"#The Witcher" series has become such a huge franchise that it will be pretty hard to follow it up and introduce another IP. That's exactly what #CD Projekt RED is doing, with its upcoming sci-fi RPG called "#Cyberpunk 2077." It is quite difficult to get information about the studio's next game, as they are pretty mum about it themselves, but here is everything we know about the highly anticipated game so far.

CD Projekt Red had once said that "Cyberpunk 2077" is a huge project for the studio and the title will certainly benefit from their experience with "The Witcher 3." According to visual effects artist Jose Teixeira, during his interview with MCV in 2015, the game is far bigger than anything else that the gaming studio has done before.

Studio Head Adam Badowski also said during CD Projekt's 2015 financial results that the game will be "even better, even bigger, even more revolutionary." With the way the studio had described the development of the game, gamers should pretty much expect a really ambitious game once it's released.

A huge hint pointing to possible vehicles in "Cyberpunk 2077" was seen on CD Projekt Red's jobs page. According to one of their job openings on the site, the Polish studio is looking for a vehicle gameplay programmer who will "create the whole architecture of vehicle-related code, and the physics of driving and flying in those vehicles" with the rest of the members of the gameplay and level design teams.

The game will give the players an option to take advantage of the driving and flying vehicles traversing the world.

There was a released animated GIF claiming to be part of the project although it was not confirmed whether it is official or not.

CD Projekt Red has remained quiet about the launch date of "Cyberpunk 2077," but a release date window may have just been hinted based on the developer's government funding application.

Information on CD Projekt's site, which was spotted by Neogaf forumer Boskee, mentioned that the timeline will run from January 2016 and January 2017 until June 2019. Based on this, fans should expect the highly anticipated game by the first half of 2019. The forumer noted, however, that this could still be a tentative release date window, as CD Projekt Red can still apply for an extension of the deadline.

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'Cyberpunk 2077' release Date: The game is far bigger than 'The Witcher 3' - Blasting News

If any genre of science fiction is actually right about the future, its probably cyberpunk: rule by corporations, high tech and low life, cybernetics, the use of technology in ways its creators never intended, and loners wandering a landscape covered with lenses and screens. Hell, I dont call that science fiction; I call that Tuesday.

1

by Charles Stross 2005

It is the era of the posthuman. Artificial intelligences have surpassed the limits of human intellect. Biotechnological beings have rendered people all but extinct. Molecular nanotechnology runs rampant, replicating and reprogramming at will. Contact with extraterrestrial life grows more imminent with each new day.

Struggling to survive and thrive in this accelerated world are three generations of the Macx clan: Manfred, an entrepreneur dealing in intelligence amplification technology whose mind is divided between his physical environment and the Internet; his daughter, Amber, on the run from her domineering mother and seeking her fortune in the outer system as an indentured astronaut; and Sirhan, Ambers son, who finds his destiny linked to the fate of all humanity.

About the title: in Italian, accelerando means speeding up and is used as a tempo marking in musical notation. In Strosss novel, it refers to the accelerating rate at which humanity in general, and/or the novels characters, head towards the technological singularity. The term was used earlier in this way by Kim Stanley Robinson in his 1985 novel The Memory of Whiteness and again in his Mars trilogy.

2

by Richard K. Morgan 2002

Not since Isaac Asimov has anyone combined SF and mystery so well. A very rich man kills himself, and when his backup copy is animated, he hires Takeshi Kovacs to find out why.

Morgan creates a gritty, noir tale that will please Raymond Chandler fans, an impressive accomplishment in any genre.

3

by Greg Egan 1997

Since the Introdus in the 21st century, humanity has reconfigured itself drastically. Most chose immortality, joining the polises to become conscious software.

Others opted for gleisners: Disposable, renewable robotic bodies that remain in contact with the physical world of force and friction. Many of these have left the Solar System forever in fusion drive starships.

And there are the holdouts. The fleshers left behind in the muck and jungle of Earth some devolved into dream-apes; others cavorting in the seas or the air; while the statics and bridges try to shape out a roughly human destiny.

fans of hard SF that incorporates higher mathematics and provocative hypotheses about future evolution are sure to be fascinated by Egans speculations. -Publishers Weekly

4

by Bruce Sterling 1998

Its November 2044, an election year, and the state of the Union is a farce. The government is broke, the cities are privately owned, and the military is shaking down citizens in the streets. Washington has become a circus and no one knows that better than Oscar Valparaiso. A political spin doctor, Oscar has always made things look good. Now he wants to make a difference.

Oscar has a single ally: Dr. Greta Penninger, a gifted neurologist at the bleeding edge of the neural revolution. Together theyre out to spread a very dangerous idea whose time has come. And so have their enemies: every technofanatic, government goon, and laptop assassin in America. Oscar and Greta might not survive to change the world, but theyll put a new spin on it.

Sterling once again proves himself the reigning master of near-future political SF. This is a powerful and, at times, very funny novel that should add significantly to Sterlings already considerable reputation. -Publishers Weekly

5

by Philip K. Dick 1968

When Ridley Scott made the film Blade Runner, he used a lot of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? but he also threw a lot away. Instead of Harrison Fords lonely bounty hunter, Dicks protagonist is a financially strapped municipal employee with bills to pay and a depressed wife.

Theres also a whole subplot that follows John Isidore, a man of sub-par IQ who aids the fugitive androids.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a much more sober and darker meditation of what it means to be human than the film it inspired.

6

by Cory Doctorow 2003

It takes a special mind to combine Disney and cyberpunk, and author Cory Doctorow apparently has it (in his head, or in a jar, I dont know the specifics).

Jules is a young man barely a century old. Hes lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphoniesand to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World.

Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century, currently in the keeping of a network of ad-hocs who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches.

Now, though, the ad hocs are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents, and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself.

Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (Its only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now its war.

Juless narrative unfolds so smoothly that readers may forget that all this raging passion is over amusement park rides. Then they can ask what that shows about the novels supposedly mature, liberated characters. Doctorow has served up a nicely understated dish: meringue laced with caffeine. -Publishers Weekly

7

by John Shirley 1999

Eclipse takes place in an alternate history where the Soviet Union never collapsed, and has invaded Western Europe but didnt use its nukes. At least, not its big ones.

Into the chaos steps the Second Alliance, a multinational corporation eager to impose its own kind of New World Order.

In the United States, in FirStep (a vast space colony), and on the artificial island Freezone, the Second Alliance shoulders its way to power, spinning a dark web of media manipulation, propaganda, and infiltration.

Only the New Resistance recognizes the Second Alliance for what it really is: a racist theocracy hiding a cult of eugenics.

Enter Rick Rickenharp, a former rocknroll cult hero: a rock classicistout of place in Europes underground club scene, populated by wiredancers and minimonos but destined to play a Song Called Youth that will shake the world.

the novel offers a thrashy punk riff on science fictions familiar future war scenario. -Publishers Weekly

8

by Lewis Shiner 1984

Ten years ago the worlds governments collapsed, and now the corporations are in control. Houstons Pulsystems has sent an expedition to the lost Martian colony of Frontera to search for survivors. Reese, aging hero of the US space program, knows better. The colonists are not only alive, they have discovered a secret so devastating that the new rulers of Earth will stop at nothing to own it. Reese is equally desperate to use it for his own very personal agenda. But none of them has reckoned with Kane, a tortured veteran of the corporate wars, whose hallucinatory voices are urging him to complete an ancient cycle of heroism and alter the destiny of the human race.

Lewis Shiners Frontera is an extraordinarily accomplished first novel his pacing is brisk, his scientific extrapolation well-informed and plausible, and his characterization nothing short of outstanding This is realism of a sort seldom found in either commercial or literary fiction; to find it in a first novel makes one eager for more. -Chicago Sun-Times

9

by Masamune Shirow 1989

Chances are, if youre reading about cyberpunk, youve seen the anime film Ghost in the Shell. If you havent, give it a shot and see what you think. Notice the little details in addition to the wild cyborg violence: a single drop of water hitting the ground, the heaviness with which a tired person collapses on a chair, and more.

