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lostsummerdayz · 5 years ago

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Will Jet Set Radio Ever Come To The PS4? It Already Has

The Better Question Would Be... When Will We Experience It?

by Nay Holland

If anyone knows me, they know that I am a Jet Set Radio fan to the core. It was one of the few games I wore to the ground on my Sega Dreamcast. It was the source of my first ever cosplay. My earlier fightstick art was based off of Gum from the original game. There hasn’t been a game that impacted my childhood much like this game had.

All one need to do is check Twitter to see the Rudies (fans of the series) tweet about wanting their games on modern consoles including their love for the games themselves. Especially on the PlayStation 4. (Check out the #JetSetSona tag if you hadn’t already!)

So it came as a surprise when I wound up reading a tweet from the official Japanese PlayStation account, with a link to a blog post and Jet Set Radio front and center.

Now, I’m not going to pretend my Japanese is fluent. It really isn’t. I had to use the help of Google Translate to take the wheel for me.

From what I could gather, the post showcased several Sega classics that are currently on PlayStation streaming service, PS Now. These titles include Crazy Taxi, Virtua Fighter 2, and of course, Jet Set Radio.

You can read the blog post here.

What I found most interesting is that Jet Set Radio is actually on PS Now. The caveat is that it’s only on the Japanese PS Now at the time of this writing.

So what gives? Why is a timeless classic, that is arguably more popular among the Western audience than the Japanese, currently Japan-exclusive on the Sony console?

This is especially puzzling as the game has been made backwards compatible on the Xbox One since 2016. Being that you can still purchase the game for PlayStation 3, I don’t believe it’s much in the way of a licensing issue as well. Perhaps there’s a slated release for the Western PS Now users in the future? Only time will tell.

How did such a niche series attain a devoted fanbase? How did it ever get to this point? In order to answer these questions, we have to look back a bit.

In the turn of the millennium in the year 2000, Sega blessed the world with a culture bomb. Combining the beats and aesthetic of Hip Hop culture with a modern rebellious “stick-it-to-the-man” attitude, Jet Set Radio was a game that was light years ahead of its time.

Praised for the music and art direction, the game never had a chance to kick off as it was a victim of its own success. For those who had played it, it was herald as a masterpiece. However, majority wouldn’t have the chance to experience this moving work of art for themselves as the discontinuation of the Sega Dreamcast loomed. Smilebit, the developers of Jet Set Radio, found their new home on the Xbox.

In 2003, they released a reboot of the original game titled Jet Set Radio Future, which was an entirely new game from the ground up. It still had the blend of Hip Hop culture and art, yet it was set in a dystopian, totalitarian-esque future instead of the modern era of the previous game.

This shift of attitude and gameplay won a set of fans that would stick around to this day. The original fans of Jet Set Radio wouldn’t see their beloved game return until 2012, twelve years after its original release.

This HD remaster version of the original game, released on Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, and Steam, featured updated graphics to fit the expected HD quality of games at the time. The rest of the gameplay at its core was kept the same, welcoming old fans of an oft long forgotten game and ushering in new curious ones. With the release of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4, however, this version was rendered obsolete.

At least, until it became backwards compatible on the Xbox One in 2016 as mentioned earlier.

While there are many options for the original Jet Set Radio, the Jet Set Radio Future release continues to be lost in the wind. As of this time of writing, the game is yet to be backwards compatible with Xbox One.

The Xbox 360 compatibility is notoriously bad in some sections of the game, specifically on 99th Street. This means that the best way to experience Future remains on the original Xbox.

There are, of course, other ways to experience the game, with Xbox emulation on the come-up in the past several years. But the fans want to support the series. Again, just take an afternoon to look through Twitter. Fan support is quite massive even in this current year.

Sega themselves haven’t been ignorant. They have included several characters of the series in various Sega titles as well as include cameos in the style of costumes for games like Sonic Forces. Occasionally you’ll see a tweet or two from the official Sega page referencing the series.

With this recent tweet and post from Sony themselves, however, they understand the concept of love game’s resounding popularity. When you have official companies stoking the flames of the community by acknowledging that they exist, it’s difficult not to have hope for the future.

Maybe one day we will see Jet Set Radio on the American PS Now. Perhaps we will somehow see Future on any modern console. Again, only time will tell.

#jet set radio #video game

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semicolonthefifth · 5 years ago

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CROSS ch.2 - Bad Moon Rising

The night was still strong, and the moon past the mountains helped shine the way.

For 3 hours now Jason Cross had been driving down the Black Road. On the drive since, Sid had been weakly banging against the car for the first hour before stopping on the second - at least that’s what Jason was sure had happened. Throughout the drive, Jason had been listening to the radio. Every now and then he’d switch the channels whenever a song failed to capture his attention. He’d mostly been ignoring Sid’s antics from within the trunk, and had been in the need for something to fill his mind till he reaches his destination.

So many stations littered the airways, from Calberi to Moresatta - all throughout the Black Road passage. Dozens of stations settled along the road, and all of them had the same idea on what to play. Humanity isn’t creative anymore, all they want are the oldies - the kind of stuff that used to play back on the Old Earth. Way back when, before they left for far off stars, only to then realize what a mistake it was; before they had settled on so many worlds, got into as many problems, and wished greatly that they hadn’t forgotten the way back. So, every station plays the oldies - the songs from the far ago generations.

You’d have such stations as: “Classics of the Great Wars”, “Music of the Groovy Times”, “3R’s Real Revolition Radio”, “The Legends of Rock n’ Roll”, and even “Electric Orchestras of the 2nd Millennium”. Most of the stations Jason had blocked out - he’s listened to them all, especially the ones off “Country Listenings” some time back. He’d stop listening to them altogether, maybe find a station making new stuff - if they ever come to existence. Though till then, “60’s Power Radio” still had some things he hadn’t yet listened to as much.

A couple turns of the dial, and he had come into the station just as when a favorite of his came on: “Bad Moon Rising”, by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The moment the tune picks up, Jason’s stresses from the long drive started to fade away. Though he hated to admit it, the feeling was nice. He began to ease up on his grip of the wheel, and allowed himself a chance to relax when the lyrics came into play - and slowly he sung it to himself.

“I see the Bad Moon Rising…”

“I see trouble on the way…”

“I see earthquakes and lightning”

“I see bad times today.”

