, Insomniac Games is the most recent member of the SIE Worldwide Studios, having been acquired in 2019 after decades of close relationship with Sony and the PlayStation. Having shipped 2018's Spider-Man to critical acclaim and extremely strong sales, Insomniac Games was one of the first studios to have its rumored PS5 projects shown in June's Future of Gaming event.
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales were unveiled during the Future of Gaming event. The former has been either speculated or rumored for a while and is built around the PlayStation 5's SSD to allow its unique dimension-hopping design, and features new playable character in addition to series protagonist Ratchet. The latter is a standalone spin-off to 2018's Spider-Man and has been compared in scope and style to Naughty Dog's Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Miles Morales was also said to be a "complete story" and character arc, and offers a performance mode of 4K / 60 FPS.
- Miles Morales, however, is not the only Spider-Man game in works it seems. The first game left several open plot threads for a more proper sequel, and Insomniac Games recently promised that they have plenty to tell regarding Peter's story.
- Also just to clear some things about Sunset Overdrive and an hypothetical sequel: Insomniac Games stated they would love making a sequel for the game. As of 2019, Sony - having acquired Insomniac (who owns the rights for the IP) - is now the owner of the Sunset Overdrive IP. However, former SIE Worldwide Studios head Shawn Layden said that the IP is not a priority for Sony at the time of the interview. Whether this will change or has changed after Layden's departure is to be seen.
Guerrilla Games
Guerrilla Games experienced some sort of new breakthrough with the PS4 generation, releasing the beloved Horizon Zero Dawn to great success and creating the acclaimed Decima game engine which was used for Until Dawn (2015) and Death Stranding (2019) in addition to Horizon and 2013's Killzone Shadow Fall.
- Horizon Forbidden West was speculated & rumored for a while and was all but confirmed before its full announcement in the Future of Gaming event. It was rumored to have originally started as a PlayStation 4 project before shifting away entirely to Sony's upcoming console. It is slated for a 2021 release and will feature new Machines to take on.
- This might be a given, but another pre-announcement report claims that the IP has evolved into a trilogy and Horizon III is all but guaranteed at some point after the second game's launch.
- It also seems that Guerrilla Games is working on another project outside the Horizon series (or maybe related to them?); as early as May 2018, the studio has began recruiting for a new unannounced game, which was about to begin full production. It could very well line up with the aforementioned Forbidden West, but perhaps also with another IP. By October of the same year, Guerrilla amassed talent of Rainbow Six: Siege veterans, among them is director Simon Larouche, who previously worked on the universally acclaimed Killzone 2 (2009). The obvious identity of that game might be a new Killzone game, but some rumors claim the game in question is a revival of SOCOM (which otherwise is said to be developed by SIE San Diego).
Sucker Punch Productions
Sucker Punch Productions just shipped its latest game Ghost of Tsushima so it seems like their next project is still years away. In comparison to some of Sony's other studios, it's a somewhat smaller team, with less than 200 employees. Either way, Ghost of Tsushima's ridiculously high sales and positive reception prove they're not going anywhere.
- The most obvious candidate to Sucker Punch's next game would be a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima. There is little to say about it that is not speculation, but it is a very likely project to tackle after Ghost of Tsushima sold over 2.4 million copies in three days, becoming Sony's fastest-selling PS4 IP. It should be noted that the Mongol invasion of Japan resumed in 1281), which could be used as the setting of a sequel.
- Elsewhere, Sucker Punch renewing the domain of the InFamous site sparked some speculation about the studio returning to its previous series.
- Finally, perhaps Sucker Punch will choose to expand on Prophecy, the intriguing tech demo/unreleased game whose footage was leaked during July 2020 and was developed around 2014.
Polyphony Digital
Sony's resident racing game studio, Polyphony Digital is dedicated to the Gran Turismo series. And this isn't going to change any time soon in my opinion. The studio's latest release was 2017's Gran Turismo, which despite being the lowest-rated title in the main franchise, was still a major commercial success and gradually received warmer reception as Polyphony added new content.
- Gran Turismo 7, obviously. Even before its official announcement, the game was heavily rumored and its logo was even accidentally leaked back in May 2020. Current release date is unknown.
PixelOpus
This is gonna be a brief one. PixelOpus is Sony's smallest internal studio, and to this date only shipped two games since its inception in 2014. The latest one was 2019's Concrete Genie, which got favorable reviews even if it wasn't a massive sales story. Whatever the studio is working on nowadays remains a mystery, as they finished support for their latest title.
Media Molecule
Media Molecule is Sony's most unique studio in terms of its projects, aiming to push player creativity and interactions more than any other developer under its umbrella. After nearly a decade, the team finally released its latest project Dreams in February 2020 as yet another critically acclaimed platform for creators and designers.
- It feels obvious that Media Molecule will primarily focus on Dreams for a while, which in the past was said to be designed for support for a decade and even more. They recently added VR support to the game and creative Mark Healey mentioned that a PlayStation 5 edition of Dreams is the "next big step".
- It's currently unknown if Media Molecule is involved in some capacity in Sumo Digital's continuation of its LittleBigPlanet franchise, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, announced during the Future of Gaming event. It should be noted that the studio was involved in LittleBigPlanet 3's early development, which was also primarily developed by Sumo Digital.
SIE Japan Studio
SIE Japan Studio is Sony's biggest studio and its flagship development place. It is a wild card responsible for multiple games of different genres, styles and scope, and tends to collaborate with other developers just as much as it develops its own in-house productions. Some of its most notable games during the PS4 generation include Gravity Rush 2, Astro Bot: Rescue Mission and the Knack duology, as well as co-productions on Bloodborne, The Last Guardian and Shadow of the Colossus remake.