Deep into the twenty-first century, the line between man and machine has been inexorably blurred as humans rely on the enhancement of mechanical implants and robots are upgraded with human tissue. In this rapidly converging landscape, cyborg superagent Major Motoko Kusanagi is charged with tracking down the craftiest and most dangerous terrorists and cybercriminals, including ghost hackers who are capable of exploiting the human/machine interface and reprogramming humans to become puppets to carry out the hackers criminal ends. When Major Kusanagi tracks the cybertrail of one such master hacker, the Puppeteer, her quest leads her into a world beyond information and technology where the very nature of consciousness and the human soul are turned upside down.

Masamunes b&w drawings are dynamic and beautifully gestural; he vividly renders the awesome urban landscape of a futuristic, supertechnological Japan.- Publishers Weekly

10

by Walter Jon Williams 1986

The remnants of a war-ravaged America endure in scattered, heavily armed colonies, while the wealthy Orbital Corporations now control the world. Cowboy, an ex-fighter pilot who has become hardwired via skull sockets connected directly to his lethal electronic hardware, is now a panzerboy, a hi-tech smuggler riding armored hovertanks through the balkanized countryside. He teams up with Sarah, an equally cyborized gun-for-hire, to make a last stab at independence from the rapacious Orbitals. Together, they gather an unlikely gang of misfits for a ride that will take them to the edge of the atmosphere.

[a] heavy-metal adventure buried under an elaborate techno-punk style of the sort William Gibson popularized in Neuromancer. In both cases, it is a pose, a baroque nostalgia for Hemingway and film noir; it only plays at nihilism, terror and despair. The best effect is Williamss future version of a brain-scrambled vet: a dead buddy of Cowboys whose scattered bits and pieces of computer memory now constitute a ragged semblance of a man. -Publishers Weekly

11

by Harlan Ellison 1967

Pissing off science fiction writers everywhere, Ellison wrote the story I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream in a single night in 1966, making virtually no changes from the first draft. He won a Hugo award for it, too. Bastard.

12

by Pat Cadigan 1987

Allie Haas only did it for a dare. But putting on the madcap that Jerry Wirerammer has borrowed was a very big mistake. The psychosis itself was quite conventional, a few paranoid delusions, but it didnt go away when she took the madcap off. Jerry did the decent thing and left her at an emergency room for dry-cleaning but then the Brain Police took over. Straightened out by a professional mindplayer, Allie thinks shes left mind games behind for good but then comes the fazer: she can either go to jail as mind criminal or she can train as a mindplayer herself

13

by William Gibson 1984

Gibson rewrote the first 2/3 of this book (his first novel) twelve times and was worried people would think he stole the feel from Blade Runner, which had come out two years earlier. He was convinced he would be permanently shamed after it was published.

Fortunately for Gibson, Neuromancer won science fictions triple crown (the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick awards) and became the seminal cyberpunk work.

14

by Melissa Scott 1997

Young Ista Kelly is a foundling, the only survivor of a pirate raid on an asteroid mine. In a future where one cannot live without an official identity, this is the story of Istas harrowing journey back to the asteroid to find her true identity.

Scott here presents a well-developed future rife with cybertechnology, space travel, artificial habitats and asteroid mining. The primary cyber-innovations in this era are hammals, computer programs that function independently, devour each other, reproduce and mutate Scott explores the ramifications of virtual life through the very human eyes of her principals; this is most artful cyberpunk, told with heart. -Publishers Weekly

15

by China Miville 2000

Perdido Street Station borrows from steampunk, cyberpunk, fantasy, and a few other genres that couldnt run away fast enough.

Beneath the towering bleached ribs of a dead, ancient beast lies New Crobuzon, a squalid city where humans, Re-mades, and arcane races live in perpetual fear of Parliament and its brutal militia. The air and rivers are thick with factory pollutants and the strange effluents of alchemy, and the ghettos contain a vast mix of workers, artists, spies, junkies, and whores. In New Crobuzon, the unsavory deal is stranger to no onenot even to Isaac, a brilliant scientist with a penchant for Crisis Theory.

Mivilles canvas is so breathtakingly broad that the details of individual subplots and characters sometime lose their definition. But it is also generous enough to accommodate large dollops of aesthetics, scientific discussion and quest fantasy in an impressive and ultimately pleasing epic. -Publishers Weekly

16

by Ernest Cline 2011

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when hes jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wades devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this worlds digital confinespuzzles that are based on their creators obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.

But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wades going to survive, hell have to winand confront the real world hes always been so desperate to escape.

This adrenaline shot of uncut geekdom, a quest through a virtual world, is loaded with enough 1980s nostalgia to please even the most devoted John Hughes fans sweet, self-deprecating Wade, whose universe is an odd mix of the real past and the virtual present, is the perfect lovable/unlikely hero. -Publishers Weekly (Pick of the Week)

17

by Neal Stephenson 1992

Stephenson explained the title of the novel as his term for a particular software failure mode on the early Apple Macintosh computer. He wrote about the Macintosh that When the computer crashed and wrote gibberish into the bitmap, the result was something that looked vaguely like static on a broken television seta snow crash.'

In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzos CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse hes a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus thats striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse.

Although Stephenson provides more Sumerian culture than the story strictly needs (alternating intense activity with scholarship breaks), his imaginative juxtaposition of ancient and futuristic detail could make this a cult favorite. -Publishers Weekly

18

by Jeff Somers 2007

Avery Cates is a very bad man. Some might call him a criminal. He might even be a killerfor the Right Price. But right now, Avery Cates is scared. Hes up against the Monks: cyborgs with human brains, enhanced robotic bodies, and a small arsenal of advanced weaponry. Their mission is to convert anyone and everyone to the Electric Church. But there is just one snag. Conversion means death.

Somerss science fiction thriller has an acerbic wit. -Publishers Weekly

19

by K.W. Jeter 1985

Despite this books obscurity, it consistently shows up on the majority of best cyberpunk lists out there.

Schuyler is a sprinterone who outruns government particle beam satellites to deliver computer chips to the European black market. He becomes a media celebrity and the icon of a new religious cult.

An endless maze of shadows and reflections, cameras and monitor screens, desert and snow, chrome and glass. Nothing is real and the only way to find this out is to self-destruct. -Justin Farrar, random person on Goodreads

20

by Alfred Bester 1956

The Stars My Destination anticipated many of the staples of the later cyberpunk movement. For instance, the megacorporations as powerful as governments, and a dark overall vision of the future and the cybernetic enhancement of the body.

Marooned in outer space after an attack on his ship, Nomad, Gulliver Foyle lives to obsessively pursue the crew of a rescue vessel that had intended to leave him to die.

Science fiction has only produced a few works of actual genius, and this is one of them. -Joe Haldeman, author of The Forever War

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23 Best Cyberpunk Books - The Best Sci Fi Books

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Last year, The Devil Wears Prada released possibly the best album of their career inTransit Blues. In eleven tracks, the band took their finely crafted metalcore to new heights by incorporating elements of sludge and doom metal, creating a wholly new sound and life for the group.Today they released a new video for one of the albums singles,Worldwide.

As the third video off the album following Daughter and To the Key of Evergreen, Worldwide continues their streak of striking visuals that tell thought-provoking stories. The visuals include different people being hooked up to a variety of different machines. The band themselves are also hooked up to luminescent wires while they play.

Song-wise, it shows off the bands ability to make a straight up rock song with a great hook. Clean singer/guitarist Jeremy DePoyster takes center stage on the song, offering up a verse that paints a map of the bands travels, a desire to get lost in the lush destinations theyve had the fortune to visit. Screamer Mike Hranica gives a sharp dichotomy to DePoysters voice, adding a sharp edge to the song.

The song matter correlates with the bands intent on the album, in wanting to be able to sing about more ordinary matters than a typical metal song would allow for. In an interview we conducted with the band, Hranica said, I wanted to be able to talk about more ordinary topics, and for the most part thats just what really has gripped me in my own musical taste, and I wanted to find a way to have these aggressive songs but be able to talk about more mundane matters, and I think thats also very much born from literature. Alot of reading is not going to be these highly intense sort of moments all the time, as compared to, you know, if you look at the substance behind a metal record, where its all so dire and dramatic.

Its too soon to tell whatll come next for the band, but hopefully well be treated to more visual components that match up with the bands music.

Watch the video for Worldwide above!

The Devil Wears Prada Play Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction?

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The Devil Wears Prada Talk Space EP

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The Devil Wears Pradas Mike Hranica Talks Transit Blues Album

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The Devil Wears Prada Release Cyberpunk 'Worldwide' Video - Loudwire

Xbox One version due next month.