His singing became almost automatic - it always felt like that with songs he has in his head longer than he should. He recalls seeing adverts and news clippings, all about what some experts from the cities call the “Nostalgic Disease”. It isn’t like an actual sickness, it was something Jason would refer to as ‘being all in the head’. It affects plenty of folks, especially in the cities. Those affected claw over whatever they can from the Old World, and then get hooked on it. They listen to a song 40, 80 times in a sitting, trying to capture that ‘magic’ off those stories they hear about from the old homeworld. They want more though, and soon enough they try to live it.

Jason recalls a story he heard once: a man became so addicted to the music from some millennia old musician named Elvis Presley that he was convinced he was the guy himself. The man paid millions for surgeries to look the part, using a couple of surviving photographs off a museum. Even went as far as to get an artificial voice box installed so he’d have a voice straight off the radio, crackle and all. Last he heard, the copycat ate himself to death as soon as a gray hair got through the fake ones. The worst part of it all was that it wasn’t the only story of its kind - there’d been many others, many copycats - changing themselves to copy ancient figures, celebrities and even fictional characters alike.

Jason laughs to himself a bit when thinking back, but then realizes that he’s singing the final lyrics to the song. He realizes where he is at the moment, and immediately switches the radio off. It’s good timing at least, as further down the Black Road he could see a set of white buildings off to the side. After a quick shake of his head to wake his senses, he grips the wheel tight and gets ready for the turn off the Road.

The Black Road has always been the greatest landmark in the arid wastes of Aurora, in both size and importance. Ever since the United Republic of Earth colonized and settled down here, the road has been the deciding factor for easier trade and travel between its two cities on what is often a sun-blasted desert. Although the alien natives aren’t subtle about their hatred for the road, every human loves the seemingly endless stretch of pure black pavement that has helped them settle these lands. All the humans love this road, especially those wanting to cause trouble for everyone around them.

With the creation of the road came the bandit and the raider - groups who constantly harass and devastate the various settlements that line the Black Road. For as far as Jason could remember, there have always been raiders murdering and setting fires along the road. There has been an ever-increasing level of violence along the wastes of colonized Aurora, and furthermore an increase of groups who set themselves to fight back - and in response, an act from the UROE had to be made. To ensure that the worst of humanity are to be dealt with, and that the best are sufficiently rewarded, they settled the bounty offices - a way to put a mark on any bandits in the area, and pay off those willing to do the job.

One such office, a mile off the Black Road - stationed the same distance either way between the two major cities at the ends of the Road - was set in the middle of the open plains. It was close to the Eastern mountainous wall that runs parallel to the road, visible in the night through the twinkling lights in the pitch darkness.

It was easy to make out. The buildings of the site was painted a bright white, which appeared clearly against the mountains and dunes. Within the site there was a main two-floor office facing South with another, smaller building nearby. The office appeared boring and simple, with little other features aside from some windows and utilities to keep it functional. The side building meanwhile only possessed a door and a singular window, but no light was shown to be coming from it. Remaining to note was an appropriately sized water silo, a generator, several solar panels, and a discreet radio tower barely peeking from the office roof. All of which were encircled by a vast perimeter of chain-link fencing guarded by a single guard post. A flag of the UROE flew proudly - bluish green in color, with a white emblem of the Earth surrounded by stars and the various flags of the Republic’s states. It stands out, even against the brightness of the office it decorates.

The drive takes a while, but Jason’s car soon rolls up towards the post. He quickly rolls down the windows and presents his license and contract, allowing himself through and towards the main office itself. He stops right in front of it, turning the car off once he’s parked.

Before Jason gets out, he suddenly remembers the gun he had taken from Sid at the bar - and for a moment he takes some time to examine it.

It was a seemingly impressive thing: the custom decoration had a ‘cool’ look to it, as Jason though, and it appeared that the metal trims appeared legit. It all depicted a road waving wildly, with a road-sign reading ‘66’ at the center - etched on both sides, practically mirroring each other. However, as Jason turned it over, he began to notice some issues. It had a pretty face, but nothing more. The grip felt loose- the trigger stuck badly; there were indications of grime and dust that was only cleaned surface deep. The way the gun jostled and clicked when waved, you’d figure the thing would’ve blown the man’s groin much sooner.

He carefully tosses the gun aside, but not before skimping the leftover ammunition and storing it into the glovebox. He can’t use it, as badly as he would’ve needed to. Almost any gun would be better than no gun - yet in this case, he liked to have one that actually worked.

Jason finally leaves out the car, and as he makes way for the office he gives a smack of his hand against the back where Sid’s been kept. “Don’t you let me catching you leaving any time soon.” He snarks aloud, chuckling before whistling a tune.

5 seconds into his whistling he recognizes it as “Bad Moon Rising”.

He stops immediately after.

Eventually he enters through the door, and the moment he does so he can feel a jet of cool air hit him square in the face. He barely stifles a low, soft moan before giving into a bit of shaky laughter. He happily calls out, “Damn Barry! When were you gonna tell me you got that AC fixed!?”

Jason stands right under the open vent, an easy feat considering how high he stands. Cool air blows across the main floor office: a fairly open, presentable area with a half-wall barrier blocking off a series of desks lining the floor. To the sides are doorways leading to other, smaller officers, with only a singular staircase off to the back. The place was for show, for the most part - all but one of the offices were empty with only the standard supplies atop the desks. Only one office, towards the side, had decor that was easily seen from the main entry-way.

From where Jason stood, he could see various knick-knacks, some maps, and one man.

The man exits out, giving Jason a hefty smile and a jolly chuckle.

“Just recently!” He shouts, making his way over

He is a graying, blond-haired man whose as wide as he is tall. His complexion is that of a man barely touched by the Auroran sun, only made slightly pink in color. A gray collared shit wraps around his body, tightly tucked into a set of dark grey pants complete with well-shined black laced shoes. On his chest is a small badge, clipped to his left with a photo of himself and his name - “Garry Barr”.

Immediately he goes to Jason for a handshake, and Jason allows it without an inkling of complaint. Barry then proceeds to push far close into Jason’s space, giving the young man a strong slap to the shoulder fueled by celebratory glee.

“Jason Cross you bastard! Thought for a moment you wouldn’t be back so soon. You got Sid, right? Got him good?”

Cocky, Jason shrugs and gives a comical grin. He looks down at Barr with about half the amusement. “Of course! I told ya I’d get the bounty. The fucker put me through a whole lotta runnin’ across the road and back, but I did get him.”

“And just for that, I’m grateful. Absolutely touched. Just as happy as can be!” Barr lets out another bit of laughter before proceeding to hook Jason over and direct him to his office. He speaks further before Jason could get a word in. “You want a drink? I can get you a drink. We ought to get a drink, a smoke - something!”

