Category Archives: Cyberpunk

CD Projekt Group has announced that they have acquired the development studio behind Flame in the Flood, The Molasses Flood. The development studio is formed by video games developers behind hits such as Halo and BioShock. The press releases says that Molasses Flood will be working in close cooperation with CD Projekt Red but they will remain a separate group of developers and wont be merged into current teams at CD Projekt Red. CD Projekt Red is the team behind The Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077. The press release states that the new studio will be working on its own ambitious project which is based on one of CD PROJEKTs IPs.

Were always on the lookout for teams who make games with heart. The Molasses Flood share our passion for video game development, theyre experienced, quality-oriented, and have great technological insight. Im convinced they will bring a lot of talent and determination to the Group.

From the inception of The Molasses Flood, it was our goal to create games that touch and inspire people. When CD PROJEKT approached us about the possibility of working together, we saw an incredible opportunity to reach a much wider audience through a collaboration with a company we love, creating games in worlds we love. We could not be more excited to continue our mission with the support of CD PROJEKT and their incredibly talented team.

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Cyberpunk 2077 is a classic example of how a hyped-up game with high expectations can go terribly wrong. The games release was almost pathetic, as it was riddled with bugs and glitches. The graphics of the game could not be called next-gen and the game also witnessed multiple crashes as well. In fact, the games release was so haphazard and lethargic that fans even wanted a refund.

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The game was in a pitiful state. So much so that Sony called back the games from their e-stores and Xbox was offering refunds.

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However, someway, somehow, CD Projekts title managed to find a place in the Game of the Year nominations for best RPG.

Read More:Video Game Franchises returning to console

Fans expressed on Twitter their frustrations with the game being part of The Game Awards 2021.

Other fans mocked the game for its system requirements. When the system requirements of a game are generally published, it usually indicates the best settings to run the game on with regard to the hardware. However, in Cyberpunk 2077s case, the best the system requirements could offer was low to mid-tier graphics.

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Needless to say, the gaming community did not look very favorably towards this game being added to the list of nominees for the best RPG game of the year.

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about 16 hours ago

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People Ridiculing Cyberpunk 2077 Being Nominated for RPG of the Year - EssentiallySports

Nvidia made a bevy of announcements this morning, including the new Nvidia ICAT tool for comparing image quality. Nvidia also introduced version 2.3 of its DLSS upscaling technology. The updated DLSS 2.3 is already being integrated into more than 15 released games, with Cyberpunk 2077 and Rise of the Tomb Raider being the first titles to receive a patch update today.

According to a press release from Nvidia, DLSS 2.3 makes even smarter use of motion vectors to improve object detail in motion, particle reconstruction, ghosting, and temporal stability.

Titles that will support the new version of DLSS include: Baldurs Gate 3, Bright Memory: Infinite, Crysis 2 Remastered, Crysis 3 Remastered, Deathloop, DOOM Eternal, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy The Definitive Edition, Jurassic World Evolution 2, Marvels Guardians of the Galaxy, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Sword & Fairy 7, and Farming Simulator 22, which is slated to launch November 22.

Nvidia also announced a few titles that will now support its DLSS upscaling this November, thanks to its easy-to-implement plugins for Unreal Engine and native support in Unity. Assetto Corsa Competizione, Battlefield 2042, Myth of Empires, Bright Memory: Infinite, Elder Scrolls Online, Hot Wheels Unleashed, and Jurassic World Evolution 2 will all adopt DLSS. Titles like AWAY: The Survival and Myth of Empires, releasing on November 17 and 18, respectively, will also support DLSS upon release.

Although not all of these games will officially support the new version of DLSS, it is possible to swap between different versions of DLSS, including the newest version, if a title already supports the feature. Results may not always work when doing a "manual upgrade" of DLSS, but so far we've had good luck.

These newly announced titles are now part of Nvidias growing library of 130-plus games that support its DLSS technology. This is an edge the companys DLSS has had over AMDs FSR upscaling offering since the beginning of its battle for supremacy within the gaming space.

The latest version of DLSS comes alongside a new Game Ready Driver and the aforementioned ICAT, which provides users a simple way to compare the quality between two images. All of these updates are publicly available starting today.

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Nvidia Releases DLSS 2.3, Coming to Over 15 Games This Month - Tom's Hardware

In the year that marked fashion as well as many other areas of culture and entertainment the long-awaited return to the physical sphere and the catwalks in the presence of the public, Balenciaga seems to want to build its own completely independent path in the digital and metaverse. And it doesnt seem to want to stop. After a few months, in fact, from the launch of Fortnite skins and the mini-episode of The Simpsons, the fashion house has recently presented the campaign of the spring 22 collection by implementing each look with cybernetic facial covers.

