Who's excited for READY PLAYER ONE ?

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Who's excited for READY PLAYER ONE ?

Post by neps » Thu Mar 15, 2018 12:18 am

delorean-back-to-the-future.jpg
Greetings!

Been feeling the buzz of this new movie, and curious if others are as excited as I am?

In the novel, everyone is going crazy in this VR world called the OASIS, in order to find the Egg, which will bestow the winner the control of the virtual world, fame and fortune. The creator was a big fan of the '80s, so the people hunting for the Egg heavily research / obsess over the '80s in hopes of learning tips to find the Egg or the challenges to get the keys.

Parzival, the name of the alias of the main character, has a car in the OASIS which is a BTTF Delorean with a KITT scanner in the front, and KITTs AI inside. The car is clearly like this on the exterior from the trailers, but I'm curious to see if the AI and William Daniels make an appearance inside.

The author Ernie Cline (who lives in Austin, TX, where I once resided!) also has a Delorean with references to BTTF and Ghostbusters he just recently added a KITT scanner to in order to align better with the character's car.

Check it out, looks pretty fun: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc0VJiEHpNu ... rnestcline

Also here is more about the movie: http://readyplayeronemovie.com/

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Re: Who's excited for READY PLAYER ONE ?

Post by Knight Racer » Fri Mar 16, 2018 7:33 am

I can't wait to see the movie. Seen moments referencing Clark Kent, Big Giant robot, and a few other things I loved from television/movies. Wonder if the A-team, Alf, Robocop, Highlander, hulk would be fun too for me.

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Re: Who's excited for READY PLAYER ONE ?

Post by Assasinge » Sun Apr 01, 2018 8:40 am

The references look really cool but it seems like the movie isn't well received, and neither is the book.

:(

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Re: Who's excited for READY PLAYER ONE ?

Post by Cyrus Ramsey » Sun Apr 01, 2018 3:50 pm

I'd like to know if the KITT-Lorean talks. If so, who voices it? I checked the IMDB page and couldn't find a credit for a KITT voice actor, but then, William Daniels wasn't credited in the original series, so I dunno...

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Re: Who's excited for READY PLAYER ONE ?

Post by neps » Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:40 pm

Saw the movie this weekend, thought it was a great nostalgia ride! Def with pluses and minuses and will debate with people if there is interest, not going to write a book if people aren't interested. :)

The movie has a pretty solid rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is "certified fresh" which may mean something to some?

Unfortunately the movie doesn't go into the Car too much, which is true for a lot of the books detail. So while the BTTF Delorean, hover converts and has a KITT scanner in the front - there is no mention of the AI inside.

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Re: Who's excited for READY PLAYER ONE ?

Post by Knight Racer » Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:34 pm

Were you able to spot the robocop avatar in the beginning of the movie. My friend couldn't see it and he only saw the bokarai banzai Peter Weller movie reference.

I loved everything to do with the shining reference. Kept telling the H avatar don't go down that hallway, don't go to that room, don't get too close to the naked woman in the shower, don't talk to those twin girls... K now I'm watching the shining sometime this week.

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Re: Who's excited for READY PLAYER ONE ?

Post by jup » Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:48 am

Just came back from the movie, in 3D, no less. So...SPOILER ALERT.

Most certainly hits base with a few generations. And I bet that people will be going through the DVD frame-by-frame to see all the little nostalgic references. Though, my overall feeling is that this movie may not age too well. It definitely feels like the writer grew up in the 80s and may have been a leading character in that former Sony PlayStation experimental world by logging in who-knows-how many hours worth. While this movie is a great notation to the current trend of rising VR gaming and the potential of on-line gaming like WoW and such have, I'd like to think that by the time this world exists for this future generation, they would have been simulating in a virtual world that would be better looking then the...not quite current generation of Final Fantasy. (Oh, sure. There was that one fake out moment where the graphics had to be super realistic. That could hint that everything is an artistic style choice, I suppose) And I definitely think that their generation must be insanely lack luster if their pop culture is all about the idealized concepts of this one game designer and his fascination with all things 80s. (Well, alright. So living in multi-story mobile homes in-between a junk yard is utterly depressing and certainly does reflect one potential future where Humanity's populous is only growing larger...and quite possibly poorer. Going to VR to escape that misery does make sense.) But, I would have thought they might have had something to call their own. Because, I sure know that growing up in the 80s didn't mean that I was totally a buzz about all the big swing bands from the 1930s. If anything, I'd be forced to call this movie's generation the children of stagnation. They're getting by with distractions and seemingly little hope of ever having a future life.