Jason chuckles awkwardly, but tries to answer through Barr’s rambling, “Had enough, actually. You mind calmin’ down? What’s the occasion anyways?”

“I’ll get right to it!” Barr happily shouts, still leading Jason on.

He’s soon brought to a chair, though Jason kindly rejects and opts instead to lean against the doorframe while Barr moves to his desk. The man bends down and retrieves a box kept in the lower shelf, all the while Jason’s eyes wander around the room.

Barr’s office is full of memorabilia of the Old Earth. Model tanks line the shelves by chronological order, all positioned at the same direction and without a bit of dust to ruin their clean, pristine appearance. Several posters of films and wars from the 40’s covered the walls - all of which contained behind glass frames to protect their quality. They mostly covered topics like “War Bonds” and “Liberty”, but Barr didn’t care for the aboutism - he was more drawn to the looks. Lastly, hanging right behind his desk was a replica shotgun, locked behind a glass case with but one plaque reading, “Winchester Model 1987. Trench Gun”.

Jason’s eyes shifted back to see Barr open the box, and from it he nearly brings out a small rectangular bottle with an amber colored liquid and a yellowish-green cap, along with a tin lined with cigars. The tin advertised “Babe Ruth Smokes; Great Vintage Taste from a Great Vintage Era”. with a picture of a grey colored man in striped pajamas.

Barr sat down nice and comfy, rubbed his hands and delightfully waved his fingers over the items laid upon his desk. He sniffed the air, savoring it even from afar. Jason taps the doorway, breaking Barr from his ecstasy.

“Uhh, Barry? What’s the… uh, situation here?” Jason asked, his smile still uncomfortably kept, but his tone presented as respectful as can be.

Finally, Barr answers, with exhaled excitement, “Promotion. I am getting a promotion. All thanks to you.”

“Me?” Jason responds, confused. His face contorts in surprise before returning to his previous expression as he continues, “Uh, I don’t see what you’re talking about here.”

“That bounty you brought in: Sid Leibers. We’ve been looking for him, and here you are. You bring him in to us, and now I’m finally going to get my dues for once in my life. So for that, yes! You boy, I thank! Now then, do you still want the smokes? You ain’t too old yet to celebrate, and I hope you got the taste for cigars. They say these got the old taste right - exactly how it’s described in the old archives.”

“Again, pass.” Says Jason. He brings his hand up to scratch his head, still unsure exactly on what is going on. He then asks the question that had been running through his mind every now and then. “You know Barry, now that you mention it - why have you guys been hounding for Sid so badly? I mean, 850 creds? I know he killed some people, but the worst murderers and arsonists I’ve seen get a bounty of at most 400 alive. Least those people got about a dozen more bodies under their names, and they’re way more sadistic and messed up than this guy ever was.”

Barr leans over his desk, takes a long look towards the hall outside his door and then to the window before looking back at Jason. He whispers, with a wide-eyed look, “You really want to know?”

Jason pauses, jokingly pulls a similar look, and replies in the same tone, “Sure.”

Barr sits back, chuckling lightly for a bit as he then explains - all while his fingers come and rest upon each other. He begins, “I shouldn’t tell you, honestly, but might as well since it’s going to be old news soon. You hear about some gang making a big hit further along the Western mountain ridge?”

Jason shakes his head.

“Well, they’re causing a mighty fine problem for a lot of people along the Black Road. Plenty of hits, ranging from kidnappings and ransoms, arson, murder - just about everything. For the past few months they’ve been pressing the villages for protection money, else they’ll come back and cause even more damage.”

“Sounds to me like your typical, small raider band.” Jason states.

“Not quite.” Counters Barry, elaborating more seriously now. His tone shifts to faithfully present the rank and affiliation he holds within the government on Aurora. “Now they’re not as sadistic as a raider or as large, but they’re smart - at least, whoever is leading them is. They have a good understanding of the environment, and are able to move about without anyone being able to track them. The gang’s hiding out within the ridge, but every time we get to a base they’ve already moved out days before. Not to mention this isn’t like those raiders; these guys can stay put in the mountains for weeks at a time, and we suspect that they possess enough of a survivalist skillset to make use of the wastes without issue. From what reports we’ve managed to scrounge up from those willing to talk, their numbers range from around 12 to 20 men. Not big, but we’re still running blind with what we got on them. Many of the villages affected are too scared to talk, and others ain’t much trusting of our offices to say anything anyways. The guard we have here at the nearest outpost can’t do anything unless we get further intel on the enemy - the command won’t devote manpower to what they see as ineffective searching.”

Jason nods and nods, taking in the information but ultimately not really caring. He keeps his opinion to himself that these guys don’t sound special - no different from any gang he’s dealt with in the past. Folks will join any group if the money’s available, and smarts don’t matter a thing if all they do is the same thing by running around like a bunch of crooks. Still, none of what Barr said had satisfied Jason’s question. “Ok, but what does this have to do with Sid? He’s just some punk, nothing else.”

“You’re right, he is just a pink,” Barry agrees, but his tone becomes progressively chipper. “But - he’s a punk with the right connections. See, what we managed to get from one village is that Sid had recently become a member of this gang. Now, he is dangerous, but he’s thankfully an idiot as well. The bastard was bragging about how he had just gotten in with the gang, completely away from the ears of his operation. With him looking to be our best chance, I commissioned the Bounty Board team to issue a large price on him - alive. Once he’s in our hands, we can interrogate him for all he’s worth.”

There it was, the answer - and Jason had to admit it: it felt good knowing that now. He did some good, albeit without having a clue about it beforehand Of course, the price was what really mattered. “Smart move.” He comments, smiling, “I got to say, you guys are awfully clever. But, how’re you sure he’ll talk? Man ain’t exactly lookin’ to be the agreeable sort.”

“We’ve got out ways, Jason. Man’s an idiot, like I said - and, from the profile we got on him, this ain’t exactly the longest he’s been with a gang. He’ll crack to something, sooner or later, and when he does we’ll have what it takes to nail those fuckers for good.”

“Then congrats to you, friend.” Jason remarks, giving a half-assed salute, though his smile tells Barr that he genuinely does mean well.

“No, thank you. Still! We should toast!” Barr exclaims, rising from his desk with the cheeriest of attitudes. “How about we get Sid out the car and give him a ‘congratulations’ drink? Let him know he’ll be in good hands.”

He starts power-walking out the door towards the front, with Jason following after at a slower pace. Jason comments, “Sure, might as well give him a chance to stretch his legs.”

The two exit out the front and right outside, and almost immediately Jason starts to miss the cold breeze.