In shots by photographer Andrea Artemisio, the ready-to-wear looks debuted during the virtual fashion show including collaborations with Gucci (The Hacker Project) and Crocs (Balenciaga Crocs 2. 0), and the Balenciaga Runner Sneakers are complemented and encompassed by the cyberpunk, cybernetic, exoskeletal works of Japanese artist Hiroto Ikeuchi, who had already lent her work for a music video of Arca (KLK ft. Rosala) last year.

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The exoskeletons of Balenciagas new campaign - Domus

There are many good reasons why developers sometimes need to push back their games release dates, with the ongoing pandemic being the chief example of the past year-and-a-half. While these delays are almost always totally understandable, theres no denying that, for fans eager to see their most-anticipated games debut, those statement images that pop up on Twitter (you know the ones) are fearful prospects indeed. But, theres another side to them, too compiledtogether into one enormous collection, theyre kind of pure art.

Thats just what Mark Brown, the creator of a YouTube series on game design called Game Makers Toolkit, has done with an impressively extensive, curated series of tweets. You know, Im something of a collector, Brown posts. What do I collect? Why, the images that publishers tweet when they delay their games, of course. Starting with one of those immediately recognisable, bright yellow screens announcing a Cyberpunk 2077 delay (the one that pushed it back to September 17, 2020), the series goes on to capture a ton of those ominous image-tweet announcements from the past couple of years.

We can see many of the gaming greats ofrecent(ish) times, and some of those that have yet to make their glorious arrivals in the mix. Weve gotDeathloop, Doom Eternal, Halo Infinite, Humankind, Total War: Warhammer III, and well, plenty others in the collection.

Are these not the ultimate, defining artefact of the current videogame era? Brown jokes in one, and asks, is this art? in another. Well, thats for you to decide, really. Just spare a thought for your dedicated gaming news writers at sites like this fair orange one right here when these tweets pop up its not easy speed-transcribing the contents of an image when theres no website blog alternative available. Heres some of Browns impressive collection:

Heres some more:

Heres the grand finale:

If youre keen to see whats on the horizon, be sure to check out our rundown of upcoming PC games to keep a weather eye out for. Sadly, it was announced thatSaints Row has been delayed by about six months this morning but, hey, at least the post makesa nice addition to this collection.

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This massive 'collection' of game delay posts is pure art - PCGamesN

GTA 3/Cyberpunk 2077

Yesterday, Cyberpunk 2077 started trending on social media, and surprise, it wasnt because of any new updates to the game. Rather, it was because people were comparing the disastrous launch of the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy: The Definitive Edition, to the release of Cyberpunk 2077, one of the biggest letdowns in gaming.

For me, thats actually an insult to Cyberpunk 2077, because what were seeing with the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition is worse.

Dont get me wrong, I can still recite the list of Cyberpunk 2077s crimes by heart. The game was barely playable on last-gen consoles, so much so that Sony removed the entire game from the PlayStation store for six months. Ahead of launch, CDPR said Cyberpunk would perform well on last-gen consoles, but didnt give out console review codes ahead of time and that ended up being far from the case.

The game itself fell short of the lofty expectations that had been set for it, as it was missing a lot of features, had issues with AI and a myriad of goofy bugs at launch. It wasnt the game that was promised, even if over time, many fans found they could have a good time with it, and opinions have somewhat softened a year later for many. That said, it remains a cautionary tale.

Cyberpunk 2077

So, if all this went wrong, why am I saying whats going on with the GTA Definitive Edition is worse?

One quote I read yesterday was that CDPR shot for the moon with Cyberpunk 2077 and missed, while Rockstar shot for the ground and somehowstill missed.

Cyberpunk 2077 was attempting to make a sprawling, brand new RPG and surpass the beloved Witcher 3. The GTA Definitive Edition was simply remastering a bunch of old games, a seemingly far easier task, and it still went so, so terribly wrong.

Whats going on with the PC edition of the game right now is bizarre. Sony took Cyberpunk offline on the PS store, but you could still buy physical copies or play the digital version you already owned. But Rockstar itself has taken the PC version of GTA down in order to remove files left inside it ranging from everything from unlicensed songs to proprietary company tools to the San Andreas Hot Coffee sex mod. So, even if you bought the PC version, Rockstar is literally preventing you from playing it indefinitely.

