A couple days ago, Deep Silver and Dambuster Studios released the official trailer for Homefront: The Revolution. For those who don't know, the series began with the first-person shooter Homefront, which featured a near future dystopia where North Korea occupied most of the United States. The new game, however, is taking the story in an entirely new direction and has created an alternate history. According to the press release:
"The core premise of Homefront - an occupation on American soil - remains unchanged," said Hasit Zala, Game Director at Dambuster Studios. "But we have created a brand new fiction that offers a very different interpretation of how we got there."
We learn about this new fiction from this mockumentary and this timeline where you need to enter your age to get in. The point of divergence seems to be that North Korea is decisively defeated in the Korean War, which removes the communists and installs a democratic capitalist government. Why this doesn't end with North Korea being reunited with South Korea is anyone's guess. There are other changes as well, for example, the Soviets landing men on the Moon first (and surviving into the 21st century) and John McCain being elected president in 2008.
The true alternate history, however, is that "Steve Jobs" was born in North Korea. He ended up creating revolutionary technology, formed the powerful APEX Corporation and devised a theory about using technology to bring about peace, stability and all that jazz. After he died, his son takes over the company, gets elected Premier of North Korea and essentially merges the state and corporation into one entity. Desptie its size, North Korea is pretty much a global superpower at this point.
Meanwhile the United States becomes increasingly dependent on technology and financial assistance from North Korea, especially with its seemingly endless war in the Middle East (which includes a nuclear attack on Riyadh in 2016). Sadly the United States economy tanks and it is unable to pay its debt to the North Koreans. The Premier acts and shuts down all the technology the United States bought from Apex. The first troops to arrive come with humanitarian aide, but then the real occupation begins.
And if you look at the above picture, you can see an airship, because how else will people tell this is an alternate history without an airship?
So yeah this still is a North Korea wankfest like the first Homefront game, just without the communism. In fact, don't you guys get the feeling that the North Korea in this timeline is just an evil South Korea? South Korea in our timeline is already a major technology hub and dominated by massive conglomerates that influence the government. Isn't that what APEX is? Was the bad guy always supposed to be South Korea or a United Korea, but they changed it at the last minute so as to not to upset a potential market, like they did in the remake to Red Dawn? Or did they just really want North Korea to be the bad guys, regardless of how little sense that made? I'm going with the latter actually.
While I obviously haven't played the game (and probably never will) I will say that I am not impressed at all by the alternate history. It turns North Korea into an evil South Korea and still stacks the deck in their favor to allow them to invade and occupy a nation over 80 times its size (I checked). Maybe the gameplay will make Homefront: The Revolution worth it, but the world-building is just awful.
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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger for Amazing Stories, a volunteer interviewer for SFFWorld and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not exploring alternate timelines he enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the day when travel between parallel universes becomes a reality. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.
I think I like the idea of themed Videos for Alternate Historians. With that in mind, here is a slate of videos featuring Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, the stand-alone prequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order. First up, Achievement Hunter shows us six Easter eggs you can find in the game:
Our next video is also from Achievement Hunter. Lets watch Ryan and Michael try to finish the first hidden nightmare level:
But is the game good? Well...lets see what Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation thinks:
Got any videos or YouTube channels that you want to recommend? Let us know in the comments or at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.
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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. Check out his short fiction. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
A company founded during the Qing dynasty, Nintendo started as a playing card manufacturer before getting into computer electronics with the Nintendo Famicon, which sold well in Japan. After the video game crash in 1983, Nintendo saw North America as an untapped market and looked to capitalize on the their past success.
Home consoles had taken a serious downturn since the fall of Atari. The biggest video game developer cluttered its most famous system, the Atari 2600, with rushed, unpolished, unsatisfactory games like Pac-Man, E.T The Extra Terrestrial and suffered a beyond repair reputation hit after the releases of Beat'Em & Eat'Em and General Custer's Revenge.
After a failed deal with Atari, Nintendo marched into the 1985 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with the Famicon, marketing it as an Advanced Video System. No one, however, was interested. Unable to change people's belief that video games were a passing fad, Nintendo sold few home consoles.
Undaunted, Nintendo came back to the next CES convention in Chicago, later that year and rebranded their Famicon as the Nintendo Entertainment System, marketing it as a toy complete with "R.O.B.", a robotic operating helper, and a light gun, which functioned much like an arcade shooter. Despite all the rebranding, Nintendo once again failed and with the emergence of the more powerful Sega Master System, Nintendo lost the home gaming market in Japan as well as in North America, if they ever had it.
Less than a year later Nintendo filed bankruptcy after failed attempts to produce a successor to the Famicon in Japan, leaving Sega as the only successful gaming company still active. Home computers, however, carried the gaming torch, while innovation in game consoles stagnated. Short-lived rivals to the Master System, included the TurboGrafx-16, which sold only 2.5 million consoles and the return of Atari with the Jaguar, which was an even bigger failure selling less than 250,000 consoles, putting the first big video gaming company out of business for good.
