[Info-vax] VSI Software and Stark Gaming

[Neil Rieck]

[...snip...]

I loved that book (DADOES) but after the movie "Blade Runner" first aired, DADOES was remarketed with a black+blue cover featuring the word "Blade Runner" in RED along with pictures from the movie. Anyone who read the book knows that book is considerably different than the movie. In fact, there has never been a book released which tells the story conveyed in the movie. Did I mention that Deckard was married in DADOES, and there are interactions with his wife at their  apartment which includes neighbors who could afford "electric sheep"? There are no "electric sheep" in the movie, just a passing reference to an "artificial owl" with no explanation of the significance.

But I said all that (in this thread) to say this: gaming provides humanity with a new medium which is just as important as literature, music, radio, film, and TV. I'm sure we all saw Avatar but how many here played the video game where you become a member of the Na'vi on Pandora
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron's_Avatar:_The_Game  

I was the sci-fi nut in our house while growing up but other people didn't share my interests (and that's okay). My father read a lot of books (but never sci-fi) and hated going to the movies so he didn't know or care about "2001: A Space Odyssey". My mother and sister read a lot of books (but never sci-fi) but they saw "2001" together and new what its was about. I read the book; saw the movie; and enjoyed both even though there were minor differences.

In the case of the "Blade Runner" movie no book comes close so if you want to experience that story-line you will need to read as well as watch. But to fully experience it you need to read all the books, including two that book marketers claim were sanctioned by Philip K. Dick
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/Blade-Runner.html
as well as a neat game which was only popular on PCs where "you" play the part of Rick Deckard.

Fast forward to today: My father has passed on never to experience 2001 or Blade Runner. He still had a full life and died with no regrets. He also hated classical music (thought it was pompous) and so never listened to a full recording of Beethoven's Ninth or Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. I can't imagine a life without this stuff. To each their own :-)

Neil Rieck