By Quintin Smith on May 6th, 2011 at 2:56 pm.
Bethesda’s sent VG247 some stats relating to Brink prior to the game’s release one week from now. There’s no actual story here, but these numbers are too mad to not post. I guess you could argue that they’re a statement of precisely how much work goes into the modern videogame, but instead I’m going to simply raise both my arms into the air, start spacking them every which way like a bugged ragdoll animation and scream the following:
Brink has 102,247,681,536,000,000 possible characters variations. And that’s just the start.
It also has – wait for it –
# Number of ways to die – 45
# Lines of dialogue – 26,000
# Individual weapon sounds – 4,500
# Voice Packs – 8
# Minutes of Music – 60
# Weapon/attachment combinations (not counting Resistance variations or pre-order content) – 4963
# Unique Security Characters (not counting minor tint variations or body types) – 4,530,240
# Unique Security Characters (not counting minor tint variations but including body types) – 13,590,720
# Unique Security Characters (including minor tint variations, but not body types) – 15,775,119,360,000,000
# Unique Security Characters (including minor tint variations and body types)- 47,325,358,080,000,000
# Unique Resistance Characters (not counting minor tint variations or body types) – 4,530,240
# Unique Resistance Characters (not counting minor tint variations but including body types) – 13,590,720
# Unique Resistance Characters (including minor tint variations, but not body types) – 18,307,441,152,000,000
# Unique Resistance Characters (including minor tint variations and body types) – 54,922,323,456,000,000
The 26,000 lines of dialogue can be divided by however many countries the game’s been localised into, but 45 ways to die?
Let’s see. There’s getting shot, getting blown up, getting melee’d, falling off something, falling into some water… uh, being, getting… hit by a, uh, bird? No, I have no idea. How many is that? Six? OK. Some explanation is in order, guys.
06/05/2011 at 15:00 James G says:
* Time travelling and preventing yourself from being born
* Walking into a dark cavern without fireberries
* Leaving a hotel with a stolen map still in your pocket
* Staying under water for longer than 10 minutes
06/05/2011 at 15:08 Buzko says:
* Walking outside with a condom on
* Not knowing what a torque wrench was
* Walking up to the driver along the highway side of the car
* Being eaten by a grue
06/05/2011 at 15:11 Baboonanza says:
* Choking on a pretzel
* Sneezing so hard your eyes fall out
* Copulation with a grizzly bear
* Dying peacefully in your bed surrounded by friends and family (highly unlikely)
06/05/2011 at 15:19 calavera says:
* Playing computer games for 100 hours straight
* Using your forehead as a hammer
* Picking a fight with Chuck Norris
* Living in Detroit
06/05/2011 at 15:29 Birdman Tribe Leader says:
* Making yourself cease to exist by sheer force of will
* Trying to climb a rope on a snowy mountain without a warm cloak on
* Casting the Thermonuclear Blast spell
* Allowing yourself to be slowly lowered into an incinerator
06/05/2011 at 15:33 Grinnbarr says:
* Overdosing on revive syringes
* Sharpening pencils, sticking them up your nose, headbutting a table
* Falling into a sausage machine
* Swallowing Turian semen
06/05/2011 at 15:36 Faxmachinen says:
Preventing yourself from being born also prevents you from dying. You could however kill yourself.
06/05/2011 at 15:43 Daniel Klein says:
* Overdosing on suicide syringes
* Ferrets
* Toxaemia from infected toe-nail
* Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
06/05/2011 at 15:46 Kaira- says:
* Kicking a bucket
06/05/2011 at 15:48 V. Profane says:
A parachute not opening… that’s a way to die. Getting caught in the gears of a combine… having your nuts bit off by a Laplander, that’s the way I wanna go!
06/05/2011 at 15:51 McDan says:
*the cancers (of any kind, it’s too easy to just list them all)
* backflip into a speeding truck which then explodes
*infinite portal loop to build up speed then aim one into the ground somewhere outside, without the boots on
* not getting the tha choppa.
06/05/2011 at 15:53 lethu says:
Ah, classic!