Without a serious competitor, Sega was allowed to own the home console market, despite disgruntled third-party companies like Konami, Square and Capcom, who did not like working for Sega's outdated hardware and the company's inability to abandon the Master System and make a new updated console that could support the technological advancement since the system's launch in 1985.
Eventually, gaming fully shifted towards the computer as many expected. PCs were capable of much better sound and graphics than any home console. Third-party developers flew towards companies like Microsoft and Apple. Classics like Final Fantasy VI, Mega-Man 6 and Castlevania: Rondo of Blood all made their debuts in 1993 on PCs. The companies that left Sega, were credited as the ones who took gaming out of it's stagnant state, allowing for people to see that gaming had changed from the old Atari days of the early 80's.
Sega would ultimately drop out of the home console business, not seeing a sizable market to make an updated version of their Master System and the PC being a better hub for video game development. In 1995, Sega announced their first home computer, called The Genesis, to compete with Microsoft and Apple. The Genesis did well enough in the market to win over some interest in third-party developer's again, but Sega never fully committed to returning to gaming and looked at computers as a safer and easier way to make money.
Today games are looked at as a hobby or as an incentive to buy a computer. Companies like Squaresoft, Konami, Bandai and Capcom dominate the market and are known as the "resurrecting fathers" of modern day gaming.
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In reality: Nintendo was a success in their rebranding efforts. In partnership with Worlds of Wonder, Nintendo was able to garner a following and have a tight grip on the new era of gaming that would last for a decade. Nintendo is credited with saving the gaming industry and people often wonder what if they had indeed failed like their skeptics predicted.
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Vinny Jace blogs at The Unoriginal, where he writes about a whole variety of things from sports, movies, video games, etc.
I openly admit that I am more a child of the
nineteen-nineties and my own nostalgia for the decade likely colors my judgment
when I reflect upon the fourth generation of video game. Some call it the
“16-Bit Wars” and for good reason. Despite its failure to gain a foothold
during the previous generation, Sega finally managed to challenge the seemingly
invincible Nintendo and almost brought the giant to its knees. Yet the company
itself made some questionable decisions--notably creating peripherals like the Sega CD and 32X to extend the life cycle of the aging Genesis. However,
intra-company rivalries between the Japanese and American branches also played
a role in the company’s downfall, giving the narrative the air of a biblical
parable or a Shakespearean tragedy.
As former Sega president Tom
Kalinske said in an interview with Sega-16:
“In
hindsight, I think there probably was. I don’t believe there was from
1991-1993. I think somewhere in the mid ’90s, ’94 or ’95, they built up a great
deal of resentment, and I didn’t realize it at the time, until probably the
latter part of 1995, when one of my colleagues in Japan, who I knew well and
had a good relationship with, said to me something to the effect of “you don’t
understand how browbeat and annoyed the Japanese executives here are because of
your success. Every meeting we go into, Nakayama asks us why can’t you do
things the way the Americans and Europeans did? Why aren’t you guys as
successful as they are? We’ve been around longer.” I think the local
executives didn’t appreciate that he’d take that tone with them. Apparently, he
also beat them up over Sonic, which was never as successful in Japan as
it was in the U.S. and Europe (to this day, that’s the case), and I think he
was always throwing that in their faces too. So clearly, by late ’95 there was
great resentment built up: jealously, resentment, and kind of a desire to get
back at those Americans that Nakayama kept throwing in their faces.”
What few people realize is that Sega and Sony could have released
what would have become the PlayStation as a joint venture, but Sega of Japan
rejected the idea in the belief that, “Sony doesn't know how to make hardware.”
Similarly, Silicon Graphics, the company that designed the CPU for the Nintendo
64, approached
Sega first, but again, Sega of Japan vetoed the idea. Ultimately, it was
the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64 that felled the Sega Saturn during the
fifth generation, which contributed to the fall of the Dreamcast in the sixth.
Nintendo was not without its hubris as well. Many gamers are
aware of the origins of the Sony PlayStation; the company originally partnered
with Nintendo to produce a CD peripheral for the Super Nintendo Entertainment
System. The company also built a prototype PlayStation, which was effectively a
SNES with a CD-ROM drive attached. However, problems arose over the issue of
royalties. Sony wanted the royalties from any CD-based games produced for the
system while Nintendo would take royalties from cartridge-based games. As such,
Nintendo broke their deal with Sony to partner with their competitor, Phillips
after Sony announced the SNES-CD as CES 1991. Ultimately, nothing came out of
Nintendo’s partnership with Phillips, aside from games that received derision from the fans, and
Sony became Nintendo’s chief competitor.
