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Game Designers Name Influential Movies

Posted by simoniker on from the peewee's-big-adventure-sadly-missing dept.

Thanks to 1UP for their 'Cinemascope' feature interviewing notable videogame designers about their favorite movies. Many favorites have relatively little direct connection to the subject's videogame work, but Viewtiful Joe's Hideki Kamiya chooses (TV series) Kamen Rider, and the piece elaborates: "Both Kamen Rider and Viewtiful Joe are about normal guys who become masked superheroes, right down to using the phrase 'Henshin!' (Japanese for 'transform'") to power up." Warren Spector also points out: "Everyone thinks Deus Ex was influenced by The Matrix, but it really wasn't. Other than throwing in a cheat that textured the world with a bunch of scrolling green text, a la The Matrix, we were so far along in development on Deus Ex by the time we saw The Matrix there wasn't time for us to have been influenced even if we'd wanted to steal stuff!"

33 comments

  1. is it me or does... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    this color scheme suck. it's hurting my eyes just typing this damn troll......

  2. The Deus Ex / Matrix easter egg ... by Reez · · Score: 5, Informative
    ... is described here

    1. Search the Deus Ex .ini files, especially user.ini, and find a key that is never mapped to anything. Remap all instances of it to "Talk."

    2. Run DeusEx.exe with the command parameter -haxor. i.e., use the Run Program option in Windows to open it from its directory with the command: DeusEx.exe -haxor

    3. When it is loaded, open the credits. A game does not need to be actually started at first.

    4. On the credits screen, type thereisnospoon. Make sure that you get it right, as the only feedback is the sound of clicking keys. If you make a mistake, exit the screen and try again. If you get it right, you'll get the message "May Tricks Mode Enabled."

    5. Load a game or play a new game. Everything will be made out of scrolling green numbers, like in The Matrix.

    1. Re:The Deus Ex / Matrix easter egg ... by TheAlchemist · · Score: 1

      It's actually -hax0r, with a zero.

  3. i never thought deus ex.. by gl4ss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    to have been influenced by matrix.

    like, come on, what clearly matrix like does it have? sniper rifle? nanotech-supersword? nanotech upgrades, cool jacket? 'terrorists' trying to free the world?

    i always thought that deus ex just ripped off from cyberpunk(in a good way) literature, but not once i thought that "wow, matrix like" when playing it. it doesn't even take influence from john woo & hk-action films like matrix and max payne do.

    though, the last game more than influenced by a movie i played was total crap(pirates of the caribbean, the movie was ok but the game SUCKS)

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    1. Re:i never thought deus ex.. by MadocGwyn · · Score: 1

      From what I read, the only influence that POTC: THe movie had on the game was the name. Its actually a sequal to something called Sea Dogs. Theres still references here and there in the file structure to it. The name was kinda slapped on due to the movie. I rather enjoyed it but its not for everyone I suppose.

      --
      Jesus saves, everyone else takes full damage from the fireball.
    2. Re:i never thought deus ex.. by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      yeah seadogs 1 was ok, and i was waiting more from potc due to that.

      but it shares some points of the plot as well with potc the movie.

      potc the game is ok for a while(for few hours), but after that it just makes you mad, so it's even worse than if it just outright sucked. now you just feel like you wasted those few hours before noticing how hollow and limited the game is.

      (the scripting sucks, the swordfights suck, the world sucks with it's ~8 islands)

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    3. Re:i never thought deus ex.. by MadocGwyn · · Score: 1

      It was the ship to ship combat I liked a lot, and it was damn pretty. I had no end of problems with the getting the damn thing to run right or for more then 5 min but when it did it was nice. I only played the story line for a little bit, I found the sailing and combat system so much more intersting, the swordfighting system was...well HORRID, but ship to ship ruled, and very pretty.