06/05/2011 at 15:54 tyrsius says:
@Daniel Klein
Is there a proper dose for suicide syringes?
06/05/2011 at 16:03 Man Raised by Puffins says:
* Hit wicket
06/05/2011 at 16:07 Baboonanza says:
Is there a proper dose for suicide syringes? Zero or one, depending on the desired effect.
* Drinking a potion of Incredibly High Jump without thinking ahead…
06/05/2011 at 16:22 Inigo says:
*Ignoring Eccles
* Accepting that fresh, delicious, cucumber from Neddie Seagoon
*Volunteering to walk into that cave full of dangerous, Bluebottle-deading dynamite
*Riding that rotten swine horse off a cliff
06/05/2011 at 16:28 Glycerine says:
* Running onto a tube train
* Walking too slowly past a police line
*ducks*
06/05/2011 at 16:28 Chris D says:
*Quaffing ill-advisedly
*Partial teleportation
*Extreme enema
*Attempting to acquire a pet squirrel on a Tuesday
@Man raised by Puffins
Nice reference
06/05/2011 at 16:58 godgoo says:
* waiting patiently
06/05/2011 at 17:07 omicron1 says:
* Wearing unidentified amulets
* Eating unidentified eggs
* Wielding cockatrice corpses while burdened
* Moving while blind and not wearing gloves
* Fighting eels without magical breathing
* Encountering that one-in-a-million gnome
* Army Ants
* Undead elephants
* Carp
* Kicking a wall
* Eating Death
* Engulfed by Jubilex
* Breaking charged wands
* Firing wands at a parallel wall
* Polymorphing
* Angering Izchak
* Praying too many times in a row
* Praying too many times in a row while lightning resistant
* Sacrificing your own race
* Scroll of Genocide
* Wander into Fort Ludios unprepared
* Get level drained too many times
* Mind flayers
* Leave the dungeon early
* Black dragon
* Play as a tourist
Am I doing it right?
06/05/2011 at 17:16 PoLLeNSKi says:
Some movie inspired suggestions:
* Head put in a vice by mobsters after attempting to cheat at cards.
* Alien bursts out of chest.
* Sitting on top of an A-bomb trying to release the release mechanism and riding it like a cowboy when it finally does.
* Eaten by a shark.
06/05/2011 at 17:21 calavera says:
@omicron1: if your definition of doing it right involves pushing your logfile into the MBs, then yes.
06/05/2011 at 17:34 tomeoftom says:
*Using adhesives
*Listing too far in either direction
*Forgetting you’re made out of atoms
*Understanding quantum mechanics
06/05/2011 at 17:35 Bhazor says:
* Choosing not to sexually molest a gypsy fortune teller and then petting her stuffed lizard.
* Picking your nose
* Walking into Mordor.
06/05/2011 at 17:48 Senethro says:
Gonna actually try to guess this.
There are slightly over 20 weapons, so I’m going with
1-21: Shot by a gun
22-42: Getting beaten over the head by a gun
43-44: Different flavours of grenade
45: Getting knifed.
06/05/2011 at 17:49 Urthman says:
* riding ‘s rocket into oblivion
* Failure to conserve vital resources.
* dreams dashed on the rocks below
* losing your machine, TOO BAD!
* killed by a sewer rat, while helpless
* petrified by a cockatrice corpse
* slipped while mounting a saddled pony
* poisoned by a rotted gnome corpse
* choked on a tin of spinach
* zapping yourself with a wand
* crushed by a closing drawbridge
* JUMPING INTO A SWORD, YOU RETARD
* No no no, that’s not the way it happened.
06/05/2011 at 18:41 Shih Tzu says:
* Marrying a demon-possessed psychopath who subsequently stabs you with gardening tools
* Marrying a demon-possessed psychopath who subsequently stabs you with a wine bottle
* Marrying a demon-possessed psychopath who subsequently gags you and twists your neck
* Marrying a demon-possessed psychopath who subsequently forces animal entrails down your throat
06/05/2011 at 19:19 phuzz says:
* Driving a truck off cliff with a kidnapped groundhog
* Dropping a working toaster into the bath in which you’re sitting
* Getting hit by a truck
* Jumping off a bell tower
06/05/2011 at 19:31 Dhatz says:
*exploding from 1hour laughter at only 1 hour of music
*not catching a bullet between your teeth. you fucking LOSER! six times in row!
