Source: https://youtu.be/DiboVZsXYXY

Mark Cerny Talks about Yuji Naka and Sonic the Hedgehog

Honestly, my number one video game guy behind Satoru Iwata is probably Mark Cerny.

We're talking about the guy who helped establish Sega in America - dude helped develop Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Not Adventure 2, fuckin OG Sonic 2. The guy who helped Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance and frigging UNCHARTED get off the ground.

Dude is a pillar of the industry going back to Marble Madness on Atari consoles, and I'm just now reading he helmed development on the PS4, 5 and the Vita? Like what the fuck. He just dropped out of college and changed the face of gaming forever. What a fucking GOAT

Marble Madness is an arcade video game designed by Mark Cerny and published by Atari Games in 1984. It is a platform game in which the player must guide a marble through six courses, populated with obstacles and enemies, within a time limit. The player controls the marble by using a trackball. Marble Madness is known for using innovative game technologies: it was Atari's first to use the Atari System 1 hardware, the first to be programmed in the C programming language, and one of the first to use true stereo sound (previous games used either monaural sound or simulated stereo).

In designing the game, Cerny drew inspiration from miniature golf, racing games, and artwork by M. C. Escher. He aimed to create a game that offered a distinct experience with a unique control system. Cerny applied a minimalist approach in designing the appearance of the game's courses and enemies. Throughout development, he was frequently impeded by limitations in technology and had to forgo several design ideas.

Upon its release to arcades, Marble Madness was commercially successful and profitable. Critics praised the game's difficulty, unique visual design, and stereo soundtrack. The game was ported to numerous platforms and inspired the development of other games. A sequel was developed and planned for release in 1991, but canceled when location testing showed the game could not succeed in competition with other titles.

Marble Madness is an isometric platform game in which the player manipulates an onscreen marble from a third-person perspective. In the arcade version, a player controls the marble's movements with a trackball; most home versions use game controllers with directional pads. The player's goal is to complete six maze-like isometric race courses before a set amount of time expires. With the exception of the first race, any time left on the clock at the end of a race is carried over to the next one, and the player is granted a set amount of additional time as well. The game allows two players to compete against each other, awarding bonus points and extra time to the winner of each race; both players have separate clocks.

Courses are populated with various objects and enemies designed to obstruct the player. As the game progresses, the courses become increasingly difficult and introduce more enemies and obstacles. Each course has a distinct visual theme. For example, the first race (titled "Practice") is a simple course that is much shorter than the others, while the fifth race (named "Silly") features polka-dot patterns and is oriented in a direction opposite that of the other courses.

The game was originally released in arcades in December 1984. Beginning in 1986, Marble Madness was released for multiple platforms with different companies handling the conversions; several home versions were published by Electronic Arts, Tiger Electronics released handheld and tabletop LCD versions of the game, and it was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System by Tengen. The Commodore 64 and Apple IIe versions have a secret level not present in other versions. Beginning with the 1998 title Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 2, Marble Madness has been included in several arcade game compilations. In 2003, it was included in the multi-platform Midway Arcade Treasures, a compilation of games developed by Williams Electronics, Midway Games, and Atari Games. Marble Madness was also included in the 2012 Midway Arcade Origins collections. THQ Wireless released a Java port in 2004. Electronic Arts released a mobile phone port in 2010 that includes additional levels with different themes and new items that augment the gameplay.

How about, 003, Charlotte?

You may notice an agenda already [D;} can you believe there are only three women in the whole world? (Half-joke)

woaw........ thtree womaaon..........

How I feel about this character:

SHE NEEDED MORE SCREENTIME ISTG i get into it in another question but like AUUUGH they literally did NOTHING with her character and it pains me (also i really like her model in knack 1 lol)

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

the doctor i guess??? they're canonically married does that count

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

her being a mother figure to knack and lucas is really cute and wonderful and brings me joy

My unpopular opinion about this character:

again idk if this is unpopular but i feel like she didn't serve much purpose in the first game other than an attempt at a plot twist that was poorly executed lol (still love her though)

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

FOR THE LOVE OF GODDDDDDDD DO MORE WITH THE CONFLICT BETWEEN HUMANS AND GOBLINS. PLESASSE YOU HAVE THE PERFECT CHARACTER!!!!!!!! mark cerny when i fucking GET YOU (more serious answer: i wish the relationship between her and gundahar was explored more. in the first game it goes absolutely nowhere lorewise and it's completely forgotten in the second one like Come On Man its not that hard to write something at least halfway decent)

My OTP:

see above

My OT3:

also see above

Spyro 3 - The GameSpot Build and Lost Media

I've been actively researching and documenting early builds of Spyro 3 for something like 7 or 8 years now, and while I feel like I've made a significant impact, there's always going to be people that have never seen any the content that I've helped to document - so, every now and then, I get the urge to infodump about one piece of my research to a new group of people, to help make sure that the documentation I've done isn't only known to a very small group of people... that'd defeat the purpose of documentation, to an extent, I think.

