#Homefront Revolution

[poz-patrol]

[narrativestringtheory]

NST #1063: Homefront: The Revolution (2016)

Classic string walls appear in Homefront: The Revolution (Dambuster Studios/Deep Silver, 2016).

[cola-canine]

A two for one again tonight:

- Homefront: The Revolution

I stand by my previous post calling it a "Walgreens-brand Far Cry." This thing took forever to end. I felt like I was in the last area three different times and every time I wrapped things up, they hit me with another section.

The story is poor, the characters aren't memorable, and I think this game just didn't need to exist. Homefront itself is fine, it's your basic 6-8hr campaign that'll keep your afternoon busy. Revolution took a little over 20hrs to finish and it really 15hrs was spent clearing out outposts and wandering through its small, semi-open-world sections. It's not worth a replay in the future.

Really, the only positives I can say is the gunplay is fun in a "customize on-the-go" sense but everything else is very sparse in terms of variety to the game. At least with Far Cry, bases are laid out to approach in different ways - Homefront you can just storm in and claim them without killing a single enemy sometimes and they just disappear.

Oh well, this game really isn't worth a review. I'm just gonna use it for Time Splitters now.

- Ape Escape

This has taken me a little longer to complete but I've finished it for the first time now! As I've mentioned before, Ape Escape comes from that era of gaming where a universal control scheme wasn't agreed upon quite yet. Combine this with the introduction of the PlayStation's analog controller, it makes for a big ol' mess.

Now this isn't to say Ape Escape is bad, it's just aged very poorly compared to other platformers after - I adore this game, otherwise. The music is just a banger track after banger track, the settings are fun, the character designs for everybody are just iconic, the gadgets are quirky and make for fun ways to navigate or capture the monkies - there's a reason they had this game as one of the main faces of PlayStation for so long.

The amount of charm this game has is enough to give it a pass for a lot of its platforming flaws. I've said this a thousand times but a remake is due for this title. Bring it up to the times with a new control scheme - maybe get rid of the item menu screen and go for a gadget quick-select for some and then incorporate others into the basic moveset. I'd love to see it, but knowing it's owned by Konami it'll probably never happen... One can dream, though!

I think it's time for the System Shock remake. I might mess with the Dolphin emulator more, it seemed to run Pokemon Colosseum well, so I wanna try Super Mario Galaxy out!

[bulkyphrase]

Cap-IM Rec Week - Early Canon Wednesday

Day 3 of @cap-ironman's rec week event! Today's list features stories set in the early days: comics stories set in the time when the Avengers lived in the mansion and no one knew Tony was Iron Man, or movie-verse stories from the beautiful 2011-2013 era.

Get Some Now by @sineala (616, Teen And Up Audiences, 10,376 words)

Summary: Avengers Mansion has a mysterious feline infestation. Meanwhile, Steve just can't figure out how to ask Tony out on a date. And the thirteen teleporting cats sure aren't helping matters any. Also available as a podfic read by where_thewind_blows (@flowersthroughthecracks)

Homefront by @copperbadge (MCU, Explicit, 12,860 words)

Summary: Steve Rogers is a capable leader, a kind and cheerful man, a good friend, a strong role model, and a loyal soldier. He's also teetering on the edge of suicide. Also available as a podfic read by watery_weasel

More below the cut!

Love among the Hydrothermal Vents by DevilDoll (MCU, Explicit, 26,816 words)

Summary: In which Namor has a thing for Steve, an octopus has a thing for Tony, and Steve and Tony eventually have a thing for each other. Also available as a podfic read by RsCreighton (@rosecreighton)

Semaphore by DevilDoll (MCU, Explicit, 40,040 words)

Summary: "I’m trying to like you, Tony. You’re just making it very hard." Steve Rogers/Tony Stark Also available as a podfic read by crinklysolution

Slipping off the Page into Your Hands by @sineala (616, Explicit, 68,149 words)

Summary: Soulmates have their first words to each other written on their wrists. This should make it easy. For Steve and Tony, it is anything but. Steve's problem is that the future he has awoken into is nothing he was ever expecting: he has a soulmate now. Who might be a robot. And if his soulmate is Iron Man, how can he be so attracted to Tony Stark? It should be impossible. Tony's problem is that he is Iron Man, his soulmate is a man whom he in no way deserves, and he is going to fight everything in his heart and do his best to make sure Steve never, ever finds out the whole truth. Also available as a podfic read by RsCreighton (@rosecreighton)

Someone to Love by blue_jack (@some-blue-jack) (MCU, Mature, 47,161 words)

Summary: What does it matter that it’d been because of Loki and his damn magic? He’d fallen in love with Steve once. He can do it again.

Team Building Activities by valtyr (MCU, Mature, 37,938 words)

Summary: Fury's a beautiful princess. Clint's plotting a Communist revolution. Rhodey's not sexy. Wall-E's not a documentary. Clint's not gay but he does give a great blowjob. This fic is not an AU. Also available as a podfic read by kalakirya

The Unlikely Wingman by @sineala (616, General Audiences, 1,074 words)

Summary: Clint doesn't see why he should have to follow Captain America's orders. But he also doesn't see why Captain America should have to sit around looking miserably lonely, either.