- Current known projects include Astro's Playroom (developed by ASOBI Team) as a pre-installed game for the PlayStation 5 and the heavily rumored Demon's Souls remake in co-production with Bluepoint Games, both were unveiled during the Future of Gaming event in June 2020. The former will serve as a presentation of the DualSense controller, and was recently shown by game presenter and gaming personality Geoff Keighley; the latter was said to offer two performance modes based on fidelity or frame rate. Astro's Playroom will launch with the PlayStation 5 during Holiday 2020; no release window for Demon's Souls has been provided.
- Due to the nature of this studio it's unknown what else they're working on aside from a few speculations and rumors. Back in January 2017, right around the release of Gravity Rush 2, creative director Keiichiro Toyama (Silent Hill 1, Siren, Gravity Rush) mentioned he'll begin a new project after GR2, while everyone's favorite smiling executive Shuhei Yoshida mentioned that SIE Japan is working on multiple games yet to be announced.
- The biggest rumor surrounding this studio is Silent Hill. The rumor apparently dates back to ResetEra, where user KatharsisT claimed that a new game is in development with the aforementioned Toyama as well as series artist Masahiro Ito and series composer Akira Yamaoka, a claim which was apparently verified by the mods there. A fellow 'insider'/'leaker'/whatever you like called Dusk Golem (who got himself caught in controversy recently but I'm sure the majority of you are aware of it) later claimed that it is internally developed by SIE Japan Studio as part of a licensing deal between Sony and Konami. Given Dusk's recent behavior, whether you want to continue to believe his addition to the rumors is up to you.
- While from the leaks it sounds like Toyama will be very busy for the coming years, he expressed his desire to make a third Gravity Rush game, though it will likely wait for the now-announced PlayStation 5.
- In December 2017, SIE Japan was noted to have trademarked something called Ray Space. What exactly this game is, is unknown. But apparently it's a very ambitious science-fiction game with rumors and hints dating all the way back to 2014.
SIE Bend Studio
After over a decade of working on handheld titles, Bend Studio finally returned to home console AAA development with 2019's Days Gone. It didn't get the rave reviews some other big Sony games got, but players absolutely loved it and the game proved to be a surprise hit with pretty solid sales for a new IP by a somewhat obscure team.
- Days Gone ended with a sequel hook, so it's likely that their next project would be a sequel. As of October 2019, the studio was already working on pre-production of their next title and began recruiting new talent. By April 2020, the studio was still recruiting new talent for their next project.
SIE Santa Monica
Santa Monica Studio stands as one of Sony's most acclaimed teams, and is responsible for God of War. After a very uncertain time between 2011 and 2016, including the disappointing results of 2013's God of War: Ascension, lay-offs and the cancellation of an ambitious sci-fi IP, the studio found its footing again with 2018's reimagined God of War, ushering a new dawn on the once-troubled studio.
- Let's get this out the way; a fifth God of War game is inevitable. The game has a few open plot threads and is ripe for an even grander sequel after the smashing success in reviews and sales. Hell, director Cory Barlog even said he has ideas for five more games. Cory also suggested he would NOT direct the next game, and a tweet by him from January 2020 mentioned Eric Williams; is he gonna be the director of the next game?
- As for other projects, it's been hinted that an entirely new game is in works at SIE SM. Cory already mentioned that he pitched (couldn't find the original tweet, it's buried under two years of tweets and retweets) a new idea to Sony, and since then we've been given cryptic tweets and other hints about this mystery title. Film director Duncan Jones tweeted about what's next for Barlog, and Barlog himself dropped some weird tweet that caused wild speculation. Either way, SIE SM apparently assembles a second team.
- Finally, could SIE Santa Monica ever revive their high-profile, cancelled sci-fi game Internal 7? Santa Monica's canned PlayStation 4 exclusive was in development for about three years before lay-offs hit the studio and Sony pulled the plug on the science-fiction game.
SIE London Studio
SIE London primarily focuses on experiences revolving around the PlayStation brand's different applications and accessories. However, after years of being in the background, the studio got the spotlight upon delivering Blood & Truth, a VR shooter that shocked everyone thanks to its quality and production values.
- SIE London already began recruiting for a new project by late 2019. As with Blood & Truth, this title is likely to be VR-based. Given the way Blood & Truth sets itself up (see the pattern here?), a sequel is very likely to happen.
SIE San Diego Studio
Like Polyphony Digital, San Diego is best known for doing one flagship series, MLB: The Show, though unlike the former San Diego Studio has ventured into other IPs in a more frequent rate.
- MLB: The Show 21 is obviously coming in 2021, though the most interesting aspect about it thus far is that starting with this entry, all future MLB titles will be multiplatform as a result of a new contract between Sony and the MLB association. So expect to see those future games on Xbox and likely the Switch as well.
- Also, remember that SOCOM title from Guerilla's part? There is some speculation that the actual developer of the title is not Guerrilla, but San Diego Studio. Given the studio's relatively recent relocation to a new building and a slight revamp to their logo, the studio might work on a new project separated from the MLB series; their last non-MLB games were released in 2017 as collaborations with third-party studios, so there is a notable gap here.
Sony's Secret Studio in San Diego
More or less an open secret by now, Sony founded a new development studio in San Diego circa 2018, within the Visual Art Studio Group of Sony. And for the past two years, it's been recruiting talent from various places, including ex-Naughty Dog environment artist Zack Oliver and Red Dead Redemption 2 senior animator James Martinchek, with senior game designer Quentin Cobb apparently leading the team.
- Their first game's identity is yet to be confirmed, though from what I've seen the chief speculation is an Uncharted continuation. The only things we know right now is that the game is probably a third-person action/adventure game and will be in collaboration with another Sony-owned studio.