*getting anally probed by drone from Sporeout 3 part 2
*having sex with radioactive homos
*being hit by bowel disruptor and dying of shitting
*from screaming in terror when the game glitches on you
*tearing the earth apart
§going to the fucking limbo!
*eating too many easter eggs
/inverting yourself inside out
/getting chomped to death by an ant(approximaely after 3 months of stoicism)
-going 88Mph in reverse and getting killed by archeopteron piss rain
+sticking your genitalia in a black hole
“doing your homework
!doing someone else’s homework
°K
~doing not compute
06/05/2011 at 20:58 Arglebargle says:
Getting eaten by a slavering grue….
06/05/2011 at 21:04 .backslash says:
*scurvy
*getting your arms ripped out of their sockets and being beaten to death with your own fists
*forgetting the safe word
*noodle accident
*passing out in a trash can and being crushed to death in a garbage truck
*gaming induced rickets
*failing to find the dead mechanic and getting your helicopter blown up
*a bomb
*what a shame
*electronic old men
*zombies
06/05/2011 at 21:29 MrWeed says:
* Having both of your arms tied on your back while fighting with a kickboxer
* Being backstabbed by your mother with an old kitchen knife
* Having a conversation with a robot
* Getting hit by a rock
* Being eaten by a polar bear
* Getting run over by a train
* Being molested by a clown
* Jumping into a lava pit
and finally:
* Being in the same room as Osama Bin Laden
06/05/2011 at 21:53 dartt says:
* Cyborg killswitch.
* Gray Death.
* LAM fumbling.
* Sawbladed in twain by physicist.
* Lupus
* Shot by US Deputy Marshal.
* Sunk by the lucky guess of a child.
* Blown in to space through tiny hole.
* Arms crushed off by Martian elevator.
* Ordered in to spear wall by inept commander.
* Cast in to warp by upset Loser.
* Tripping on kerb and landing on iron railing.
06/05/2011 at 22:22 Firkragg says:
* Calling The Librarian a monkey
06/05/2011 at 22:52 Tei says:
* trying to outsmart bullets
* using the chair in the execution room
* failing from a building, and failing to learn to fly
* watching the full trylogy of LOTR withouth drinking anything
* accidentally the whole thing
06/05/2011 at 23:37 Flimgoblin says:
* Listen to the second worst poetry in the universe
06/05/2011 at 23:40 Daiv says:
* Death by airlock failure
* Death by brain parasite
* Death by sonic diarrhea
I hear you really don’t want that one.
* Successfully dividing by zero
* Iterating recursively in the real world
* Reading write-only memory
* Unwinding the stack far, far too far
07/05/2011 at 00:31 LintMan says:
*You Just slip out the back, Jack
*Make a new plan, Stan
*You don’t need to be coy, Roy
*Just get yourself free
Wait – what were we talking about again?
07/05/2011 at 00:56 Lord Byte says:
Y’all forgot:
*SSSSSsssssssss….
07/05/2011 at 11:17 Chalee says:
*ZEITGEIST – BOOM
07/05/2011 at 13:46 Exitalterego says:
* Total Protonic Reversal
08/05/2011 at 00:31 DJ Phantoon says:
Lemons.
06/05/2011 at 15:03 Eraysor says:
I’d prefer it if there were 99 ways to die.
06/05/2011 at 15:24 captainfuzz says:
Err, but a bitch ain’t one?
06/05/2011 at 16:07 Megadyptes says:
Down another glass of courage
And a shot of thorazine
06/05/2011 at 19:20 vodkarn says:
We’re not ready to see you, yet.
06/05/2011 at 15:03 maybe an idiot says:
50 ways to leave your lover but 45 ways to die. Have more variety in your life, make love not war.
06/05/2011 at 19:37 Dhatz says:
what do we kno there aint 60 000 000 000 045 deaths and we have eyes open only during 45 of those!