By Jeffrey Matulef Published 19/06/2017

Acclaimed cyberpunk point-and-click adventure Read Only Memories will be coming to Switch in early 2018.

2064: Read Only Memories is set in a world where Duck Game is still relevant in 57 years.

2064: Read Only Memories tells the tale of a journalist tracking down their kidnapped friend Turing, who just so happens to be the world's first sapient machine.

Unlike most oldschool point-and-click adventures, 2064: Read Only Memories will contain multiple solutions to its puzzles and the way you choose to handle problems will reflect how the story progresses.

The game was originally released on PC in 2015 as Read Only Memories, but it since did that Raiders of the Lost Ark thing where its creators renamed its title after the fact. The 2064 bit is now canon, like Indiana Jones' name in his debut feature.

2064: Read Only Memories has since come to PS4, Vita, Mac and Linux. An Xbox One version is also in development, and based on the game's official Twitter name 2064@XboxOne July!, I would wager that it's coming in July.

If that first voice sounds familiar that's because its Clementine in The Walking Dead actor Melissa Hutchinson.

You can play a free demo of Read on Memories on Steam.

Read the original here:

Cyberpunk adventure 2064: Read Only Memories is coming to Switch - Eurogamer.net

Satoshi Yoshioka's art from Sdatcher

Snatcher is a cult classic that should be experienced by both science fiction and Metal Gear fans. Even though it appears to "snatch" many of its influences and throw them together into a science fiction cornucopia, it actually explores the issues of humanity and existence in its own distinctive style.

Snatcher was the brainchild of Hideo Kojima and originally came out in 1988 for the MSX console, a computer format that was popular in Japan and Europe in the 80s. It was ported for the PC Engine (known as the TurboGrafx-16 in America) before reaching American audiences on the Sega CD in 1994, with upgraded graphics and an additional third act. Set in 2047, you play as Gillian Seed, an amnesiac Junker (Japanese Undercover Neuro Kinetic Elimination Ranger) who hunts down Snatchers in the hopes that it will help him to remember his past. The eponymous Snatchers are artificial life forms, or bioroids, designed to blend in with humans. The game takes place in the metropolis of Neo-Kobe, a vibrant melting pot with a whole lot of history and lore. Snatcher uses a text interface similar to the old PC point-and-click adventure games, but it streamlines controls to the point where it's considered one of the earliest precursors of the visual novel.

Former Konami artist Satoshi Yoshioka, who designed many of Snatcher's characters and worked at Konami for nine years on titles like Batman and Robin and Policenauts, told me in an email: "I got a lot of inspiration from classic movies like Blade Runner, The Terminator, and Alien. I made the graphics used in the game with a great deal of respect to [these films]. I was especially interested in the Hollywood SFX [special effects] at that time, and I tried to honour their spirit."

This spirit is felt in many of Snatcher's designs, though their combination creates an atmosphere that has its own unique charm. Players get to know Snatcher's characters through complex dialogue branches with a surprising variety of options. Small comic book panels appear below the main visual window and give personality to each of the characters. The characters also react with appropriate facial expressions that help convey the game's somber themes. Unlike the protagonists in many noirish cyberpunk books and films, Gillian Seed is expressive rather than following the trope of being stoic and subdued. His strong personality goes from melancholy amnesiac to driven investigator and even womanizer (though he gets almost universally rejected). He's a likable character, even with his flaws. He's visually inspired in part by Rick Deckard from Blade Runner, but also the more humorous Lupin the Third from the eponymous animated series.

Yoshioka, who "created all the face graphics for the conversation parts," said that drawing "the expressions of Gillian surprise, delight, and so on were the most challenging to me because of the complexity of the character. Gillian had an interesting mix of humour and seriousness. Kojima wanted to convey Gillian's witty and charming nature, even in some of the more intense moments, so that it would make him seem more 'human' in contrast to the robotic Snatchers." Designing the characters using Konami's custom drawing application, Yoshioka says he was always guided by "Kojima and was mindful of making the graphics as 'cinematic' as possible."

The high quality of the visuals emphasise the cinematic aspect by showcasing graphics that were closer to films than most gamers had seen before on a console. In the combat sequences against the Snatchers, especially one where a fellow Junker named Mika gets captured, the whole battle is framed as an interactive cutscene where you have to kill a villain who uses Mika as a human shield. In another sequence, Gillian's Turbocycle gets sabotaged and spins out of control. The film cuts play out like an action movie, with tense music pounding in the background.

Snatcher's themes of changing technology were present in the development of the game itself. While it'd be easy to say the advanced graphics were due to the increased power of the Sega CD, Yoshioka pointed out that part of what made the development of Snatcher and all its various ports so cohesive is that "Snatcher was developed by a small number of people. In comparison, it might be about half of the average number for a NES game development team at that time. So the developers in different roles could work in close proximity to each other. It enabled us to respond directly and quickly to any developing tasks."

He explained, "Kinoshita (Tomiharu Kinoshita, the original MSX designer) created the original character design. I took part in drawing the characters as a team member of the port for PC Engine CD-ROM (which in turn would be ported with only minor changes to the Sega CD). I could redesign the supporting roles like Chin Shu Oh relatively freely. So I designed them to suit my preference. I heard that in the earlier stage of the development, Kojima had directed the designer to make the game character a bit like Katsuhiro Otomo (the director of Akira)."

This small team had flexibility, but it also meant this small group at Konami had to figure out how development worked when it came to simple things like burning CDs. "When we wrote the data [for Snatcher], we used CD-R writers. It was the first time for us to use the devices. We couldn't inhibit some of the unidentified noises showing up in the game itself. The accident disturbed not only Kojima, but all the other members of the developer team. I was not well acquainted with the CD-R writers. I puzzled over the problem, and suggested not to shake it or to make noises when we used it, hahaha. We finally found that the disturbing noises were due to faulty wiring. Of course, we had amused smiles after we discovered the error was our own fault."

This also brought the team together, a spirit that infuses the game. There's one story Yoshioka shared that perfectly symbolized the unusual development of Snatcher: "I cannot forget that Kojima made strange lyrics for the song in the game, 'Creeping Silence.'" It's a track that effectively creates a creepy atmosphere, but the lyrics don't appear in the game. "He [Kojima] sang it quite often, so the other members remembered the lyrics. 'Spinner, spinner heeey,' and we'd iterate on that. We often sang it all together."

Ouch...

Technology can lead to moments of human bonding, but it's a double-edged sword that can also wreak destruction. The real life Terminator Conundrum a genuine issue debated by the Pentagon about how much autonomy AIs should be granted to kill seems straight out of Snatcher. One of the more shocking moments early in the game is when Gillian comes across the body of Junker Jean-Jack Gibson, whose head has been viciously cut off and lies between his legs. The violence punctuates the threat of the Snatchers and, as Yoshioka points out, "is the first murdered corpse that the players face. So the staff working on the scenes wanted to evoke a dramatic impact and decided to use the most brutal image." Snatcher doesn't shy away from its robotic violence, including a maggot-infested corpse and an animal whose entrails have been ripped out.

The game doesn't delve into Blade Runner's ethical ambivalence when it comes to the existence of Snatchers. They're a threat to be eliminated, not beings on the verge of self-awareness. The terror of that moment highlights the theme of humanity's fear of being replaced by technology as represented by the Snatchers themselves. The irony is that humanity's own self-destructive behaviour created a vacuum for the Snatchers to supplant them in the first place; the game's villain is motivated by his disgust with human behaviour. When I asked Yoshioka about the relationship between technology, art, and humanity, he stated: "In order to know the things of the present, I believe it's essential to know the things of the past. This is also true of arts. We tend to take for granted present technology and the arts. But all of these forms are based on past inventions, innovations, and discoveries."

This theme is also explored more humanely. Metal Gear Mk. II, based on the mechanical nemesis of the original Metal Gear, is Gillian's robot companion. It's been imprinted with a personality programmed by Harry, the engineer for the Junkers. In the game's big twist, you learn that Harry is actually Gillian's son. The reason Gillian and his wife suffered amnesia is that they were part of a secret effort fifty years ago to develop the Snatcher program and replace all the world's leaders. They were put into artificial sleep after the Lucifer-Alpha biological weapon went off. Harry lived on, oblivious to his parents' fate. So the whole game, you're interacting with him, asking about your equipment, and you don't even know who he really is until he dies. That makes your relationship to Metal Gear Mk. II all the more poignant, since he is in essence Harry's creation, your son by mechanical proxy. Metal Gear Mk. II is willing to sacrifice its life to save Gillian, and the implication is that there may come a day when humanity destroys itself and our legacy will only carry on through the technology we birth.