Theres also the broadness of the poor performance to consider. Cyberpunk 2077 was a sliding scale. The PC version of the game actually ran and looked pretty great, even at launch. Xbox Series X and PS5 playing upconverted last-gen versions were okay, not amazing. Last gen consoles, especially base PS4 and Xbox One, were quite bad. But GTA Definitive Edition? All the versions, all six, PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch are all performing badly for most players. People have commented that somehow PS3 ran GTA 5 better than a PS5 is running GTA 3. How is that happening?

GTA

Cyberpunks issue was that it leaned too hard into the PC version while ignoring consoles. Rockstars problem is that they tasked a mobile-based studio with remastering these three games mostly based on a mobile port, and as a result, the hardware doesnt matter because the software has so many issues.

Finally, perhaps the worst aspect of all this, something that elevates what Rockstar has done here to a new level, is the fact that they spent time hunting down player-made remaster mods and taking those offline, and then stopped selling the original versions of the game altogether, clearing the way for this remaster which is worse than any of them. That was a terrible, terrible move, and fans are rightly roasting them for it now, given the state of the game.

This is not a project that should have been done halfheartedly. These are three of the most popular, most beloved games in industry history. They deserved proper care and attention for a quality remaster, not whateverthis was. And it does not jibe with what Take-Twos Strauss Zelnick said in March about taking the time to do remasters correctly:

"Remastering has always been a part of the strategy. What we've done differently than the competition is we don't just port titles over," he said. "We actually take the time to do the very best job we can making the title different for the new release for the new technology that we're launching it on."

Cyberpunk 2077 had its issues, but zooming back to look at the full picture, I think whats happening with the GTA Definitive Edition here is clearly worse, given the context, and how much easier the task at hand should have been. Well see what fixes they roll out, but this entire endeavor might be irreparable damaged at its core.

Follow meon Twitter,YouTube,FacebookandInstagram. Subscribe to my free weekly content round-up newsletter,God Rolls.

Pick up my sci-fi novels theHerokiller seriesand itsaudiobook, andThe Earthborn Trilogy, also onaudiobook.

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The GTA Trilogy Isnt The New Cyberpunk 2077, The Definitive Edition Is Worse - Forbes

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. shares fell more than 5% Monday following a glitchy launch from the companys Grand Theft Auto franchise that lasted through the weekend.

Take-Two TTWO, -5.45% shares fell as much as 7% to an intraday low of $174.82, and closed the regular session down 5.5% at $177.60. In comparison, the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.00% finished the day virtually flat, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.04% declined less than 0.1%.

Back on Thursday, Take-Twos Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy Definitive Edition on all major platforms, and since then several outlets have been reporting bugs, outraged gamers demanding refunds, and that those who bought the PC version of the game had not been able to play the game at all.

On Rockstars support page and Twitter account, the studio said it had updated the game and apologized for the inconvenience.

In a note, Jefferies analyst Andrew Uerkwitz, who has a buy rating and a $231 price target on Take-Two, said the launch will likely cause investors to lower their December quarter estimates and continue to question TTWOs ability to expand the portfolio while maintaining quality.

Admitting that his expectations for the launch had already been low, Uerkwitz said the launch troubles likely will likely remove some upside, and that while several fixes have already been implemented, including the PC version being available again; we do wonder how the game got launched in this state.

Gamers and investors have become particularly unforgiving when a game is released and it contains bugs. Thats become an even bigger issue since last years buggy release of the long-awaited and overdue Cyberpunk 2077 from CD Projekt SA CDR, -0.80% that forced distributors like Sony Group Corp. 6758, +1.31% to offer full refunds.

Since the Cyberpunk 2077 debacle, the number of delayed game releases has risen noticeably. Back in September, Take-Two said expansions of theGrand Theft Auto franchise and two immersive core titles would be delayed. In this past year, Electronic Arts Inc. EA, -2.86% delayed therelease of Battlefield 2042by a month, and Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI, +1.06% said it was delaying the release Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV.

Of the 27 analysts who cover Take-Two, 17 have buy ratings and 10 have hold ratings, along with an average target price of $214.09, according to FactSet data.

Earlier in the month, Take-Two raised its bookings forecasts for the year during its quarterly earnings report.

