>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
MATRIX ONLINE PREVIEW BY GAMESPOT
Source: <GameSpot>
A part of the preview by GameSpot:
Massively multiplayer games started out as fantasy-themed games that let you create a character with which you would fight a bunch of skeletons and goblins until you reached the next experience level in a colorful fantasy world. You weren't playing as yourself--you were playing as Galstaff, the sorcerer of blight, and if you played your cards right, you could have gotten your hot little hands on a rusty quarterstaff. Maybe it's ironic that one new massively multiplayer game, The Matrix Online, will instead let you control a person who, in turn, is controlling a virtual-reality character. That's right, in this upcoming game developed by Monolith and copublished by Warner Bros. Interactive and Sega, you'll play as an awakened "blue pill"--a human being who had previously been enslaved by the enigmatic machines.
In The Matrix Online you will play as a human male or female character that will begin his or her career affiliated with Zion, the last human settlement. You'll run through the basics of gameplay through a tutorial area, and then head off to the Matrix itself, which will be represented in the game as the "mega city," a humongous, four-part metropolis. The different regions of the city will include what the developers describe as an "amalgam" of different urban regions, which are the slums, a skyscraper-filled business district, and even an "international" district reminiscent of New York City's Chinatown. Though the different areas in the game may contain locations that are replicas of real-world landmarks, they won't simply be based on specific real-world cities, since the world is, after all, an elaborate illusion generated by the machines that is intended to resemble all the world's big cities of 1999.
The Matrix Online will feature a continuous story arc that develops over time, and which will be chronicled in both The Daily Sentinel, an in-game newspaper that chronicles events in the Matrix, and in the game's mission system. Missions in the game will let you not only go off on adventures in search of rewards for your characters, but they'll also reflect the changing state of the game's story as well as your characters' affiliation. While you'll start off allied with the people of Zion, you may later decide to change your affiliation to work with either the machines or with the Merovingians (the faction that follows the powerful renegade character known only as The Merovingian). This affiliation, and the progress of the story, may actually affect the course of your missions. For instance, later in the game you might be given the wrong information about a routine mission, and you'll find out it was a double cross that you'll have to fight your way out of.
Read more <here>.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
INTRODUCING BURLYMAN ENTERTAINMENT
Source: <Newsarama>
Thanks to: Sub7
It kind of just makes sense – put the creative forces of Larry and Andy Wachowski, Steve Skroce and Geof Darrow together for a long enough time, and you’re going to get something….just by virtue of their natures. The first output from the four was, of course, The Matrix trilogy, based upon a story by the Wachowskis and gobs and gobs of visualizations from Skroce and Darrow.
The second wave gets started this fall as two comics coming from the Wachowski’s Burlyman Entertainment: Shaolin Cowboy by Darrow; with dialogue by the Wachowskis and Doc Frankenstein, created by Darrow and Skroce, co-plotted by Skroce and the Wachowskis, scripted by the Wachowskis and illustrated by Skroce.
Driving the Burlyman bus with a mixture of maniacal glee and a hint of fear is Spencer Lamm. We caught up with him for a chat about the books, the company, and what readers can expect.
Burlyman (more on the name later) has been a back-burner idea for the past few years, and recently was moved to the front when the schedule hog known as The Matrix finally got out of the way for all involved.
“The idea of publishing the books was always there, but Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions kind of overshadowed everything,” Lamm said. “Also – for a long time, the idea of publishing comics was on a ‘are we certain we want to do this?’ balancing act. We all know comics in various ways, shapes or forms – we’ve all been involved with them for a longtime, but we didn’t know if we really wanted to get involved in the business of publishing.
“But this all has been a very organic thing. There have been so many instances where the five of us have been together and it will come up, even though it wasn’t the primary concern for that particular meeting. A big thing that helped convince us that we should do this was the decision to release the trade paperback for the Matrix Comics last year. We wanted to do it because we were being asked, but we also wanted to do it for reasons beyond using it as our own proving ground, but it did serve that purpose as well. It was a perfect, perfect opportunity to take a trade paperback to the book market and the direct market, as well as international so we could really see the process of publishing from start to finish. It was a book that was in demand, so we got to see how it would work if things went right. In that scenario, the worst we figured we’d do would be to break even, even though we figured we’d make some money out of it while we got to see the mechanics.
Read more <here> and view pages from the forthcoming comics <here>.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
BURLYMAN TALKS AT COMICON
Source: <MatrixFans.net>
Well, more news from MatrixFans.net:
Karnaze went to the San Diego Comicon and went to the Burlyman presentation. She sure was in for a surprise. She met Spencer Lamm, and received a few things. Here's her report from the Comicon:
The suspicion was confirmed today. And from what redeye said the ambiguity was intentional...
