So, Friday marked the first in what is supposedly going to be a series of videos posted on 1up that take the form of a dinner conversation with folks in the industry. The first one is between Mark MacDonald, Erik Wolpaw, Jonathan Mak, and Dylan Cuthbert.
I found it pretty interesting and thought folks around here might be interested in it. Hopefully they keep it up.
I agree that it was an excellent segment – seems like an alternative way to get developers and other industry folks to engage in some freeform discussion (albeit moderated by a 1UP staffer or contact), when getting such a group to chat on 1UP Yours wouldn’t be feasible. Definitely looking forward to seeing more of them.
It did, however, make me all the more aware of the distracting cinematography that seems to be a hallmark of 1UP-produced videos. The occasional shifts in focus are tolerable, but the really forced framing of shots (e.g. getting two participants heads positioned just so between the necks of wine bottles or putting someone’s cubicle toys in the extreme foreground) has become a bit of a nuisance.
I’m not sure I understand how Children of Men evokes a Half-Life feel.
Each one is set in a dystopia where people are coping with the effects of their own apocalyptic scenario (aliens invading vs. no more children). Misery permeates the atmosphere in both games, with little, flimsy refuge (Eli’s lab vs. Michael Cain’s house), and the existence of a small but determined resistance to the status quo. Overbearing, brutal military.
City 17 and the City in Children of Men are both war torn and both had a populace incapable of conception. Well it’s forbidden at least in HL2 if I remember correctly.
Yeah the reproduction motif is also present in both. Just as you arrive at City 17 Dr Breen is addressing the issue of the Combine preventing humans from reproducing. In Episode 1, Kleiner tells everyone they should start having sex with the Citadel down.
Really? I saw Children of Men a few years after playing HL2, and the first thought I had during the long, uncut shot was that it really reminded me of the City 17 uprising level in HL2.