Yoshioka has considered the implications of Snatcher and the movies that inspired it: "There have been many SF movies and comics filled with fearful feelings about the progress of AI. I've got lots of inspirations from these kind of works. Of course, I fear watching and reading about them. But I've also loved AI robots since I was a child. In 1970, when I was just three years old, I saw several robots playing instruments in the Japan World Exposition at Osaka. I still clearly remember that scene and my feeling of wonder which still resonates. So I'm on the side of Metal Gear Mk. II-like robots being able to reach out and communicate with us. I'd prefer to believe in the dream of the emergence of robots that will be partners with humanity, instead of the kind of stories that portend destruction in the wake of AI progression."

Will the advancement of AI and biotechnology reach a point in 2047 where humanity can be replaced by something akin to a Snatcher? Or will the progress made possible by new tech save people from themselves in the face of a catastrophic disease or environmental disaster? It's the fact that there are no easy answers that makes Snatcher so compelling, reminding us that the investigation into human nature never ends. Yoshioka told me, "Though I regard myself to be a has-been, I'm trying to create some brand new impressions by remixing my works, which is my past. I hope the younger generation today realise they need to be aware of the classic and premier works and arts if they want to create something new."

Satoshi Yoshioka's interview was translated by Yoshihiro Tanigawa.

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Of all the things I expected out of E3 2017, Atari announcing a new console was last on the list. Heck, it wasn't even on the list, more scratched in chalk on the tip of my shoe. But it is happening -- CEO Fred Chesnais confirmed with VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi the company's plans to get "back [into] the hardware business".

Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, is at E3 in Los Angeles this week to promote Nintendo's latest resurgence and hype people up on the coming year of Switch and 3DS games. But he's also ready to field questions, and we had a bunch.

Continued here:

Snatcher Is Cyberpunk Noir At Its Best - Kotaku Australia

Satoshi Yoshiokas art from Sdatcher

Snatcher is a cult classic that should be experienced by both science fiction and Metal Gear fans. Even though it appears to snatch many of its influences and throw them together into a science fiction cornucopia, it actually explores the issues of humanity and existence in its own distinctive style.

Snatcher was the brainchild of Hideo Kojima and originally came out in 1988 for the MSX console, a computer format that was popular in Japan and Europe in the 80s. It was ported for the PC Engine (known as the TurboGrafx-16 in America) before reaching American audiences on the Sega CD in 1994, with upgraded graphics and an additional third act. Set in 2047, you play as Gillian Seed, an amnesiac Junker (Japanese Undercover Neuro Kinetic Elimination Ranger) who hunts down Snatchers in the hopes that it will help him to remember his past. The eponymous Snatchers are artificial life forms, or bioroids, designed to blend in with humans. The game takes place in the metropolis of Neo-Kobe, a vibrant melting pot with a whole lot of history and lore. Snatcher uses a text interface similar to the old PC point-and-click adventure games, but it streamlines controls to the point where its considered one of the earliest precursors of the visual novel.

Former Konami artist Satoshi Yoshioka, who designed many of Snatchers characters and worked at Konami for nine years on titles like Batman and Robin and Policenauts, told me in an email: I got a lot of inspiration from classic movies like Blade Runner, The Terminator, and Alien. I made the graphics used in the game with a great deal of respect to [these films]. I was especially interested in the Hollywood SFX [special effects] at that time, and I tried to honor their spirit.

This spirit is felt in many of Snatchers designs, though their combination creates an atmosphere that has its own unique charm. Players get to know Snatchers characters through complex dialogue branches with a surprising variety of options. Small comic book panels appear below the main visual window and give personality to each of the characters. The characters also react with appropriate facial expressions that help convey the games somber themes. Unlike the protagonists in many noirish cyberpunk books and films, Gillian Seed is expressive rather than following the trope of being stoic and subdued. His strong personality goes from melancholy amnesiac to driven investigator and even womanizer (though he gets almost universally rejected). Hes a likable character, even with his flaws. Hes visually inspired in part by Rick Deckard from Blade Runner, but also the more humorous Lupin the Third from the eponymous animated series.

Yoshioka, who created all the face graphics for the conversation parts, said that drawing the expressions of Gilliansurprise, delight, and so onwere the most challenging to me because of the complexity of the character. Gillian had an interesting mix of humor and seriousness. Kojima wanted to convey Gillians witty and charming nature, even in some of the more intense moments, so that it would make him seem more human in contrast to the robotic Snatchers. Designing the characters using Konamis custom drawing application, Yoshioka says he was always guided by Kojima and was mindful of making the graphics as cinematic as possible.

The high quality of the visuals emphasize the cinematic aspect by showcasing graphics that were closer to films than most gamers had seen before on a console. In the combat sequences against the Snatchers, especially one where a fellow Junker named Mika gets captured, the whole battle is framed as an interactive cutscene where you have to kill a villain who uses Mika as a human shield. In another sequence, Gillians Turbocycle gets sabotaged and spins out of control. The film cuts play out like an action movie, with tense music pounding in the background.

Snatchers themes of changing technology were present in the development of the game itself. While itd be easy to say the advanced graphics were due to the increased power of the Sega CD, Yoshioka pointed out that part of what made the development of Snatcher and all its various ports so cohesive is that Snatcher was developed by a small number of people. In comparison, it might be about half of the average number for a NES game development team at that time. So the developers in different roles could work in close proximity to each other. It enabled us to respond directly and quickly to any developing tasks.

He explained, Kinoshita (Tomiharu Kinoshita, the original MSX designer) created the original character design. I took part in drawing the characters as a team member of the port for PC Engine CD-ROM (which in turn would be ported with only minor changes to the Sega CD). I could redesign the supporting roles like Chin Shu Oh relatively freely. So I designed them to suit my preference. I heard that in the earlier stage of the development, Kojima had directed the designer to make the game character a bit like Katsuhiro Otomo (the director of Akira).

This small team had flexibility, but it also meant this small group at Konami had to figure out how development worked when it came to simple things like burning CDs. When we wrote the data [for Snatcher], we used CD-R writers. It was the first time for us to use the devices. We couldnt inhibit some of the unidentified noises showing up in the game itself. The accident disturbed not only Kojima, but all the other members of the developer team. I was not well acquainted with the CD-R writers. I puzzled over the problem, and suggested not to shake it or to make noises when we used it, hahaha. We finally found that the disturbing noises were due to faulty wiring. Of course, we had amused smiles after we discovered the error was our own fault.

This also brought the team together, a spirit that infuses the game. Theres one story Yoshioka shared that perfectly symbolized the unusual development of Snatcher: I cannot forget that Kojima made strange lyrics for the song in the game, Creeping Silence. Its a track that effectively creates a creepy atmosphere, but the lyrics dont appear in the game. He [Kojima] sang it quite often, so the other members remembered the lyrics. Spinner, spinner heeey, and wed iterate on that. We often sang it all together.

Technology can lead to moments of human bonding, but its a double-edged sword that can also wreak destruction. The real life Terminator Conundruma genuine issue debated by the Pentagon about how much autonomy AIs should be granted to killseems straight out of Snatcher. One of the more shocking moments early in the game is when Gillian comes across the body of Junker Jean-Jack Gibson, whose head has been viciously cut off and lies between his legs. The violence punctuates the threat of the Snatchers and, as Yoshioka points out, is the first murdered corpse that the players face. So the staff working on the scenes wanted to evoke a dramatic impact and decided to use the most brutal image. Snatcher doesnt shy away from its robotic violence, including a maggot-infested corpse and an animal whose entrails have been ripped out.

The game doesnt delve into Blade Runners ethical ambivalence when it comes to the existence of Snatchers. Theyre a threat to be eliminated, not beings on the verge of self-awareness. The terror of that moment highlights the theme of humanitys fear of being replaced by technology as represented by the Snatchers themselves. The irony is that humanitys own self-destructive behavior created a vacuum for the Snatchers to supplant them in the first place; the games villain is motivated by his disgust with human behavior. When I asked Yoshioka about the relationship between technology, art, and humanity, he stated: In order to know the things of the present, I believe its essential to know the things of the past. This is also true of arts. We tend to take for granted present technology and the arts. But all of these forms are based on past inventions, innovations, and discoveries.