Cronus
Invictus by Thande is one of the more popular video game alternate
histories on AH.com despite its comparative shortness and over four years of
inactivity. Every once in a blue moon when the cows practice their high jumps,
a random poster will try to revive the thread no avail. Video game history in Invictus diverges when Hiroshi Yamauchi,
President and Chairman of Nintendo at the time, reads the contract made with
Sony and both party manage to renegotiate the terms and Nintendo and Sony
release the SNES-CD, dubbed the “Super CD”, add-on in 1993. However, there are
some interesting deviations that occur before the release.
If you are a Sonic fan, then chances are you are aware of
the Simon
Wai Prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog 2
where incomplete levels (notably the Hidden Palace Zone, and to a lesser
extent, the Wood Zone) intrigued fans for well over a decade. Hidden Palace, as
well as the never-completed Genocide City Zone, made it to the final product.
Thande even references the time travel element that ultimately went to Sonic CD being reworked into a
teleportation gimmick for the Hidden Palace boss. Additionally, Sega produced
Sonic games based on the 1993 “SatAM”
animated series and the UK-published Sonic the
Comic. However, the timeline is not a complete Sega wank, despite what the
title would suggest. Atari comes roaring back with the Cougar, marketed towards
young adults and NEC still continues with its PC Engine/TurboGraphix line.
To my relief, the disastrous 32X never saw release and Sega
instead released the Radical as the 32-bit enhanced Sega CD add-on as their
response to the SNES CD. However, Thande stopped work on the timeline before he
could elaborate on the next generation aside from vague rumblings of Sega’s
Project Saturn and Nintendo’s Project Reality, which became the Nintendo 64 in
our timeline, thought the timeline’s title implies whose system triumphs. Cronus Invictus, though inactive, serves
as the template for other timelines to wax the nostalgic about what games could
have been.
Player
Two Start, a joint timeline by Nivek and RySenkari, is one such
timeline that uses the same premise as Cronus
Invictus. Nintendo and Sony produce the SNES-CD, but builds on the format
by writing it in the form of fictional articles, quotes, and reviews. The pair
also goes into greater detail into the content of the games, notably the sequel
to Super Mario World where they list
the themes of the various worlds and the nature of the boss battles. To give
you an idea of how enhanced the SNES-CD is in Player Two Start, the author states that the fictional system is
more powerful than the Neo Geo AES, the most powerful system at the
time. The link provided should give you an idea of the graphical
capabilities of the SNES-CD in this timeline, which is to say amazing
considering the graphical power of a non-enhanced SNES and Genesis. Thus far, Player Two Start has only reached 1993
but the timeline is still ongoing, but considering how updates can be months
apart, it may be a while before we see the next installment. However, with the
cliffhanger the latest installment ends on, I am certain it will be worth the
wait.
And lastly, we come to Beyond
the Genesisby Confortius, which I recommend because of my shameless
partiality towards Sega. Like Player Two
Start its format is partly reviews, but it is most mostly descriptions of
games that could have been and bits of news. Sega avoids the damage caused by
the intra-company rivalries by focusing its next-generation system uses the
Silicon Graphics’ SGI MIPS4000i in lieu on its efforts with the Sega CD and 32X.
While I do not find Beyond the Genesis
as immersive as Player Two Start,
there are enough surprises to raise a few eyebrows. For those who were addicted
to Pokemon as children in the late
nineties, expect a bigger grudge match between Pokemon and Digimon with
Sega’s merger with Bandai, which
collapsed in our timeline.
However, video game alternate histories are ultimately a
niche subject. Despite the industry having its fair share of big personalities
and corporate intrigue (as the Nintendo/Sony debacle had shown us), writing a
novel-length story on an alternate console war would be a challenge to say
least. It is definitely possible but highly improbable, so write them? As the
aforementioned beta version of Sonic 2
has shown us, the incomplete levels made fans curious about what could have
been. The inclusion of a revamped
Hidden Palace Zone for the iOS/Android releases of the game finally gave us
an answer. If Tim Pratt could win a Hugo Award for a short
story featuring a video store from an alternate timeline, why now video
games?
Get cracking, fellow gamers-cum-alternate historians.
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Aspiring writer and platypus enthusiast Ben Ronning has lurked the AH.com boards since June 2006. When he is not roaming the multiverse, he can be found at his blog, Thoughts of a Platypus.
No one can argue that video games have not made an impact on popular culture worldwide. What started as a primitive electronic version of table tennis has blossomed into a multibillion-dollar industry whose releases rival Hollywood blockbusters in terms of hype and anticipation. The medium itself has been a childhood staple for Generation Xers, and Millennials like myself who made blowing dust from our cartridges a ritual (before I learned that the enzymes in my saliva slowly corroded the pin.) I recently purchased a Nintendo Wii U and I could not help but appreciate the fact that such an action would have appalled my younger self twenty years ago.