External Developers - Confirmed, Announced Games
With the exception of Wild, the following titles were announced during Sony's Future of Gaming event.
- Demon's Souls remake (TBC) - Bluepoint Games (Shadow of the Colossus remake) in collaboration with SIE Japan Studio (co-developer of the original game and the provider of the original pitch)
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure (TBC) - Sumo Digital (LittleBigPlanet 3): A successor to the LittleBigPlanet featuring protagonist Sackboy in a 3D platform style in contrast to the original series' focus on 2.5D levels. Will include co-op mode.
- Destruction AllStars (TBC) - Lucid Games (Travel Bug, PlayStation Vita Pets: Puppy Parlour): A vehicular combat video game with apparent focus on multiplayer. Trailer indicates arena fights in which the player can fight on foot in addition to using a vehicle.
- Returnal (TBC) - Housemarque (Super Stardust, Dead Nation, Resogun, Alienation, Matterfall): A third-person shooter/survival-horror/rougelike title which features an astronaut on a hostile alien planet, stuck in a time loop that relapses every time she dies. The studio had a pretty rough time in recent years, with a decision to stray away from their traditional arcade shooters due to the genre's lackluster footnote in sales. The studio announced its plans to work on an AAA project and licensed the Unreal Engine 4 for the project, putting its other project on hold. It will make extensive use of the DualSense's features.
- Wild (TBC) - Wild Sheep Studio: Sony's ambitious yet uncertain survival game was announced all the way back to Gamescom 2014, but has been missing ever since. The latest we heard about the game was regarding some old art resurfacing this year a few months ago. Whether the project has been scrapped or moved to PlayStation 5 is unknown at the time of this writing.
External Developers - Confirmed, Unannounced Games
- Suppermassive Games, best known for their development of the 2015 game Until Dawn, mentioned that they are working on "several" unannounced PlayStation titles. Don't expect a direct sequel to Until Dawn, though.
External Developers - Rumored Games & Other News
- Impulse Gear, developer of the VR shooter Farpoint, is hiring for its next VR project, said to "redefine AAA VR gaming". Whether this new project is partnered with Sony as a publisher is unknown.
- Kojima Productions which developed 2019's Death Stranding has secured enough funding for their next project thanks to their first project's commercial performance, though a recent project has been shafted. Studio head and game director Hideo Kojima expressed his desire to work on a horror game after Death Stranding, and was in talks with actor Norman Reedus (previously collaborated on both the cancelled Silent Hills and Death Stranding) for a future project. Kojima also expressed that he wants to work on a VR game, but at the time of that statement he was not free enough to pursue that project. It's unknown if Kojima's next project will be partnered with Sony as publisher.
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- While Other Ocean Emeryville shot down rumors about a remake of MediEvil 2 (originally developed by the now-defunct Guerrilla Cambridge), the composer of the first game's 2019 remake noted that the game did well commercially. Whether it will manage to warrant a continuation remains unknown.
- Sanzaru Games expressed desire to work on a fifth Sly Cooper and finally resolve the cliffhanger of 2013's Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, though they confirmed in December 2019 that they were not working on the project and said that fans should let Sony know they want another game. If a fifth game will ever get made, however, it won't longer come from Sanzaru, which was acquired by Facebook in February 2020.
- Ready at Dawn likewise expressed their own desire to make a sequel for its 2015 polarizing game The Order: 1886. And just like Sanzaru, chances for a continuation by the developer are close to zero with the acquisition by Facebook in June 2020. It should be noted that rumors about a sequel to The Order IP formed in January 2020. If such project indeed existed, its current situation is uncertain.
- FromSoftware president and creative director Hidetaka Miyazaki said back in late 2019 that his favorite game to work on was 2015's Bloodborne. However he also more or less stated that Bloodborne 2 has yet to be materialized and he is "not the one to decide" about its future. It should be noted that Miyazaki is currently busy with Elden Ring.
Beyond what's written here, there have been many, many rumors, speculations and other stuff about other Sony-related projects:
Rumors about Sony acquiring the likes of Kojima Productions or Remedy Entertainment (Max Payne, Alan Wake, Control). Rumors about an unannounced multiplayer-focused game by Remedy for the PlayStation 5. Rumors about Bloodborne and Dreams coming to PC alongside God of War and the Uncharted PS3 trilogy. Rumors about Horizon Forbidden West including a co-op mode. A fake 'leak' about Spider-Man 2's plot and gameplay details. Rumors about Kojima making up with Konami to revive Silent Hills. Rumors about Sony acquiring Konami's top three IPs. Etc, etc.
I did like the rumor about Castlevania getting a Bloodborne-esque revival.
That's it for now. If you guys have any other substantial or reliable information to add to the post; some worthwhile rumors or leaks, don't hesitate to share so I can update, correct and improve this list.
Sunday, August 16, 2020
A Cinematic Guide to The Weeknd: Pt 1. Trilogy and Kiss Land-UNR
Not since Jackson has there been a pop star who was so influenced by film. Without cinema, there is no The Weeknd. I decided to write this after reading his CR interview where he namedrops Der Fan, a pretty serious cinephile cut and one of my favorite films ever. In this series of posts I will attempt to chronicle the major cinematic influences on each album. While I’ve seen some other articles cover similar ground, I haven't really seen it covered in the depth it deserves. However, thats not to say this will be any more complete than anyone I honestly didn’t even go that deep. This is by no means exhaustive, I’m not The Weekend, I haven’t seen every movie in the world, and even amongst movies I’ve seen, my recall is different from others. Much of this comes from some light research, a familiarity with his catalog, but mostly from my own film watching. At the end of the day, like everyone else, I don’t really know anything.