06/05/2011 at 15:08 Batolemaeus says:
Is this kinda like the gazillion promised endings in Fallout 3?
06/05/2011 at 15:15 Baboonanza says:
By endings they meant ‘crashes’.
BADUM-TSH
06/05/2011 at 15:12 G says:
I expect at least 6,000,000 ways to die. And to be told to choose one.
06/05/2011 at 15:32 Birdman Tribe Leader says:
I prefer to make it 6 million and 1 with my eyes closed.
06/05/2011 at 19:17 Squirrelfanatic says:
I want to kill 60 million and choosing which 1 with my eyes closed.
06/05/2011 at 15:15 jimjames says:
*Euthanasia Coaster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia_Coaster
06/05/2011 at 15:20 somini says:
Two questions arise:
-Why the Euthanasia Coaster isn’t a ride in every Six Flags?
-Can it be done in RollerCoaster Tycoon?
06/05/2011 at 15:26 calavera says:
This is the best thing I’ve ever read on wikipedia.
06/05/2011 at 15:51 Stephen Roberts says:
“Depending on the tolerance of an individual passenger to g-forces, the first or second inversion would cause cerebral anoxia, rendering the passengers brain dead.”
Aagghgh. That sounds so painful. So very painful. I think I’d rather be crushed by an elephant at the moment of climax with some concubines.
Or be immortal. I’d rather that, if we’re being non-specific.
06/05/2011 at 16:09 Baboonanza says:
I’d rather be crushed by concubines at the moment of climax with an elephant, but each to their own.
06/05/2011 at 17:23 calavera says:
It takes different strokes to rule the world.
06/05/2011 at 15:18 pandora says:
Best dota ever.
06/05/2011 at 15:18 BigJonno says:
I have it on good authority that there are a million ways that they can bury you alive.
06/05/2011 at 15:19 Alextended says:
About as impressive as the “200 DIFFERENT ENDINGS!” for Fallout 3 I’d say.
06/05/2011 at 15:20 Spliter says:
in those 45 ways to die they probably include “being shot by a pistol” and “being shot by a shotgun” as two separate ones.
Bah! I say!
Bah!
if so then TF2 has over 100 ways to die!
06/05/2011 at 15:20 Rii says:
What meaningless noise. Shame on the media for disseminating it. Yes, the wondrous process of multiplication can cause small numbers to become surprisingly large with surprising rapidity. If you start with a penny and double your money each day, by the end of the month you’ll be a multi-millionaire. Will wonders never cease?
06/05/2011 at 15:22 theleif says:
Well, it’s not as impressive as it sounds.
Made a quick calculation, based on a modest character creator.
10 boots
10 lower legs
10 upper legs
10 torso
10 lower arms
10 upper arms
10 heads
10 hats
10 tattoos
10 sunglasses
10 hairstyles
= 100.000.000.000 combinations.
Still, i can’t complain.
Looking forward to the game.
Cheers
Edit: What Rii said.
06/05/2011 at 15:22 meklu says:
Nah, a hundred quadrillion ain’t much.
06/05/2011 at 15:23 cliffski says:
but will it be fun?
06/05/2011 at 15:25 Quintin Smith says:
You what now?
06/05/2011 at 15:30 Malawi Frontier Guard says:
You don’t know what fun is, you just do as you’re told.
06/05/2011 at 16:03 karry says:
Remember Bubsy ? The first game that actually advertised having an enormous amount of ways to die. Sorry, but if i’m supposed to be dying all the time to see content proper…how does that make a good game ? And indeed it was shit.
08/05/2011 at 00:33 DJ Phantoon says:
Yes, it will have hats.
Fun is another word for hats, right?
06/05/2011 at 15:26 MrMud says:
102,247,681,536,000,000 and you still cant play as a girl…
06/05/2011 at 16:00 Hellraiserzlo says:
Boys are supposed to play with girls, boys playing as girls are doing it wrong.(which I have nothing against btw)
06/05/2011 at 16:50 torchedEARTH says:
Yes, that is very poor. Maybe it will be free DLC or something. But seriously,
What a shame.
