By Jim Rossignol on October 5th, 2009 at 8:36 am.
Sergey Galyonkin sends word that he’s posted pictures from the heavily-attended Stalkerfest 2009 over on Flickr. You can check out the mass of cosplayers (reportedly around 500) and also see GSC’s developer band getting up on stage top strut their stuff. For those of you down with the local language, there’s also a blog account of the event here.
05/10/2009 at 08:56 skizelo says:
So for a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. cosplay, you throw some tubing onto army surplus gear. Neat!
05/10/2009 at 09:03 Sergey says:
Thanks for giving the link to the Russian blog Jim.
05/10/2009 at 09:05 Sergey says:
Thanks for giving the link to the Russian blog Jim.
In addition, the cos play looks great! Quite an enthusiastic crowd eh?
05/10/2009 at 09:43 Muzman says:
That’s cool. They look like they’re having way too much fun though. Too much women folk are probably cheering them up.
Did y’all see this one? It’s kinda Stalker LARP-ing, apparently in the actual Zone.
http://sdmobile.livejournal.com/19843.html
05/10/2009 at 09:47 Jacques says:
The post should be renamed “Don’t Just Stand There: Sausagefest”.
05/10/2009 at 15:36 Smithee says:
What’s wrong with that? Stalkers love eating sausage. It’s a central part of their diet.
05/10/2009 at 21:34 Jacques says:
Ah the innuendos.
06/10/2009 at 19:49 Blurr says:
What do you expect exactly? It’s not gonna be the best place to pick up girls is it ?
06/10/2009 at 19:51 Kieron Gillen says:
I admit, I’d be worried if my girlfriend went to a place with so many Stalker-ish guys.
KG
05/10/2009 at 09:52 Miles of the Machination says:
Most sensible cosplay ever
The Machination’s WordPress
The Machination’s Twitter
05/10/2009 at 09:53 Hmm-Hmm. says:
The word cosplay has a rather fetishy connotation for me. Thinking of asian folk with penchants for strange and unknown characters. That, or elderly women dressing up as Xena, for example. *ahem*
05/10/2009 at 09:56 Jacques says:
Fetish clubs are scarier than that. Think old men only wearing a cock ring.
05/10/2009 at 09:59 Muzman says:
I remember when I was about 6 or 7 my friend’s mother completely shattered my whole world by casually referring to the manly Action Figures we were playing with as Dolls.
05/10/2009 at 09:57 Mort says:
Liking the dancer in that set of pics.
Never knew stalker had such a following. I bought the game at the weekend for fiver from d2d, and after an hour getting it working, I was distinctly underwhelmed. Insta-death by pack of dogs while I was talking to an NPC, only to discover no auto saves for the last hour. yay.
05/10/2009 at 10:53 oceanclub says:
Install the Oblivion Lost mod and give it a bit of patience. Trust me, I didn’t get into it at first, but the atmosphere will suck you in.
05/10/2009 at 11:27 subversus says:
it may be tough, but it’s a survival shooter, it won’t empower you, it’s more about pressure and constant menace.
05/10/2009 at 12:25 neems says:
HERETIC!
It’s an acquired taste I guess, I recommended Stalker to loads of people, most of whom now think I have terrible taste in computer games. Still my favourite ever single payer FPS though.
05/10/2009 at 12:39 Dominic White says:
Don’t listen to oceanclub – Oblivion Lost will lead to many, MANY more horrible deaths by pseudo-random events. The STALKER Complete 2009 mod is a graphical/audio/text improvement dealie though, which is highly reccomended for first time play.
05/10/2009 at 13:10 oceanclub says:
No, no, listen to MEEEE. Yup, there are a few weird deaths – but they’re in the original game anyway. Oblivion Lost adds sleep among other things which I won’t spoil. A tiny thing like the ability to sleep really adds to the game, since at night, black is BLACK and trying to stumble around the countryside with your torch on the surest way to death.
One moment really stands out for me how the game is so different, partly because you feel vulnerable in a very realistic way; not the usual Rambo type. I’m going through Garbage at night, noises all around, with very little ammo and a pressing need to sleep. Bandits are in the warehouses to my west, and anomalies and mutants are all around; no way can I take them on. So I creep further north, wondering what the hell I will find. I stumble across a Freedom headquarters, where I know I’m relatively safe, can have some kip and leave in the bright early morning. It’s the only game I know where I’ve been relieved to stumble across a bunch of armed fascists because they the _least_ scary of all options.