All that being said, I hope you all enjoy this. I will be posting two more parts covering Beauty Behind The Madness + Starboy, and My Dear Melancholy + After Hours.
Trilogy
Stalker:
Visually referenced in the video for "the Knowing," and titularly referenced in "the Zone", Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker is considered by most to be one of the greatest movies ever made. Stalker follows two philosophers (identified as The Writer and The Professor) as they enlist a guide known only as the Stalker to help them traverse a restricted area called the Zone, which is said to hold a room that grants wishes. It can almost be considered a road movie, with much of the film being the party waxing philosophical as they traverse a hypnotic, Chrenobyl-esque landscape. One of the films main themes is that of desire and wish fulfillment, and the disillusionment that comes with it, a theme that echoes throughout Trilogy. On an aesthetic level, the film, which starts out sepia toned and burst into color when the trio enters the Zone, explores the of escapism of the mundane and into cerebral, psychedelic dream worlds, shades of which can be seen particularly on the House Of Balloons portion of Trilogy, on tracks like "The Party and The After Party" and "What You Need", both exploring tangible physical areas, but also states of mind (zones), their pleasures and desires, but ultimately also the emptiness that they truly occupy.
David Lynch:
On the note of escapism and other worlds, perhaps one of the most foundational influences on Trilogy and The Weeknd overall is the cinema of David Lynch. Lynch’s films are noir leaning phantasmagorical trips full of gangsters, ghosts, and movie stars. The video for the Zone contains a number of possible references to Lynch, such as the eyes appearing over the speeding of the lonely road as a reference to the opening of Lost Highway, and perhaps the road scene in Wild at Heart, and the Thursday Girl in the balloon world also bears some resemblance to The Red Room in Twin Peaks. He’s also name dropped Eraserhead a number of times, but the overall impact of Lynch on his music can’t be counted in just blatant aesthetic references. One of Lynch's films that somewhat parallels Stalker is Mulholland Drive, a horror noir murder mystery (many call the film unclassifiable). Like Stalker, Mulholland Drive sees a party of foils (in this case, a fresh ingenue and a jaded actress) investigate a case of mistaken identity and get drawn into the dark dream world of Hollywood (more on this later). While Mulholland Drive isn’t directly referenced at any point in Trilogy, The Weeknd’s debt to Lynch is more the appropriation of themes, feelings and moods of Lynch’s overall work into the world of The Weekend. But of all the references to his work, it must be noted that Wild at Heart, Lynch’s love on the run movie starring Nicholas Cage, prominently featured Chris Isaak’s "Wicked Game", and was largely responsible for it becoming a hit in the early 90s.
Vampires:
When describing The Weeknd, many critics evoke towards vampire imagery (one review described him as “Transylvanian”), with good reason. Besides the Nosferatu imagery in the "Wicked Games" video, he’s also expressed a strong affinity for Gary Oldman’s performance in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. From what is known about his background, living with a group of other young runaways it’s likely films like The Lost Boys and Near Dark (more on this later), which revolve around gangs of young vampires, was an influence on him as well, especially in parallel to darker tracks like "Initiation" (A Clockwork Orange likely falls in here as well, more on Kubrick below). One of the most interesting ways this is expressed is in "XO/The Host", which samples George Frederic Handel’s "Sarabande", a metre in dance that was in fact banned in 1583 for “exciting bad emotions.”
Stanley Kubrick:
In addition to it's bloodsucking motifs, "Sarabande" was also the recurring theme used in Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, Kubrick being another formative overall influence like Lynch, as opposed to simply Trilogy. Kubrick’s ideas and imagery are present throughout his career (Visual references to Eyes Wide Shut in the Secrets and "Twenty Eight" videos, A Clockwork Orange references in "Price on My Head", a general appreciation for the Shining etc.). Like Lynch, Kubrick loves his hallucinatory worlds, however, he is less focused on escapism and instead presents our current world as inherently absurd and psychedelic in itself, and people left to their own devices will reflect that experience. For example, like Lynch’s Blue Velvet, Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut posits that a gilded sexual underworld truly holds the keys to society, and that the sheen of civility is but a thin veneer. However, [Spoiler Alert] Blue Velvet ends with the police getting Dennis Hopper’s iconic villain Frank and the couple that caught him living happily ever after. However Eyes Wide Shut ends with Tom Cruise’s Bill being bullied out of his investigation into the murder of a hooker by a mysterious masked cabal. When he spills out to his wife, she says that all that they do about it is go home and fuck. So while Lynch isn’t exactly an optimist, his works still exist within his own controlled continuum and plane. Kubrick on the other hand, applies his vision to our own world, and presents us with his own theories on our past, present, and history.
Loosies:
While I hesitate to delve too deep into the simple name drops (Nightmare on Elm St on "Glass Table Girls", "The Birds", etc.) on "Loft Music", I believe he namechecks The Third Man, Carol Reeds seminal noir film of mistaken identity. This is a pretty interesting reference, as The Third Man is considered one of the Great Films by many, and is actually what first made me think he was a cinephile all the way back in the day. I don’t even know if he’s actually referencing it, it would definitely be the oldest film he's referenced besides Nosferatu (everyone does Nosferatu though), but I don’t think it would be out of his wheelhouse. In the "Twenty Eight" video, much has been made about the stacked televisions and the interview (Videodrome) and the fake street (Eyes Wide Shut). However the scene where he’s watching the girls dance in the movie theater, and the ghost girl in the hotel room is very similar to John Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns, an old Masters of Horror episode starring Norman Reedus as a theater owner who tries to track down a film that’ll make whoever watches it go insane. He’s spoken before about the Machinist, another film about the divide between dreamworlds and reality, rooted in traumatic experience (it should be noted that the aforementioned Mulholland Drive is rooted in a car crash in which one of the leads experiences amnesia, very similar to the Machinist).