      --
      Jesus saves, everyone else takes full damage from the fireball.
    4. Re:i never thought deus ex.. by Snowmit · · Score: 1

      i always thought that deus ex just ripped off from cyberpunk(in a good way) literature, but not once i thought that "wow, matrix like" when playing it. it doesn't even take influence from john woo & hk-action films like matrix and max payne do.

      You're right about the action not being Matrix-like in DX. I think that it was the black tranchcoats and the conpiracy stuff that made people think of the Matrix. Plus the superbad men in black suits kind of seem like Agents. I do know that they intentionally got rid of the black trenchcoats for DX2 to make it seem less matrix-like (scroll to end of article).

      --
      I have a lot of opinions about Cyborgs and Architects
    5. Re:i never thought deus ex.. by ralphus · · Score: 1
      to have been influenced by matrix.

      And the matrix was heavily influenced by these two books:
      Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard
      &
      Out of Control by Kevin Kelly (you can read the whole book online)

      Just though I'd share, I found both these books amazing and giving me better insight into the Matrix, as well as introducing me to new topics.

      --
      Revolutions are never about freedom or justice. They're about who's going to be top dog. -- Kilgore Trout
    6. Re:i never thought deus ex.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I always wondered if the Matrix was influenced at all from the Mage: The Ascencion tabletop RP game...

      especially with the "rogue programs" in Matrix Reloaded explaining certain "superstitions" (not gonna be more specific in case there is still someone who hasn't seen it)

    7. Re:i never thought deus ex.. by ralphus · · Score: 1

      The programs modifying programs is actually right out of Out of Control. I'm too drunk to operate a serach engine effectively or I'd link to it.

      --
      Revolutions are never about freedom or justice. They're about who's going to be top dog. -- Kilgore Trout
    8. Re:i never thought deus ex.. by nelsonal · · Score: 1

      The ship to ship was great, although a bit easy, if you had a fast ship and rear mounted cannons, and a ton of time. I remember getting a bit sea sick watching the ship toss on the waves. The sword fighting engine, was definitly wierd, it took some getting used to, it was very slow and strategic, not hack and slash. I got tired of sailing my ship into all the ports, and the storyline was pretty lame, but exp and officers were too hard to come by if you didn't get very far on it. I really liked the openendedness of Pirates!

      --
      Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
    9. Re:i never thought deus ex.. by Txiasaeia · · Score: 1
      "I found both of these books amazing and giving [sic] me better insight into the Matrix..."

      Baudrillard is one crazy mofo. If you wanted to retain your sanity, all you had to read was his essays "The Precession of Simulacra" and "Simulation(?) and Science Fiction." As it is, saying that Baudrillard intorduced you to "new topics" is like saying that LSD introduced you to outer space.

      --
      Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
    10. Re:i never thought deus ex.. by ralphus · · Score: 1
      If you wanted to retain your sanity...
      my santiy was gone long before I read Baudrillard.
      --
      Revolutions are never about freedom or justice. They're about who's going to be top dog. -- Kilgore Trout
    11. Re:i never thought deus ex.. by Quintin+Stone · · Score: 1

      Last night I noticed that the hollowed-out book in which Neo keeps his cash and minidisks was in fact "Simulacra and Simulation".

      --

      "Prejudice is wrong; you should hate everyone the same."

    12. Re:i never thought deus ex.. by SuiteSisterMary · · Score: 1

      Pimps At Sea is where it's at.

      --
      Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
  4. Screen shots/video clips? by antdude · · Score: 1

    Are there any screen shots or video clips of this easter egg? I don't have this game anymore.

    Thank you in advance.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    1. Re:Screen shots/video clips? by Geam · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I snapped a couple shots from random saves I had handy. The "Matrix Code" does scroll in a constant downward motion. Picture one is of the servant in Everett Morgan's house. Picture two shows the Nanotech sword on the right of the screen with two scientists and a bot.