With keys in hand, Jason moves around to the back of the car with Barr, and with a wide grin on his face he starts to unlock the trunk. Barr is barely able to contain his excitement, so much so he’s practically hopping in place and thinking past 10 different ways to greet the creep. With a CLICK the trunk swings open, and the two men stare inside - then when they see Sid, their expressions sink.

A long moment of silence falls between them, but especially Sid. The punk lays in a puddle of his own blood from within the trunk, his hands limply placed against his crotch. All color had drained from his body, with the last bit of it being the dark mellow blues of his eyes and lips. His eyes stared off at nothing, not registering one bit to the two men staring at their owner, whose expression is utterly blank.

Barr then breaks the silence, stating dryly, “Well thanks a-fucking-lot, Jason. You killed our man - way to go.”

“Now wait a minute.” Jason starts, holding a finger up as his eyes are kept locked onto the body in the trunk. He doesn’t say anything else, or for that matter can’t find a good reason to right now. With an open palm, and some slight hesitation, he reaches forward and gives Sid a couple smacks across the face. Twice, thrice, four and five times he does this. The slaps get a bit harder, but the body doesn’t move.

He turns sharply towards Barr, momentarily at a loss for words. Barr looks back, his once jolly expression giving way to an equally strong frown. Jason holds his hands up a bit and attempts to make a point, “Let me explain… he was alive when I brought him here.”

“Yeah, well he ain’t alive anymore.” Barr shoots back.

“The dude was banging the trunk door on the way here. He was causing all sorts of a fuss! For all I knew, when coming here, he was still pretty much alive.”

“And in that time.” Barr replies, almost about to blow, “Did you, at any point, dress this man’s wounds?”

“I… didn’t think it was serious.” Jason mumbles.

“The man’s balls are shot off!” Barr screams, his face turning a hot pink. “I think that calls for a fucking band-aid at the very least! Goddammit!” He yells, even louder - to the point his voice began turning course. He slams the trunk, causing Jason to jump back while Barr storms off back towards the office.

“Come on Barry!” Jason pleads, following after the man before Barr does a 180 and stops him dead in his tracks.

“Don’t you ‘Barry’ me, ya moron! This was supposed to be my break. MY promotion! Best chance I’d get to saying goodbye and good riddance to this hell blasted planet!”

“Now that ain’t fair, Barry…”

Barr resumes back into the office and is just about ready to shut the front door when, suddenly, Jason grips it from the outside. Jason peaks in, crying out, “Wait, wait, wait, wait!” Barr listens, and after a moment Jason calms down before asking politely, “What about my payment?”

Barr’s eyes grow wide, his mouth agape, and the punks on his face become a peppery red. He stammers, “You just-- I don’t-- Why’d you-- I should strangle the fuck out of you! Fucking payment?! Read the damn contract! ALIVE! You get the bounty if he comes alive! Alive - Payment! Dead - hit the dirt and LEAVE!”

Then with a quick pull he slams the door, right onto Jason’s fingers. Jason lets out a harsh scream, but doesn’t let go. It takes another three slams from the door before he finally releases, as he trips onto the dirt and holds tight to numb the furious pain going on in his fingers. Barr finally shuts the door and locks it, before walking off into his office in pure rage.

Jason shakes the pain away as best he could, right before looking back at the office door. He yells and begs, “Barry! You can’t leave me with this body, Barry! It’s gonna stink my damn car!”

After a minute of getting not a single answer from Barry, Jason curses and nurses his injured fingers. He lightly blows on his bruised digits, all the while slowly making his way to the back of his car. Stopping, he looked with disgust at the dead body attracting flies in his car. Delvitely he slams the trunk shit, wincing from the pain in his hands, before finally getting into the front seat to drive on out of there.

He speeds on out of the gated area, setting course for the Black Road.

First on his agenda: finding a place off the side to dump the body.

Second: looking somewhere to get some ice - for both his hands, and his drink.

#original work #my writing #CROSS #KRONOS #eyeofsemicolon #the5thsemicolon #semicolonthe5th #short story #science fiction #original story #Jason Cross #writing #western

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swiftthecardinal · 8 months ago

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#jet set radio #jsr #sega #meme #beat jsrr #tab jsrr #beat jsrm #tab jsrm #jet set radio redux #jet set radio millennium

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psatalk · 3 years ago

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Packaging industry to reunite face-to-face after two years

PackPlus South, South India’s business-to-business event focused on total packaging, converting, and supply chain is all set to return on the show floor from 7-9 October at HITEX, Hyderabad.

This October, the packaging industry will be reconnecting face-to-face at the exhibition center for networking, socializing, rebuilding, and rebooting packaging business growth using an efficient and cost-effective platform.

PackPlus South will open its doors for over 150 suppliers from the packaging, printing, and converting sector to help connect the visiting packaging professionals face-to-face after a hiatus of two years. The event will boast 250+ live demos and running machinery along with 70+ product launches of the newest technology and packaging solutions. It will feature the latest innovations and developments from the packaging and allied industries, offering a regional business and networking platform to the participating exhibitors and attendees

Anuj Mathur, chief operating officer of RX India, said, “It makes us very happy to bring together the packaging industry for an in-person event after a long period. Trade fairs are one of the most cost-effective mediums to discover a large pool of new customers, reconnect with industry stakeholders and collaborate for the future development of the industry. We welcome you all at one of the most awaited packaging events in the country.”

Print Fair and SupplyPlus to be held simultaneously

Co-located shows like Print Fair will showcase generation next technologies from solution providers across various categories like pre-press, on-press, and post-press segments. The show will host exhibitors showcasing solutions in flexo and gravure printing, digital presses, offset presses, wide format printers.

SupplyPlus will showcase the latest technologies in AIDC like barcodes, biometrics, radio frequency identification (RFID), smart cards, electronic articles surveillance (EAS), real-time locating systems (RTLS), mobile computing, wireless and networking solutions. From Logistics: supply chain system designers and integrators, cold chain, sorting, grading, cleaning, warehousing systems, material handling, weighing, testing equipment, software, backend support, and other services.

New packaging technologies and latest printing solutions will take center-stage with leading players including Kelley India, Aerolam Decoratives, All Pack International, Aman Impex, Ankit Machinery, Automation Solutions, Bagempam Industries, Bericap India, Bikaner Polymers, Control Print, Crown Industries, Ecobliss India, Enercon Asia Pacific Systems, Everyday Techno Solutions, FS Compressors India, Hyper Pack, Jet Inks, Linkjet Packaging Solutions, Millennium Cans And Containers, Mutual Industries, Nilkamal, Pragati Pack India, Royal Appliances, SSA Amrutha Foldertech, Swastik Industries, Swastik Paper, Swastik Print Media, Thoran Paper Product, Tirumalabalaji Paper, Toshi Automation Solutions, Unique Fluid Controls among others.