Kiss Land:
Blade Runner/The Matrix:
One of the cornerstone films of Kiss Land is Blade Runner, with the Kiss Land world being strongly inspired by Blade Runner’s Los Angeles, November 2019, most notably with the metropolitan Asian influence, the neon signs and the futuristic skyscrapers, as well the film’s Vangelis score (which opened the Kiss Land Memento Mori episode). Most blatantly, there’s "Tears in the Rain", a reference to Rutger Hauer’s classic, improvised ending monologue. The parallels to Kiss Land and Blade Runner run deep on a conceptual level. Many come to Blade Runner expecting a sort of sci-fi adventure film (what Blade Runner 2049 turned out to be), when it is in fact a futuristic neo-noir mood piece. Like Kiss Land, it isn’t so much about the story, but about the scenes, the textures, the world it built and inhabited. To truly feel the Blade Runner influence, check "Not Used To (The Town Demo)", which is available on google drive somewhere on this sub. Another important film to is rather obvious visually, The Matrix. The sci-fi adventure classic, beside serving as a strong aesthetic standpoint, uniquely influenced Kiss Land’s sonic palette of industrial music, noise, and contemporary rock, from the likes of Linkin Park, Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson, not to mention the cave rave from the second movie, had a strong influence on the sound of Kiss Land, most strikingly the cold, aggressive drums on songs like "Adaptation" and "Love in The Sky."
Only God Forgives/Black Rain/Enter The Void:
Blade Runner isn’t the only Ridley Scott film he pulled from (There’s something to be said about Alien’s haunting Jerry Goldsmith score and its use of icky greens and steely blues), as the Kiss Land concept and storyline was also heavily influenced by Scott’s Black Rain. Black Rain stars Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia as two New York City cops who must escort a Yakuza hitman to Tokyo. While not one of Scott’s more famous works, it is a cult classic in certain circles, primarily with the vaporware crowd, for it’s evocative cinematography, metropolitan portrayal of Tokyo, and Hans Zimmer’s "Black Rain Suite." The idea of foreigners lost in the seedy underworlds of the East, a major element in Kiss Land, is also reflected in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives. While Black Rain is a slick, Hollywood production, Only God Forgives is a down and dirty indie. After his huge success with Drive (more on this film later), Winding Refn was interested in doing something less commercial, and put together Only God Forgives in Thailand with a far lower budget than Drive. While Cliff Martinez’s score features the cinematic symphonies so common in the Kiss Land films, one notable motif is his use of huge organs, similar of which can be seen on "Kiss Land. But the pinnacle of the foreigner lost abroad set of films is the infamous Enter the Void, Gaspar Noe’s sleazy psychedelic odyssey through Tokyo underworld. Set in neon soaked strip clubs and red light hotel rooms, besides the thematic and visual influence, like the Matrix, Enter the Void had a strong influence on the sonic palette, with Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter providing sound effects, most famously for the film’s iconic title sequence (More on both Noe and Bangalter later). The sleaze extends however, to Abel Ferrara's New Rose Hotel, which takes us on a journey through just as many night clubs and hotel rooms, and is perhaps the pioneering Kiss Land film (more on this film later).
John Carpenter:
With the setting and city playing such a large role, a filmmaker who exemplifies this is John Carpenter, who’s best work makes strong use of location as a character. While he frequently diverges, he markedly enjoys sprawling urban metropolises, best seen in films like Escape From New York, Escape from LA, and They Live (more on this film later), all of which he also composed the soundtrack to, most famously Escape from New York’s iconic intro theme, which was also a likely influence on Kiss Land. While there is likely some mood taken from The Fog, another Carpenter film that influenced Kiss Land was The Thing. He has specifically name dropped this in interviews, and while this isn’t as face obvious as the others, it features a massive, iconic Ennio Morricone soundtrack that mirror Kiss Land’s paranoid blockbuster ambitions.
Early David Cronenberg:
While much has already been made about Kiss Land’s sci-fi influence, David Cronenberg’s horror influence can be felt throughout. He is known as the king of body horror, most impressively seen in films like the Fly, Naked Lunch, and of course, Videodrome , however, most relevant to Kiss Land and possibly The Weeknd overall is his portrayal of sexual deviance. While Ridley Scott and John Carpenter had been anticipating a career in filmmaking for a very long time, Cronenberg’s initial interests were the sciences and academia, specifically botany and lepidopterology (the study of butterflies). As such, his films have a colder, psychological edge but retain an air of elegance and sophistication. As opposed to Lynch’s exploration into the deviance in the underbelly, Cronenberg explores similar deviances amongst the upper class. He enjoys mad scientists and dark lords, his protagonists usually being surgeons, psychologists, ambassadors, etc. This can be seen in Dead Ringers, where Jeremy Irons plays twin surgeons who pretend to be one and date the same woman. The film is a deft mix of drama, horror and sci-fi, ( strikingly displayed in the twins surgery “tools” and outfits), and a darkly comedic exploration of sexuality. Videodrome, a well known favorite of The Weeknd, also touches on these ideas of sexual deviances, with James Wood’s Max being a purveyor of smut and engaging in all sorts of bloody, piercing sex to the point that it begins to melt his brain. In a sort of meta twist Cronenberg, even seems to parody his own ideas of sexual deviance with the play scene at the beginning of the Brood, which may have been an inspiration on the body show in the "Belong to The World" video.