Think of This as Solving Problems (That Should Never Have Occurred) by @sineala (616, Teen And Up Audiences, 35,216 words)

Summary: No one knows Tony is Iron Man. Then Tony gets amnesia, and literally no one knows Tony is Iron Man.

Tomorrow Belongs To Me by valtyr (MCU, Explicit, 87,241 words)

Summary: Steve wakes up in the 21st Century. He doesn't think much of it, and it's dubious about him. He meets a Norse God, joins a superhero team, and feels terribly awkward about the whole monument at Arlington he's rendered obsolete by not being dead. Meanwhile, Tony is trying to make his mark on history by being the man who finally drove Nick Fury over the edge. Also available as a podfic read by kalakirya

What Lies Inside by Penumbren (616, Explicit, 21,808 words)

Summary: When the Avengers discover Captain America in the Arctic sea, they find more than just a new team member: Tony Stark discovers his fated mate. The problem is, Steve Rogers is a man out of his own time and apparently straight, and Tony's not about to force anything on the man he loves--even if it means his own death. Besides, Tony's spent his entire life keeping secrets. How can he possibly tell Steve that he's really Iron Man, let alone a werewolf? Also available as a podfic read by Saphirerose

[octuscle]

I’m too nerdy. Could you help me please?

You really are a terrible nerd! Yet you're the cool lad at your boys' chess club. You've already watched one of the guys from the football team wank in the shower. Secretly. But none of you have ever been closer to sex. Sometimes you tell the story and you giggle like silly schoolgirls.

Today is the weekend. The astronomy club will meet in the evening. The conditions are great for looking at the Andromeda Nebula. And now you're looking forward to playing video games in your pyjamas. You've just reprogrammed the original version of Pac-Man. Super fun game! And a cup of hot chocolate from your funny Movember mug. Not that you have enough beard growth for a moustache. But you love the idea that you could have a moustache. Oh God, you really are a nerd…

Somehow you're starting to find Pac-Man boring… You look through your game collection. "Homefront The Revolution"? Where did that come from? These games with weapons aren't really your thing… But you can give it a try. Just half an hour.

An hour and a half later, you'll have to take a short break. You have to shit and piss. And you urgently need another coffee. Damn, why did you have to use that ridiculous cup. Never mind, you have to hurry. Drive those North Korean bastards out of your home. Hehehe, games like this make you horny. Pure masculinity. Real men. When you piss, you realize how much precum you're leaking. Your mighty hard-on is semi-rigid. Fucking nnn. When you're done playing, you want to go to the gym. Let's see if you can find someone to fuck in the shower. But now get on with the shooting. You still have to send a few of those dirty North Koreans to hell.

Three coffees later, it's time to mix the protein shake and pack your gym bag. That was a successful morning. You've regained control of a large part of your neighborhood. You actually hate computer games. It's for nerds. But sometimes you really enjoy it!

Found the pic of you gaming @antoinepaul

[socaprince]

SOCA THERAPY - JULY 7, 2024

Soca Therapy Playlist Sunday July 7th 2024 Making You Wine From 6-9pm on Flow 98.7fm Toronto

Dutty Dancing (Dr. Jay Plate) - Hypa 4000 Ting Go Nice Again (TW Edit) - Wetty Beatz Crocodile - Problem Child Jab Story - Slatta Hurricane - Red Scorpion Hurricane - Skinny Fabulous x Lyrikal Tornado (Riddim Master Road Intro) - Ricardo Drue Chopping The Line - Jab King I Am Grenadian (Clean) - Muddy x Squeeze Head x Brain Not From Here - Lavaman x Travis World Addicted - Jab King x Travis World Hotspot - Lyrikal x Travis World The Feeling - Runi J x Travis World Jab Man - Slatta x Travis World Explore (Radio) - V'ghn x Travis World Jab Jab Festival - Pumpa x Travis World Stagga Dance - Lil Natty & Thunda x Muddy Energy Killers - Kerwin DuBois Smooth Ride - Farmer Nappy Best Ride - Coopa Dan x Dj Spider When Last (BD Certified Anthem Edit) - GBM Nutron x Jus Jay Junction - Coutain x Tano Tack Back - Kes x Tano A Little Jam - Problem Child Cyah Hear Yuh - Patrice Roberts Cyah Hear Yuh (Dr. Jay Plate) - Patrice Roberts BYE x2 - Saddis x Jus Jay Bare Good Vibes - Shal Marshall Happy Place - Lyrikal Happy Song - College Boy Jesse Birthday Bashment Freestyle - Lil Rick Ba Ba Ben (Wine & Bend Pt 2) - DJ Cheem Gimme Ah Bligh - Iwer George Water - Iwer George In The Water - Suhrawh x Chow Minister All Posse - Roses Crew feat. Fireman Hooper

