Video game flâneur
Which city would you resurrect with Rockstar’s city-machine?
Ed. This piece was originally published at cityofsound.com on 11 April 2004.
Is it true that Rockstar’s next big game is a version of the The Warriors?
(Ed. Yes, it was.)
Rockstar and others have virtually (pun intended) built the digital infrastructure to generate generic large city forms. All they have to do is drape a particular cultural fabric over it, and the architecture, clothes, music, adverts etc. all just fall into place, as defined by a new form of ‘curator’, perhaps, somewhere between production designer and urban historian.
(Ed. I’ve mentioned this before, after reading about Gangs of New York and similar potential in films; read also about the way Rockstar design this stuff; about some future potential of Rockstar’s city-based games; and Manhattan as muse for video games.)
If it is The Warriors, then just inhabiting a version of New York City in 1979 would be a blast. Yet inspired by the flawed but compelling film Downtown 81, I’d struggle to address any of the usual Rockstar narrative ploys, instead…