Sometimes, outreach ends up being extremely important to the research and preservation of prerelease content - and this is no better exemplified than with Spyro 3's "GameSpot build".

On June 23rd, 2000, several websites and publications revealed early previews of Spyro: Year of the Dragon - this date was probably some sort of online embargo date.

The "April preview", an early build which seems to match the one used at E3 2000, was used by most of these publications. A few of them, according to accounts from those that wrote the previews, received exclusive gameplay sessions from the likes of Mark Cerny - these previews apparently took place quite close to the embargo date and certainly would have used a later build than the April one. We know that IGN received one of these sessions (but, according to the author of the preview article, was allegedly unable to record gameplay during this session, which resulted in IGN having to use the same build everyone else did in their preview articles), and it's a pretty safe bet that GameSpot did, too. In GameSpot's case, we actually got to see what this build looked like:

As expected, it's a later build than the April prototype - this one seems to be from around the same point in development as the earliest demo disc version, though we're not sure if it's an earlier build or a later one. Three main characteristics stick out in these screenshots:

We don't ever see what the eggs looked like in this build, but the fragments use this bizarre ornate gold texture.

The HUD uses a green egg sprite similar to some of the eggs seen in the April build; the earliest demo disc version also uses this sprite.

For some reason, transparent polygons are a solid black colour, making some screenshots look sort of ominous and weird.

Perhaps the weirdest thing about this build is that the gold egg fragments it uses, which to most players would be completely unrecognisable and unlike anything they've ever seen before, actually do appear in the final game. And they hatch from every egg in the entire game. In most cases, the fragment flies off screen before the player can spot it.

The earliest demo build, which seems to be from around May 25th, 2000, does not include this texture at all, which has called into question the timeline placement of the GameSpot build. On one hand, they might've used the final egg texture momentarily, switched to the gold one, and switched back, accidentally leaving one of the textures intact. On the other hand, there have been cases in many Spyro builds of random early assets weeding their way back into the game via means that we don't really understand. Look no further than the August 27th, 1998 localisation prototype of Spyro the Dragon, a post-final build which inexplicably re-uses an early Gnasty Gnorc model, textures, and animations, from around 2 months earlier in development:

The info we have on this build doesn't just stop at screenshots, though! GameSpot kindly uploaded 5 videos of the build - labelled "Movie 2" through "Movie 6" (thanks GameSpot. that's not confusing at all) - to their website. Most of these videos were later temporarily put behind a paywall, and in 2014, 4 of these videos were deleted during a server move, with only Movie 2 (the one never put behind a paywall) remaining. The one movie that remained didn't even play properly in GameSpot's video player for years, so I had to download the video from the API to view it at all:

While the video is an important piece of history, and did reveal to us that the early Sgt. Byrd theme heard in some old IGN videos of the April preview had a previously unheard guitar section (this was prior to the public release of the April preview), it doesn't tell us very much new about the build. If we really wanted to more precisely date the build, we'd need to know what the eggs looked or sounded like - but the egg collection section was entirely cut from the video. As of yet, we just don't have this information.

As for Movies 3 - 6? These are now lost media. They were up on the site for 14 years, we know that people saw them, and I suspect there were people that downloaded them. However, since they were deleted nearly 10 years ago, nobody has come forward to say that they have one of the videos and to show what was in it. Anyone that does come forward with this info should be met with some scepticism, of course, but I think the only way we'll ever see more of this build is with a greater outreach and more widespread knowledge of the missing videos - the videos were readily downloadable from the website, and so someone still has the videos, I'm sure.

And before anyone asks, yes, the WayBack Machine has been very extensively searched for these videos - we can't find them, there's just no trace of them on there.

Judging by the video descriptions, Movie 3 would have focused on Bentley, Movie 4 on either Sheila or Agent 9, and Movies 5 and 6 on Spyro gameplay.

I've only ever encountered one person who claims to have seen these videos, and whether they're to be believed or not, they claimed that one of the videos showed Sunny Villa using Fireworks Factory's theme (levels using the wrong themes was very common in early builds of these games! Additionally, Fireworks Factory's theme is very likely to have been present around this point in development), and another showed Agent 9 gameplay using a track that didn't sound very Spyro-like, but more like "something from James Bond".