05/10/2009 at 15:02 Smithee says:
Mort – I’d give it another shot. I’m playing it for the first time right now, and on the recommendation of folks here I’m using the Complete 2009 mod, which more-or-less keeps the original gameplay (or so I’m told) and makes the game look absolutely gorgeous.
Still, don’t be surprised if you die quite a few more deaths than the average shooter, some of which would otherwise seem unfair by most FPS standards. The Zone’s a pretty cruel place. (For example: I’ve been killed by a pack of dogs in my sleep – I never even had the chance to defend myself.) It all adds up to a constant feeling of menace, as you’re rarely ever safe.
05/10/2009 at 17:33 TeeJay says:
The STALKER Complete 2009 mod adds sleep as well.
06/10/2009 at 14:10 Junior says:
Oblivion lost is a horrible pile of other mod parts, all the best parts of it are stolen from the AMK mod.
If you’ve only tried OL, you owe it to yourself to check AMK out.
http://download312.mediafire.com/myodtsxxktug/yxgjijmmnel/amkmod1.4_amk_en_setup.7z
http://download127.mediafire.com/8mk1vnpzmj5g/jlyhnu9ygmy/AMK-EN+_Patch_2.0.94_for_FINAL.exe
This does however require the 1.0004 patch, but TRUST ME, it’s well worth it.
06/10/2009 at 20:03 Blurr says:
I think the replies to your post show you how much of a following there is. The game is …. an acquired taste. Personally I started it 4 times before I ever got to the garbage but once I got into it I’v considered it one of the best games I’v ever played
05/10/2009 at 09:58 We Fly Spitfires says:
Looks awesome :) Not really cosplay so much as kinky uniform-play though? Ah, actually that’s the same thing. Nevermind…
05/10/2009 at 10:05 Ian says:
I have to say I’m glad to see that cosplay isn’t only limited to creepy fans of Japanese anime.
Man, I wish I could have been there.
05/10/2009 at 10:11 Sergey Galyonkin says:
Thank you for linking :)
Yes, STALKER is this big in Ukraine. I suppose it is because it’s combination of biggest local-developed game and national tragedy. Something like WW2 games in Western Europe.
05/10/2009 at 10:15 diebroken says:
Nice, but I find their lack of guitars disturbing… Also, women in the Zone? ;)
05/10/2009 at 11:09 Dominic White says:
Lack of guitars?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sergesegal/3977799145/
Maybe nothing acoustic, but they’re definitely rocking out right there.
05/10/2009 at 11:51 diebroken says:
That’s my point, i didn’t see any acoustic guitars, let alone a stalker having one slung on his back… I hope they remembered at least to bring nuts and bolts! :P
05/10/2009 at 11:56 Sergey Galyonkin says:
Some cosplayers in crowd (not on scene) actually had acoustic guitars. But it was hard to navigate through crowd and shoot pictures, so I don’t have photos of them. :(
05/10/2009 at 13:53 diebroken says:
Ah, thanks anyway for putting up the images in the first place. :)
I can’t believe I missed this on ttlg: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1907958
05/10/2009 at 10:23 Sergey Galyonkin says:
Also, some of best dressed cosplayers are actually teams from annual STALKER strike-ball game. And their gear is completely working. For example guys from Monolith team (pictured here) have a beam projectors installed which help them to guard territory at night.
I wasn’t at STALKER strike-ball game myself, but my friends were. You can check some pictures here http://ancientsnake.io.ua/album115329 or here http://stalker-cs.ru/news/2008-06-11-116
Told ya it is big :)
05/10/2009 at 18:22 OJ287 says:
I got an AVG warning about that second link.
05/10/2009 at 11:00 Taillefer says:
The whole crowd should shout the “Don’t just stand there…” bit in unison.
05/10/2009 at 11:04 TotalBiscuit says:
GET OUT OF HERE STALKER
GET OUT OF HERE STALKER
GET OUT OF HERE STALKER
GET OUT OF HERE STALKER
GET OUT OF HERE STALKER
05/10/2009 at 12:03 Fenchurch says:
Ooh, ooh! Can I play the old man scientist who says:
HELLO? Hello?
HELLO? Hello?
HELLO? Hello?
HELLO? Hello?
Over and over?
05/10/2009 at 12:12 mrmud says:
Those look like Airsofters who put on a little bit of extra kit.
05/10/2009 at 12:21 Sunjammer says:
With a name like Stalkerfest, you can’t really be surprised at a low female turnout ;P
05/10/2009 at 12:25 Cedge says:
Get out of here, cosplayers.