TOP 7 COUNTDOWN - Powered By The Soca Source Top Songs in SVG on Apple Music

7. Start - Dat-C DQ x Skinny Fabulous 6. Slip In - Geo 5. Like Never Before - Problem Child 4. Next # In Line - Added Rankin 3. Blessed - Kennie Montana 2. BOTS (Battle Of The Sexes) - Problem Child 1. Carnival Jumbie - Problem Child

Starta Pack - Tionne Hernandez Pampalam - Faith Callender Safe Space - Rae x Fryktion Anxiety - Patrice Roberts Best Self - Nailah Blackman x Lyrikal Shake The Place - Machel Montano x Destra Heaven - Nadia Batson x Kees My Land - Kes The Band x Nadia Batson In the Meantime - Alison Hinds Mash It Up - Burning Flames feat. Onika Bostic Expose (Precision Road Mix) - El-A-Kru feat. Tizzy DJ Needle - Horizon feat Candy Hoyte Jammers - TC De River - Blue Ventures feat Sanell Dempster Let IT Rain (Riddim Master Edit) - Empress x Soca Villain x Psycho Pulourie Doubles - Rikki Jai Disk La Reye - Ban Biyo Zouk La Se Sel Medikaman - Kassav Sexy Chocolate Girls (Remix) - Farm P x Kerwin Du Bois

PAN MOMENTS DNA - BP Renegades

TANTY TUNES Calypso Music - Charlie's Roots feat. David Rudder

Soul Of Calypso - Machel Montano Bruk Time - Grabba Bend - Nessa Preppy The A List - Pumpa Stick On - Lyrikal How Ah Livin - Farmer Nappy Where I Am - Freetown Collective Like Ah Boss (Ryan Sayeed's Typical Intro) - Machel Montano Anything - Buffy Put Your Hand On You Head (And Wine) - Sound Revolution feat. Derrick Seales Dis Is How - Crazy Blow Way - Kindred Rollin' - Homefront Famalay (Scratch Master Road Mix) - Machel Montano x Skinny Fabulous x Bunji Garlin Jumbo Jet - Bunji Garlin Party Bad - Mr. Legz x Mr. Killa Rum Sweet - Problem Child Weh Yuh Want (Soca Baby) (Clean) - Prezzi Don Welcome Back - Imani Ray

NORTHERN PRESCRIPTION Delilah (Clean) - Ka$h

Night & Day - Th3rd x JMTB Cut Me Loose - Kes x Travis World

Follow Dr. Jay @socaprince​ and @socatherapy

“Like” Dr. Jay on http://facebook.com/DrJayOnline

[crowdvscritic]

crowd vs. critic single take // MRS. MINIVER (1942)

Photo credits: IMDb.com

Mrs. Miniver takes place in two eras: the time before September 3, 1939 and the time after.

Before Great Britain declares war on Germany, Mr. Clem (Walter Pidgeon) and Mrs. Kay (Greer Garson) Miniver’s biggest concerns are about money. Specifically, they spend their energy convincing each other—and their upper crust neighbor Lady Beldon (Dame Mae Whitty)—their spending on little luxuries like hats and cars is worthy of their family’s middle class income. Though Lady Beldon does not care for blurring social lines, her granddaughter Carol (Teresa Wright) is more open-minded, catching the eye of the collegiate Vin Miniver (Richard Ney). But everything changes on September 3rd. Vin enlists, Clem volunteers, and Kay makes a bomb shelter comfortable for their young children. For the Minivers, World War II is not just on the battlefield on the continent—it’s here at home.

CROWD // And the Academy’s love affair with World War II begins! Mrs. Miniver is the first of 11 Best Picture winners set during or immediately after the war, which means more than 10% of the Academy’s top prizes have been dedicated to defeating the Nazis. Even among those titles, though, Mrs. Miniver is singular. Casablanca, From Here to Eternity, The Bridge on River Kwai, Patton, and The English Patient follow soldiers and resistance fighters; The Sound of Music, Schindler’s List, and The King’s Speech recount true stories of extraordinary individuals living through the conflict; and The Best Years of Our Lives and An American in Paris depict the struggle to rebuild the world afterward.

Unlike those epics, we only see the Minivers on the homefront. Vin joins the Royal Air Force, but like his mother, we only wonder what he sees from the cockpit. Clem supports the efforts at Dunkirk, but Christopher Nolan still felt the need to depict that rescue of troops in his own film because we never see Clem beyond the horizon of Britain’s shores. Yes, the episodic Miniver lacks the jet-fueled forward propulsion of Nolan’s film, but that wouldn’t be honest with the civilian experience. The family’s skirmishes with danger are few and unpredictable, and in some ways, that makes them more upsetting. When tragedy does strike, it hits a family we’ve laughed and rejoiced with around the dinner table, making this melodrama still moving today.

POPCORN POTENTIAL: 8/10

CRITIC // If there’s any criticism to be leveled at Mrs. Miniver, it’s that its affection for the titular family is blind. Character flaws? Complex motives? Who needs them when you’re trying to create a rousing morale-booster justifying a global conflict still in the court of public opinion? The Minivers and their neighbors are symbolic avatars more than well-rounded individuals, which is just one reason Winston Churchill called this film “propaganda worth a hundred battleships.” In fact, the last scene was literally re-distributed as print and radio propaganda!