As for the main character's car of choice. That's akin to a DLC BttF DeLorean (as might be seen in Grand Theft Auto) with a J.C. Whitney scanner light add-on for some extra FX. Personally, I found the campy 60s Batmobile DLC with it's 'Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na' tire squeal sound (listen carefully. That little bit might even escape the notice of some.) to be far more entertaining. Now had there been an on-board AI, the mild potentials in a couple scenes was definitely there.

As for the final key's acquisition. I know it was certainly that guy's first time in a blind play through. But...he took way beyond forever to play a game whose world record holders can complete it in under a minute.

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Re: Who's excited for READY PLAYER ONE ?

Post by neps » Sat Apr 07, 2018 10:56 am

Was able to spot robocop in the very beginning when they first talk about the oasis.

Saw it for a second time last night, and did notice a poster with hasselhoff and KITT in the background from the early pilot promotional shots (with the pilot scanner).

It’s in one of the flashback scenes when they view the young marrows room

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Re: Who's excited for READY PLAYER ONE ?

Post by jup » Fri Jun 01, 2018 3:10 pm

The other day, one of my favorite video game streamers was engaged in this game...that kind of seems anti-game. You play this "game" as a janitor. One of those crime scene janitors that has to restore a place to it's former glory. Despite it's semi-science fiction theme, this virtual job took hours. (The stream was over three. And the job still had more to go.) He also commented that this game was something he's played on multiple occasions.

It got me to thinking how there's this rise in simulation games. Like farm equipment operator games. Truck driver simulations. Even a general VR job simulator. And then I thought of this movie.

In an odd way, it just started to make sense. At the time of viewing, I thought it was absurd that people would be stuck inside tiny cubes, doing motions to interact in a VR world to pay off some kind of debt. However, Humanity is entering a new age of being. Self driving technology threatens to remove a few vital jobs. Truck drivers. Taxi cab drivers. Will probably also include pilots and train operators, among other jobs. These are vital jobs to the welfare of modern life. There's also a looming technology of bipedal androids in testing that look to be highly promising replacements in other traditional jobs. That's just waiting for a few key points to be made, like affordable price, practicality and safety concerns. Once one employer brings in these machines to become more efficient at a lower cost rate, Human employed operations are going to suffer heavily and probably fail under their own operating expenses.

Consumer nature analyzed, the people are bound to opt for the best bang for the lowest buck. And when machines can make the best stuff for the price of raw materials...the domino effect just seems inevitable. However, how can any country's economy possibly stand when most of the consumers have no jobs to gain the pay that buys the products available?

And that's when I saw the brilliance in the notion that this movie was showing. Once automation has satisfied the greedy needs of the owners to the world's main lines of business and there are very few jobs left, there can be VR to rely upon. Operating off a power grid that need only be solar charged and battery managed, the costs there become remarkably minimal. VR jobs may not actually produce anything. But, they can most certainly be supplied in infinite amounts. Doing VR jobs keeps the Human populous engaged in something, so as to avoid the kind of homelessness issues we have, today. And these jobs produce virtual cash, not so unlike what we already have in credit cards and banking cards. After all, it's becoming less about having something physical and more about just the pure notion that something is there to govern what we can and can't buy. Plus, some of life's basis values are maintained. We all still need virtual credits to buy the daily bread. Pay the monthly bills with. Pay yearly taxes. It's far more productive, even when nothing is being produced, then just handing out a monthly bail out check to the populous that just sit around and vegetate. And it can help solve some modern day issues...like homelessness, job loss, starvation, domestic disputes and so forth.

It still feels somewhat alien. Alas, in a future where automation is cheaper then the ever increasing minimum wage line and Humanity's populous is just going to keep on increasing, this might be a strange solution to avoiding economic collapse and creating more 3'rd world conditions.

I still think this movie proposes a rather stagnate society that has no generation values to call it's own and is just coasting by with pure distraction to avoid the miserable conditions it resides in. But, it may have far more insight to real world problems than I first gave it credit for.

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