When the April preview released later on, it was discovered that early Spyro 3 builds actually do have a number of entirely non-Spyro themes, all by µ-Ziq and Propellerheads, left unused in their soundtrack data. The tracks in these builds seem to line up with the levels present in an earlier build of the game, and by this metric, it seems that "Spybreak!", a theme from the Matrix soundtrack, would have (fittingly?) lined up with Agent 9's Lab, and possibly would have been used in that level in internal development builds. Sure enough, my contact agreed that this was the theme they heard, when I sent them the track - if this is indeed the case, then this build is very very weird indeed.

It remains to be seen whether we'll ever learn anything new about this build, but we can only hope. I've linked to an archived 7z file containing all the screenshots uploaded to GameSpot below, as well as a link to a TCRF article detailing some of the known differences spotted in this build:

Archive.org

TCRF

Chapter 3 of my smutty lil monster romance story

The TW covers the entire thing but all things are not necessarily in every chapter. This is a fantasy, consent is required, read at your own risk. Also I’m making up my own rules about creatures/nonhumanraces and shit here ok? Anything’s possible.

Cernis Sulxan - He/Him - AMAB

Ellory Broadmoore - He/They - AFAB (post top surgery and testosterone)

TW - Anxiety, OCD, OCPD, Autism, Minor Hoarding (like hoarding but it’s all paper no dangerous hoarding), some body image issues more related to gender dysphoria but also very vaguely ED related. Lots of dark sex stuff. Borderline noncon, but kinda cnc. Forced heats kinda, monster fucking, anal, masturbation, choking, incubus, dragon dick, size kink, bdsm, overstim, denial, edging, toys, public sex, impact play, probably more, I dno yet. But lots of dark sex so

Chapter 3 - Cernis

Cernis glared unintentionally at the door of the elevators he could see through the glass walls of the offices. His nose twitched. His cock twitched. He rolled his eyes at himself and dragged his eyes back to the computer monitor in front of him. He tried not to think about Ellory. He had been trying since yesterday when they had teased Cernis. He had winked at Cernis. WINKED. That has to be a crime. To be that beautiful and to wink at innocent bystanders? Cernis nodded to himself.

His brow furrowed at an email and he finally managed to lose himself in his work. He was reading up on a new case. He loved this part. This was the knowledge gathering part. This was when he got to spend weeks, alone, in his office here or at home just researching. Finding out every single little tidbit of information he could. This is why he was good at this job.

Cernis’ toes wiggled in his shoes a little as he got to a particular heavy and confusing passage. He re read it, again and again. He liked to think of these as knotted jewelry. You slowly tugged and saw what moved. You followed tiny thoughts as they wove together to make a whole. Eventually, with enough care and patience, the whole thing would unravel.

His cock twitched again. Cernis looked down at himself in surprise, as if I would answer, and explain why it was interrupting his work. Luckily for Cernis, the answer came in spite of his cocks ability to speak.

Two light taps on his door, and Cernis’ head snapped back up. Ellory stood outside the door, an amused look on his face. Cernis blushed, hot and prickly. His neck was warm. With his dark green skin, the blush would look more like a deepening of green. He hoped Ellory couldn’t distinguish it. He cleared his throat and offered the man a quick wave into the office.

“So sorry to interrupt, Sir.” He spoke as he walked into the office. They closed the door behind them. Cernis’ cock throbbed this time at the honorific. Images flashed through his mind of this tiny, beautiful man laid out, bruised and marked all over, Cernis’ cum dripping from every hole…

“So?” Ellory prodded, pulling Cernis from his imagined debauchery. Ellory had asked him something. What did he say? Why was this happening? Do you think they could even take your dragon cock, like physically?

Cernis shook his head again. “I’m sorry, I was focused on my work. What did you say?” He forced himself to take even breaths. He couldn’t look the man in the eyes though.

“Oh, work was it?” Ellory mused. Before Cernis could respond, “I said that I will need you to go through documents with me to evaluate which are necessary and which can be recycled.”

Cernis’ eyebrows drew together. “They are ALL necessary.” His frustration at the situation finally breaking through the hase of his own lust in his mind.

Ellory sighed and clasped his hands in front of them. They started to say something but paused. It was clear they were mulling something. Cernis wasn’t a big talker anyway, so he was content to let this man chew on their words. It did mean he had less distractions. His cock twitched again.