This theme is also explored more humanely. Metal Gear Mk. II, based on the mechanical nemesis of the original Metal Gear, is Gillians robot companion. Its been imprinted with a personality programmed by Harry, the engineer for the Junkers. In the games big twist, you learn that Harry is actually Gillians son. The reason Gillian and his wife suffered amnesia is that they were part of a secret effort fifty years ago to develop the Snatcher program and replace all the worlds leaders. They were put into artificial sleep after the Lucifer-Alpha biological weapon went off. Harry lived on, oblivious to his parents fate. So the whole game, youre interacting with him, asking about your equipment, and you dont even know who he really is until he dies. That makes your relationship to Metal Gear Mk. II all the more poignant, since he is in essence Harrys creation, your son by mechanical proxy. Metal Gear Mk. II is willing to sacrifice its life to save Gillian, and the implication is that there may come a day when humanity destroys itself and our legacy will only carry on through the technology we birth.

Yoshioka has considered the implications of Snatcher and the movies that inspired it: There have been many SF movies and comics filled with fearful feelings about the progress of AI. Ive got lots of inspirations from these kind of works. Of course, I fear watching and reading about them. But Ive also loved AI robots since I was a child. In 1970, when I was just three years old, I saw several robots playing instruments in the Japan World Exposition at Osaka. I still clearly remember that scene and my feeling of wonder which still resonates. So Im on the side of Metal Gear Mk. II-like robots being able to reach out and communicate with us. Id prefer to believe in the dream of the emergence of robots thatll be partners with humanity, instead of the kind of stories that portend destruction in the wake of AI progression.

Will the advancement of AI and biotechnology reach a point in 2047 where humanity can be replaced by something akin to a Snatcher? Or will the progress made possible by new tech save people from themselves in the face of a catastrophic disease or environmental disaster? Its the fact that there are no easy answers that makes Snatcher so compelling, reminding us that the investigation into human nature never ends. Yoshioka told me, Though I regard myself to be a has-been, Im trying to create some brand new impressions by remixing my works, which is my past. I hope the younger generation today realize they need to be aware of the classic and premier works and arts if they want to create something new.

Satoshi Yoshiokas interview was translated by Yoshihiro Tanigawa.

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Snatcher Is Cyberpunk Noir At Its Best - Kotaku - Kotaku

Its rare that a game becomes one of the biggest wins and the biggest losses of E3 at the same time, but The Last Night a cyberpunk side-scroller made by indie studio Odd Tales may have done it. The Last Nights stylish, neon-drenched trailer was a highlight of Microsofts annual press conference, overshadowing much bigger games from much larger teams. But not long after the show, a series of controversial tweets surfaced from co-creator Tim Soret, suggesting that the game would reflect the worldview of the anti-feminist Gamergate movement. Within a few hours, The Last Night went from universally appealing to bitterly divisive.

Based on what Ive now seen of The Last Night, the final game wont be either of those things. This game is one of the most beautiful things at E3, and also one of the most nebulous. The Last Night is a cinematic platformer that may have almost no platforming, with a cyberpunk plot and setting that the developers insist is not cyberpunk, based on a view of the world that seems less reactionary than naive. Its a game whose creators appear determined to make socially relevant, but in a way that may ultimately hurt The Last Night as a piece of art.

The Last Night wasnt playable at E3, but Odd Tales appeared at the show with a series of animated environments: a bustling neon-lit street, a subway station, a harbor at night. Each one is composed of flat pixel art layered in a three-dimensional space, which is then lit like an ordinary 3D scene. The world is magnetic, with a warmth and depth that brings its buildings and inhabitants to life.

Its less clear what form that life will take. The game is set in a future of ubiquitous computing, where labor has been rendered obsolete by artificial intelligence. Its about a man who is medically unable to get the implanted computing devices that other people in the world depend on, drifting around the edges of society until hes drawn into a life-or-death plot.

A cinematic platformer where you dont jump

Odd Tales calls The Last Night a cinematic platformer in the vein of Another World, whose developer Soret cites as an inspiration. But he describes gameplay that sounds more like a complex interactive drama based on talking to people and exploring the environment, with a cast of characters whose reactions will change based on what you say and do. Despite the platformer label, the game supposedly wont include a jump mechanic Soret jokes that you dont see people leaping around the streets in real-world cities.

These kinds of branching narratives are hard to pull off, and we dont know how good Odd Tales is at writing them, since we havent seen the game in action. And Odd Tales seems to be grappling with what kind of future it wants to make which is exactly what got it into trouble at E3. In 2014, Soret wrote that The Last Night takes place in a cyberpunk world where modern feminism won instead of egalitarianism, appending the Gamergate hashtag. Around the same time, he claimed the game would show the dangers of extreme progressivism, and inquired about the possibility of using Gamergate mascot Vivian James in the game.

Soret has disavowed the tweets and the sentiment, and when I met with him, he reiterated that they were mistakes that dont reflect his current worldview or plans for The Last Night. He cast some of his earlier statements in a more neutral light: where his old tweets seemed to condemn artificial wombs as a kind of extreme feminism meant to let women smoke and drink during pregnancy, he now describes them simply as something that could change womens role in his future, possibly for the better. Its neither utopian nor dystopian, he says.

Soret still seems dubious of modern feminism and social justice, but expresses it in vague terms of seeing the movement as divisive, and theres no sign this will translate into the game itself. Nothing about The Last Nights world sounds preachy if anything, its social commentary sounds remarkably mild, covering ubiquitous future-shock anxieties like gamification, automation, and consumerism. The danger is that nothing seems particularly well-considered, either. Would a post-work future really look so much like Blade Runner or Neuromancer, both of which were full of hustlers looking for their next score? Will the developers engage with feminism enough to address its future with any depth, the way that recent games like VA-11 HALL-A have done?

There's little sense of context or self-awareness around The Last Night

Odd Tales expresses a confusingly bellicose conviction that its turning the science fiction world on its head, without offering much justification for why. The Last Night began as an entry in the 2014 Cyberpunk Game Jam, but Odd Tales later rejected the label in an online manifesto, declaring that the cyberpunk vision established by Blade Runner and William Gibson is just too normal and deriding every cyberpunk-adjacent game of the past decade as trope comfort food.

Every time Odd Tales tries to explain why The Last Night isnt cyberpunk, though, it ends up describing something that could come straight out of Blade Runner when I asked Soret whether The Last Night took the genres aesthetic in a new direction, he mentioned drawing influence from a trip to Hong Kong. (Even William Gibson himself retweeted a joke about the games straightforward visual homage.) Theres a common thread here with the Gamergate controversy, which is that theres very little sense of context or self-awareness around The Last Night. Its seemingly post-cyberpunk the way that people who dont know much about feminism identify as post-feminist, advancing past an unrecognizable strawman of the genre.

And ironically, insisting that The Last Night is unprecedented makes it a lot less likable. It suggests that the studio doesnt understand why people enjoyed its trailer so much: not because it offered something totally new, but because it handled a familiar formula with fantastic competence. The project is in such an early state that I cant say whether Odd Tales will be able to deliver a finished game by 2018, the current release date. But if it does, The Last Night could be the best cyberpunk comfort food of the year. I dearly hope thats where it goes.

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The Last Night was one of E3's most dazzling games and also its most frustrating - The Verge

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The next title from Layers of Fear developers Bloober Team (theres an L in there, get your mind out of the gutter) has been shown off at E3 with 10 minutes of gameplay. Titled Observer, its a cyberpunk, trippy survival horror with blood, guts, and neural hacking. Jacking into the mind of a dying man can reveal some horrible stuff.

There don't seem to be any zombies in Observer, but if you want some, we've got a list of the best zombie games you can play.

The game was first revealed at last years E3, and this new gameplay shows its coming along nicely. Youll be playing a cop in futuristic Poland, where, as an Observer, you can solve crimes by jacking into and invading other peoples minds. Mind cop.

Similarly to Layers of Fear, what you see in the game is going to be figments of imagination, brought on by both the Observers and his subjects thoughts, fears, and so on. When they start walking into the light, what will the Observer see?