You see, dear reader, I was born in 1984 and the great 16-Bit Wars waged by Nintendo and then-rival Sega is a vivid memory to me. Back in Christmas of 1993, my parents bought me a Sega Game Gear and a Genesis (better known as the Mega Drive on the opposite sides of the Pacific and Atlantic) the year after. I was an avid fan of Sega and joined their camp in a war waged on the schoolyards across North America. My birth year is also an important touchstone for the industry, because that is year the industry collapsed, toppling the titan known as Atari and bringing the second generation of video games to a close. Atari’s fall brings up an interesting question: “what would have happened if the market did not collapse in 1983-4?” As does the final fall of Sega fifteen years later where the company bowed out of the hardware market to focus on becoming a third-party game developer. Could Sega have prevented it?
To answer the former question: Atari’s ability to prevent the crash depended on a number of factors. First and foremost, is that Atari’s corporate policy did not allow its employees to take credit for the games they programmed. Many programmers, such as David Crane, creator of Pitfall, left the company to form their own studios. Unfortunately, the rise of third-party developers led to a loss of quality control, which deluged the market with sub par games. Unfortunately, Atari also overhyped games that underperformed such as the infamous E.T. The Extraterrestrial and 2600 adaptation of Pac-Man. Atari produced 12 million cartridges despite having sold on 10 million 2600 consoles at the time, which resulted in the now-confirmed burial of the surplus carts. Several other companies like Mattel, Coleco, Bally, and Fairchild produced their own systems that varied in quality. Unfortunately, as noted by TV Tropes, the wide array of choices hindered their ability to succeed in the long term.
“Dirty Laundry: An Alternate 80s” by Andrew T manages to create such a scenario where the video game industry avoids the crash of 1983. While the timeline focuses on pop culture in general, Atari plays a significant part. How did Atari survive the crash? By building a better version of E.T. based on Steven Spielberg’s vision for the game, which he imagined as similar to Pac-Man. (So does that mean we swap Power Pellets for Reese’s Pieces?) Warner Communications, which then owned Atari, CEO, Steve Ross ordered Ray Kassar to replace Howard Scott Warshaw, the programmer of the game in our timeline, with Carla Meninsky over a matter of two hundred grand plus expenses. The game itself becomes the best-selling title for the 2600. Still, despite this aversion, Mattel and Coleco both bow out of the console wars as they did in ours.
However, one other interesting consequence is that Nintendo partnered with Atari to distribute the Famicom in territories outside of Japan. It was something that nearly happened in real life until Jack Trammel killed the deal in 1984. In terms of the games Nintendo produced, such as the iconic Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda, very little would have changed. However, in terms of hardware, the mention of non-volatile random access memory in one post possibly means that players would possibly be able to save their game data on the cartridge itself. That means gamers in North America would not need to use lengthy passwords for games like Metroid and Kid Icarus. The long-term repercussions of a successful Atari/Nintendo partnership are still unknown.
One of the main reasons Nintendo dominated the industry in the late eighties and early nineties are its restrictive policies towards developers that prevented them from releasing games for competing systems. This “quality control” (though reviewers like an infamous nerd with anger issues would argue otherwise) allowed Nintendo to prevent another deluge of shovelware that plagued the previous generation with its lockout chip, though companies such as Tengen (Atari Games) and Wisdom Tree managed to bypass it. Nintendo also enacted strict censorship on the games it published. As noted by Douglas Crockford, Nintendo was quite selective in the language used in their games. Would the partnership be less restrictive in its policies towards third-party companies? Perhaps. Nintendo would have a captive Japanese market but Atari’s attempts to stem third party software were flimsy at best. If Nintendo still controlled the production of the cartridges, then I would not see a significant change in that respect.
The largest flaw I see with "Dirty Laundry" is that it only half complete and thus has not fully explored the implications of a video game market without the crash. While Andrew T confirms that Mattel bows out of the race and Coleco remains on its trajectory towards bankruptcy as it did in our timeline, there is little mention of any video game platforms to challenge Atari/Nintendo outside of the Intellivision III, now produced by Tandy. The platform itself boasts a Motorola 68000 processor (the same chip used by the Mega Drive/Genesis) with wireless controllers and boasts the ability to display 3D graphics for the low, low price of $599.99 plus tax. Andrew T leaves the system’s fate to the reader’s imagination, but it probably went the same route of another technically superior system with a similar price point in the nineties. Still, polygonal graphics still have the potential to be a game changer that could affect the next generation of consoles, particularly the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and the successor to the Atari Nintendo System, but will need to wait a while. Andrew T last updated last May so the next update may take weeks perhaps even months. I recommend giving the thread a look; if not for the video games, then do it for pop culture in general. You will not regret it.
Alas, there are only a few pop culture alternate histories with a point of divergence predating 1982. Brainbin’s "That Wacky Redhead" focuses on video games a handfuloftimes but it is only a sideshow to the larger cultural and even political trends. However, there are a few elements I liked, notably that a licensed Star Trek arcade game was one of Syzygy’s (as Atari is known as in that timeline) earliest hits. It also appears that several genres that rose to prominence in the nineties, like fighting and adventure games, became popular earlier with a fighting game with Bruce Lee as its main character and an adaptation of Mission Impossible as the template for adventure games. As with "Dirty Laundry", it appears that with greater emphasis on creating a quality product will mean that the market will not crash in "That Wacky Redhead". While the eighties were formative for the fledgling industry, I believe that the console wars of the next decade set the tone for the industry and its players as well as provide fertile ground for alternate historians.