Still, given that this particular fight against fascism is one with fewer moral gray areas, romanticizing these people fighting out of uniform has aged better than, say, a film about the Russian Revolution. In the history of cinema, a majority of war films focus on combat and political leaders, while Mrs. Miniver reminds us the people at home—including but not limited to the oft-disenfranchised women, children, elderly, and working classes—can be just as cudgeled by war without enlisting. They may avoid the trenches, but their food, shelter, life, and limb are just as uncertain, not to mention the future of their loved ones serving in the military. With that in mind, who’s to complain about making these hometown heroes so likable? 

It’s also difficult to fault Mrs. Miniver for idolizing its subjects when its cast and its craft are working in tandem with its vision. William Wyler, who still holds the record for the most Best Director nominations at 12, assembled a cast as winning as the parts they were playing, none more than the Garson’s Mrs. Miniver herself. Her hopeful but clear-eyed face of determination creates a center of gravity for the rest of the actors, and the compassion driving her never becomes too syrupy. 

ARTISTIC TASTE: 9/10

[angelix133]

El mundo gamer

Durante bastante tiempo ha sido complicado señalar cual fue el primer videojuego, principalmente debido a las múltiples definiciones de este que se han ido estableciendo, pero se puede considerar como primer videojuego el Nought and crosses, también llamado OXO, desarrollado por Alexander S.Douglas en 1952

Los años 80 comenzaron con un fuerte crecimiento en el sector del videojuego alentado por la popularidad de los salones de máquinas recreativas y de las primeras videoconsolas aparecidas durante la década de los 70

En los 90s llegaron entregas como

Resident Evil

DOOM

Half-Life

Super Mario 64

Metal Gear Solid

The Secret of Monkey Island

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Silent Hill

Siendo Tetris para la gameboy la mas vendida en su epoca

En el 2000 Sony lanzó la anticipada PlayStation 2 y Sega lanzó otra consola con las mismas características técnicas de la Dreamcast, nada más que venia con un monitor de 14 pulgadas, un teclado, altavoces y los mismos mandos llamados Dreamcast Drivers 2000 Series CX-1.

Microsoft entra en la industria de las consolas creando la Xbox en 2001.

Nintendo lanzó el sucesor de la Nintendo 64, la Gamecube, y la primera Game Boy completamente nueva desde la creación de la compañía, la Game Boy Advance. Sega viendo que no podría competir, especialmente con una nueva máquina como la de Sony, anunció que ya no produciría hardware, convirtiéndose sólo en desarrolladora de software en 2002

algunos eventos de los videojuegos a lo largo de los 2000 a 2009 fueron

04/02/2000- Los Sims salen a la venta

31/01/2001- SEGA abandona el desarrollo hardware

23/11/2004- Sale a la venta World of Warcraft

27/04/2005- Nintendogs consigue un 40/40 en la Famitsu

15/09/2005- Desvelado mando de la Wii

8/05/2006- Sony anuncia que PlayStation 3 valdrá 600 dólares

12/12/2006- Dragon Quest, anunciado para DS

10/07/2008- Apple lanza la App Store

14/07/2008- Final Fantasy XIII, también para la 360

25/03/2009- Los videojuegos, declarados bien cultural por el Congreso

en 2011 salieron Títulos como 'Killzone 3' (PS3), 'Crysis 2' (PS3, Xbox 360, PC), 'Conduit 2' (Wii), 'Rage' (PS3, Xbox 360, PC), 'Dead Island' (PS3, Xbox 360, PC), 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3' (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii), 'Resistance 3' (PS3), 'Battlefield 3' (PS3, Xbox 360, PC), 'Gears of War 3' (Xbox 360) y 'Homefront' (PS3, Xbox)

Lanzamientos en 2011

Uncharted 3' (PS3), 'Batman: Arkham City' (PS3, Xbox 360, PC), 'inFamous 2' (PS3), 'Deus Ex: Human Revolution' (PS3, Xbox 360, PC), o 'Assassin's Creed: Revelations' (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

y el lanzamiento del que hoy en dia es uno de los juegos mas queridos por la comunidad MINECRAFT

2012

ZombiU.

Spec Ops: The Line.

Journey.

Escape Plan.

Far Cry 3.

Mass Effect 3.

Halo 4.

Borderlands 2.

FNAF

2013

Grand Theft Auto V.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

Pokémon X/Y.

Gone Home.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

The Last of Us.

Pikmin 3.

Bioshock Infinite.