After a few moments, the beautiful man dropped into the same seat he had used the previous day. “Sir, I understand this is hard for you-”

Cernis scoffed.

“Contrary to what you think, I do understand. Why do you think I made a career out of this?” Ellory challenged, a little miffed.

“Because you’re a sadist.” Cernis grumbled.

This apparently surprised them, and Cernis was rewarded with another bout of that hypnotic, alluring laugh. He found himself grinning stupidly. He didn’t even care. He could listen to this man laugh for the rest of time. It was gorgeous.

After composing themselves, “Sorry, you don’t, er, can’t understand just how comical that is.” Cernis raised an eyebrow at the suggestive wording. “I am far from a sadist Mr. Sulxan. The opposite. But we don’t need to talk about me.” He winked again, a wicked grin flashing across their face.

They continued quickly. “I do this work to help people like you. You’re suffocating and you don’t even know it. This-” Ellory motioned to the offices around them “is suffocating. Look at your coworkers offices. REALLY look at them.”

Cernis narrowed his eyes at Ellory, before turning to look around. He tried, genuinely tried, to view this offices like Ellory did. He saw towers of papers. Boxes piled from floor to ceiling. One of the interns was practically playing limbo around stacks trying to open a cupboard. Their receptionist turned a few inches and knocked an entire stack down. One of his partners sat working in their lobby. Cernis was confused until he looked at the partners office. He couldn’t even see it through the walls of documents.

“How… how long has Dana been working from the reception area?” He asked quietly, his normal bravado gone.

“I’m not sure. But I know it’s been a while.” Ellory answered. These people who work with you, they love you. They love the work you do, but you’re pushing them away. They can’t breathe here. And you are not an island. You cannot survive without them.” Ellory leaned forward and rested his hand gently on the large Dragonborn’s.

Cernis looked down silently. He stared at the tiny hand on his. It was delicate and smooth. His skin was rough and scaled in contrast. He could have fit 3 of their hands on his.

“This is why I do this Mr. Sulxan. To help people.” His voice was kind. No hint of trickery, malice or even his regular playfulness. Cernis looked up and was surprised to be staring into Ellory’s beautiful brown eyes. They were warm. They held a level of empathy Cernis didn’t know existed. If he hadn’t been looking into them himself, he would have never believed them to be honest. But there was no denying those eyes.

Chapter 4!! vvvv

What Xbox Boss #philspencer Really Thought of the PS5 Reveal Leaked emails have revealed Xbox boss Phil Spencer’s thoughts about PlayStation 5 back in early 2020. Sony revealed a deep dive into PS5 in March 2020 with a broadcast in which PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny confirmed its hardware specifications.

3 big lies.

Tallarico was not the first American to work on Sonic Team nor was he even close to the first to work on a sonic game. This one is easy, just look for the picture of Mark Cerny standing next to Michael Jackson.

Tallarico did not expressly in any way advance the field of sound technology in any material way; he did not guide things from "Bleeps and Bloops". Not only were there games with redbook audio in existence, but devices such as the MT-32 predate Color A Dinosaur.

Tallarico has not contributed to gaming history; instead causing nigh irreparable damage to the Blue Sky Rangers, the Intellivision Brand, and broadly to game preservation as a whole. Not only has he buried several of his coworkers by the power of the studio name, but furthermore in the simple act of mismanaging the intellectual properly with an inadmissible idea.

Sony Playstation 5 Hardware Reveal Trailer

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The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North America, and South Korea, and was released worldwide one week later. The PS5 is part of the ninth generation of video game consoles, along with Microsoft's Xbox Series X/S consoles, which were released in the same month.

The base model includes an optical disc drive compatible with Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. The Digital Edition lacks this drive, as a lower-cost model for buying games only through download. The two variants were launched simultaneously.

The PlayStation 5's main hardware features include a solid-state drive customized for high-speed data streaming to enable significant improvements in storage performance, an AMD GPU capable of 4K resolution display at up to 120 frames per second, hardware-accelerated ray tracing for realistic lighting and reflections, and the Tempest Engine for hardware-accelerated 3D audio effects. Other features include the DualSense controller with haptic feedback, backward compatibility with the majority of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR games, and the PlayStation VR2 headset.