Its a lot more varied than Layers of Fear, at least, with the memory jumping giving some opportunities to explore completely new locations and experiences that the protagonist wouldnt have otherwise known.

The ending to the gameplay does show off some possibilities for the story, so if youre the type who wants to analyse every frame, pay some close attention at about 10:15. Theres almost certainly some story hints in there.

I just havent analysed it because its scary.

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Watch some of mind-hacking cyberpunk horror Observer, from the devs behind Layers of Fear - PCGamesN

With all of the big game announcements that were made at Microsoft's E3 2017 presser, a little game called The Last Night debuted in what is perhaps the most stylish trailer of all. The Last Night is described as a post-cyberpunk cinematic platformer that takes place in a dystopia where humans are slowly destroying themselves through the creation of AI that does everything for them. Work and creativity have all but disappeared and many people find themselves caught in a hopeless quest for meaning.

Here is the debut trailer:

It's certainly a more novel approach to dystopian worlds in games, which typically lay blame at the feet of mega corporations and tyrannical governments for the undoing of humanity. What's creepy about The Last Night's narrative setup is that it's completely plausible. An announcement post on the game's Steam page describes people "defining themselves by what they consume, not what they create," which adds a much more refreshing spin on the whole humanity going to hell trope.

The Last Night doesn't have a release date at the moment, but it is currently scheduled to arrive sometime in 2018.

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E3 2017: The Last Night revealed, shows off an incredibly stylized Cyberpunk world - GameZone

A designer on The Last Night, one of the buzziest indie titles shown during Microsofts E3 2017 press conference yesterday, has become the subject of an escalating backlash on social media, as Twitter users dig into some of his more political past tweets.

Tim Soret is founder of Odd Tales, which is working on the cyberpunk action game. Following The Last Nights debut trailer during the Microsoft presser, those familiar with his social media presence resurfaced several of his tweets dating from 2014 to April of this year. These posts included references to anti-feminist ideals and identity politics; most notably, Soret expressed sympathies for the hate-mongering GamerGate movement during its height in 2014.

The Gamergate people are for journalistc integrity, honest debate, transparency, inclusiveness, & egalitarianism [sic], Soret wrote in September 2014, in one of the tweets that prompted the most discussion.

Im against feminism, because its getting more and more skewed, he tweeted just before that, in July 2014. I am for egalitariasm [sic]. I dont care, boy, girl, alien.

In response to celebrity scientist Bill Nyes new Netflix show, Soret said this past April that injecting identity politics under the cover of science, it's not gonna end well.

As screenshots of Sorets tweets circulated across Twitter, some whod been excited about The Last Night began to express serious reservations. The games premise, as described on its Steam page, further stoked their ire.

Stabilised by universal income, people struggle to find their calling or identity, and define themselves by what they consume, rather than what they create, it reads. Players assume the role of a man named Charlie, who finds himself disaffected in this technological, socialist dystopia.

In response to the growing discontent, Soret posted a series of messages saying that hed changed his stance.

Controversy time, he wrote in the first of three tweets. That's fine. Let's talk about it, because it's important. I completely stand for equality & inclusiveness.

In no way is The Last Night a game against feminism or any form of equality, he continued. A lot of things changed for me these last years. The fictional setting of the game does challenge techno-social progress as a whole but certainly not trying to promote regressive ideas.

We reached out to The Last Nights publisher, Raw Fury Games, Sunday night about Sorets tweets. The company responded with a lengthy statement later that evening:

We at Raw Fury believe in equality, believe in feminism, and believe everyone has a right and chance at the equal pursuit of happiness. We would not be working with Tim Soret / Odd Tales at all if we believed they were against these principles in any aspect.

The comments Tim made in 2014 are certainly surprising and dont fit the person we know, and we hope that everyone reading this who knows us at Raw Fury on a personal and professional level knows that we wouldnt tolerate working with someone who portrays the caricature of Tim going around the internet right now.

The wording of his statements toward feminism in 2014 was poor, and his buying into GamerGate as a movement on the notion that it represented gamers against journalists was naive, but in the same year he also cheered the rise of women in gaming. In a similar situation as the one happening now, folks on the IdleThumbs forums found questionable tweets and Tim took it upon himself to address them. What came from that was a dialogue where different viewpoints were considered and debated in a purposeful way.

Here is a link to everything including his tweets, his response, and the response of the forum; we hope youll take the time to read through it.

Side note: Debating Anita Sarkeesians efforts toward highlighting sexism in the games industry is touchy, and though Tims post back then was naive we felt that he wasnt being malicious like so many others have been to Anita in the past, so we share all of this with the hope people can see that first hand. We understand that no matter what there will be people who will not look at Tim the same again and we respect that, too.

A lot can change in three years, including viewpoints, and Tim has assured us that The Last Night does not spout a message steeped in regressive stances. We trust Tim and know that he is an advocate for progression both in and outside of our industry, and we hope that this will be apparent moving forward.

A representative for Odd Tales also told Polygon that the studios relationship with Raw Fury Games and Microsoft has not been affected by the outrage.

Weve contacted Microsoft about Sorets tweets and the backlash, and will update when we hear back.

The Last Night is set for a 2018 release on Windows PC and Xbox One.

Update: Soret apologized for his past tweets while talking about The Last Night onstage at the PC Gaming Show.

I want to apologize for those [tweets], Soret said. They dont in any way represent where I am today or what The Last Night will be about.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Polygon, We dont support comments that fail to reflect our commitment to diversity and inclusion, which are part of our everyday business and core values.

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Designer of cyberpunk indie The Last Night speaks out as Twitter ... - Polygon

By Ms. Smith, Network World | Jun 11, 2017 7:50 AM PT

Ms. Smith (not her real name) is a freelance writer and programmer with a special and somewhat personal interest in IT privacy and security issues.

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With E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) starting this week, we can expect a flood of gaming news. It remains to be seen if the person or people trying to extort Polish game developer CD Projekt Red will choose this week to leak stolen Cyberpunk 2077 game files.

Instead of staying quiet about an extortion attempt, CD Projekt Red, the developers behind The Witcher 3, got out ahead of any potential leak by tweeting:

An unidentified individual or individuals have just informed us they are in possession of a few internal files belonging to CD PROJEKT RED. Among them are documents connected to early designs for the upcoming game, Cyberpunk 2077.

A demand for ransom has been made, saying that should we not comply, the files will be released to the general public. We will not be giving in to the demands of the individual or individuals that have contacted us, which might eventually lead to the files being published online. The appropriate legal authorities will be informed about the situation.

The documents are old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision for the game. Still, if youre looking forward to playing Cyberpunk 2077, it would be best for you to avoid any information not coming directly from CD PROJEKT RED.

When the time is right, you will hear about Cyberpunk 2077 from us officially.

The developers posted the same notice on its Cyberpunk 2077 forum.

Cyberpunk 2077, which has been in the works for years, was first announced in 2012. Its supposed to be an RPG set in the open world of Night City. The game is based on the cyberpunk role-playing game Cyberpunk 2020. CD Projekt Red said it was working closely with Mike Pondsmith who wrote the original pen-and-paper game. In 2013, a teaser video was released.

But since then, CD Projekt Red released The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The wildly popular 2015 release is a fantastic game and it apparently changed everything for developers.

When you release a game like The Witcher and create the expansions, the perception is not the pre-Witcher 3 expectation, CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwinski told Eurogamer. The bar is higher and its externally and internally as well.

I cannot talk about plans but we have to adjust to it and also adjust our own ambitions, Iwinski added. If CD Projekt Red releases a new game and it is not better than Witcher 3, people [will say], Hmm, wow, why is it not better? Witcher 3 set a certain bar and we definitely cannot go lower. Its always about improving and making new, pretty stuff, [and] storytelling games and mechanics and what not.

With that in mind, its not entirely impossible that the stolen internal documents about Cyberpunk 2077 would have little to do with the direction CD Projekt Red took the game after the Witcher 3 release. The documents may indeed be old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision for the game as the developer claimed.

The developers did not say what the blackmail amount was, when or how the game material was stolen. Earlier this year, The Witcher fans received breach notifications after the CD Projekt Red forum was compromised. About 1.9 million CD Projekt Red accounts were exposed; the developers said the accounts came from an old database which was compromised in March 2016.