2014 lanzamiento del play4 y xbox one que debutaron por todo lo alto este año que termina. La primera siguiendo su tendencia de ser "la consola para jugadores", la segunda con una apuesta más arriesgada pero igual de atractiva unificando juegos con televisión digital y muchas opciones de multimedia

2015 donde call of duty black ops lll fue el juego mas famoso de ese

2017

1.) God of War (PS4, Sony Interactive Entertainment)

2.) Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4 / Xbox One, Rockstar Games)4). Detroit: Become Human (PS4, Sony Interactive Entertainment)

5.) Marvel's Spider-Man (PS4, Sony Interactive Entertainment)

6.) Battlefield V (PS4 / Xbox One / Windows, Electronic Arts)

7.) Fortnite

2020

Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Plataforma: Nintendo Switch

Astro's Playroom

DOOM Eterna

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

The Last of Us Parte II

Valorant

acompañado del lanzamiento del play station 5 y el Xbox series X/S

2023

proximos a estrenarse

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (PS5)

Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch) 

Cities: Skylines 2 (PC)

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection - Volumen 1 (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series X/S)

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria (PC, PS5)

Ghostrunner 2 (PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S)

Alan Wake 2 (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S)

EA Sports UFC 5 (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S)

Jusant (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S)

ARK: Survival Ascended (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S)

Phasmophobia (PS5, Xbox Series X/S)

[hikayeplays]

An introduction is perhaps necessary, I'm Hikaye and as a child I was forbidden from playing video games. Of course I disobeyed but my forays in the gaming world were bite and run, mostly a farming web game and some time spent on an old secret Nintendo DS with a cracked cartridge with the 12 dancing princess platform games and some other random ones. When I went to uni I got minecraft and then made a steam account and got the Sims 4, CKIII, TW:Warhammer and played them for a lot, a lot of hours just simply dicking around and having fun.

So I decided to just, learn how to game and so, having never touched an action game i got Dark Souls and bought my first controller. I figured that if I was to start I may have as well gotten gud from the start.

As time goes on I'll add more to the list, hoping to find good titles along the way:

1. 404Sight: done! 100% 6/10

2. Alice: Madness Return

3. Antenna: done! V cute! 5/10 100%

4. Arx Fatalis: DNF

5. Assassin's Creed: done! 8/10. holy hell Maria is a difficulty spike.

6. Assassin's Creed II

7. BE-A Walker

8. A Bird Story: 2/10 100%

9. Black Desert: DNF

10. Bloody Hell: done! 6/10

11. Buckshot Roulette: done! 7/10

12. Celeste

13. Crusader Kings III: 7/10

14. Dark Souls Remastered: in progress

15. Deadly Premonition the director's cut: in progress

16. Desperados wanted dead or alive: DNF

17. Destiny 2

18. Disfigure: done! 7.5/10

19. Doom 64: in progress

20. Dr. Langeskov, the tiger, and the terribly cursed emerald: done! 8/10 100%

21. Elden Ring: in progress

22. Frostrain: done! 100% 8/10

23. Half-Life 2

24. Half-Life: BLue Shift: DNF

25. Half-Life: Opposing Force

26. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

27. Helltaker: done. 6/10 100%

28. Homefront: The Revolution

29. How Fish is Made: done, 1/10

30. Isop0dissey: done! 100%! 2/10

31. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: in progress

32. Left 4 Dead 2

33. LET IT DIE

34. Lofi Hotel

35. Mandagon: done! 7/10 100%

36. Martial Law: done. 6/10 100%

37. Maui: done! 6.5/10 100%

38. Metro 2033 Redux

39. Metro Last Light Redux

40. The Mirror Lied: done! 4/10

41. Monster Hunter: World: in progress

42. The Monster Inside: 100% 4/10

43. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog: done! 8/10

44. My Singing Monsters: 7/10

45. Pineapple on Pizza: 100%! 6/10

46. The plan. 100% 0/10

[obscureaestheticist]

□IRON SOLDIER□

□Iron Soldier□ □ □ My Findings <- the long part 

□ Possible Origins <- less long but still long

□ Why Call It Iron Soldier?  □ [PLEASE NOTE: this post is just a summarisation of topics connected to this visual style that I have glanced over, I encourage you to do your own research if you want to go further into the topics.] □ □MY FINDINGS□

Iron Soldier is a visual aesthetic found in video games and movies characterized by subjects of war, government corruption, propaganda, and corporate sponsorship. 

What sets the aesthetic apart from the standard military aesthetic [and inspired fashion] is it’s link to recent American history [specifically the late Bush to early Obama Era], simulated violence in video games and movies, as well as its rocky relationship in how it portrays the subject of war as a whole. This aesthetic also includes the promotional material associated with said media. As such, Iron Soldier constitutes an interesting amalgamation of fandom and it's own material.

Predominantly made of popular Xbox 360 titles, Iron Soldier’s motifs can be found in: Modern Warfare 2 [2009], Black Ops [2010], and Halo 3 [2007], Dead Space 1 & 2 [2008/2011], Just Cause 2 [2006], Red Faction Guerrilla [2009], Gears of War 1, 2 & 3 [2006/2008/2011], Lost Planet 1, 2 & 3 [2006/2008/2010], Homefront [2011], and even non-shooters like Infamous [2009] and Prototype [2009]. But can also be found in the movies Iron Man 1 & 2 [2008/2010], and Transformers 1 & 2 [2007/2009]. If you grew up around this era [2007-2012] you might remember how cover-shooters and bombastic Hollywood action movies were EVERYWHERE. It was an enormous fad that exploded with the success of games like Call of Duty and Halo. An entire gaming and movie-going culture had grown around these titles, which has somewhat colored the aesthetic in a new light looking back on it all these years later. <- This will be elaborated on more in Possible Origins.