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Take-Two stock falls more than 5% after Rockstar Games has 'Grand Theft Auto' trouble - MarketWatch

Blade Runner is a film franchise with a remarkable pedigree and enduring legacy. For 35 years, the on-screen iterations of the IP stood as one film and a few videogames from the mid-90s. Then, in 2017, three short films were added in the lead-up to Denis Villeneuves sequel to Ridley Scotts classic. And now Crunchyroll and Adult Swim add to that legacy with Blade Runner: Black Lotus, a new animated series that premieres on Nov. 13. Given the way the worlds been going, this particular dystopia might be more relevant than ever.

Based on Philip K. Dicks 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the 1982 film Blade Runner received mixed reviews at first, but had outsized influence. The film helped popularize the cyberpunk subgenre of science fictionpioneered by novels like William Gibsons Neuromancer and Neal Stephensons Snow Crashfor global screen-going audiences, leading to a direct design and thematic influence on various futuristic works from seminal anime films Ghost in the Shell and Akira to the Star Wars prequels and Batman Beyond. Longstanding fans and newcomers alike can get a new view on the fictionalized megalopolis Los Angeles in Black Lotus. The new series reunites the creators behind last years Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045, executive producer Joseph Chouwho has been trying to bring the series to animation since seeing The Animatrix and produced the 2017 anime short Blade Runner: Blackout 2022and directors Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama.

The influential 1982 film, a high-tech, gritty neo-noir starring Harrison Ford, has been released as several different cuts. While the book was originally set in the sprawling megalopolis Los Angeles of 1992, the film changed the date to 2019a future where robots called replicants are built with expiration dates and implanted memories designed to perfectly mimic humans, and where specific police detectives are required to chase down and eliminate the runaways. These special police are colloquially called Blade Runnersthe occupation held by both Harrison Fords Decker in 1982 and Ryan Goslings K in the 2017 sequel.

A recurring theme coursing through the plot of both films is the question of what makes us human? Do robots designed to look, act, think, and feel like humans deserve autonomy and human rights? A conflict between humans and the robots made to serve them culminated in the anime short film Blade Runner: Blackout 2022, and sat foreboding in wait during the events of Blade Runner: 2049. Blade Runner: Black Lotus asks those questions and more of its audience, as Jessica Henwick stars as Elle, an amnesiac replicant whose only link to her forgotten past is the titular black lotus tattoo on her shoulder. Henwick, who starred in Netflixs Blood of Zeus animated show and has a starring role in the upcoming Matrix: Resurrections, will be the first female protagonist of a Blade Runner property.

She is joined by an all-star cast that includes Will Yun Leerecently seen in Netflixs two-season television adaptation of Richard Morgans cyberpunk novel Altered Carbonand self-professed geek and lifelong sci-fi fan Stephen Root, who plays Chief Earl Grant, a villain with a perspective Root describes as prejudicial.

During a recent press junket, the actors had nothing but praise for Chou, Aramaki, Kamiyama, and voice director Wes Gleason. They report Kamiyama-san and Aramaki-san were getting up at three and four in the morning local time to record with the actors across the world, remotely because of COVID. Root mentioned another challenge caused by the pandemic was the difficulty of finding a place to record because so many places just werent available. Overlap in Henwicks filming schedule meant that she was in Berlin preparing to film that other influential dystopian sci-fi property, The Matrix, and recording from there. Lee pointed-out that Chous skill as a polyglot and Gleasons interpretive knack for voice direction helped bridge the gap between the Japanese and U.S. sensibilities of the creative team, creating a seamless creative vision between the cast and the creators.

All three also described the breathtaking nature of the world their characters get to inhabit, and how the CG animation style left them in awe. That world is a major part of Blade Runners legacy and its staying power. Its something that Chou, Kamiyama, and Aramaki thought a lot about. The executive producer said that they knew this was a big glove to fill, that they needed to make something distinguishable and recognizable as Blade Runner, and that they wanted to find a middle-ground between the cartoonish and photorealistic ends of the CG animation spectrum.

Blade Runner was revolutionary for science fiction fans and creators. The neon signs, dark alleys, rain-soaked streets, and artfully-but-inarticulately constructed kanjiwhich Kamiyama-san described (through Chous translation) as endearing if flawedbecame mainstays of sprawling cyberpunk worlds. We saw this in The Fifth Element in 1997, and in the nonsense Korean signs in this years cyberpunk twin-stick shooter, The Ascent. All of these storiesBlade Runner and Blade Runner: 2049, Altered Carbon, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, even the 1995 and 2012 Judge Dredd moviesuse scale to impress upon the audience the alienating nature of metropolitan life. The Blade Runner stories specifically deal with individuals trying to decipher their identity and their memory as small cogs in a greater machine.