Attendees can pre-register to attend at www.PackPlusSouth.in to receive their entry tickets. Visit PackPlus South from 7-9 October 2021 at HITEX, Hyderabad.

For further information, please contact Akshita Kapoor on this email address [email protected]

#Packaging industry

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gushingaboutgames · 7 years ago

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Sega Dreamcast

I hated middle school. There’s a whole swath of memories I’d rather do without as far as the years 1999 through 2002 are concerned. There is, however, one memory I hold near and dear to my heart during this time frame. After reading about it in magazines and being really excited for it, my mother took me to Toys’R’Us one evening to get me a Sega Dreamcast. We brought that puppy home with a copy of Sonic Adventure, hooked it up, fired it up, and took it all in. As the opening cinematic played on my TV, Mum said “It’s like playing a movie!”

Boy, if we only knew what games would go on to look like now.

The Dreamcast was, and to this day remains, my all time favorite console. It’s the swan song of a company that was perhaps a bit too ambitious for its own good, a marvel of gaming technology many years ahead of its time, and home to some of the best and most unique games to ever come out.

At the time of its release, the Dreamcast was the most graphically powerful console on the market. Sony’s Playstation boasted 32-bit graphics, and the Nintendo 64 had double that, at -wait for it- 64 bits. Dreamcast had double of that: 128 bits of beautiful graphics, thanks to the GD-ROM, a proprietary disc format born from squeezing every bit of memory out of a regular old CD as was physically possible, before DVDs and Blu-Ray became as ubiquitous as they are today.

Even the method of memory storage was unlike its competitors; the standard memory card for the Dreamcast was the Visual Memory Unit (VMU), a cross between a memory card and a Gameboy that let you manage data and download minigames to extend the functionality of many games. The only other thing like it that I can think of being made is Sony’s Pocketstation, and that never saw the light of day outside of Japan. You would not believe the number of button-cell batteries I burned through caring for Chao on the go.

Of course, all of the fancy tech and cool gadgets wouldn’t amount to much if the games on offer weren’t fun at all. Tiger’s Game.Com bragged of being a versatily console and handheld device, but the games for it all stank like a fragrant dog poop laying on the sidewalk on a hot Floridian summer day. Thankfully, fun games were something the Dreamcast had no shortage of, even in the brief few years that it was on the market, a slew of which I’d like to bring attention to.

Sonic Adventure 1 & 2

Maybe they haven’t aged as well as I’d like to think, but DAYUM if these weren’t some fun games back in the day. Sonic has always struggled with 3D, but the first attempts at true 3D Sonic games remain quite novel. The first Sonic Adventure had different play styles for each character, some of which were great (Sonic and Gamma, for me at least), others...not so much (the less said about Big, the better), in addition to, for its time, an intricate plot with each character’s story intertwining and playing out differently depending on which character you’re playing as.

Sonic Adventure 2, meanwhile, streamlined the gameplay and improved upon some of the first game’s flaws, cutting out the non-platforming related stages (aside from the treasure hunting stages, which are a touch better than in the first game). It’s story was also very compelling, being one of the darkest storylines in the entire series; government conspiracies, weapons of mass destruction, fucking murder! Maybe that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I think we can all agree that SA2 handled “dark and gritty” a lot better than Shadow the Hedgehog’s stand-alone game.

Both games also featured a mini-game that could prove to be just as addicting, if not more so, than the games proper: Chao Gardens. Chao were little, adorable water monsters that players could raise like virtual pets, their popularity likely owed in part to the ubiquity of other virtual pets like Tamagotchi near the end of the millennium, as well as how easy-going and casual raising a Chao was compared to a Digi-Pet that would not wait for you to clean its shit up: you can enter and leave Chao Gardens freely, and you wouldn’t have to worry of your Chao dying of neglect in your absence. There’s also very deep mechanics at work for raising Chao, with their growth and evolution depending heavily on how well you raise them, what animals you give them, and what fruits you feed them, all so you can have them participate in races. The aforementioned VMU also expanded Chao functionality considerably, letting you raise them anywhere you wanted.

Shenmue

My relationship with Shenmue, these days, is very much that of a love-hate relationship. On the one hand, Shenmue popularized two aspects of gaming today that I loathe; Quick-Time Events, and over-blown game budgets (this game would’ve had to be bought by every DC owner TWICE before it could break even). On the other hand, there’s no denying that this game was a labor of love by Yu Suzuki. The attention to detail in Ryo Hazuki’s hometown of Yokosuka is staggering. Everything you can imagine can be interacted with, down to the last dresser drawer in Ryo’s house. Every resident of Yokosuka was unique from the others and had their own behaviors that they would go through, unlike every other NPC in the town, or other games for that matter. The story may be a tad formulaic, and most of the voice work left something to be desired, but the world of Shenmue was one that was very fun to explore.

Plus, this game introduced me to Space Harrier. If that’s not a good thing, you tell me what is.

Jet Set Radio

I had to convince my mother this game wouldn’t turn me into a graffiti-painting delinquent. It was a hard sell, but it paid off, and boy am I glad it did.

Jet Set Radio is very much unlike other games, then and today even. This was the game that helped to popularize cel-shaded graphics; the thick black outlines around the character models made this game look like an anime come to life, and eventually paved the way for the wicked-awesome graphics we see today from Arc System Works with Guilty Gear XRD and Dragonball FighterZ. The idea of playing a roller-blading hooligan throwing tags around the city and evading the police was also unique, and kept players on their toes as techno music accompanies their shenanigans. The game was a bit on the short side, but was challenging and fun enough that multiple playthroughs were warranted.

Making my own graffiti tags was also quite the timesink.

Phantasy Star Online

I may be a late bloomer to the Phantasy Star series, but it has become one very dear to me for helping me meet some of my closest friends (Hi, Tara!).

Phantasy Star was a series of JRPGs by Sega meant to compete with other big franchises like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. The original PSO, on the other hand, is an online multiplayer dungeon crawler that would change the course of the series from that point forward. As interstellar colonists investigating mysterious phenomena on an alien planet, players would delve into unique locals with characters they would create themselves to slay monsters, collect valuable items, and unravel the mysteries of the planet Ragol.

