Blade Runner's Influence on Videogames

A 1up feature looks at the influence that Ridley Scott's amazing cyberpunk film Blade Runner has had on gaming. In addition to outlining the (underappreciated) late 90's direct game adaptation, the article discusses the film's subtler touch on tone, music, and content in other titles. "Try as William Gibson might to distance himself from Blade Runner's influence, the game adaptation of his seminal novel ironically takes a lot of its visual cues from Blade Runner, particularly in its realization of the urban sprawl. Even better, we got a little proto-cyberpunk musical influence in the soundtrack. Neuromancer boasted a technically impressive, if scratchy, Commodore-synth rendition of Devo's "Some Things Never Change" playing over the title. Truth be told, the song is actually much improved by the necessary excision of all the lyrics except for the chorus."

Comments

Re:Poor William Gibson!

[A Name Similar to Di]

I read that too, but it's a poor editor to blame for the lack of clarity rather than misattributing the work. If you read the article in context, the "game adaptation of his seminal novel" is referring to Neuromancer.

D'oh!

[Simon Brooke]

Try as William Gibson might to distance himself from Blade Runner's influence, the game adaptation of his seminal novel

I'm sure Phillip K. Dick will be glad to know that Gibson's now taking the heat for Blade Runner's influence! It must be a huge weight off his shoulders to know that some other Sci-Fi author gets to deal with his burdeon.

English comprehension was never your strong suite, was it? Neuromancer was, as advertised, written by... William Gibson (and, incidentally, won the Phillip K. Dick Award).

Phillip K. Dick wrote Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, on which Blade Runner was based, and which Gibson claimed not to have read. OK?

Re:D'oh!

[Ian Lamont]

I read an interview with Gibson some years ago in which he said his reaction to seeing Blade Runner (before Neuromancer came out) was disappointment that Scott et al were the first to create this dark future world. The interview (or a similar one) is referenced here and apparently came from a 1992 issue of Details:

Gibson, in an interview by Lance Loud in an article on the 10th anniversary of "Blade Runner" for the magazine "Details" (October 1992 issue), had the following to say:

"About ten minutes into Blade Runner, I reeled out of the theater in complete despair over its visual brilliance and its similarity to the "look" of Neuromancer, my [then] largely unwritten first novel. Not only had I been beaten to the semiotic punch, but this damned movie looked better than the images in my head! With time, as I got over that, I started to take a certain delight in the way the film began to affect the way the world looked. Club fashions, at first, then rock videos, finally even architecture. Amazing! A science fiction movie affecting reality!"

The same reference says Heavy Metal actually influenced both Scott and Gibson:

"Years later, I was having lunch with Ridley, and when the conversation turned to inspiration, we were both very clear about our debt to the Métal Hurlant [the original Heavy Metal magazine] school of the '70s--Moebius and the others. But it was also obvious that Scott understood the importance of information density to perceptual overload. When Blade Runner works best, it induces a lyrical sort of information sickness, that quintessentially postmodern cocktail of ecstasy and dread. It was what cyberpunk was supposed to be all about."

There is also a connection to Escape from New York, according to the reference.

Don't forget Snatcher

[gmezero]

Can't forget one of the most important Blade Runner inspired games to have been forgotten by and large by the masses. If you haven't played it, it's a toss up between the Japanese PCEngine and US/EU SegaCD releases as to which is best. So depending on your language skills, pick your poison.