The films are set on Earth in Los Angeles even though they exist in a universe where off-world colonization and warfare are happening. The stories zoom in on people that might be insignificant, getting a chance at significance. And 2049 focused on a subversion of what that significance might mean. Theyre tools used by the powerful to oppress people like them. Theyre individuals thrust into the crosshairs of conflict while working their regular jobs. Blade Runner is the apex of cyberpunk neo-noir, and Blade Runner: Black Lotus is going to provide a whole new angle on that by focusing on a protagonist who works entirely outside of the system.

The adaptation of the series from the medium of film to television means making creative choices to adapt a cerebral story into an animated series; trying to hold onto what makes Blade Runner special while bringing it to a new form and audience. Aramaki (through Chou) stated that they needed to consider things like What is the point of the series being done through CG animation? [] What kind of action do we want to use here? What kind of entertainment can we provide? What is something new that we can contribute to the franchise? These ideas led to the fresh perspective that Blade Runner: Black Lotus will bring to the screen.

The film-to-television conversion also naturally includes the expansion of the character base to avoid running out of story to tell about one character, as Chou put it. In addition to the aforementioned actors, Wes Bentley takes over the role of Niander Wallace Jr., Jared Letos antagonist from Blade Runner: 2049. Brian Cox voices his father, Niander Wallace Sr. Josh Duhamel, Peyton List, Samira Wiley, Barkhad Abdi, Henry Czerny, Jason Spisak, Gregg Henry, and Elias Toufexis round-out the English language cast.

The directing teams purpose of the show is not just to be faithful to Blade Runners canon, but to expand the essence of Blade Runner. Coming into a new medium, the show offers a chance to serve as an entry point for people that did not get to experience the franchises advancement over the last 30 years.

With any piece of art, especially fiction, there has to be a consideration of how that art can ring true, and touch on parts of the lives real people are living. Cyberpunk is more poignant than ever, with advanced capitalism, mass corporate consolidation, and environmental degradation prevalent in our minds and in our world.

It has become surreal that Blade Runners commentary on contemporary society seems all the time less far off from reality, even if the dates are off. It is a franchise that, as executive producer Joseph Chou puts it, looks at class struggle and has in the replicants something that interprets issues of racial discrimination, as well as environmental problems. The themes of the series are more relevant than ever.

Blade Runner: Black Lotus deals with a giant corporation abusing technology to take over society. With the technology of replicants, the series will focus, as the movies before it, on the worth and meaning of a human life: what makes us human? As Henwick put it, As technology evolves over time and artificial intelligence becomes so much more evolved[] where does consciousness begin and end? What power is granted by the Wallace Corporations control of replicant technology and the means of economic production? What different sorts of problems might a female replicant with no past deal with that a male replicant cop does not? What freedom is afforded to her coming from outside of the system? These are plot-specific questions but they speak to problems and truths drawn from the real world.

Blade Runner is a franchise that delivers spectacle while delivering claustrophobia at scale. It visually and rhetorically delivers a dark aesthetic. Blade Runners mesmerizing visuals have captured the hearts and minds of fans and of creators that duplicate and imitate it through their own work. As we speed into a world encouraging us to participate in society by dissolving into technology, all its themes remain relevant. In Blade Runner: Black Lotus, we may have a singular piece of animation that speaks to its moment.

Blade Runner: Black Lotus premieres Saturday, Nov. 13 at midnight on Cartoon Networks Adult Swim and Crunchyroll.

Kevin Fox, Jr. is a freelance writer and Paste intern. He loves videogames, film, history, pop culture, sports, and human rights, and can be found on Twitter @kevinfoxjr.

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Blade Runner: Black Lotus and the Perpetual Relevance of Cyberpunk - Paste Magazine

And then there is The Matrix, which in 1999 took the metaverse to a whole new nightmarish level: there, the virtual world is a faithful replica of the real world. It was built by machines in order to harvest humans and exploit their natural heat and bioelectricity. In each of these works, therefore, the metaverse (or cyberspace, or Matrix) is a place that reminds us more of a nightmare than of a dream.

Perhaps The Matrix is the best allegory of the metaverse that is emerging in our reality, in which we are offered a virtual Eden to bury our heads in the sand and lead satisfying simulacra of life, while out there the climate crisis, the pandemic, inequality and exploitation are raging. Here it is, the metaverse promised by Zuckerberg: an environment in which we can invite friends avatars into our digital homes even if there is a lockdown, in which we can ski even when the snow no longer exists, in which we can already pretend to live in beautiful villas although in reality we are forced to live with roommates until we are 40.