07/05/2011 at 00:00 Bhazor says:
Over 8,992,332,122,211 varieties of breast (including minor tint and areola variations)
07/05/2011 at 13:48 wererogue says:
This.
Splash Damage came from mods, so I’m hoping they’ve provided the tools for the community to fix this glaring bug.
06/05/2011 at 15:27 Tei says:
I think this can be a reaction to the lack of a Kemonomimi race in the game. Only human male?
Boooooooooooooring!.
06/05/2011 at 15:31 somini says:
Brink has 1.02 × 10^17 possible characters variations.
19 ! = 1.216451 × 10^17, so there are almost the same number of variations for me to stack 19 of anything.
Just basic maths…
06/05/2011 at 15:59 Baggypants says:
Actually, that sounds like a great method of character creation
Stack 19 things
Book,
Car,
rat,
sandwich,
Golfball
etc,
Your Char:- Generic Marine with a tribal tat.
06/05/2011 at 16:06 mwoody says:
Ohhh, here I am trying to figure out how “19 != 1.216451 × 10^17″ is at all relevant. ‘Always was more of a coder than a mathematician.
08/05/2011 at 00:32 Thants says:
Pfft, what kind of idiot would ever confuse “19! =” with “19 !=”?
(Kidding, kidding)
08/05/2011 at 00:51 somini says:
The test is how do you read 19! “Nineteen!!” or “nineteen factorial”.
06/05/2011 at 15:47 SeanybabeS says:
Poor voice packs.
Just can’t hang it with the big numbers.
06/05/2011 at 15:47 Njordsk says:
I just want the game.
long long 4 days
06/05/2011 at 16:09 Megadyptes says:
I wonder how many character variations you can make in Saints Row 2?
06/05/2011 at 16:11 Soon says:
Could we have screenshots of each? I want to pick the best one.
06/05/2011 at 16:20 Jake says:
Eleventy-million different character variations and they all look like they think skateboarding is awesome.
06/05/2011 at 16:38 Berzee says:
LOL
it’s true variety
06/05/2011 at 16:37 bleeters says:
What, no ‘number of possible character genders’?
08/05/2011 at 00:36 Thants says:
1.0000 x 10^0
06/05/2011 at 16:38 Curvespace says:
Meaningless. There are supposedly more variations possible in a game of Go than there are atoms in the known universe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)#Nature_of_the_game
I once figured out how many possible variations of sandwich there were at my local sandwich shop. Given the choice of five different fillings, plus one of three types of meat, four types of bread and an assortment of fifty (yes, fifty) additional fillings and salads, the numbers got huge. Still, it’s all about the quality of the ingredients, right?
Sandwiches are better than statistics.
06/05/2011 at 16:40 bleeters says:
You’re making me hungry.
06/05/2011 at 16:43 Jake says:
There’s always one arsehole holding up the queue.
06/05/2011 at 16:48 Curvespace says:
Hahahahah :)
08/05/2011 at 00:25 chansu says:
Meaningless but sometimes fun.
Possible combinations or variations of things have a tendency to snowball into silly numbers. I first saw the extent of this when attempting to compute how many distinct 50×50 pixel images are possible. While expecting a large number, I did not expect a number so large that these pictures could not all be computed – let alone stored – before the heat-death of the universe. Even if they are grayscale.
06/05/2011 at 16:41 LarsBR says:
Shot in the back, shot in the face, shot in the back of the head, shot in the crotch, shot in the right eye, shot in the left eye. Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. You can be knocked over by a molotov and shot in the face, knocked over by a molotov and shot in the back in the head, there’s bacon and shrimp, …
06/05/2011 at 16:55 Mario Figueiredo says:
1. Getting Shot
2. Getting blown up
3. Getting fragged (grenade)
4. Getting sliced in half (1/3, 2/4, 8/9s…)
5. Getting meleed
6. Falling
7. Getting crushed
8. Getting run over
9. Drowning
10. Burning
11. Acid
12. Impaled
13. Smashed (against wall, etc)
14. Electrocuted
15. Getting torn apart
16. Poisoned
29 to go
07/05/2011 at 13:09 Hallgrim says:
Getting shot in the {head, body} by one of {23 guns}, grenades, falling, melee.