One of my first thoughts was wondering if The Dark Overlord hacking group was involved; the hackers who were responsible for leaking 10 new Orange Is the New Black episodes after Netflix refused to be extorted. But after releasing unaired episodes of ABCs Steve Harveys Funderdome, most of the groups tweets revolve around A Business A Day which has so far involved dumping records from doctors and dentists unwilling to be blackmailed. So far, theres no mention of CD Projekt Red.

It remains to be seen if whomever is responsible does follow through and leak info related to Cyberpunk 2077 and if that will happen amidst all the gaming news which pour out this week from E3.

Ms. Smith (not her real name) is a freelance writer and programmer with a special and somewhat personal interest in IT privacy and security issues.

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Witcher 3 developers won't bow to extortion for stolen Cyberpunk ... - Network World

Now Playing: GS News Update: Cyberpunk 2077 Design Documents Are Being Held For Ransom

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Documents related to the development of Cyberpunk 2077, the upcoming game from The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red, have somehow found their way out of the studio. Now, they're being held for ransom, with someone (or some group) threatening to release them if CD Projekt doesn't pay up.

The developer revealed this news in a message posted on Twitter today. It describes the documents as "a few internal files belonging to CD Projekt Red. Among them are documents connected to early designs for the upcoming game, Cyberpunk 2077."

"A demand for ransom has been made, saying that should we not comply, the files will be released to the general public," CD Projekt's message continued. It said it has contacted the authorities and does not intend to pay the ransom, which it acknowledges might result in the files making their way online. It did not say what the ransom entails.

"The documents are old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision of the game," it said. "Still, if you're looking forward to playing Cyberpunk 2077, it would be best for you to avoid any information not coming directly from CD Projekt Red."

It's a somewhat bizarre situation, as it's not often that leaks manifest themselves in this way. One of the more famous leaks in the industry involves Half-Life 2, which saw its source code leaked following a Steam hack prior to the game's release. This also led to the public release of a playable version of the game. Valve would later attempt to lure the hacker into being arrested by the FBI under the guise of a job interview, though he was first arrested in Germany.

Little has been shared about Cyberpunk 2077 since its announcement; you can see a 2013 teaser trailer above. The RPG is slated for release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One at some point in the future. CD Projekt Red's message concludes, "When the time is right, you will hear about Cyberpunk 2077 from us--officially."

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Cyberpunk 2077 Design Documents Being Held For Ransom, CD ...

CD Projekt Red: "Cyberpunk 2077" Files Are Being Ransomed

Design documents related to Cyberpunk 2077 have been stolen by hackers, but the studio will not be paying up. CD Projekt Red claims that the documents are "old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision for the game," but be wary of potential spoilers if they do get released. I suppose it would be amusing if they referenced this little incident in the finished game; its a cyberpunk title after all.

The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red released a statement this morning that early design documents related to its upcoming, but mostly mysterious, Cyberpunk 2077 are currently being held for ransom by hackers. It's an odd situation to hear CD Projekt Red publicly airing this interaction with hackers, but I like how they're approaching it. They're basically saying, "Hey! Someone is holding our game hostage, but we're not letting them. So, just want to make sure you're wary of spoilers that might be leaking soon. Thanks!"

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CD Projekt Red: "Cyberpunk 2077" Files Are Being Ransomed - HardOCP

Cyberpunk 2077 is based on renowned pen-and-paper-RPG designer Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk system and created by CD Projekt (the acclaimed development group behind the hit RPG The Witcher.) Players are thrown into the dark future of the year 2077 and into a world where advanced technologies have become both the salvation and the curse of humanity. A multi-threaded, nonlinear story designed for mature players takes place in the sprawling metropolis of Night City and its surroundings. Along the way, visit places well known from Cyberpunk 2020, including a combat zone completely taken over by gangs, the legendary Afterlife joint and the nostalgic Forlorn Hope.

Freedom of action and diversity in gameplay is delivered thanks to the sandbox nature of the game and mechanics inspired by the Cyberpunk pen-and-paper system, fine tuned to meet the requirements of a modern RPG. Players experience the world through their own unique characters chosen from different classes -- be they blood-thirsty mercenaries or cunning hackers that they will equip with vast selection of cybernetic implants and deadly weapons. Gameplay will pump adrenaline through players' veins and be consistent with the celebrated Cyberpunk spirit -- rebellion, style, edge, uncertainty. And of course, a cyberpunk reality cannot be deprived of murderous steel -- guns, rifles, implants, dozens of gadgets and other varied pieces of equipment needed to survive on the streets of Night City.

NOTE: This game has been officially announced as a title in production and is likely planned for release on the PC platform, but it has not yet been officially announced for any specific system. Please check back for official info.

Publisher: CD Projekt

Developer: CD Projekt

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Why it matters to you

If you're looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077 and want to dissuade this sort of action in the future, if and when the documents are released, don't look at them.

CD Projekt Red (CPR), the developer of The Witcher series and founder of GOG.com, has shrugged off blackmail attempts by hackers who claim to have stolen documents relating to its still-in-development gameCyberpunk 2077. The nefarious individuals have demanded a ransom, which CPR is refusing to pay, according to USGamer.

Inspired by the pen-and-paper RPG with a similar name, Cyberpunk 2077 is the next game being developed at CPR. While it has been in production for some time, much of it is still shrouded in secrecy. No doubt the person or people behind this hack are banking on the developer wanting it to stay that way. CPR, however, is not playing ball and has gotten ahead of the problem by announcing the blackmail publicly.

It released a statement on Twitter highlighting that the ransom demand had been made, but stated categorically that it would not be paying it.While those behind the attack have threatened to release the internal documents if that is the case, CPR claims that they are not representative of the final game.

Due to thedevelopers stance on the matter, there is a possibility the documents will see the light of day. If that turns out to be the case, CPR urges anyone interested in playing Cyberpunk 2077to not view the documents, lest it spoil portions of the game for them.

When the time is right, you will hear about Cyberpunk 2077 from us officially, CPR said in its statement.

Cyberpunk 2077 has no specific release date yet, though a funding application to the Polish government suggested a potential 2019 debut. When it does arrive, however, it will support Windows PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

More recently, CPR has been focusing on the launch of its digital card game, Gwent, which could provide real competition for giants of the industry, like BlizzardsHearthstone.

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Hackers threaten CD Projekt Red with stolen Cyberpunk 2077 ...

Well, this is interesting. Cyberpunk 2077 is the next game from CD Projekt Red, developers of the beloved The Witcher series. We don't know much about it other than the fact that it will be released before the end of 2021, vague as that promise may be. However, it sounds like we might see some illegally procured information about the game in the near future.

This news comes straight from CD Projekt Red, with the company Twitter account addressing the issue matter-of-factly in a prepared statement.

In short, someone stole internal files about Cyberpunk 2077 and asked for a ransom, lest they be publicly released. CD Projekt Red decided the leaked assets aren't worth giving a payout to some hackers and won't be complying. Legal action may or may not follow depending on how things go, but in the meantime, you should understand that any leaked materials you see represent an older, less refined version of the game than what exists now.

Video game developers usually wait until after leaks have come out before they address them, and that's only if they feel like acknowledging the leaks at all. It's a bit unusual for CD Projekt Red to get out ahead of the publication of leaked materials. Maybe this stuff is so unfit for public consumption that CD Projekt really wants you to know not to judge the game by what you see.

Based on the fact that the company released a statement, it seems like this is legit. We'll see if the data thieves decide to release what they've acquired or choose to back down. All we can say right now is this is a very appropriate thing to happen to a game called Cyberpunk 2077.

Check out the latest from Mic, like this essay about the sinister, subtle evils lurking in rural America that Far Cry 5 shouldn't ignore. Also, be sure to read our review of Tekken 7, an article about D.Va's influence on one Overwatch player's ideas about femininity and an analysis of gaming's racist habit of darkening villains' skin tones.

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'Cyberpunk 2077' Leaks: Hackers steal internal files from CD ...