Iron Soldier cinematography and promotional material portray gritty yet heroic protagonists amidst the backdrop of either war, revolution, or survival. Occasionally all 3. Colors swing between harsh shadows and saturated hues, to washed-out, muddy color palates. While dirty and muddy, the central figure acts as a defiant idol amidst the chaos. Characters are typically depicted as faceless with elaborate military gear of blending colors with attention drawn to a few outlying details such as a weapon, eye shield, or simply the unique silhouette of the armor's design. It's all very uniform by intention and gives the role and symbols of the character weight as opposed to the character themselves, though this is likely for the purposes of allowing the player to project onto that character, something akin to a silent protagonist, while also acting as a cold symbol of life at war.

Environments in these games reflect a harsh and unforgiving setting meant to be imposing in some way or another. However, these environments will exaggerate and overshadow real-life depictions of hostile environments. as such, Iron Soldier settings often take place in 3rd World Countries, the USSR, and nations typically viewed by the West as destitute and poor. It's a very Eurocentric opinion of the time, of how the English-speaking West saw other nations or just assumed what they'd be like. Locations are usually occupied by a prevailing military force, or are under the sway of revolutionaries, both of which could be either beneficial or antagonistic to the player in nature. They're often bombed out, in a state of near total destruction or vandalism, or are repurposed into shooting grounds or cinematic pieces for the player to experience.

In many shooter maps, nearly all sense of beauty is reduced to function, yet much of the machinery you find is either unusable or broken, creating this odd sense of spectacle that could be likened to an industrial park or a warehouse. This depiction also serves for fictional locations in Sci-Fi shooters like Gears of War, Lost Planet, and Dead Space, although each to a very different effect. The concept of mastering and utilizing your environment is still a very prevalent mechanic in these 3 games specifically.

As for protagonists with a face... well...

Look I dunno who this 1 dude is but dayum he sure gets type-cast. This is the typical US Marine look that was everywhere at the time. It's a meme nowadays but back then it was the default expectation of what a shooter protag was going to look like. While considered faceless and the every-man by some, he's clearly not and plays to a specific ideal of what a "perfect soldier" should look like: white, duty oriented, makes the tough decisions and is the one who should have the gun. Ironically, the games Star Wars: Force Unleashed, Prototype, and Infamous all follow the Iron Soldier motifs with their environments and protagonists as well, yet they don't follow the uncomfortable complacencies of these typical military white dude war game protagonists. When the "tough decisions" are made, it shows the civilians who are clearly suffering and places them right in the middle of it. Again this could be completely unintentional, cause you can just as easily blast your way through it all but you are branded as evil for doing so by their morality systems, something most Iron Soldier games don't have.

Iron Soldier stories are rarely anything unique, often revolving around military campaigns, invasions [alien, human, or otherwise], and conspiracies with a focus on the ground-level individuals in the heat of it all. Nearly all video game titles associated with this style have had some critique for their weak story, or one that feels right out of a Hollywood action movie, despite developers claiming an authenticity and genuine portrayal of events and the action therein. The spectacle is the key component, to show off the effects of the console with little concern for the plot at large. As such, many stories will mostly, only explore the surface or superficial level of themes such as the morals of invasion, occupation, nuclear weapons, and freedom. It gives Iron Soldier this cheap, by-the-numbers action movie vibe that likens it to pulp-era military stories if brought into the modern day. It is something you're not meant to think that hard about, but that, in turn, normalizes what they're trying to present, and anybody on the outside seeing this will be able to point out the blatant problematic themes even without the context of the game's production and sponsorships. However this doesn't mean to say all Iron Soldier stories are bad, not by any means, some have even gone down as some of the most iconic video game stories ever written, so there can definitely be good writing behind this style, it's just no what it's known for.

Overall, the intention behind these visuals is meant to offer the player pure function in an imposing and hostile environment, with themes of decay, destruction, rust, and function. It's straightforward but occasionally will have some phenomenal standout environments and maps that are a bit too many to list here. At it's best Iron Soldier provides a veritable playground of potential in its destructive and violent environments.

But on the other hand, some of these images in this post might be hard to tell apart as to whether they're the same game or not. And while these games may all serve similar functions and construct their environment for the sake of spectacle, the other side of the coin of Iron Soldier is very different as it relates to the larger gaming culture surrounding these titles, specifically the Call of Duty and Halo franchises.