06/05/2011 at 17:07 qrter says:
Sixty minutes of music..? That doesn’t sound like a lot, to me, but maybe I’m being silly.
06/05/2011 at 17:16 Hunam says:
Well.. music in games that don’t use licensed soundtracks isn’t as prominent as it once was. Maybe it’s just audio maturity as most western games don’t have BMG’s blaring out any more. I think back in the day music was just used more because there was less they could do with audio.
06/05/2011 at 17:40 Tei says:
It really depends. Maybe is a 8bits 2 second loop that play for 60 minutes.
06/05/2011 at 17:42 tomeoftom says:
Now I really want to make a team-based FPS where the levels change dynamically with the music, and you do extra damage by firing and doing acrobatics (wall-runs, jump pads, rocket jumps) in time with randomly-generated and physically represented (ie hovering powerups) rhythms. OH and combo moves with teammates where you have to sing complex harmonies into the mic while leapfrogging one another.
06/05/2011 at 18:08 Flappybat says:
Games journalists wowed by the potential of RGB sliders!
Pallete swapped enemies should make a come back, it would make a great stat for hype.
Face 16,777,216 enemy combinations!
06/05/2011 at 18:54 Decimae says:
Bethesda can’t do basic math. According to my calculations, there are:
3 Body types.
3482181818 + 3/11 minor tint variations for security guards
4041163636 + 4/11 minor tint variations for the resistance
06/05/2011 at 19:46 Teddy Leach says:
No, they can do basic maths.
Also, I don’t believe them.
06/05/2011 at 18:57 Moonracer says:
Like others have said. All that variation and still everyone looks the same in the pics we’ve seen. There should just be a slider between Skater-Punk and Pro-Wrestler. Which do you want to look more like? The characters do look nice though, within that range.
Still, the gameplay sounds quite good. I’m looking forward to hearing what people think when it’s released. I may have to pick this one up.
06/05/2011 at 19:22 Squirrelfanatic says:
102,247,681,536,000,000 possible characters variations.
One gender.
Fail.
06/05/2011 at 19:23 vodkarn says:
Agreed.
06/05/2011 at 20:08 Kadayi says:
Agreed + 1
Also from what I’ve seen so far the ‘range’ seems to cover every imaginable variation of the word ugly, from vaguely worrying racial caricatures through to Deliverance style hillbilly inbreds.
06/05/2011 at 20:27 Easydog says:
Agreed.
06/05/2011 at 20:40 Dhatz says:
A greed
06/05/2011 at 19:47 Tokjos says:
Related to a comment above:
I checked wikipedia for torque wrench, and i’ve drawn the conclusion that “Mechatronic torque wrench” is the most awesome name for a tool ever.
Mechatronic.
07/05/2011 at 00:07 Caleo says:
Why so longface.jpg?
07/05/2011 at 01:00 poop says:
eleventy billion character combinations but i bet that on release 1/4th of characters will be joker cosplayers
same shit happened with apb
07/05/2011 at 03:38 Dances to Podcasts says:
Firing a gun is a binary choice. Either you pull the trigger or you don’t.
07/05/2011 at 03:48 Doesntmeananything says:
Payne? Oh, no! Not him! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
07/05/2011 at 09:40 TariqOne says:
102,247,681,536,000,000 possible character variations and not one of them a female.
07/05/2011 at 13:38 the_real_jb says:
And 0 demos.
07/05/2011 at 15:55 Dreamhacker says:
“# Unique Resistance Characters (including minor tint variations and body types) – 54,922,323,456,000,000″
DEBUG NIGHTMARE :)
07/05/2011 at 22:21 Coins says:
Late to the party, I know. But Brink would be a flagship game if it did indeed ship with female characters. Also, Bethesda would have my money for the rest of their existence.
11/05/2011 at 07:51 kennycrown says:
Preventing yourself from being born also prevents you from dying. You could however kill yourself.