The original PSO is also very notable for its attempt to break the language barrier with a unique conversation system. While good ol’ fashioned keyboards remained in vogue, players also had the option of constructing sentences to transmit to other players in the area or party in those players’ native languages. Using this system, you could send a message saying “Help! This dragon is too powerful!”, and your friend in Japan would read it as “助けて！この龍は強すぎる！” It may not have seen much use, since players are more likely to congregate and play with those that can speak a common language fluently, but it was very kind of Sega to provide the option.

One thing that gets me straight in the feels is something from the original beta trailer for this game: “The world of Phantasy Star Online lasts for an eternity!” It is not uncommon for trailers and developers to hype games up with hyperbole (just ask Peter Molyneaux), but this is a statement that has held true for PSO! Even after the last official server for the last iteration of PSO shut down in 2008, private servers continue to run the game to this day, ensuring that the world of PSO truly remains eternal. Even with a proper sequel Phantasy Star Online 2 proving to be a pop culture staple in Japan, the original PSO remains one of the most beloved and enduring MMOs in history.

Skies of Arcadia

I’ve got friends who would skin my hide and leave me to hang like the Predator if I didn’t mention this.

Just about every console since the NES has a JRPG, and the Dreamcast is no exception. While Phantasy Star shifted towards MMO territory, those hoping for a sweeping single-player adventure still had Skies of Arcadia. As the daring sky pirate Vyse and his motley crew of adventurers, players fought to stop an evil empire from awakening an ancient evil while flying across a world of floating continents in a kickass airship. This game is among the most challenging JRPGs in the genre; a clever mind and strategic acumen are needed to survive battles with other pirates, monsters, and rival airships. The world of the game is also incredibly beautiful; I personally think it has much in common with Castle in the Sky, my favorite Hayao Miyazaki film. The soundtrack compliments the game incredibly, and is a joy to listen to by itself.

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There are plenty of other games that made the Dreamcast incredible, but this article is long enough as it is, so I’ll have to give those games their proper due later. Suffice to say, though, the Dreamcast is a historical console that remains one of the most beloved in the history of the medium, not only by myself, but by hundreds of thousands of gamers the world over. It may have only been on the market for a few years, but it is said that the brightest stars are the ones that burn out the quickest.

And make no mistake, the Dreamcast is one of the brightest stars there ever was.

#dreamcast #sega #sonic #phantasy star online #skies of arcadia #shenmue #jet set radio #9/9/99

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pixelgrotto · 7 years ago

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Sega and franchise decay

Sonic Forces, the newest 3D game to star a certain blue hedgehog, is out now and receiving middling reviews. Rather than talk about it, I’d rather discuss the 2D Sonic Mania, which came out a few months ago. I never got the chance to blog about it until now, but you can read my Steam review for what it’s worth. I would’ve preferred that the game be composed of all new levels instead of a few new ones and remixed oldies, and in some ways I do believe that Sonic Generations did the “celebration of past and future” shtick a tad better, but overall, I had a good time with Mania. The most impressive thing about it, in my eyes, is how well it captures that 90s-2000s Sega “magic.” It’s hard to describe this in words, but during those years the company’s output, especially their in-house, exclusive stuff, just radiated coolness and creativity that was a little different from what Nintendo was doing. Whether it was the neon visual smorgasbord that encompassed all of the zones in Sonic’s games or the Moebius-inspired fantasy trappings of the Panzer Dragoon series, Sega’s games often seemed fresher and sexier, with dashes of unexpected punk and sophistication in them that the Big N could never really capture. I mean, the run ‘n jump levels and cheery tunes of the Mushroom Kingdom in the Mario games were wonderful, but hell, Sonic 3 featured snowboarding action and a soundtrack that Michael Jackson worked on.

Unfortunately, while the Nintendo of 2017 is kicking butt with the Switch and has upcoming releases scheduled for most of their classic franchises, the Sega of 2017 is in a much different position, and the changes began after the sad failure of the Dreamcast in 2001, when Sega killed off its hardware unit. In the years since, the company’s slowly morphed from a creative house that bankrolled a franchise of games starring an alien-fighting aquatic mammal (Ecco the Dolphin) into a conservative organization that does NOT want to repeat the monetary losses that were suffered during the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast eras, and is therefore highly selective with what it publishes and develops. And somewhere along the way, most of the older franchises that Sega was known for went by the wayside, because their most recent entries either underperformed or they were considered too risky for today’s gaming environment. If you look at the company’s website, you can see a list of what modern Sega considers to be their top tier franchises, and most of them are Western ones that were acquired fairly recently, like Company of Heroes. As far as notable in-house Japanese stuff is concerned, you’ve really only got the Yakuza and Hatsune Miku games (guaranteed moneymakers in Japan, which is why they keep getting made), and Sonic (a guaranteed moneymaker in the rest of the world). What happened to all those franchises of the past, then? Sega let them decay. Shinobi got its last release - a pretty good 3DS game - in 2011, and there’s been nary a word since. Anything is possible with ninjas, since Capcom brought Strider back from a 15 year retirement in 2013, but for now, Joe Musashi is AWOL. Ecco the Dolphin died in the Dreamcast era, Shining Force seems to have sputtered out after several PS2 and PSP releases that barely resembled the series’ strategy roots, and Panzer Dragoon vanished after Sega’s short-lived flirtation with the original Xbox in the early 2000s. The Oasis series (Beyond Oasis and Legend of Thor) never survived past the Sega Saturn, despite featuring excellent top-down action RPG gameplay that had the potential to go up against Zelda, if Sega had only invested the resources. While we’re on the topic of RPGs, Phantasy Star *sort of* still lives on as an MMO, but the single player entries in the series have long been dead, and even after five years, Sega has still refused to localize Phantasy Star Online 2 outside of Japan. And then we have two really depressing ones - Streets of Rage has been MIA even though Sega went out of its way to issue a takedown notice for a popular fan remake that was released in 2011, and Virtua Fighter, despite being pretty much the earliest 3D fighting franchise, hasn’t seen a real entry since 2006, and only exists as a cheap mobile game now. (I realize there are plenty of other franchises I’m leaving out here like Jet Set Radio, but I decided to limit my focus to games I’d played.)

