Snow Crash, Giant Ants, and Dredd

On 09/16/2013 at 02:54 PM by KnightDriver

A few things I forgot to mention about my week.

I've been reading the 1992 cyber-punk novel Snow Crash and it's a really cool. Just to mention one thing, because I could write a long piece on all the interesting things in this book, Hero, the main character, says once that video games are being produced by huge companies in assembly line fashion like in a factory. That's not far off what it's like today for the AAA developers who employ hundreds of people just to make one game.

I'm also reading E.O. Wilson's Superorganism which is about the workings of the most social insects. There's an African variety of ant that makes huge mounds and super intricate tunnel systems that serve to control temperature, humidity and even CO2 levels within the mound. I wanted to see a map of one of these things and it go me thinking what a cool environmental design it would be for a video game. Wilson also mentions what it would be like if these ants were as big as humans. The mound would be all of Austin, Texas and the ants would roam right to the Texas boarders in thirty minutes time. Ants move incredibly fast for their size and if they were human size they would just fly past you. I thought of how cool that would look if you were there watching it. It would make a good scene in a movie or game. Then I thought of Earth Defense Force 2017, but there the bugs are the size of buildings and slow. GIve them proportional strength and speed and you would be swept up before you could even pull the trigger. A no win situation. I think all that is fascinating.

I watched Dredd, the 2012 movie. It was really really good. Much more exciting and visually interesting than the Stalone Judge Dredd movie, which is pretty cornball. I watched a short history of the character on the blue-ray extras and remembered there was Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death for last gen systems in my collection. It was a budget title FPS, but I always wanted to play it anyway.

transmet2033

09/16/2013 at 03:24 PM

Dredd is amazing, and I hate how the association with the Sly Stallone film had a negative affect on its performance. It is one film that deserves a sequel, but may not get it.

KnightDriver

09/17/2013 at 01:00 AM

According to wiki it made $36 million and cost $45 million, so that isn't good,

09/17/2013 at 10:09 AM

Luckily, the DVD and Blu-ray sales for Dredd might be enough to get us a sequel some day. I know that Karl Urban and the writer(s) want a sequel.

09/17/2013 at 03:02 PM

Yea, that could save it. I hope word-of-mouth can make it happen.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

09/16/2013 at 04:46 PM

I read Snow Crash a long time ago. used to be huge in cyberpunk. Honestly, his other book, The Diamond Age, is his best.

09/17/2013 at 01:01 AM

I may check out his other books.

rejo1479

09/16/2013 at 11:11 PM

I'm still a big fan of Neil Stephenson and while I agree with Matt that Diamond Age is a very strong book, his newer stuff is just as interesting and evocative of his observations of culture and science. I always look forward to anything he puts out.

I have Dredd in my Netflix queue, but have been afraid to see it for fear of it being terrible. I should probably just man up and watch it.

09/17/2013 at 01:04 AM

He has a lot of ideas crammed in to Snow Crash.

Dredd is good. A description of it's style by the cinematographer mentioned a cross between Blade Runner and A Clockwork Orange. That's some good source matterial there.

GeminiMan78

09/17/2013 at 08:25 AM

I have been curious about the Dredd movie. Its in my netflix que, may watch in tonight. Man sized ants would be a great enmie for a video game. On scale most insects can do some rediculous stuff. I heard that if a flea were the size of a man it could leap to the top of the Impire State building in a single bound.

Super Step Contributing Writer

09/17/2013 at 01:43 PM

Dredd is a good one. Has the same basic premise but much different execution from a foreign martial arts film called The Raid: Redemption.

Both are good, though I enjoyed Redemption more. Dredd is more about his relationship with a psychic rookie and what constitutes a good use of legal force; the action is intermittent, but ultraviolent. Redemption is more about family politics. The action there is really kinetic and non-stop, also ultraviolent.

I'd recommend both.

09/17/2013 at 03:00 PM

I'm gonna see The Raid for sure. I loved the slow mo segments in Dredd when anyone was on the drug. Together with some excellent music, those segments had such style.

09/17/2013 at 03:01 PM

I think a book needs to be written about what all the different insects could do if the size of a human. That would be sooo cool.

daftman

09/18/2013 at 06:14 PM

I've never heard of Snow Crash but I do love me some cyberpunk, so I'll be on the lookout for it. And I never considered watching that Dredd movie because I assumed it'd be pretty bad. Guess I judged it too soon.

09/19/2013 at 02:43 AM

I made the same judgment about Dredd too and didn't see it in the theaters. Too bad, because it was good.

If you love cyberpunk, Snow Crash is a must read.

09/19/2013 at 06:08 AM

Added it to my Amazon wishlist!

09/19/2013 at 04:43 PM

I think game company BioWare got their name from Snow Crash. It was mentioned in the book in a way that suggested Stephenson was coining a new word, but I can't seem to confirm this anywhere on the net so far.

09/19/2013 at 08:25 PM

I always assumed BioWare got its name because its founders were doctors and originally they were going to make medical programs. Bio—living things; Ware—whatever it was they were going to make lol. I know my premise is true but the rest is just conjecture from there.

09/20/2013 at 02:12 AM

Yea, it's very possible they, being doctors, came up with the term independently. It just jumped out at me in Snow Crash and then when I looked up a definition, there was none other than that it's the name of the game company. I figured, they being game geeks and probably into cyberpunk stuff, might have read Snow Crash in '92 and then founded the company in '95 with that word in mind. Seems coincidental, but there's no mention, that I can see, of how they got the name. There might be an interview out there somewhere that answers this question though. I'll keep my ears open for one.

NSonic79

09/22/2013 at 02:25 AM

Need to try some of those cyber punk books. The last I ever tried was Shadowrun and that was during the "decker" years.

not sure I'd get into an insect book. I'd be more into Earth Defense Force instead.

I watched dredd to but got kinda bored with the "epic slow-mo" scenes. Makes me feel they spent most of the movie's budget on those scenes. Plus I hated the "dirty judges" plot twist. Still it was a good movie but it made me want to watch the previous Dredd movie before it.

09/22/2013 at 04:18 AM

I've only read Neuromancer and now Snow Crash in that genre. They seem a little off base in their visions of a computer dominated future, but they also seem very appropriate to someone interested in video games like myself, since there's so much high tech and computer stuff mentioned. Every time a cyberpunk hero enters a virtual world in these books, I think of a video game, although Second Life is closer to what they had in mind I think.

My one issue in Dredd was, how did the gang members not know about the Judge's weapon's defense mechanism. That seemed like something they should have known about.

PixlBit