That cyberpunk thread

[casterofdreams]

Total Recall!!!

Also based off another Phillip Dick book... so is Minority Report IIRC.

While we're on Arnold... Running Man has some futuristic cyber vibes as well. This one is based on a Stephen King book (written under his sydonym).

I don't know I didn't get a cyberpunk feeling from Minority Report. The scene where they went to stop the future crime of that guy killing his wife and lover, the cops just dropped into a normal looking suburban area with a park across the street.

[Pulsar_t]

Do you really expect the whole country to turn into a neon-light dystopia?

[casterofdreams]

Do you really expect the whole country to turn into a neon-light dystopia?

Yes.

[J T]

So, do you guys think that cyberpunk is fundamentally a retro genre? Much of the aesthetic for the genre was laid out by Blade Runner in 1982. The biggest Cyberpunk videogames (Shadowrun, Deus Ex, Syndicate, System Shock, Final Fantasy VII) occurred in the 90s or early 2000s. And many of the current generation of cyberpunk games seem to be pointing back to an older vision of what the future would look like (Gemini Rue, Far Cry: Blood Dragon, Shadowrun Returns) rather than a newer version (with arguable exceptions like Deus Ex: Human Revolution or Cyberpunk 2077). So does this genre have to hark back to the neon drenched cities of Blade Runner and the code-cracking noir hackers like Case from Neuromancer? Or is there a new direction where cyberpunk is heading that still keeps it recognizable? Can we no longer talk about "communicators" and "comm links" now that "cell phones" and "mobile devices" are ubiquitous? Can we say with a straight face that we are going to "jack into cyberspace" now that everyone just "searches on the internet?" Has our real-life technology caught up with us in such a way that cyberpunk is now a relic of the past that we enjoy as a nostalgia-future?

[Cronozilla]

I'm probably wrong, and I definitely don't want my ass chewed off by scholars on the subject (that, frankly, just discourages me from participating).

I think we've just hit the threshold between fantasy and reality.

It would require cyberpunk sci fi to develop new techniques to not seem antiquated.

It almost feels like it was just part of the development of science fiction in general.

I feel like current sci fi is about modernism, as much as 80s sci fi was about cyberpunk and 40s sci fi was about fantasy. So, maybe, it might be part of the development of sci fi, in general.

If science fiction is, usually, about qualms about how things are developing ... how do you address those same qualms, when those changes have already happened? Does "Sci Fi" or "Cyberpunk" become a thematic element to that media?

For example ... was Almost Human Cyberpunk? I don't think many people would classify it as such ... but it shared a lot of similarities with the sub-genre. Maybe, "Cyberpunk" needs to be talking about something else that we haven't reached yet?

[Erik_Twice]

So, do you guys think that cyberpunk is fundamentally a retro genre?

Well, you are right in that Cyberpunk as defined by Gibson and Blade Runner is discredited in the same way that Verne voyage or Asimov's tales of huge vacummn powered computers are. The themes are outdated, what was "punk" in 1985 is no longer punk now, and many of the technologies described didn't work out as planned but the ideas have gone on on newer works.

It's like Noir. Is Noir limited to the decades of the 40s and the 50s? Or did it go on?

[Exhuminator]

So, do you guys think that cyberpunk is fundamentally a retro genre?

Depending on how it is presented, the aesthetics can be retro. I think the concept is timeless though. Cyberpunk as a meme itself is malleable enough to fit either retro or future constructs. I consider Watch Dogs to be a modern cyberpunk game for example.

[Jagosaurus]

Discussion got real! IMO the antiquated portrayal of "future" tech really adds charm to 80s & 90s cyberpunk movies/TV but recent tech jumps don't render the genre extinct. I think now it's a bit harder to have that wow effect... for example, it was really cool in blade runner when he viewed the picture on his home TV & zoomed in lol.... not so impressive now.

[casterofdreams]

JT I don't feel Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon would fit in my understanding of what cyberpunk is. The whole game is a parody on 80's era cartoons and action hero movies.

[emwearz]

JT I don't feel Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon would fit in my understanding of what cyberpunk is. The whole game is a parody on 80's era cartoons and action hero movies.

Having played it start to finish, it does have a cyberpunk aspect to it, but it has lots of sci-fi, parody, etc that would remove it from being cyberpunk. But it has "that" feeling.