Aspiring writer and platypus enthusiast Ben Ronning has lurked the AH.com boards since June 2006. When he is not roaming the multiverse, he can be found at his blog, Thoughts of a Platypus.
This is why kids you need to check your spam folder regularly. You might miss out on cool looking games like Secret Location's The Great Martian War. In this alternate history based on the History Channel mockumentary, the Martians invade Earth on June 28, 1913, starting a very different Great War. Check out the trailer below:
The Great Martian War is an endless runner staring Gus Lafonde, a skillful scout and brave soldier determined to survive the Martian invasion. The player navigates vast battlefields all the while evading land mines, artillery strikes, tanks, and Martian war machines. Along the way, Gus must collect rations and Victisite (living metal that powers the alien machines) to unlock power-ups and complete his mission.
I am intrigued by this game for its combination of elements from Wells' War of the Worlds and Turtledove's Worldwar: In the Balance. If you happen to play this game, let us know either in the comments below or emailing us a review at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.
Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. Check out his short fiction. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
Got a few videos I think fans of alternate history will enjoy. First up, the book trailer for friend of The Update Alison Morton's new book Perfiditas (sequel to Inceptio):
The launch party for the book is happening November 6 and you can find out more information on her site. Next up, fans of steampunk and video games might enjoy learning some trivia about Bioshock Infinite from the guys over at Achievement Hunter:
Finally, Jonathan Lethem and Kim Stanley Robinson discuss the influence of Philip K. Dick, whose novel The Man in the High Castle is important to our favorite genre as well:
Enjoy!
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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new short story "Road Trip" can be found in Forbidden Future: A Time Travel Anthology. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
Editor's Note The Update had one of its best days in terms of page views last Tuesday. It began when a person named "seemoreglass" posted a link to One Way to Divide America: Ethnicity on MetaFilter. In that single day we got 4,837 page views and the link to the article spread to severalTumblrblogs. Pretty impressive for a one-mad blog in a niche market.
So what did I learn from the experience of going viral? Well I did see a slight increase in ad revenue, but barely saw any interest in any other articles on The Update or any surge in social media followers. Although there were a lot of comments on the actual MetaFilte page, I didn't read much of them, mostly because they started turning nasty early, but I did read some new comments we got on the article page itself and was not impressed by what I saw.
The oddest thing about all this is that it happened with an article I posted on February 8, 2012. That was more than a year ago and it only got noticed now. I guess we can write this off as one of those odd phenomenon's of the Internet. You just never know when something is going to become popular.
Barring any new entries into the DBWI writing contest, this week's post schedule is pretty much set in stone. New Releases return's to its regularly scheduled slot tomorrow and Wednesday, which happens to be the 2 year anniversary of The Update, I will publishing a short letter to the fans looking both into the past and future. Thursday we get to read Dimas Aditya Hanandito entry into the DBWI writing contest and Friday we get two articles on the Before Watchmenprequel series from Sean Korsgaard.
And now the news...
Tor UK buys interdimensional spy trilogy by Genevieve Cogman
I have to warn you that the rest of this Weekly Update will focus on video games since E3 happened last week. Since this is primarily a literary blog, however, I am going to start by talking about Pan Macmillan’s Tor imprint acquiring The Invisible Library by debut UK novelist Genevieve Cogman. Senior Commissioning editor Bella Pagan bought World rights in this novel and two others by Cogman from Lucienne Diver at The Knight Agency.
The concept behind these books has inspired comparisons such as “Doctor Who with librarian spies”. Here is how the story is described:
The redoubtable Irene is a secret agent for the ultimate inter-dimensional library, a covert organization that gathers knowledge from parallel worlds. Irene’s latest assignment posts her, and her enigmatic assistant, to an alternative Victorian London. Their goal being to retrieve an extremely dangerous book. But when she arrives, it’s already been stolen – and soon she’s up to her eyebrows in thieves, murderers and secret societies – with a dash of the supernatural in store.
Cogman said: “I’m incredibly excited that Tor will be publishing my books – I still can’t quite believe it’s true. I’m honoured to be in the company of authors such as Paul Cornell, Charles Stross, and other brilliant writers. I really hope that other people will enjoy this series, and be entertained by the Library.”
Pagan commented: “This book brings a new urgency to the term ‘must read’ – hugely entertaining, clever and a lot of fun. I just fell in love with the writing, which reminded me of Jasper Fforde by way of Gail Carriger’s Soulless, with the humour of Ben Aaronovitch.’
