Comments on: The Complete Unknown Pleasures 2009

By: amishmonster

amishmonster — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:21:00 +0000

I’ve really enjoyed this series, thanks to RPS for going the extra mile. Without you guys, I would probably have missed out on a dinosaur sim, and that would be a crime for which the universe could not be forgiven.

By: The LxR

The LxR — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:21:31 +0000

@ AndrewC: There’s nothng wrong with mainstream games – sometimes you just want to relax and play something fun. It’s a matter of having a choice. Currently, there are a lot of mainstream games and very little “alternative” games. We have to fix it! :-D

By: AndrewC

AndrewC — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:05:33 +0000

Ok, no more surliness from me.

But on the new games – The interview with the Void guys was like everything i’ve ever wanted to say about games, but then I also notice that the two games i’m interested in most (or at all) on the list (Void and Zeno Clash) look the most like mainstream games (ie sexy looking, First Person).

If I don’t like The Void, will it tell me about how the developers failed in their ambitions, or about how I, as a self-identifying game-pseud, am a big fake and that I should just come clean and play more Halo if I want to be truly happy. Do I really want newness, or do I just pretend to? I mean – gamers do bang on about innovation a lot, and then they go and buy a LOT of Call Of Duty.

I’ve been playing GTA4 again. It really is wonderful.

By: malkav11

malkav11 — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:09:37 +0000

Cryostasis is coming out in English on the 20th. Provided they don’t butcher the localization you’re better off waiting for that than trying to buy the Russian version.

By: phuzz

phuzz — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:20:07 +0000

An early death in a band pretty much cements a reputation for greatness (rightly or wrongly).
Syd Barrett being the exception that proves the rule imo.

By: dhex

dhex — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:43:12 +0000

for what it’s worth, i think atmosphere and love will tear us apart are their least interesting songs.

the remastered version of unknown pleasures is a great example of how reissues should be done. the bass is fabulous, and curtis’ voice comes through.

it still kinda sounds like a cry for help, in retrospect.

By: Ziv

Ziv — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:05:16 +0000

that was a great series. it had majesty 2 which till then I didn’t know had a release date.
btw. at the beginning of the article you say other sites have articles about next year – can you link to some good ones?

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:56:05 +0000

AndrewC: This is a post about the new games of 2009, with some really basic comments towards people wondering who Joy Division were. It’s not the place to discuss the ethics of suicide or the stupid glorification of the “beautiful young dead” in rock and roll.

For the record, I don’t think Curtis comes across particularly well in Control, to say the least.

By: AndrewC

AndrewC — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:35:55 +0000

I refuse to mythologise suicide – and that goes a thousand times for the suicide of a public figure whom Kieron’s serious young men will idolise.

All these ideas that go around the tragic, stupid and meaningless deaths of rock stars – of it giving them freedom, or control, or meaning they never have to compromise – are ugly and toxic. I’m bringing in ideas associated with other Rock Stars’ deaths too – that it somehow makes their life a work of art or that it makes them immortal – those attitudes still spin around the rock world too much and i always feel a very strong need to react against them.

Plus he had a wife and a kid when he did it – so if we’re playing the ‘project meaning onto a senseless act’ game then i’m heading towards the negative on Ian.

By: Not a Music fan

Not a Music fan — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 12:55:55 +0000

Thanks, KG. Wiki P also helped with some of the ‘who?’ but not the ‘why?’.

New Order I know, thanks to that massively over-played hit, the one with the video of blue-faced men in silly costumes slapping each other. It was alright, as that kind of thing goes, but not good enough to warrant blanket exposure, IMO. Oh, they did Blue Monday, too? Well I never.

Lumme, I know Love Will Tear Us apart, too! For that to happen to me in particular makes me begin to understand the word ‘Seminal’ you just used. :)

I once owned a Trench-coat but was too cheerful to wear it effectively.

By: Dan Lawrence

Dan Lawrence — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 12:50:45 +0000

Only if you misread it.

It wasn’t the women that destroyed him but his own inability to take control of the situation and make any decisions of choices.

Unless you had some other meaning in your explicit, yet cryptic, utterance :) ?

By: AndrewC

AndrewC — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 11:54:01 +0000

Then perhaps the film should have been called ‘Cunt’?