History

Development

The lead architect of the PlayStation console line, Mark Cerny, implemented a two-year feedback cycle after the launch of the PlayStation 4. This entailed regularly visiting Sony's first-party developers at two-year intervals to find out what concerns they had with shortcomings in Sony's current hardware and how such hardware could be improved in console refreshes or for the next generation. This feedback was fed into the priorities for the console development team. In the development of the PlayStation 5, a key issue was the length of loading times for games. Cerny said several developers, including Epic Games' Tim Sweeney, told him that standard I/O speed of hard disk drives was now a limiting factor in pushing game development. Slow data rates placed limits on the size of data being loaded into the game, the physical location of data on the storage medium, and the duplication of data across the medium in order to reduce load times. An important goal was to find ways to reduce loading time, particularly in games that stream or dynamically load new game areas as the player moves through the game world.

Jim Ryan, the CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, stated that Sony had researched the feasibility of a "low priced, reduced spec" version of the PlayStation 5, like what Microsoft had done with its Xbox Series X and its lower-power counterpart the Xbox Series S; and concluded that they believed such consoles do not fare well, becoming obsolete too fast.

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#hardware #hardwarebustersinternational #hardwares #reveal #ps5games #ps5 #PlayStation5 #PS5 #teardown #deconstruct

Midway Arcade Treasures 1 (XBOX / Digital Eclipse / 2003) - Marble Madness (Atari Games / 1984)

Inspired by M. C. Escher, Mark Cerny’s Marble Madness walked so Super Monkey Ball could roll. It also has a surprisingly killer soundtrack.

Crash Bandicoot: Warped

Ocupação: Game .

Resumo: Crash Bandicoot: Warped, chamado na Europa de Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped e no Japão de Crash Bandicoot 3: Flying! Globe-Trotting É um jogo da série Crash Bandicoot e foi lançado pela Naughty Dog para o PlayStation em 31 de outubro de 1998.

Data de lançamento: 31 de outubro de 1998.

Criadores: Mark Cerny, Naughty Dog.

Opinião: Esse game supera seus anteriores, principalmente em gráficos quanto em jogabilidade, com aquela fase lendária da motocicleta, uma das melhores fases do game.

As the PlayStation 5 generation reaches its midway point in 2024, Mark Cerny, the lead architect behind the console, offers a fascinating glimpse into the design process and his observations on the current gaming landscape. In a recent interview, Cerny delves into the challenges and opportunities of console development, highlighting some surprising trends in how developers and gamers are utilizing the PS5's capabilities. PlayStation 5 Generation The Delicate Dance of Console Design Cerny emphasizes the unique position consoles hold compared to PCs. Unlike building a generic computer, console architects like Cerny have the freedom to focus on specific functionalities and tailor hardware to seamlessly integrate with software. This allows for creative solutions, such as prioritizing powerful SSDs over traditional hard drives despite the potentially higher costs. This philosophy also extends to fostering innovations that benefit the entire gaming industry. For instance, Cerny points to the PS4's powerful GPU interfaces that improved DirectX responsiveness for PC users. Similarly, the PS5's high-performance SSD might nudge the PC world to prioritize the development of DirectStorage API for faster loading times. Essentially, Cerny believes console advancements can push the boundaries of PC technology as well. The Power of Foresight: Anticipating Developer Needs The four-year development cycle for consoles underscores the importance of anticipating future trends. Cerny highlights how creating powerful hardware enables developers to jumpstart the creative process sooner. However, predicting future gaming preferences isn't always an exact science. Surprises from the Developer Trenches Cerny freely admits to being surprised by the widespread adoption of ray tracing technology. Initially, he anticipated a slower integration of ray tracing, considering its demanding nature. However, the PS5 launched with games that actively utilized this technology, showcasing developers' eagerness to embrace its potential. The most unexpected trend, however, came from the gamers themselves. The Rise of Frame Rate Fidelity: A Gamer's Delight Cerny expressed significant surprise at the overwhelming focus on frame rates by modern gamers. Traditionally, console generations have witnessed a trade-off between graphical fidelity and frame rates (fps). Games with higher detail often prioritized 30fps for smoother performance. Cerny expected this trend to continue with the PS5, but the reality proved different. Instead, developers are prioritizing consistent 60fps gameplay even if it means sacrificing some graphical complexity. This shift aligns perfectly with gamer preferences, as studies indicate a strong preference for smoother, high-frame-rate experiences. While Cerny anticipated a focus on better visuals, the priority on frame rate reflects a significant change in gamer expectations. Looking Forward: A New Era for Gaming Cerny's insights provide a valuable window into the ever-evolving world of console gaming. The PS5's architecture, built with an eye toward future innovations, seems to be resonating with developers and players alike. As the generation progresses, it will be exciting to see how Cerny's foresight and the evolving demands of gamers shape the future of the PlayStation platform and the gaming industry at large. FAQs Q: What are some challenges of designing console hardware? A: One challenge is anticipating future gaming needs and designing hardware that can adapt to emerging technologies. Another challenge involves balancing powerful components within a budget and ensuring seamless integration with software. Q: How does the PS5's architecture benefit the PC industry? A: Advanced features like high-performance SSDs might encourage the PC world to prioritize similar innovations, such as the development of DirectStorage API. Q: What surprised Mark Cerny about current gaming trends? A: Cerny was surprised by the widespread adoption of ray tracing and the overwhelming focus on achieving consistent 60fps frame rates in games, even if it meant sacrificing some graphical detail.