Corporate Faculty/Conspiracy:
On the topic of Videodrome, besides it’s body horror, another interesting aspect of the film is it’s portrayal of corporate faculty. When making Trilogy, The Weeked regularly mentions how much time he had as there were no label obligations. With Kiss Land however, he had set up the XO imprint on Republic Records, and was now answerable to corporate powers. Videodrome’s plot revolves around Max, a tv programmer who acquires a menacing tv show called Videodrome that seems to depict graphic torture and killing. As he continues on, he begins to encounter hallucinations and uncovers a conspiracy that stretches across multiple civic organizations. Smuggled inside a body horror scifi film is a powerful commentary on corporate rationale and reasoning, as well as prescient, forward thinking ideas of mass media and its effect on people. This idea appears as well in Carpenter's They Live, a film where Roddy Piper discovers that humans have been replaced by alien zombie like beings who attempt to enslave the earth through subliminal messaging in mass media. This idea of sinister corporations pops up in a number of films, it can be seen in Blade Runner with the Tyrell corporation, and to an extent the robots of the Matrix harvesting people for energy, however most cutely, the Oxcy Cat logo resembles the logo of Max Shreck’s corporation from Batman Returns, another film involving corporate conspiracies and sexual politics. Shreck is played by Christopher Walken, who is also a lead in New Rose Hotel, Abel Ferrara's film about two corporate raiders who use a lounge singer to seduce a scientist to a new company. While set in Japan, putting it more in league with Only God Forgives, Black Rain, Enter The Void in the foreigners abroad category, those films explore the bohemian side of the underworld. Adapted from a William Gibson short story, New Rose Hotel is more concerned with the moral corruption and sexual politics encountered when climbing the ladder in a capitalist society. I believe New Rose Hotel to be a foundational Kiss Land film up there with Blade Runner and The Matrix, the extended lo-fi Kiss Land video seems almost like a stealth remake of the film. While I can't exactly say for sure this was an influence, I do know that The Weeknd is familiar with Bad Lieutenant, Abel Ferrara's most famous film, so it is in the cards. Another speculative film that I have absolutely no proof of would be Olivier Assayas's Demonlover, a brutally sexual tale of corporate espionage taking place in Japan and Paris, over control of a powerful hentai website who may be involved something more sinister.
J Horror/Sci-fi:
For a work “set” in Asia, there’s a conspicuous lack of Asian films mentioned on my end. Not to say Asian works are not referenced ins Kiss Land, but I do think that the larger influences are films made on Asia by Westerners. The Asian works I believe mostly provide aesthetic, notably the animated films Ghost in a Shell, Casshern, and Akira for their depictions of sci-fi metropolises, and Ju-on: the Grudge for the "Belong to the World" body show. From a thematic standpoint, there is Audition, a definitive J horror film, which revolves around a woman with a mysterious past and Cronenberg-esque sexual deception and body horror, and of which The Weeknd is a known fan. Slightly more obscure and more speculatory however, is the work of Shinya Tsukamoto. While he is best known for his classic Tetsuo: The Iron Man, a body horror classic, I believe his film A Snake of June may have been a strong influence on Kiss Land. A Snake of June is about a woman having an affair is blackmailed into sexual games over the phone. Shot in a icy blue tinted grayscale, as with many of the Kiss Land works the city plays as much of a part in the film as the characters. Again, this is pure speculation, on one hand I find it hard to believe that this film never came up in his research, but at the same time I myself didn’t discover this film till a little later into my film watching, so I can believe it may have slipped through the cracks.
Pt. 2 coming soon.
Saturday, August 15, 2020
What the hell is this absolute bollocks?-UNR
I cannot wait to stop playing this game!
I am utterly confused by it, I played until I got up to being an 'expert handler' but honestly I think this turd needs to go back to the land of wind and ghosts where it belongs.
I've wandered around aimlessly doing fuck all for the last hour... the most exciting part was delivering a pizza to some nobody in a crater in the middle of endless generic-scenery-ville USA while some tedious wanker in a black carbon fibre skull mask with the dumbest sounding name I've ever heard spouts some wankery about delivering shit that might save all of humanity and yet cannot see fit to give me something like a gun that I could shoot at my enemies with (although to be fair at this point I'd have rather turned the gun on myself).
Speaking of desperation and crying does this Kojima bloke have any concept of how babies cry... and by that I mean how the hell is that tedious little bastard I'd like to chuck into the black goo CRYING THROUGH THE PICKLING BRINE HE'S FLOATING AROUND IN? Crying requires vocal chords and oxygen, at least some form of gas passing the vocal chords... Jesus I'd like to stamp on the jar this little fucker is bobbing around in while he does nothing for me other than attract enemies? Maybe there's some way to use the thing for beneficial purposes... there's probably been some cryptic 6pt small fonts text on screen that I missed amongst all of the rest of the tiny text, icons and fuck-knows what else that I've had to move across the sitting room closer to the TV to be able to read.
So many dynamics that don't appear to have any bearing on the overall "storyline", yay I got a bola gun but wait it doesn't kill them, I have to allow them to get up again and then beat them down like I should have done in the first place.
No, no thanks I'm going back to RDR2 story mode or Rust on the PC... or Minesweeper. Christ I'd take Spider Solitaire over this and I have no idea how to play card games! Those are games, this is a load of disjointed cut scenes with a 'gameplay' dynamic thrown in to string together this half arsed excuse for a storyline, it's clear this Kojima bloke is no Akira Kurosawa but obviously has lob on for him and is trying very hard to conjure up some canon to build on... if he's lucky he'll be able to compost this down in no time.
Here's a short list of other things I don't like:
- The map is cryptic and difficult to navigate as it's too busy.
- I don't feel any connection to any of the main characters (you know, all four of them).
- I don't really know what I'm meant to be doing other than delivering the odd package?
- Hang on, is the aim of the game to deliver packages? That's it?
- You should all be ashamed for buying it.
- I have the moral high ground because I didn't buy it my wife did.