In the aftermath of Sonic Mania’s release, there were a number of threads on NeoGAF (before GAF, well, imploded), speculating on what franchises should receive a “Mania” type resurrection. And if you’ve read up to this point, you can guess what my answer will be - damn near all of Sega’s old series could use this treatment. New versions of Shining Force and Panzer Dragoon that respect their legacy by emulating the style of their forefathers while introducing just enough new stuff to appeal to younger fans would absolutely make me lose my mind. But I feel that we’re unlikely to ever get a “Shining Mania” or “Panzer Dragoon Mania,” because the circumstances that brought us Sonic Mania are unique. Sonic has always had a robust fangame and ROM hacking community, and it was Christian Whitehead, one of those fan engineers, whose mobile port of Sonic CD just happened to be good enough to get Sega to hire him to port other Sonic games to phones. One thing led to another, and eventually Christian got tasked to take the lead in making Sonic Mania. Sega’s other old franchises don’t inspire fans and homebrew projects in quite the same way, and even though Streets of Rage came close with that 2011 remake, Sega swooped in pretty fast to nuke that one from the net, and I don’t think they gave any of the former devs jobs. This is because Sega just doesn’t care about Streets of Rage, Ecco the Dolphin, or even Virtua Fighter as much as Sonic. The blue hedgehog is a long-term mascot who’s managed to survive oodles of so-so 3D games (like the new Sonic Forces) to still be popular 25+ years after his birth. He’s not seen as a risk to the conservative Sega of 2017. A new Oasis game, on the other hand, probably is, and why should Sega stretch their lessened in-house production studios on what might be criticized as a Zelda clone when they can instead make another proven thing - a new Sonic, or perhaps a Yakuza or Hatsune Mika spinoff? No, I think the only way some of these franchises could be resurrected is if the original devs manage to grab hold of the license and take to Kickstarter, as is the case with Shenmue 3, a rare success story in this day in age. (Emphasis on the word RARE…and I’d actually rather not call Shenmue 3 a total “success” until the game is out, to be honest.) Franchise decay isn’t unique to Sega. It’s an affliction present in many other production studios, from Square Enix (I miss you, Parasite Eve) to Capcom (the mobile Breath of Fire 6 does not count) to Konami (Contra, Suikoden, damn near everything). Even Nintendo, who have generally done a fine job at avoiding this by bringing Kid Icarus and 2D Metroid back from the dead, have seemingly gone out of their way to not make a new F-Zero game for an awfully long time. But Sega is definitely the king when it comes to the sheer number of oldies that could stand to be updated for a new generation, but won’t be. And Sega are also the only ones to tempt us with Sonic Mania, a game chock-full of easter eggs to old titles that also offers a template which would be PERFECT for something like Shinobi or Streets of Rage…but one that likely won’t be used. Because the magical Sega of yesteryear, the one that got Michael Jackson to fiddle with Sonic 3 and used to be oh so fresh and oh so cool, is not the Sega of today. RIP, Shinobi, Ecco, Shining Force, Panzer Dragoon, Oasis, single player Phantasy Star, Streets of Rage and Virtua Fighter. Somewhere, in the same alternate universe that Sonic Mania manifested from, the Dreamcast did super well and all of you are on your tenth respective entries right now.

It’s a blast processing fever dream, but isn’t it a nice one? (Header Sonic Mania screenshot taken by me. All the other pics I jacked from Mobygames.)

#pixel grotto #musings #video games #sega #sonic mania #sonic the hedgehog #shinobi #ecco the dolphin #shining force #panzer dragoon #beyond oasis #phantasy star #streets of rage #virtua fighter

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parkerbombshell · 2 years ago

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#classicspoprockclassicrockthemenacesatticbombshellradio

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alexanderwrites · 7 years ago

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Hack Job: Why Were Hacker Movies Ever A Thing?

Lately i’ve been thinking about that weird and almost completely failed subgenre of movie that attempted to light up the LCD screens of our hearts, but instead faded like a broken computer screen: the hacker film. Now, I could ask what good the sub-genre has ever done for us, but the answer to that is clear and just a few inches above this block of text. The genre birthed this iconic Matthew Lillard role from the movie Hackers, in which he plays a (wait for it!) hacker named...erm...Cereal Killer. Because....he likes Cereal? Sure, lets go with that! He’s a character described by June Diane Raphael on an episode of the podcast How Did This Get Made? as “Disgusting”, and she is not completely wrong. He is disgusting, bizarre and the strangest character Lillard has played, and i’m including Shaggy in the live action Scooby Doo films. He’s a character that must be experienced, and once experienced, never forgotten. I mean - you’ve seen what he fucking looks like.

But my point remains: outside of Cereal Killer (I am bolding his name because he is an Important Man), the genre has offered up very little to the world. I admittedly know nothing at all about hacking, and I don’t care at all about Hacking, like, i’d presume, 90% of people currently residing here on earth. But I cannot imagine that people who love Hacking (or Hacker Fuckers, if you will) queuing up to see Hackers, a film that thinks this is what the internet looks like:

Now, i’m no city-slickin’ mouse-clickin’ hacker, but I don’t think that’s what the internet looks like. I could be wrong, and character actor Fisher Stevens (I was about to write “beloved” character actor, but then I remembered Short Circuit) could be skating through a flashing pillar of internet right now. It’s a cool thought! Hackers came along in 1995, when future optimism was higher than it had been in years, as everyone believed the tech-bubble would never burst (spoiler alert: it did!) and that the new millennium would bring a world of positive changes and possibilities. The poor, innocent souls of 1995 could never have possibly imagined the true horrors waiting for them on the other side of the millennium...

But before Fred Durst became a thing in a hat that you had to look at, technology was booming, affordable and exciting. You got transparent Macs that allowed you to see through into the mechanical nonsense inside it. The new fangled e-mail gave us (I don’t know why i’m saying “us”. I was 3 years old in 1995. Babies don’t get emails) all the opportunity to open your email and then close it again as many times as you liked! So this is what producers saw when they started making movies like Hackers. They put their strongest marketing minds together and came up with “People got computers now. Make comPUTER FILM!”. Those wild bastards actually went and did it! And weirdly, Hackers was kinda ahead of its time. It might’ve been wildly inaccurate in almost every possible way, but it paved the way for a wave of (well, like 3) films. The Matrix wouldn’t be released for another 4 years, and Swordfish a further 2. If it did incite a trend, it was the only trend started by Director Iain Softley, his later film K-Pax tragically failing to kick start a new genre of films in which Kevin Spacey eats bananas with their skins still on.