[LINKED] GI.biz interviews Mark Cerny: "When making consoles, we're not trying to build low-cost PCs"

From arcades to architect, the development legend discusses his 42-year career, PS5 surprises and the job of building games consoles Mark Cerny has just added something to his growing list of achievements. I’m not talking about the global success of last year’s Spider-Man 2, on which Cerny worked as executive producer. But something, in many ways, just as impressive. “I just finished playing…

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MP - Catterall, P., (2023). STATUES, SURREALISM AND PUBLIC SPACE | Historical Transactions. [online]. Available from: https://blog.royalhistsoc.org/2023/08/29/statues-surrealism-and-public-space/ [Accessed 6 March 2024].

In Catterall's article, the notion of rendering a statue surreal could contribute to public discourse. Adapting the visual language of statues creates a form of surrealism and there are 3 methods of achieving this: 1, changing spatial syntax, 2, changing location and 3, changing its artistic language. By adapting the form of a statue into a form of hologram, it changes the visual language and spatial syntax, creating an underpinning surrealist element to the medium.

The ways in which statues have been historically deployed to populate public space conditions how we come to read them. Yet the locations in which statues might be expected to be found have changed over time.

They could also carry other explicitly political messages. Consider the various statues erected during the eighteenth century to William III celebrating, as the plinth of his statue in Hull puts it, the role of ‘Our Great Deliverer’ in the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688.

[Victorian standardising the placement of statues in town centres] These statues are so conventional as to be sub-real. This raises the question, for me at least, of what might instead render them surreal, expressing a super-reality, rather than an occluding laudatory veneer?

'A statue in a street or some place where it would normally be found is just a statue, as it were, in its right mind, but a statue in a ditch or in the middle of a ploughed field is then an object in a state of surrealism.' - Paul Nash

It is relatively rare that the public have much say in whether a statue is, in Nash’s terms, in its right mind. It was an unusual act of protest in Bristol in 2020 which removed the Victorian-era statue of Edward Colston, a slave trader of the Royal Africa Company of which James II was the head. Subsequently, the relocation of Colston’s statue to a museum has changed its meaning to one marking anti-racism and anti-colonialism, but it has not rendered it surreal.

Nor is there anything surreal about the deliberate chipping off the nose of the Victorian-era statue of William III in Brixham. This type of statue mutilation can be traced back to ancient Egypt and likely reflects in milder form the hostility his statue in Dublin provoked before it was blown up by the IRA in 1928. Instead, this is better seen as a monument on a monument, a small act of resistance to the authorised narratives such statues proclaim in public space.

This changing spatial syntax is one of three ways in which, I argue, a statue can be rendered surreal. A second is indeed by changing its location. For instance, David Cerny’s ‘Man Hanging Out’ in the Czech town of Olomouc places Sigmund Freud suspended by his arm precariously high about the street. 

The third means of rendering a statue surreal is by changing its artistic language. Take the statue of ‘Bloody’ Cumberland, so named for the sanguinary nature of the vengeance wreaked upon Jacobites after his victory at Culloden in 1746. The statue erected in his honour in 1769 became a victim of Victorian cancel culture in 1868 when it was quietly taken down, ostensibly for repairs. The original statue was melted down, yet its simulacrum returned in 2012, recreated by Meekyoung Shin, only this time in soap symbolically washing the blood Cumberland had shed.

Whether by changing the expected materials, colours or representation, alterations in artistic language can thus render a statue surreal. In such a state, it can speak more provocatively and eloquently to the discourse of public space.