- My wife only bought it because she likes the look of Norman Reedus' bottom.
- ...you can occasionally see his arse meat when he needlessly showers...
- As above, the game is arse.
"I feel like an episode of Ride With Norman Reedus is happening right now!" ~Sam Bridges-UNR
Friday, August 14, 2020
New Batman Villains From The Last 20 Years-UNR
This is an old humor thing I was noting down in my journal that I thought y’all would enjoy
Mr. Mistar
Batman’s most French of enemies. Jean-Garcon Saint-DeGaul, known in the criminal underworld as Mr. Mistar, is the richest man in Europe. A real estate magnate, he funds super- villains to get inside info on what properties will be destroyed, giving him an edge in the market. After the combined efforts of Batman and Bruce Wayne to foil his plan to turn Gotham’s public housing into high rises and turn homeless shelters into pop culture art museums, he swears vengeance. His most successful scheme turned the main Wayne Enterprises building into a hostel for villains for the better part of a year.
Clayface 3000
The original Clayface in the future becomes integrated with the internet, able to learn and manifest anything that exists on the internet. Batman’s new foe Scale sends him from the future as an elaborate distraction to kidnap Alfred. Clayface 3000 was sent back to the future after Batman was able to show him a picture from the future.
Philadelphia Hang Glider
Normally an antagonist to the teen superhero group The Needed, Philadelphia Hang Glider took the news of Batman’s apparent death to perform high flying bank robberies in Gotham. Upon Batman’s return, Batman beat, humiliated, and subsequently cyber-bullied Philadelphia Hang Glider so badly, Philadelphia Hang Glider sued Batman under his real name Stan Aerosmith, leading to his arrest. There is a grass roots movement in Gotham to hold Batman responsible for psychological trauma to Philadelphia Hang Glider.
Chupacabra Mask
Originally the Riddler was granted mystical powers from wearing this mask during his mini-series The Answer. Later, in a confrontation with Batman, the mask fell into a Lazarus Pit. The pit granted the mask life, sentience, and the singular goal of revenge against Batman for bringing it into this miserable existence. Although alive and able to talk, its still just a mask. Most appearances of Chupacabra Mask have been it screaming for help at the bottom of a Lazarus Pit or telling museum goers at the Gotham Museum of Crime and Aviation that Batman sucks.
Norman Reedus
For one and a half issues of writer Jeph Linz limited-run series Bat-Family Massacre, acclaimed actor Norman Reedus was mind controlled by the genetic clone of Batman villain Hush, Shush. Shush’s mind control device not only controlled Reedus, but released his dopamine and adrenaline inhibitors, making him capable fo humanly impossible feats. After incapacitating Reedus with the help of former Wayne Enterprises outreach coordinator turned crime-fighter Echo Hope, Batman surgically removed the mind control device from Reedus. He then arranged for Alfred to return to Reedus to his family.
Dwight Howard
During a 2012 issue of Batman: Orange with Greed, Batman reveals he’s a huge Laker’s fan and expresses skepticism about the Howard trade, noting “The Laker need young guys and man Howard isn’t the kind of player that ages well, a center with that play style” as Alfred ignored him while tending his wounds. In a 2014 issue of the cross-over event Fiber HourGlass, Bruce Wayne attends a Rockets-Lakers game where he loudly boos Howard from the sideline.
Dr. Batman
The antagonist of a Tetris like mini game in the video game Arkham City. This is only unlockable by entering the secret room in Crime Alley after finding Two-Face’s dental records in the mission A Distress Signal to Bludhaven.
The Doll With No Name
During a promotional comic for the U2 album No Line on the Horizon, the multi-dimensional imp Mr. Mxyptlk finds out Batman doesn’t like U2 and sends Batman into physical manifestations of U2’s discography. As Batman overcomes these trials, he finds his toughest challenge in an empty street embodying “The Streets Have No Name,” only containing an American girl doll dressed as Bono. The doll starts listing Batman’s favorite bands, such as The Mountain Goats and Reel Big Fish, every name increasing the weight on Batman and crushing him. With no other choice, Batman admits that the only reason he doesn’t like U2 is their mainstream popularity. The issue closes with Batman attending a U2 concert, who is then brought on stage by The Edge to play a guitar solo during “Vertigo.”
The Doll with No Name would later return in DC continuity for two issues of Robin: Emancipated Boy Wonder to torture Robin over his favorite rapper being Eminem.
Akira Toriyama, Hirohiko Araki, and Naoko Takeuchi
On Earth 23.01, the setting of the DC comics line Detective Manga Dimension, Batman is an orphaned, rich, and unpopular high school student in Tokyo. But at night he stalks the streets as the extremely popular Bat Yokai, who fights crime and even has his own radio program.
After foiling a money laundering scheme by his childhood friend The Laughing Penguin, Laughing Penguin attempts to use the Bat Yokai’s love of manga against him by empowering the authors of Dragon Ball, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Sailor Moon with the Bane serum, unleashing them to rampage Tokyo. Hesitant to hurt his favorite artists, the Bat Yokai is soundly defeated with an uppercut from Naoko Takeuchi. But after a resounding speech about determination and not giving up from the Bat Yokai, the mangakas come to their senses and use the last of their super strength to capture The Laughing Penguin. The authors then take the Bat Yokai out for a milkshake, an evening that ends with a picture of them all hanging out drawn by Takeuchi’s husband, famed manga artists Yoshihiro Togashi.