Metro

CD Projekt RED's Cyberpunk 2077 game has been hacked by real cyberpunks Metro In what may be the ultimate example of life imitating art, the creators of The Witcher 3 are being held to ransom by hackers. Cyberpunk 2077 is intended as the follow-up to The Witcher 3 but almost nothing has been seen of it in public so far, and it's ... CD Projekt Red: Hackers Are Ransoming Stolen Game DataExtremeTech CD Projekt Red Reveals It's Being Blackmailed For Stolen 'Cyberpunk 2077' FilesForbes Cyberpunk 2077 assets stolen by actual cyberpunksEurogamer.net Polygon -Kotaku all 97 news articles »

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CD Projekt RED's Cyberpunk 2077 game has been hacked by real cyberpunks - Metro

In an incredible moment of transparency and openness, CD Projekt Red have just released a statement that the theft of internal documents and that a ransom is being demanded for them to be kept secret. The company, which is best known for The Witcher series,state that these documents include early designs for the upcoming and long in development Cyberpunk 2077. Further, they state that these documents do not represent their current game designs and that you should wait for official information which will be released when the time is right.

Posting on Twitter, the statement reads as follows:

Dear gamers,

An unidentified individual or individuals have just informed us they are in possession of a few internal filed belonging to CD PROJEKT RED. Among them are document connected to early designs for the upcoming game, Cyberpunk 2077.

A demand for ransom has been made, saying that should we not comply, the files will be released to the general public. We will not be giving in to the demands of the individual or individuals that have contacted us, which might eventually lead to the files being published online. The appropriate legal authorities will be informed about the situation.

The documents are old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision for the game. Still, if youre looking forward to playing Cyberpunk 2077, it would be best for you to avoid any information not coming directly from CD PROJEKT RED.

When the time is right, you will hear about Cyberpunk 2077 from us officially.

CD PROJECT RED Team

Whether through hacking, theft or other means, this is not the first time that a game company has had their work stolen. By far the most prominent instance was that of Half Life 2s source code leaking in 2003, butwith hacking on the rise, themost recent parallel would be how Netflix and a number of other TV and film studios were sent ransom demands back in April.

Either way, good on CD Projekt Red for being so open and refusing to meet the demands of criminals.

Source: Twitter

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CD Projekt Red Defy Ransom Demands For Early Cyberpunk 2077 Design Docs - TheSixthAxis

Forbes

CD Projekt Red Reveals It's Being Blackmailed For Stolen 'Cyberpunk 2077' Files Forbes There are few developers more beloved than CD Projekt Red after the release of their epic RPG The Witcher 3, and everyone has been eager for new information about their next project, Cyberpunk 2077. But today, CD Projekt Red took to Twitter to publicly ... Cyberpunk 2077 assets stolen by actual cyberpunksEurogamer.net Witcher dev says Cyberpunk 2077 internal files being held for ransomPolygon CD Projekt Red: Thieves Stole Cyberpunk 2077 Documents, Asked For RansomKotaku Engadget -IGN -Twitter all 75 news articles »

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CD Projekt Red Reveals It's Being Blackmailed For Stolen 'Cyberpunk 2077' Files - Forbes

The most tantalizing predictions of cyberpunk never came true. There are no gangs of cyborgs ruling shantytowns in New York City and there are no corporations larger than the federal government. But the sci-fi subgenre envisions such dystopias being underpinned by something subtler: the state of mans soul when there are no longer limits.

The 1980s provided fertile ground for the piercing new vision of science fiction pioneered by William Gibson and his contemporaries. The global capitalism of Reagan and Thatcher ceded agency from nation-states to nation-agnostic corporations. Less obvious but just as important was the fact that the space race was over and Star Treks naivety was laid bare. Computers, not spaceships, would become the measure of progression towards the future. The sleek, utopian vision of the mid-century futurism was further discredited by soaring crime in urban centers.

Modernity that was once expected to bring matching space unitards instead brought radical self-expression. The overabundance of choice, these authors suggested, leads to decadence, decay and a society where people cant see clearly without losing their humanity.

And so the heroes of cyberpunk are outsidersthe punks to which the genre owes half its name. In cyberpunk, there are no more grand narratives about progress and triumph. Humans have nowhere to go and decay is globalized; this is sci-fi without the comforting thought of alien life. Readers experience an Earth where the concept of place has passed its expiration date. Protagonists, like the megacorporations they tangle with, exist across borders, anywhere being as familiar or foreign as anywhere else. Neon Japanese syllabary studs skyscrapers that loom over the crowded downtowns of American cities. Virtual reality is at once a catalyst and a coping mechanism for social breakdown.

What is an individual to do in the face of such brutal atomization? Why, he takes individualism to its perverse conclusions, William Gibsons Neuromancer suggests. Take the following passage:

His face was a simple graft grown on collagen and shark-cartilage polysaccharides, smooth and hideous.

The novel implies that the character might appear a little later with a completely different face. Self was another uncertainty that had been sloughed off by ceaseless momentum. Even the authors jargon serves to impart a feeling of unfamiliarity.

Were starting to live in a time when such terrible and wondrous things are not only technically possible but socially acceptable. Headlines were made last month over a fetal lamb being grown in an artificial uterus. The creature, invaded with tubes, suckles and kicks inside its bulging, rippling enclosure. The juxtaposition of twitching organism and sterile, utilitarian plastic is simply cyberpunk. Gender is going the way of that thugs cartilage-grown face. Male and female is looking more like Coke and Pepsi, with some opting to make their own artisanal cola blends. As rootlessness moves from exception to rule, obligations to others begin to look like hindrances. It isnt difficult to see how three-parent babies in polycarbonate wombs fit into all of this.

Change is fast these days. We can feel acceleration that was once only perceptible between generations. At the same time, the past is more crystallized than its ever been before. Todays everyman, immersed in a data-sphere orders of magnitude more efficient than any library, can see more clearly than ever that things were different in an ever-familiar past. A world with meaning resolves ever sharper as we speed away from it.

But the left-liberal ethic that was once a vantage point from which the genres founders saw so far is now fogging their sight, restricting them to toiling within the status quo. Cyberpunk has come true in ways that makes progressives uncomfortable if they are unpacked. The genres founders married a criticism of corporations to the dreary aesthetic of rootlessness, but progressivism only offers a critique of the former on its own merits. Take away the violence and grit and you get Brave New World, a world that the gender ideologue cant levy an argument against. Consumerization of the body, reproduction and social relations lost their conspicuous ugliness when they were rebranded as liberation. (Outside of sci-fi, the only major literary figure who tackles these issues, Michel Houellebecq, is painted as a reactionary.)

Gibsons upcoming book, Agency, has a plot one would expect from a lesser author: the future is awful because Trump was elected president. This might seem like a perplexing lack of creativity, but consider the intervening third of a century. Gibson was in the business of scrutinizing Frankensteinization when it was a distant flight of fancy. But becoming a Frankenstein monster of hormones and surgery is here and celebration is mandatory. Dialing down ones own ability to notice things to the level of a Daily Kos commenter becomes a matter of survival. This new subject matter reflects the aesthetics of culture that snapped his leash: lifeless and brutal in its insipid repetition.

Stories motivated by political disappointment are doomed to be forgotten as the election cycle resets. Cyberpunk, on the other hand, is more popular now than even during its literary heyday of the 80s. The blockbuster Ghost in the Shell hit theaters earlier this year and will be followed by a sequel to the seminal Blade Runner in October. Their combined budget probably exceeds that of every cyberpunk film that came before (there arent many.) Cyberpunk 2077 is set to cost around $100 million, making it the most expensive role-playing video game ever made. If we put on our cyberpunk goggles, all of this means something. Capitalism is a computer that processes desire.

Cyberpunk is not becoming marketable because it offers a solution for society. The message is clear that, in face of inexorable rot, the individual loses his sanity or loses his soul. What the genre does offer is a third choice: to view breakneck dehumanization as a roller coaster ride. There is grim exhilaration in the acceptance that an awesome decline cannot be stopped. A future that was once dark and hopeless is now dark and beautiful when one dives headlong into it. Ugliness becomes thrilling and alienation becomes adventure. The homogenous, numbing light of Brave New Worlds dystopia is replaced by the dreamy atmosphere of neon-lit alleys. Sisyphus cant change his fate, but he can refuse to nod and clap, blank-eyed, at the worlds loss of meaning.

Robert Mariani is the opinion editor at The Daily Caller and the co-founder of Jacobite, a magazine of the post-political right. Follow him on Twitter @robert_mariani

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Cyberpunk Is Now Reality | The American Conservative - The American Conservative