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A brief history of the metaverse, from cyberpunk to Mark Zuckerberg - Domus

You may recall earlier this year when Hyundai introduced an EV restomod of its Pony hatchback the brands first mass-produced car as well as its first exported out of South Korea. With its recognizably Giugiaro wedge silhouette, the Pony was the perfect candidate for Hyundai to gut and electrify, in a cyberpunk sort of way. Now Hyundais moved onto its second act in this series, doing the same with its Grandeur premium sedan.

The Grandeur was Hyundais original flagship, though we know it better today as the Azera, which left the U.S. in 2017 around the time Genesis became a thing. The first generation of the sedan was sold from 1986 to 1992 and was essentially a badge-swapped Mitsubishi Debonair. It wouldnt be until the third-generation Grandeur emerged in 1998 sold here as the XG that Hyundai would design the car entirely in-house without involvement from Mitsubishi.

If that sounds familiar, its not terribly unlike the story of how the Pony came to be, as that hatch was a Morris Marina under the skin with Mitsubishi running gear. Theres something poetic about Hyundai taking its earliest products designed at a time when it lacked the scale or experience to build cars alone and reinventing them today with the full brunt of its global manufacturing muscle. Hyundai, look how far youve come.

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And so this Grandeur is a confluence of past and present in the coolest ways. Its still boxy as ever, but Hyundais interior design team in charge of the project led by Sang-ah Ko, Lee Dong-won and Woo-soon Choi per Korean Car Blog formed a through line to the automakers current aesthetic by employing the same pixel lighting motif that defines the new Ioniq 5. These little cube LEDs form the headlights and taillights, perfectly mimicking the graph-paper grid pattern of the grille. The brushed aluminum trim and silver turbofan-esque wheels are 80s as ever, but classy and discreet about it.

Really though, this Grandeur is most notable for its interior, which hearkens back to a very outdated sense of cushy, velvet-lined luxury. Think Cadillac of 40 years ago, with the benefit of Japans bubble-era technological dominance via the Mitsubishi connection. The seat upholstery is red velvet, though lacking the overstuffed, diamond-stitched pillowy patterns that the original Grandeurs thrones wouldve had. The door cards have been resurfaced in black leather, with amber light strips repeating down their sides. I absolutely love the warm glow they lend to the cabin.

Backseat passengers will take note of the speakers in the doors. Rather than obscuring these drivers with a plastic shroud, Hyundais interior designers decided to proudly call attention to them, lighting the hardware from the inside. Coupled with the infinity mirrors in the roof bringing the pixel motif into the car, its like sitting inside an opulent 80s nightclub on wheels, furnished with modern technology.

The original Grandeurs dashboard was overpopulated with little buttons partitioned by purpose. As youd expect, this tribute ditches all of that for an extra-long tablet that spans about two thirds of the dashs width, and hovers over an ebony shelf. Another vertical touchscreen faces the shifter, an oversized handle that looks like it could also govern half a citys worth of electricity at a power plant. I also like the mirror controls on the doors, this unbroken piece of stainless steel that belongs on a really nice beard trimmer.

Hyundai hasnt offered information on the powertrain of this one-off Grandeur, but thats not especially relevant. The key is its electric, which is of course at odds with the retro shell. Lots of carmakers are stuffing batteries inside old cars to garner some Instagram likes for a day or two Opel did it, Maserati too and so did Ford. Its getting a little tiresome, but its still a cool gesture when done well.

While writing this, I looked up the current Grandeur to remind myself what Hyundais flagships become, and what itd look like today if the Azera didnt disappear from our shores. Its a very stylish sedan actually really pretty, I think but even so, the manufacturer couldnt justify selling it in the U.S. Nostalgia sells though, and I reckon people with far thicker wallets than I would spend six figures on cars that look this faithfully old, but actually arent.

A straight restomod like this would never pass modern crash safety tests, of course. Still, given the popularity of 80s sci-fi nowadays, there must be a lane for a new car that looks legitimately ancient from the outside, not just retro-inspired like, say, the Ioniq 5. Folks still foam at the mouth over the DeLorean and will probably never stop. Theres a real opportunity here Hyundai, Im telling you.

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The Hyundai Grandeur Heritage Restomod Is '80s Luxury Gone Cyberpunk - Jalopnik