Every Cancelled Crash Bandicoot Game [YT Script]

Crash Bandicoot Worlds

Crash Bandicoot Worlds was the working title for a game that was early in its development in 2009. The only surviving proof-of-concepts we have are sketches of the proposed title-screen. Game designer Mark Cerny also gave us an account of his first hand experience in fleshing out this cancelled title. Mark stated that open-world exploration would have been the main feature that would separate it from the classic linear ‘rails’ type of gameplay in the originals. Although it was set to be developed by Crash creators Naughty Dog, it was eventually halted due to Universal Interactive scrapping their contract with Naughty Dog. Deteriorating relationships between the creative teams were rumoured to be a cause. This cued Universal to ask Travellers Tales to develop the next Crash game, but not without caution. Universal were reportedly cautious about sending the development of Crash to a new studio, scrapping the idea of open world gameplay in order to stay true to the formula. Travellers Tales had only been given 12 months to develop this game to make up for lost time deliberating over contracts. Naughty Dog’s cancelled concept for Crash Bandicoot Worlds ended up releasing by Travellers Tales as the Wrath of Cortex for the PS2.

Crash Evolution

Did you know that Crash Twinsanity, the first dive into open-world gameplay for the Crash series is actually a reimagining of a cancelled game called Crash Evolution? Evolution’s original concepts are so different to what it would become. The cancelled game would have combined the classic platforming in a science-fiction setting, while even incorporating RPG elements. The story for Evolution involved Crash teaming up with Cortex to tackle evil Twins that are taking over an alien world. It’s clear to see that this gameplay concept carried over to Twinsanity. Crash Evolution’s original gameplay and story were scrapped due to the purely coincidental similarities to the story of 2002’s Ratchet & Clank. This meant that they had to change much of the planned setting. Like leaning further into the cartoonish comedic style of classic Crash.

Crash Nitro Kart (Travellers Tales Version)

Travellers Tales kept up momentum on their recent Wrath of Cortex release in 2001, and began working on the first racing game in the Crash series. Eventually, it was handed to Vicarious Visions to complete, but there are numerous changes that happened once this deal went through. For example, the character ‘Nina Cortex’ was originally going to debut in the Travellers Tales version, but TT withheld the character from Vicarious Visions so that they could use debut her in their own game in the future. The concept art for Nina and her Kart displays quite a different art direction than what we actually got with the release. 

Cortex Chaos

Also known as ‘The All New Cortex Show’, this game had been pitched a few times by Travellers Tales’ Oxford studio after Twinsanity released. Keith Webb, a concept artist most notably for his work on Twinsanity, told Community fan site, Crash Mania about a few of these proposals that he worked on.

Keith said that one proposal would feature Cortex in a Pikmin style game, where he would control a multitude of small clones to perform small communal tasks. A second concept was a take on the Megaman style of game. In this proposal, Cortex is rejected from his communal group of evil scientists. He then has to fight his way back by through platforming and ‘Run ’N’ Gun’ style gameplay. Keith even mentioned that a third concept wold involve Nina, but couldn’t recall much of that one. Each of these proposals has a piece of concept art by Keith attached to it. He suggested that the final design, if it went ahead, would likely have involved elements from each of the proposals in one way or another! Sounds Chaotic!

Crush Bandicoot

Crash’s evil twin, Crush Bandicoot could have gotten his own game in this 2004 proposal by Magenta Software. The pitch involved war-propaganda related concept art with Cortex recruiting soldiers. He would also have retained his rightful position as the main antagonist. Crush, the player character, was designed to be able to drive vehicles to explore a sci fi themed open-world. One environment was created to test the game before Sony Computer Entertainment would decline their pitch. Crash Mania reports Andy J. Davis as one of the lead artists at the time, and thanks him for revealing this information. Along with this, concept art and screenshots of the prototypes were made publicly available.

Crash Clash Racing

Once more, after the release of Crash Twinsanity, Traveller’s Tales Oxford Studio began working on yet another Crash Racing title. Its concept based itself within Crash Bandicoot’s imagination. Race tracks were bing based on his dreams and thoughts. Paul Gardner was a writer and designer for Twinsanity. He said that despite the racing game concept, the development plan was to actually have the game be a direct continuation from the story of Twinsanity. It featured personalised cars, with a fusion mechanic that would later be utilised in Crash Tag Team Racing by Radical Entertainment. It seems like TT just couldn’t catch their “brake” with a Crash Racing game!

Crash Tag Team Racing (Nintendo DS)

The studio Sensory Sweep Entertainment did a lot of work on Nintendo handhelds like the DS, and Gameboy Advance. In 2005, they were working on a Nintendo DS version of Crash Tag Team Racing. However, unlike the Playstation Portable’s port of Tag Team Racing, the limitations in the DS hardware meant that the game had to be built differently with far fewer polygons and lower resolution textures. Their aim was to keep it as similar as possible to all other versions. Radical Entertainment, the developer behind the original versions of Tag Team Racing, sent Sensory the required character models for the game. But, during the process of reducing the models’ polygons, the team at Sensory decided it would look better if they just made their own from scratch. The game was cancelled just a couple months before its due date, with official announcements saying that the release of Mario Kart DS would affect their sales. This was met with distrust. Stories began to circulate about failing leadership at Sensory. An exposé about the poor management even came to light in a blog post by an ex-Sensory employee. This mis-management led towards the ports cancellation. 