05/10/2009 at 14:03 underproseductor says:
Let’s test their gasmasks with a little bit of nerve gas.
05/10/2009 at 14:44 Ivan Druzhkov says:
I wanna be the merc on the stairs!
“I said ‘come in,’ don’t just stand there!”
“I said ‘come in,’ don’t just stand there!”
“I said ‘come in,’ don’t just stand there!”
“I said ‘come in,’ don’t just stand there!”
“I said ‘come in,’ don’t just stand there!”
“I said ‘come in,’ don’t just stand there!”
06/10/2009 at 20:07 Blurr says:
I shot him with a silencer on cos he was annoying (OL mod)
05/10/2009 at 15:31 linfosoma says:
I spent my entire weekend playing Stalker thanks to that awesome LURK mod and I see this.
Can’t wait for the new game.
05/10/2009 at 15:33 ZIGS says:
If only would someone help…
05/10/2009 at 15:49 Muzman says:
Piss off!
05/10/2009 at 16:09 Hulk Hogan says:
Stalker is the easiest game to Cos-Play for, just dress like a military version of a hobo and that’s it.
05/10/2009 at 16:29 DMJ says:
I was about to comment about how crazy this is, until a quick trawl of my memory revealed that I’ve heard of Portal and Tetris cosplay. And that’s not even counting the Murlocks, of course.
05/10/2009 at 17:41 Brass Gerbil says:
Add one spoonless grenade to that scene and the dork ratio in Russia would drop considerably in about 4.5 seconds.
05/10/2009 at 17:42 MrMud says:
Ok, after watching the images, that is a bit crazy. Thought this was some kind of large LARP or similar (which would make sense) but this is nuts.
05/10/2009 at 18:00 Cooper says:
Aw, shit.
So I was in Kiev for 6 weeks, and only came back to the UK a week ago. I was there for my PhD, doing some pilot research (tourism and Chernobyl) and could easily have gone to this and claimed it as fieldwork. (I’ve claimed repeated playthroughs of Stalker and the Pripyat level in CoD4 as research, as well as the stalker movie and Roadside picnic…) But I didn’t have a clue this was on.
I was staying on Kreschatik, I could see that main square – it was 30 seconds away from where I was staying. One more week there – if only I had known…
Bugger. Hopefully I’ll get around to arranging that interview with GSC peeps when I’m out there next Spring…
05/10/2009 at 19:01 Günter says:
I do hope someone was carrying some bolts tied to a bit of bandage gauze.
05/10/2009 at 23:21 OJ287 says:
Kanyhalos, maker of Oblivion Lost mod says…
" CALL OF PRIPYAT RUSSIAN RELEASE HAS BEEN MERGED INTO SHADOW OF CHERNOBYL! "
…with pics.
Anybody know more about this?
http://forums.filefront.com/s-t-l-k-e-r-soc-modding-mapping-editing/340033-s-t-l-k-e-r-oblivion-lost-kanyhalos-459.html
06/10/2009 at 02:39 Justin says:
Call of Pripyat is already out on the other side of the world, and the map files have already been pulled apart and used within the Shadow of Chernobyl game by modders. That’s an assumption on my part.
06/10/2009 at 02:23 Justin says:
This is wierd, like being the only person you know who has seen Star Wars, and then going to San Diego Comic Con.
06/10/2009 at 11:21 Overwatch_UA says:
Grigorovich did a little interview during this event and he answered the question about western release delay.
Simple math: stalker is a phenomenon in former-USSR countries, so it’s released on schedule there, stalker was also very successful in Germany, so November ’09 for germans, but in all other Western European countries and in US stalker was just another good game which sold well, just another one in charts. The decision was made to evade competition and move the release date from the crowded september-Xmas period, so there you go — Jan-Feb ’10 release date.
I know western stalker fans will probably say “Oh, those greedy bastard devs!!!”. But hey, come on, gamedev biz is cruel, not the devs. This move may actually increase budget (read “quality”) for stalker 2 or whatever they call it.
06/10/2009 at 12:37 Momo the Cow says:
I second Justin.
It’s odd, and oddly vindicating, yet ticklingly perturbing as well.
06/10/2009 at 16:34 Davee says:
So there ARE women in the Zone. No, that can’t be… The Cosplay looks a bit silly, however the LARP/Airsoft-events looks like awesome fun! Too bad it’s in Ukraine. Not to mention the language barrier… :(