Iron Soldier and its game's associated fandoms have a long relationship with corporate and military sponsorship. A military sponsorship for a military shooter war game is an obvious connection, however, Halo 3, Modern Warfare 2, Blackops, Iron Man 1&2, and Transformers 1&2 all had some form of military, Department of Defence, or Pentagon oversight, revision, or approval to their scripts and production, which, if it isn't obvious by now, show clear implicit bias towards supporting military action. If you're confused by what I mean you can watch via youtube: Jacob Geller - Does Call of Duty Stand For Anything? Jacobin - Call of Duty Is Imperialist Propaganda There are also plenty of articles discussing this topic so I won't go too deep into it, but Iron Soldier's era of media had a direct connection to sponsorship during an era where military recruitment in English-speaking countries was on the rise again for the first time in nearly a decade. However, it was not nearly as successful as it was back when the Cold War was still headline news, so instead many recruitment programs turned to the media in order to promote the military. This is STILL happening today btw with modern games! You can even find articles stretching back to 2009 talking about the concerns regarding the video game industry and the military's attempt to get involved.

On top of this odd relationship with corporate and military sponsorships is its history of attempted controversy as a marketing plot to drive sales, or its players throwing slurs at each other in place of punctuation. All Iron Soldier games have a reputation for volatile trash-talking player bases and fandoms, and if you've ever grown up around these fandoms you know exactly the kind that I mean. You say stuff that would be a crime in most countries as a casual joke, and probably shared the stupidest and most shocking photographs and videos with one another to freak each other out. And these videos in question often revolve around the subjects of gore, gross-out humor, offensive stereotypes, racial jokes, etc. Again, these still exist today but the platform has changed. As of writing this, it's Discord, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Telegram chats. Back in the late-2000s/early-2010s it was Xbox LIVE, MySpace, Facebook, and Skype.

Many did this in jest and genuine good fun, but it was not uncommon to receive spam emails and death threats from fellow players or complete randomers, including boasts of skill competitiveness in an attempt to wind people up because... well... the player base was nearly all early 2000s/2010s teenagers what did you expect?

But over time it gradually evolved into a game you'd associate with that 1 white guy with a right-wing, suburban, military family with only 1 actual relative in the military, and unquestioning support for military occupation, who just sends you shocking stuff to get a reaction out of you. This was during the era when shocking real-life military footage was becoming publically available over real gore sites. An entire shock culture grew out of this alongside 4chan and the internet tough guy trope. Like I said, if you grew up around these friend groups you know exactly the kind of stuff I mean. And before you ask, yes, this is the same era that the famous Navy Seals Gorilla Warfare Copypasta came into being.

This is all a GROSS oversimplification of this subject and timeline, which would honestly warrant its own post to properly explore. But if you want a more light-hearted example of an Iron Soldier fan in media then watch the original Xbox LIVE commercial and read the Navy Seals Copypasta if you want a very light taste of it.

□POSSIBLE ORIGINS□ Okay, so, you remember this fad, right? It was EVERYWHERE! You just couldn't escape it! One FPS and Covershooter after the next. Compilation videos of skills and tricks on public games pasted all over youtube backed to dubstep, nu-metal, hip-hop, alt-rock, etc. Xbox 360 was capital P - POPULAR - and it was the console you either had yourself or at least 2 of your friends had it, maybe even a teenage relative owned it. The co-op features for Iron Soldier era games helped boost their popularity and player base in record time. Plus these games just wouldn't stop coming out, and they all looked the same [not to mention COD has been built on the same engine since 2005], at least to an outsider. But around this time, if you grew up in a majority English-speaking part of the world, you might remember seeing military recruiters out in public or even at your schools, on trips, or at careers fairs.

I honestly thought I'd dreamt it up for the longest time, but no, I even asked my friends and many of them also remember seeing them out in public and at special events like joint boy scouts events, or in shopping centers, malls, and school events. As mentioned earlier army recruitment was on the rise again for the first time in nearly a decade but recruitment was slumping, so they cut deals and sponsorships with popular mainstream brands as a way to re-enter the mainstream. This includes overseeing the production of films with military themes such as Iron Man and Transformers.

This coupled with a Great US Recession from 2007-2009 saw a sharp boost in recruited servicemen, not to mention the Obama wave which had a massive cultural impact helped to bolster this great sense of patriotism. They saw numbers they hadn't seen since 9/11 and the start of the Afgan War. The government's desperate want to renter popular culture combined its objective with Hollywood producers and video game designers to make the US military seem more... for lack of a better term, cool. As such cinematic and video game depictions reflected that image of a strong-willed soldier that was popular with writers and directors at the time. Such creators that portrayed this image often saw real army and government attention, and many games in response used this image in critiques of government control in a similar style, whether as an intentional critique or as means to keep up-to-date with the latest console games and their graphics. And do you remember teens around this time too? The ones that said they were going to join the military because of movies and video games? I sure as hell do. There was no shortage of kids like this, who were inspired by this media without knowing what was actually going on in the world at the time, masking the horrors and reality of the war through a veil of power fantasy and fun virtual combat. The music was great, and when you listened to it, it made you feel badass. But to anybody born outside of these countries and are old enough to realize the irl government corruption going on at the time, its easy to see what these products are, propaganda. Very goofy, over-the-top, dudebro, monster energy, 'merica, 2000s drenched, mountain dew flavored, doritos dust covered, teenage dirtbag propaganda.