Crash Landed and Crash Team Racing (2010)

Also known as ‘I Am Crash Bandicoot’, this game was slated for release in 2010 as a reboot to the entire Crash Bandicoot mainline series. Radical Entertainment worked on it for a while… that is until their parent company, Activision, had begun to layoff much of its staff in its subsidiary studios. Many of the concepts that Radical originally made are available to see. Despite all the concepts, Radical still didn’t have much gameplay to show off, which contributed to its cancellation when they had to show it off to their publisher. The gameplay was going to be linearly focussed in an open-world environment similar to Twinsanity. Crash would be tasked with collecting parts to create wacky gadgets as he progresses. Sort of like the powerups that he wins in the original three games. Crash Landed’s story was going to revolve around the origins of the Bandicoot himself, focussing on his original mutation by Cortex. Dingodile was also going to have a star role too, returning as a major antagonist. The game was going to release simultaneously with yet another cancelled racing game titled Crash Team Racing. This was to be developed by a separate studio, High Impact Games. The racing spinoff was in the same style, and setting as Crash Landed, but it also never came to fruition. Gabriel Mann and Rebecca Kneubuhl were set to be the composers for both of these unreleased games. CTR would have had a huge cast of Crash-related characters with up to 16 racers on one track at a given time. Each character had their own special move, as well as each kart having a customisation mechanic with up to 64 possible combinations. It’s easy to see how large the scope was for the cancelled Crash Team Racing. By the time the development had cut short, the team only worked on one completed track, titled Happy Woods. It had music which reused musical themes from Twinsanity and was later placed on Nitro Kart 2’s Bandicoot Beach track. There is quite a bit of evidence and screenshots regarding this duo of cancellations!

Crash N’ Burn

Bob Rafei was an art director who worked on the original Crash trilogy. Bob founded his own studio in 2007 named Big Red Button Entertainment, who were responsible for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. Big Red had a habit of uploading previous projects to their website, including a vault section for old demos and prototypes. One of these uploads is a prototype of a Crash game they had pitched in 2014. A beach themed jungle level, similar to the opening of the original Crash Game is shown in the demo video. Fellow gaming channel DestinationMarc contacted Bob Rafei to get some more information about their pitch. Bob replied that Crash N’ Burn was intended to persuade Activision to give Big Red a contract to develop the 20th anniversary series reboot for the Bandicoots. Activision eventually handed the responsibility to Vicarious Visions who developed the N. Sane Trilogy.

Crash Bandicoot (PS4 Launch Title)

Shuhei Yoshida, who used to be the president for Sony Interactive told Edge in an interview that a Crash Bandicoot game could have been on the roster of launch titles with the PS4. He said that the plan was to demonstrate the PS4 being about diverse ‘experiences’ rather than cutting edge graphics. The idea of doing a Crash game was thrown in by Mark Cerny. The existing ‘crashlike’ game ‘Knack’ was the result of these meetings.

Nothing else is known about this possible direction, but it’s sure that their marketing message was clear!

Unreleased Vicarious Visions Game

In 2012, some concept art of Crash Bandicoot surfaced with a new design. The leaker had taken a photo of a poster inside the Vicarious Visions studio. The cancelled game was confirmed by Activision game designer Mike Stout, who said that: “the art was from a cancelled Crash game from a long time ago”, but no other details have ever emerged!

Twinsanity Sequel

In an interview, Keith Webb mentioned some ideas that they’d had in developer meeting rooms regarding a Twinsanity sequel. He’d said that they’d had an idea for levels to take place across various television programs. Crash would be sucked into each level by a portal disguised as a TV gifted to the Bandicoots by Cortex. Keith said that one of the most fleshed out ideas was the “Medical Drama” level, with enemies chasing Crash with big needles. The sequel to Twinsanity never reached an opportunity for full development!

Toys For Bob Pitch

Hardly anything is known about this pitch. An editor at CrashyNews, another Crash fansite said that Anthony Hon, an artist at Toys for Bob around 2008 which never materialised. All that is known, likely due to NDA’s and legal reasons, is a short sketch of a few Crash characters.

[27 References Available on Request] Content Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLYw0-yTWUA

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