      Quite a coincidence that I happen to get to the end of the game the same day an article comes up about it!

      http://jeberg.freeshell.org/deus-ex/de-matrix1.jpg
      http://jeberg.freeshell.org/deus-ex/de-matrix2.jpg

      -Jason

      --
      "Mostly harmless."
    2. Re:Screen shots/video clips? by antdude · · Score: 1

      Thanks Jascon. Not bad. :)

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  5. The subway station? by superultra · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You know, I seem to remember reading shortly after Deus Ex came out that they built the subway station level in homage to the Matrix. Does anyone else remember reading this?

    1. Re:The subway station? by Ianoo · · Score: 1

      It's possible, I guess, but it's not as though the subway station is a particularly massive level or that important to the game. Besides, there was also a subway station in Max Payne, and people claim that was influenced by the Matrix too, despite it being written before the Matrix was publically released.

      People also claim the film Underworld was influenced by the Matrix because it has a subway scene. I mean damn, if every movie and game from now on that contains a subway station is ripping the Matrix, then I guess I'd better not watch any movies with subway stations in them!

    2. Re:The subway station? by superultra · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I thought about that when I was writing the post. Nevertheless, everything in the Deus Ex subway level- including the notable phone booth with the hanging receiver - is in exactly the same place as in the movie. Well, except for Gunther firing off EMP rockets at you.

      And I ought to know. If nothing else, that level is a prime example of why forced failure sucks in game design. I must have spent at least 4 or 5 hours on that level trying to defeat Gunther, all the while having grown too used to the relative non-linearity of the game and thinking that it was very possible, but difficult, to defeat the bastard. I seem to remember reading a review with Warren Spector essentially apologizing for that part in the game.

      Ah ha. I happened to snag the hintbook free from a game store some time ago who was tossing the prima guide and it reads in the easter egg section, "The subway station in Hell's Kitchen is based on a subway set from the movie The Matrix . Of course, it is a strategy guide saying that and not Spector, Blessed Be His Name. As an interesting sidenote, the templar cathedral is based on Thief, and the ocean lab on System Shock. According to the strategy guide anyway.

    3. Re:The subway station? by Txiasaeia · · Score: 1
      "If nothing else, that level is a prime example of why forced failure sucks in game design. I must have spent at least 4 or 5 hours on that level trying to defeat Gunther..."

      You're telling me that you didn't take him out? Several rockets and snipes to the head took him out in a hurry... it was the invulnerable mechs that got me (they were "outside" of the level, as in an inaccessable area; this didn't stop them from firing at your character, however...)

      --
      Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
    4. Re:The subway station? by superultra · · Score: 1

      You might be right, it's been about two or three years since I played through it. Perhaps it was the force represented by Gunther that was always the best of me.

  6. They should have asked George Broussard... by JFMulder · · Score: 1

    ... head of 3DRealms. Beside the Evil dead movies, I wonder what were his inspiration for Duke Nukem, though about any old movies with the governator comes to mind.

    1. Re:They should have asked George Broussard... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I always saw a bit of Snake Plisken from Escape from New York... although I thought he should've been a little taller.

  7. No One Lives Forever series by antdude · · Score: 1

    I wonder if these spy movies (e.g., James Bond, Austin Powers, etc.) actually inspired Monolith company to make NOLF games. :)

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    1. Re:No One Lives Forever series by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would put it more on the "Flint" series.

    2. Re:No One Lives Forever series by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "No One Lives Forever"

      was AFAIK a title a Bond movie. But maybe you're too young to know that.

  8. GTA III: Vice City by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Miami Vice / Scarface anyone?

  9. WOW! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MOD PARENT UP!!!

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    # Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads.
    # Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said.
    # Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about.
    # Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page)

  10. How about favoraite movie's of gamers? by mutewinter · · Score: 1

    I see they got a few of my favoraites in there. Chiefly Pulp Fiction, Godfather, Bladerunner, and Alien/Aliens. Come on, wheres Terminator?

  11. E.T. by crazysim · · Score: 0

    It is inspirational indeed!