Still the concept sounds interesting and I think alternate historians, being the voracious readers that we are, might get a kick out of librarians battling it out across the multiverse.
The Order: 1886 Revealed at E3
Alright, I promised video games and lets start with the one blowing up the Internet: The Order: 1886. The game is being developed by Ready at Dawn and published by Sony Computer Entertainment which will be released exclusively for the upcoming PlayStation 4 (PS4), which sucks because I am an Xbox guy. Announced at E3, The Order is set in alternative Victorian Era London where the industrial revolution came about as an effort to win a centuries-old war against inhuman enemies (because humans just got tired of fighting each other, I suppose). Let us take a look at the trailer as it is revealed at E3 (the crowd sure does seem excited):
So the trailer gives us a glimpse at this steampunk, horror game featuring some epic mustaches and Victorian airships (at this point I am really upset with you Limeys for not inventing these earlier). We, of course, see the futuristic weaponry the genre is known for, including what looks like a Tesla coil gun, but whether it will be a poor copy of BioShock Infinite or a great game on its own remains to be seen. Exactly what gameplay is like is still unknown, although one commentator suggests the enemy may be werewolves and you will have to hunt them down in co-op. The game does not have a release date as of yet and in fact has been in development hell for years.
The next big game to come out of E3 for alternate historians is the steampunk, fantasy Black Gold. Being produced by Snail Games, it is an MMORPG PC game inspired by the myths and fairytales throughout Northern Europe. Black Gold combines the magic-filled world of fantasy with the mechanized, gothic world of steampunk.
The game setting itself is divided between six races, each on the side of steam or sorcery. Players will be able to trigger more than 3,000 dynamic events and actions that can change the game world. Additionally, characters will have the ability to change forms and drive giant armored mechs in combat (or elephants). Black Gold also features cross-genre gameplay, including both first-person (FPS) and third-person shooter (TPS) elements.
The game sort of reminds me of Arcanum, a game I have only a little experience with after playing the demo once. From the screenshots it certainly looks impressive, but the fantasy elements are not my thing. The Order is still on the top of my list, unless...
More on Wolfenstein: The New Order ...you let me kill Nazis in a timeline where the Axis won World War II.
Although I've talked about this game previously, for those who don't know, Wolfenstein: The New Order is an upcoming first-person shooter video game in development by MachineGames to be published by Bethesda Softworks for most platform. The New Order is the ninth installment in the Wolfenstein series and is set for launch later this year.
Also this is the last day to see a steampunk-ified version of Into the Woods at Lake City Playhouse in Idaho.
July 7: The Guildhall in Cambridge, UK will be host to "a world in which Victoriana and steam-powered inventions collide spectacularly with ideas of the future."
Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new story "The Enchanted Bean" can be found in Once Upon a Clockwork Tale from Echelon Press. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
"We are excited to bring a new chapter of Wolfenstein to gamers everywhere," said Jens Matthies, creative director at MachineGames. "As fans of the series, working on this game is an honor, and our team is driven to create an unforgettable action-adventure experience that will make FPS fans proud."
The New Order is set in an alternate 1960 after the Nazis won World War II. Gamers play as the familiar American war hero William "B.J." Blazkowicz and are tasked with overthrowing the Nazi powers that have taken over the world. Set primarily in Europe (although the trailer does show a burning New York City and the Moon makes an appearance), The New Order will have players infiltrating Nazi strongholds and battling legions of enemies, while taking control of Nazis super-weapons they used to dominate earth.
Check out the teaser trailer below:
So judging from the trailer we have a victorious Nazi empire, mecha and Jimi Hendrix! We also learn from BJ's narration that there has been a "rewriting", which could presumably mean some wibbly wobbly timey wimey...stuff. Joel Hruska at HotHardWare.com suggests that the occult, which has played heavily in past Wolfenstein games, has something to do with the changes to history.
So I think it is safe to assume that plausibility has been thrown out the window...but who cares! Wolfenstein 3D was an awesome game and probably one of the first FPS's I ever played. Plus, who didn't like killing an Adolf Hitler wearing a robotic suit and four chainguns?
This game is definitely on my wish list! Stay tuned to The Update for more details.
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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly andThe Were-Traveler. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
Editor's Note Reading is important. I shouldn't have to tell you guys that, but I got the feeling last week that not everyone reads as carefully as they should.
First, I want to say thank you for all the great comments I received on Facebook, Twitter and on the blog for my recent article about the impact of steampunk's growing popularity on the alternate history genre. Some of the comments, however, were a little odd. I got the feeling that people were just answering the question I posed (Is steampunk's growing popularity destroying the alternate history genre?) when promoting the article instead of reading the article. This was confirmed after one commenter admitted he should have the read the article before commenting. If you have commented on one of my posts without reading the article, please go back and read it in case there has been any miscommunication between us.