□Why Call It Iron Soldier?□ The "Iron" part is for Iron Man, the most popular character in the mainstream that has embodied this Iron Soldier aesthetic along with its themes with a legacy that lasts to this day. As such government and army oversight/approval has been in multiple Disney Marvel productions since then, including Captain Marvel, The Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Eternals [the Hiroshima bombing specifically], and more. An amazing and legendary character that changed the landscape of cinema for an entire era, but also brought with it many of the problematic concepts that followed that era's beliefs and ideologies. The "Iron" also serves to reflect the fact that the armor itself is CGI, and the race for top-quality graphics and computer-generated effects in that time set milestones in both the film and games industry, effects which are still praised to this day.

And "Soldier" because of this aesthetic's glorification and idealization of the individual soldiers on the ground, along with this aesthetic's direct ties to military sponsorship.

We all likely saw this one shot of Optimus Prime. Overall, the aesthetic is very basic, and actually not that obscure at all. It was seen by MILLIONS for an entire era of American media, but as far as I can tell, it doesn't have a specific name outside of late-2000s video games and schlock action movies. - hence why I havn't listed many of the symbols or music associated with it. It is, however, something MANY westerners have experienced directly due to its sheer popularity and presence, even if in the background, in our lives growing up. So I wanted to reflect on that.

Thanks for reading.

[jentrissimo]

Hello if you're reading this then Welcome!

If you want to add me/play with me just ask.

My epic is wanderer751

And I play everything on my Xbox.

My actual gamertag is Jentrissimo.

I'm constantly free as I have nothing to do but play.

I also do art but that's when I want to out of boredom.

Im pretty sure I have a bit of ADHD. Just a small bit, a smidge, a totally insignificant ignorable amount. Totally.

I play a ton of shooters, I have interests in

Funky guns

Metro: 2033, 34, and exodus

Red dead redemption 1 and 2

Risk of rain 2

Warhammer 40k Darktide

XDefiant

Assassin's creed: unity, 3, syndicate, ezio trilogy

BioShock 1, 2, infinite

BULLETSTORM MY BELOVED

RAGE 1, 2

Borderlands 2, pre-sequel, 3, new tales

Dishonored 1, 2

Farcry 3, blood dragon, 4, new dawn, primal, 2

Homefront the revolution

Hollow knight

Mafia 1, 2, 3

Payday 2, 3

Thief

Void bastards, wild bastards

Wolfenstein, new order, new Colossus, old blood, youngblood

The walking dead telltale series

The darkness 1, 2

Dead space 1, 2, 3, remastered

Fallout New Vegas, 3, 4, 76

Spec ops: the line

Viva piñata

GTA 4, 5

Deus ex human revolution, mankind devided

Deadlight

Deadrising 3, 4

Warframe

Thymesia

Slay the princess

Hotline Miami 1, 2 wrong number

For honor

Fortnite

Dead by daylight

Atomic heart

And I think that's most of em.

Teehee:3

I really don't have a preference over what friends I make. Because I just want to have buddies in general. Kinda like how capybaras are chilling with all the animals.

I'm pan and genderfluid so I don't have a pronoun preference either. Because I feel like that doesn't matter to me so yeah:3

[poz-patrol]

[maximuswolf]

If you didn't know... there's a full PC port of Time Splitters 2 buried inside Homefront: The Revolution which is on sale on Steam for $3 right now.

If you didn't know... there's a full PC port of Time Splitters 2 buried inside Homefront: The Revolution, which is on sale on Steam for $3 right now. This may be old news, but the Homefront devs added the entirety of Time Splitters 2 within Homefront: The Revolution. It's meant to be played in an arcade mode, and the full thing was originally intended to be unlocked via a button cheat.You can access TS2's story mode totally legitimately through Homefront via the button code, OR you can download a player-made mod called “Time Splitters 2 Redux” that upgrades TS2 a bit, and give it its very own launcher so you can launch directly into it and play it as a straight-up PC port with native keyboard and mouse and up-res textures.You need to own a copy of Homefront: The Revolution, which as mentioned, is currently on sale on Steam for $3.By the way, you'll need to launch Homefront at least once to write the game.cfg file which you'll need to use to edit settings like mouse sensitivity, which TS2 will reference (the in-game control settings don't have mouse and keyboard options). There are also custom configs out there you can copy and paste to tweak the game to its best settings. It plays a little janky but it's not bad. To be utterly clear, this is fully legal, because full access to TS2 IS BUILT INTO HOMEFRONT, this isn't emulation or anything of the like. The mod you download only lets you launch straight into it rather than requiring you to launch Homefront first.Enjoy! Submitted October 31, 2024 at 08:19AM by Left4DayZGone https://ift.tt/BshoWyO via /r/gaming

[cola-canine]

I'm doing this to myself, I fully realize this, but Homefront: The Revolution won't end. This is Walgreens brand Far Cry.

[jaytheinfinite]

Homefront: The Revolution - Episode 24: The Great Escape Unveiled!

[ps4collecting]

Homefront – The Revolution

(France)