The panel was awesome, very intimate and pure. All of the speakers were great, and Darrow is expecially hilarious. I got so excited when the brothers casually walked in and sat in the back of the crowd, Andy with a coffee cup in hand. They were so sneaky! lol Don't think people caught on until they actually went up on stage. I couldn't help looking back though to see if they were still there. And after they went up, questions ranged from what comics they've all read to what Neovision symbolized. And an actual Burly Man with lovely acrobatic twins graced the stage. The conference room wasn't full, but to be honest, that was the way it should have been. With the Burlyman title, not many (I expect) knew what it was all about, just as not many who walk by the booth knew that the directors were sitting right there! And it's good that way, because it indirectly ensures that underground feel...Larry was saying how they view privacy as a precious thing that they wouldn't want to give up. Man, these guys are so down to earth, they have really clear energy, and do care about the fans. My mind went blank though as to what I would say to them. And after the Ken Wilber talk and then hearing Larry say it again, one thing's clear: they don't want to answer questions that we have about the story. They don't want to dictate anything, thus negating our ability to think and interpret for ourselves. I really respect that, it's a very enlightened perspective.
Read more <here>.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
MANY MEANINGS OF THE MATRIX
Source: <MatrixFans.net>
In addition to the news below: Some enthousiast got their pens and paper out and made a transcript of the interview.
You can view it <here>.
Many thanks to Matrixfans.net!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
INTERVIEW LARRY WACHOWSKI
Source: <Integral Naked>
More great news! Larry Wachowski has broken silence and is talking about the Matrix. It's a 31-minute dialogue entitled "The many meanings of the Matrix". Unfortunately it's unavailable if your not willing to pull your credit card (let's hope it's on the forthcoming DVDs), but you can at least read the commentary on the dialogue. Here's a piece:
[..] Larry and Andy Wachowski, the writers and directors of The Matrix trilogy, have been reluctant to share their interpretation of the films from day one, fearing that whatever they said would turn into dogma. However, this did present a problem for Warner Brothers when producing The Matrix DVD boxed set (to be released this fall). How do you have a director's commentary—a must for any boxed set—when the directors refuse to comment?
What the Wachowskis did was to ask Ken Wilber and Cornel West to do the director's commentary on all 3 films. The following dialogue was recorded right before Ken flew to LA to meet with Larry and Cornel and do the recorded commentary. Ken and Cornel recorded 15 hours of commentary, which has been edited down to 6 hours to fit the 3 films, and the boxed set with all 3 films—and 6 hours of Ken and Cornel's commentary—will be released in October.
In the following dialogue, for the first time ever, we are lucky enough to hear Larry publicly comment on this situation. As he explains, the movies were in many ways designed not to give answers, but to introduce questions. What does it mean to be human? What is reality? Who is in control? Does God exist? and so on. If he was to explain what he thought the movies meant, he would be providing people with another concept of reality to either accept or reject—either way, the open space created by the question would vanish.
[..]
The Wachowskis did not want their own original intent to overpower the equally legitimate viewer response, and so they remained thunderously silent about their original intent. But, as this dialogue makes clear, Larry feels that perhaps the time is now ripe for some more integral interpretations of The Matrix trilogy that include all of those perspectives, which is why he and Ken have begun having these types of more public dialogues and commentaries. There is no single, definitive interpretation of The Matrix, because the sum total of perspectives is infinite. But there are more integral and less integral interpretations, and the integral interpretations—up to this point— have been getting the short end of the stick, something this dialogue is intended to end.
Read more and listen to the dialogue at <Integral Naked>.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
BURLYMAN ENTERTAINMENT UPDATE
Source: <TheMatrix.com>
Some info from the official site concerning the activities of Burlyman Entertainment:
BURLYMAN ENTERTAINMENT, the new publishing entity from the Wachowski Brothers, will be in attendance at this years San Diego Comic-Con from Wednesday, July 21st through Sunday, July 25th.
Find us at booth 4401, where besides being able to get signed copies of THE MATRIX COMICS, you'll find limited prints, stickers, shirts, hats, and a preview of our two inaugural bi-monthly titles, DOC FRANKENSTEIN and THE SHAOLIN COWBOY, all being presided over by a burly wrestler and a pair of acrobatic twins. There is also a panel:
10:30-11:30 Burlyman Entertainment speaks! — Meet Steve Skroce, Geof Darrow, and Spencer Lamm. They will talk about joining forces with the Wachowski Brothers to bring you two new and original comic titles. Steve Skroce, the Key Storyboard Artist for The Matrix trilogy and the writer and artist on Wolverine: Blood Debt, now co-plots and illustrates DOC FRANKENSTEIN, with the Wachowski Brothers handling script. Geof Darrow, the Conceptual Designer for The Matrix trilogy and the artist of Hard Boiled, Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot now writes and illustrates the forthcoming title THE SHAOLIN COWBOY, with Ass-ologue by the Wachowski Brothers. Spencer Lamm, a past editor at Marvel comics, and editor of the The Art of The Matrix, The Matrix Comics, and the forthcoming The Art of the Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, edits these two new Burlyman titles. Larry and Andy Wachowski have worked together for over 30 years. No announcements will be made on possible additional guests, BURLY or otherwise. Room 6CDEF
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
MATRIX ULTIMATE COLLECTION 10 DVD SET
Oh yes, an ultimate collection of the Matrix is coming to you this year. The contents is as of yet unofficial, but here are the rumours:
Matrix
Ultimate Collection 10 DVD Box Set