Good news everyone. This May I will be announcing how you can get paid for submitting articles and stories to The Update. I am still working out the particulars, but I believe everything should be sorted out by next month. I look forward to this new evolution of The Update. In the meantime, I am still accepting submissions for articles and original fiction. This is a great way to introduce people to your writing and although you will not get paid now, you will still get free promotion for any of your sites or projects. Email me at ahwupdate at gmail dot comfor submissions or questions.
And now the news...
More on Bioshock Infinite The Internet is still talking about the steampunk/alternate history game BioShock Infiniteand the praise keeps coming in. Joe Frye of Penn Live gave it a 9 out of 10 and said "Infinite aims to do something different from the competition, and it succeeds in a big way." Even Robert Brockway of Cracked pointed out how the "intentional" flaws of the game still make for a great experience. If words are not enough for you, however, just know that numbers don't lie and it should mean something when a game tops the UK charts.
Those looking to learn more about the game can check out Ken Levine, creative director and co-founder of Irrational Games, talk about Infinite and the future of gaming during an episode of On Point with Tom Ashbrook. Also if you ever wondered how plausible a floating city could be, check out Kyle Hill's article on the subject at io9 (spoiler alert: its not plausible).
Paradox News
Paradox Interactive would like to remind us of some upcoming games. Although you can see the full release schedule on their website, below are some upcoming releases I think you would like.
First we have Victoria II: Heart of Darkness. Here is how Paradox describes the game:
The guile and greed of Victorian politics and economic conquest have found their way to uncharted Africa in a new expansion for Victoria II! Expand to a new continent and claim the wealth waiting for you – assuming the other world superpowers don’t beat you to it. Guide your empire through the treachery and double-dealing of the late 19th century in Heart of Darkness, with a new colonization system, naval battles, and international political turmoil between powers great and small.
More on that game later this week. Next up we have Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods:
In the year 867, the Old Gods were still mighty, as the Raven Banner flew over the Great Heathen Army, the state of Russia took form, and Pagans rode across Central Europe. The Old Gods adds these brutal new armies and a wealth of features to the celebrated gameplay of Crusader Kings II, granting players several of their most-desired new abilities. Forced conversions, organized rebels, pillaging and brutal expansions all wait to challenge would-be kings in this new expansion pack – which also makes Crusader Kings II Paradox’s game that spans the longest period of history!
Editor's Note: I removed the rest of this entry because it looks like it was an April Fools Joke. Damn, and I thought I managed to avoid all of them. -Matt
Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly andThe Were-Traveler. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
The alternate history, first-person shooter BioShock Infinite launched last week and from the sound of it, games could not be happier. Here is just some of the praise I have found for the game:
"BioShock Infinite is damn near perfect." -Jim Sterling who gave the game a 10 out of 10 rating on Destructoid.
"When a video game can take you from explosive combat featuring magic powers and exploding weaponry and still move you on a deep emotional level, something special has happened." -Kevin Kelly who gave the game a 9.5 out of 10 on Digital Trends.
"[T]he experience will make players think, inspire them to explore, and leave them emotionally spent by the time it’s all over. With BioShock Infinite, Ken Levine cements his status as one of gaming’s elite creative minds." -Andrew Fitch who gave the game a 10 on EGM.
"Undoubtedly the finest game crafted by Irrational Games, BioShock Infinite is one of the best told stories of this generation. It simply cannot be missed." -Xav de Matos who gave the game 5 stars on Joystiq.
"In total, BioShock Infinite is a brilliant shooter that nudges the entire genre forward with innovations in both storytelling and gameplay." Ryan McCaffrey from IGN.
"This is a game with a whole story, one that isn't going to peak with a party trick and then subside again, so it takes its time." Tom Bramwell who gave the game a 10 out of 10 rating on Euro Gamer.
And for those who like videos, here is an intro to the game from the guys at Achievement Hunter:
Hopefully The Update will have our own review of the game in the coming weeks. So stay tuned.
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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly andThe Were-Traveler. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
Editor's Note Around the time my interest in alternate history was turning into an obsession, my Dad was kind enough to give me his hardcover edition of Fatherland. He did so, however, on one condition: I wouldn't read it in public with the book jacket on. When I ask he why he pointed out the swastika on the cover might offend some people.
Regardless of the symbol's origin, their is no denying that in Western society it is seen as a symbol of hate and violence. With Axis victory scenarios being one of the most written about topics for English-speaking alternate historians, the image appears often in the media supplementing our works. Authors and creators have used different methods when presenting the symbol to their audience. Some expressly present it to the world, while others find creative means to obscure it. Still others just censor it entirely.
Who is right and who is wrong? Should people just suck it up and accept that due to the context of how the symbol appears it is not meant to offend or is there just too much history tied up with it that content producers should use other means to promote their works? Yes I understand the concept of free speech (and as an attorney I probably understand it better than most people) but for the sake of discussion, what are your thoughts on the matter? How many swastikas is too many? I would be interested in reading your thoughts.
And now the news...