Good stuff! Hackers does feel like a film that is unsure of whether it’s trying to replicate fads or start them off. I mean, characters rollerblade everywhere for no apparent reason in the film. That might be something Hackers do? I’ve never seen Mr Robot, so I cannot categorically say that Rami Malek doesn’t rollerblade his way around town like a Starlight Express extra who really hates computers. But I doubt it. So with the rollerblading, and the way....ugh...Cereal Killer dresses, it seems like the film is offering you up its own funky ideas that you could follow on from if you want to get murdered on the streets. Did its aesthetic style have influence? Was the game Jet Set Radio from 2000 and its rollerblading theme influenced at all by Hackers? Did Eminem see Johnny Lee Miller’s bleached blonde hair in the film (quick deeply important side note: his character is named Dade. DADE.) and think “huh. that would really compliment my insufferable personality!”? We’ll never know. The film is a weird exercise in style and trends, and the soundtrack, crammed with The Prodidgy and Underworld, is proof that at least the soundtrack department had its finger on the pulse. And, it could be argued that the film’s costume department at least came up with some creative cyber-punk clothing, and were bold enough to make Penn Jillette look like this:

The thing is, I liked the weirdness of it all, I like this misfires in capturing modern life, and inaccuracy doesn’t bother me really if a film is fun enough. I’m not a stickler for realism. I didn’t sit down to Face/Off and complain that it’s totally unbelievable that John Travolta is a human person. That’s not the issue. The issue, really is that with all the giant screen Playstations, pounding trance tracks and references to Coca Cola (weird, I thought Mountain Dew would be the Hacker’s choice), the film is in troubled water because of the fact that Hacking is unbelievably, deeply fucking boring. It is not interesting in seeing someone go clickety clack on a keyboard and make occasional faces to indicate that “oh no! the mainframe is busting my chops!” or “Huzzah! I clicked the mouse really fast just now!”.

Thankfully, the film has some fairly decent editing which intersperses the clickety-clacking with some long exposure, sped up shots of New York City just in case you forgot it was the 90′s. The fact that they need to cut away to exciting, zooming shots that have nothing to do with anything highlights the fact that the Director and Editor knew exactly what i’m talking about: HACKING IS FUCKING BORING (if you’re a hacker reading this, please don’t hack me). And they’ve built an entire film around it! A whole nonsensical plot which involves (as far as i can remember) big ships and evil corporations that want to sink the big ships is built on Hacking. Thank god this film is so wildly ridiculous, which keeps it from being entirely boring. It’s smart in that it knows to not make the film actually about hacking, but then you kind of ask yourself the question: why is this film about Hacking at all? Why is it called Hackers? Maybe a better name would’ve been ‘Bladin’ Teenz’, as an ode to their endless rollerblading. It’s a fun film, but a dumb film and proof that films entirely about hacking cannot really work.

The Matrix was a wise film. Exploiting that hip, late-90s techno excitement that everyone was buzzing over, it featured a hacker at its centre who really doesn’t do much hacking at all. In fact, Morpheus might as well have said “You Hack? Dude fucking grow up. Come on, i’ll make you a treat”. Sure, you’ve got the iconic green gibberish that turns up on the computers and would inspire a million shitty screensavers, but again the hacking is intercut with other action going on in the film. You have characters typing away and yelling shit like “I’m nearly in!” or “i’m not nearly in!” or “I am unsure of whether I am, in fact, in, nearly in, or not nearly in!”. But that is manageable and minimal, and in the end there’s so much more to remember about The Matrix that I don’t think anyone, when asked what it’s about, would say “Oh it’s about Keanu Reeves hacking on his dell”. It understood this caveat, and created its own style which would influence every single music video ever produced over the next 5 years.

These are screenshots from the video for Don’t Wanna Let You Go by 5ive, a very bad UK Boy-band that had 4 singers and 1 rapper, all of whom it’s safe to assume have passed away.

The Matrix had the style, and the smarts to sidestep bland hacking scenes. You know what film doesn’t understand that hacking is boring? Fucking Swordfish.

Fucking Swordfish. A film so aesthetically ugly and repulsive in every way that it does the unthinkable and makes you hate Hugh Jackman. But it commits the biggest sin of all by giving John Travolta a teeny tiny beard - a decision which we still feel the fallout from today, whenever a new red carpet photo arrises of John’s new chin abomination.

Looking like a cup of concentrated Michael Bay piss, the film leans heavily into stylishness - or lack thereof. Hugh Jackman is basically...sigh...DADE in the movie, and Travolta is regularly outfitted with funny sunglasses. It borrows a lot from Hackers, but while that had a naive, 1995 goofy charm, Swordfish is an aggressively stupid and oblivious movie, that gives us a LOT of Hacking. Like...so much Hacking. The Most Hacking. Oh, The Fucking Hacking. Its a reminder of just how boring Hackers or The Matrix could’ve been if they’d fallen into the wrong hands, and a big, horribly colour-corrected reminder that films about hacking really aren’t the best. Instead of cutaways of cityscapes, Swordfish tries to build the tension during one hacking scene in the grossest way possible: by having Hugh Jackman’s character receive forced fellatio while he works, and while John Travolta smiles. It doesn’t make a boring scene exciting, it makes a boring scene fucking disgusting (the movie’s grossness doesn’t stop there. Halle Berry was heavily pushed into taking her top off in the movie, and promised extra money if she did it.). The Hackers method of randomised cutaways feels a million miles away during these scenes, and you will be willing to pay any earthly sum to make the scene unfolding in front of you stop. Maybe that’s how hackers should make their money from here on in: stop hacking, and just start blackmailing people by forcing them to watch Swordfish. Fucking Swordfish.

The movie was also a bit of a death knell for a subgenre that never really took off. People realised “Oh, this is dull and crap to watch!” when it came to hacking, and technology moved on rapidly that there was a lot more to do with it than watch some guy slapping the keys of his iMac. I find it a really interesting subgenre to look back at, because i’m a huge fan of outdated technologies, fashion styles, turn of the millennium culture, and really quite poor films (besides The Matrix which holds up nicely). Hollywood has tried to make a manner of subjects interesting. Stock markets. Fishing. White people who buy zoos. Some work, some don’t, and it’s all about the way the subject is handled. Because of their reliance on technology, these hacking films feel so dated that maybe Hollywood doesn’t want to risk dipping its toes back into the cyberwaters again. I kind of hope they don’t, because I would literally rather never see a film again than have to even know that a film about Anonymous is being made. I don’t want an ‘edgy’ modern movie that’s made for Banksy to watch while he plunges his hands down his pants and goes to town. I want silly old Cereal Killer and towers of nonsense computer language dammit! I want rollerblading, coke-drinking cyberpunks! Oh well. Whatever happens to the genre, at the very least, we’ll always have Dade and The Gang....

#hackers #johnny lee miller #matthew lillard #the matrix #swordfish #technology #film trends #film

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