Van Buren
An archeologist and a descendant of U.S. President Martin Van Buren, Scooter Scotsdale’s research led him to believe there existed an elixir of life deep in the mountains of U.S. Appalachia. His whole life, from growing up in an accident prone funeral home to his time bartending at the Chelsea Hotel, was surrounded by death. But he believed he could conquer death. During his excavation he stumbled though a crevice into a secret room on a mountain face. In the center was a pyramid with water trickling from it. He quickly drank from the pyramid, unaware of its purpose to commune with dead. His body transformed and as his mind receded into nothingness, all that remained was long dead United States President Martin Van Buren.
The resurrected Van Buren, angered at his mediocrity and obscureness to the nation he gave his entire being to, sough revenge on America. Seeing him as the both his greatest obstacle and a symbol of lady liberty gone awry, Van Buren resolves to start his quest with killing Batman or as Van Buren calls him “The Shadow President.” After an initial failed attempt to pistol duel Batman followed immediately by gifting him small pox blankets, Van Buren would frequently attempt to assassinate Batman over the last decade and half. Most notable of his attempts is when he closely tailed Batman throughout his year on the run during the events of Batman: Fugitive for Hire. At that time Van Buren was bonded with the Bio-Tech Bacteria, giving him unlimited stamina and the ability to create fungal weapon.
Flicky Dicky
Filamore Richard was a mild-mannered accountant and husband who carried a secret. At the age of 12, the great wizard Endelfun told him he was destined to be the warrior to bring about the end of the world. Not wanting to end the world, Filamore Richard did everything he could to make himself weak and stoppable. He forced an allergy to fresh air, intentionally malnourished himself, broke his bones whenever it seemed convenient, and legally changed his name to Flicky Dicky to hurt his confidence.
The prophecy turned out to be self fulfilling. His allergy to fresh air reactivated long dormant human genomes that were capable of bending the cords of reality. which were then forced into active development out of desperation from his weakened body. He was now warping reality with even the smallest of actions, in one instance turning half of Metropolis into a water park for dogs while attempting to pour milk into cereal. With the world on the verge of disaster, one hero after another attempted to defeat Flicky Dicky, suffering painful death and erasure from reality as Flicky Dicky watched in horror, unable to prevent it.
Batman, having deduced Flicky Dicky’s history with the help of Egyptian police sergeant-turned-dimension hopping cat Galbard Sphinx, found a more novel solution. Via drone, Batman instructed Flicky Dicky through a work out and diet regiment to, in Batman’s words “get him swole.” Once Batman successfully turned Flicky Dicky “into a true beefcake,” his effects on the world slowly reverted, his body no longer sensing any danger to him.
Future instances of Flicky Dicky’s reality warping appear during rare instances where he slacks on his fitness.
During the event of Infinite Bat-Crisis Across Unlimited Bat-Worlds, the Joker and Condiment King putting copious amounts of sugar into Flicky Dicky’s lunchtime SweetGreen salads is one of the three catalysts for alternate realities converging. Terry McGinnis (Batman Beyond) and Thomas Wayne were able track down Flicky Dicky and initiate a cross-fit workout to alleviate his role in shifting reality.
RDR2 Live Action Dream Cast-UNR
even though it will probably never happen i came up with my dream cast for a live action rdr2 show. lmk what you think.
Arthur - Christian Bale
Dutch - Jeffrey Dean Morgan
John - Norman Reedus
Hosea - Gary Oldman
Sadie - Margot Robbie
Charles - Derek Luke
Micah - Ben Foster
Lenny - Lakeith Stanfield
Sean - Domnhall Gleeson
Abigail - Lauren Cohan
Bill - David Harbour
Javier - Diego Luna
Uncle - Jeff Bridges
Jack - Jacob Tremblay
Kieran - Paul Dano
Trelawny - Jeremy Irons
Strauss - Christoph Waltz
Mary Beth - Saorise Ronan
Grimshaw - Susan Sarandon
Swanson - William H Macy
Pearson - Paul Giamatti
Molly - Kerry Condon
Karen - Joanna Christie
Tilly - Teyonah Parris
Agent Milton - Guy Pearce
Mary Linton - Alison Brie
Colm O’Driscoll - Aiden Gillen
Bronte - Javier Bardem
Fussar - Alberto Ammann
Cornwall - Sean Connery
Hercule - Chadwick Boseman
Death Stranding (PS4) £21.85 Delivered @ Base-UNR
The description of this deal was not provided by this subreddit and it's contributors.
£21.85 - Base.com
Further price drop from £22.99.
Hideo Kojima announces Death Stranding, his first game since leaving Konami
Besieged by death's tide at every turn
Sam Bridges must brave a world utterly transformed by the Death Stranding. Carrying the stranded remnants of the future in his hands, Sam embarks on a journey to reunite the shattered world one step at a time. What is the mystery of the Death Stranding? What will Sam discover on the road ahead? A genre defining gameplay experience holds these answers and more.
Starring Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux and Lindsay Wagner
This deal can be found at hotukdeals via this link: https://ift.tt/31Qmd9J
Death Stranding Playstation 4 Game £22.99 (+£1 No Rush credit available) @ Amazon-UNR
The description of this deal was not provided by this subreddit and it's contributors.
£22.99 - Amazon
Also benefits from a £1 no rush reward.
From legendary game creator Hideo Kojima comes an all-new, genre-defying experience for PlayStation 4.Sam Bridges must brave a world utterly transformed by the Death Stranding. Carrying the disconnected remnants of our future in his hands, he embarks on a journey to reconnect the shattered world one step at a time. With spectral creatures plaguing the landscape, and humanity on the verge of a mass extinction, it’s up to Sam to journey across the ravaged continent and save mankind from impending annihilation. What is the mystery of the Death Stranding? What will Sam discover on the road ahead? An unprecedented gameplay experience holds these answers and more. Starring Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, LéaSeydoux and Lindsay Wagner.
This deal can be found at hotukdeals via this link: https://ift.tt/31NQCFC