Okay, I threw together a quick Starter Pack of Gaming History & Preservation for the new arrivals. Pls signal boost (and let me know who I inevitably forgot). go.bsky.app/KCnJY1w
Would be happy to be on the list. I've taught & written about video game history, among other things.
For sure. I do think a more direct and bleak adaptation could work commercially as well (look at The Last of Us, for example) but that would not play to their strengths.
One the one hand, yes, wild clout times. So many cookie PDFs. On the other hand, for about five minutes Bluesky did resurrect the strange social dynamic that made the early internet a place you could fall in love with.
Like, the Russo's are gonna russo. It's what they do. To them, Stålenhag is IP fodder for the fun machine. Just a splash of paint & recognizability for the same movie they always do. To be fair, what they do is often entertaining. Side note: This trailer for a new Dune game is directed by Stålenhag
YouTube video by Funcom
Yeah, it's based on one of his books, but the tone seems completely changed. From somber & poetic machine horror to fun family adventure.
So apart from the visual references and very general plot, this looks wildly different from the book that I rest my keyboard on. But that's probably fine. The book's still gonna be within arm's reach when the movie releases. I think, main thing, if Stålenhag is getting proper paid, I'm good.
Spot on, apart from the «commercial success» bit (at least for the initial run). It’s great to see one of my favorite writers feel so uplifted by one of my favorite movies right before he died.
Also, having worked a bit with Vice back in the mid 00s, this bit cracks me up because it's as far from their old mission statement as you could get: «Something chaotic without being crass. Critical without being cruel. Ambitious without being arrogant.»
Sure, it's like when one of those meme accounts posting other people's stuff uncredited get sold to a crypto scheme. But this will just be a little blip. There is nothing else there to hold anyone's attention because it's all so infuriatingly basic. And we'll still have Remap + Aftermath.