Update: Gideon's Angel by Clifford Beal
This book got some good press last week. For those who don't know, here is the description from Amazon:
He came back to kill a tyrant. He found the Devil instead. An amazing historical novel with a supernatural twist set after the English Civil War. This is the stunning debut from Clifford Beal.
He came back to kill a tyrant. He found the Devil instead.
1653: The long and bloody English Civil War is at an end. King Charles is dead and Oliver Cromwell rules the land as king in all but name. Richard Treadwell, an exiled royalist officer and soldier-for-hire to the King of France and his all-powerful advisor, the wily Cardinal Mazarin, burns with revenge for those who deprived him of his family and fortune. He decides upon a self-appointed mission to return to England in secret and assassinate the new Lord Protector. Once back on English soil however, he learns that his is not the only plot in motion.
A secret army run by a deluded Puritan is bent on the same quest, guided by the Devil’s hand. When demonic entities are summoned, Treadwell finds himself in a desperate turnaround: he must save Cromwell to save England from a literal descent into Hell. But first he has to contend with a wife he left in Devon who believes she’s a widow, and a furious Paris mistress who has trailed him to England, jeopardising everything. Treadwell needs allies fast. Can he convince the man sent to forcibly drag him back to Cardinal Mazarin? A young king’s musketeer named d’Artagnan.
Black dogs and demons; religion and magic; Freemasons and Ranters. It’s a dangerous new Republic for an old cavalier coming home again.
Falcata Times said the novel "brings the wonders of historical fiction blending it with some cracking Urban Fantasy as the characters within have to deal with not only the superstitions of their own time but also with the wonderful twists that the modern writer can bring to the fore." Meanwhile, David Langford at The Telegraph listed Gideon's Angel as one of the best recent science fiction and described it as "[s]washbuckling excitement in grimy 1653."
Nice.
Update: Inceptio by Alison Morton If you guys liked Alison's "INCEPTIO – An Alternate View", I have a couple of other articles you should check out. First there is Look out, world, here comes INCEPTIO! by Alison. Here she shares photos from the Inceptio launch day event:
Congrats Alison, remind me to pick your brain about marketing when I publish my first novel. Alison also received a very nice shout out from the Pembury Village News, a periodical she once edited for nine years. I hope to learn more about that, her novel and other things when I interview Alison. Stay tuned.
Bioshock Infinite news Got some new trailers and images from the upcoming alternate history shooter: Bioshock Infinite. Enjoy:
Deepworld now available on iPhones and iPad
[Editor's Note: Information taken from press release.]
Bytebin, an independent MMO game studio, has announced the launch of Deepworld on iPhone and iPod Touch. Originally released for Mac OSX and iPad, Deepworld has now expanded to all iOS platforms. The iPhone version connects mobile players to a shared online universe already bustling with iPad and Mac users, bringing the same great MMO experience to a new level of portability and accessibility . Deepworld is available for free on the iTunes App Store.
Deepworld is a massively multiplayer 2D crafting game set in a post-apocalyptic steampunk wasteland. Players can venture through mountains and ruined cities, delve into mazelike caves and underground bunkers, and scour for resources while fending off harrowing creatures of the deep. With a robust crafting and inventory system, Deepworld allows players to create hundreds of tools, building materials, decorations, and mechanical contraptions. Players can collaborate and trade with each other in thriving user-created cities and settlements—or they can settle in their own private worlds, available as in-app purchases. Deepworld’s persistent online universe allows players to jump into the game at any time, from any compatible device with an Internet connection, and continue playing from where they left off.
“ Deepworld is an adventure, but it’s also a growing community of friends, teammates and rivals,” said Bytebin developer Quinn Stephens. “Now that players can connect on virtually any iOS device or Mac desktop, it makes the game more accessible for veterans and newcomers alike. We’re excited to welcome a new and wider audience into the game, and to continue to introduce fresh content to the fans who’ve already found a home here.”
In Deepworld, players can:
Explore: Delve into the depths of a constantly changing and expanding world and dig for precious resources, using touch controls specially refined for the iPhone.
Create: Return the world to its former glory using hundreds of items and materials, all via a simple one-touch crafting system.
Fight: Use crafted weapons to fend off mutant creatures, or construct defenses to protect valuable creations. Battle other players for supremacy in deadly PvP arenas.
Collaborate: Meet and join fellow adventurers while exploring the wasteland. Form guilds, trade resources and rare items, and band together to take down the most dangerous foes.
Customize: Alter in-game appearance at will. Gather clothing, hats, masks, and other special customizations from the environment. Earn skill points through achievements, and use them to level up abilities—including mining, crafting, agility, and more.
Calender
"Things to do" is just too clunky and sometimes I don't get enough submissions to warrant a specific segment on a Weekly Update. So I have combined the two in a Calender. For now I will list upcoming events, submission deadlines and kickstarters here. I hope you all enjoy the new format.
Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly andThe Were-Traveler. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
