Saturday, January 10, 2004

Nanomation


The nano meme continues to pick up steam. I'm among the Pong generation, so I might be lost in this game space, but it's clear that game programmers and marketers know a cool prefix when they hear it. So, in no particular order, here are some of the latest games and videos with a nano theme:


deusAccording to this review from 1up.com:
    You're Alex D., a nanotech-enhanced agent whose gender you choose at the start of the game, and just like JC, you in the middle of a tense battle for the future of planet Earth. The WTO is the primary caretaker of the world these days (they're also the outfit that trained you), but a new religion, known as the Order, has increased its political power in recent years. (It also may or may not be behind a [nanotech] terrorist attack that just leveled Chicago, but let's worry about that later.)"

    "The WTO is calling on him to report back to headquarters, but he also has a friend in the Order who says that the WTO's using him as a guinea pig for their experiments and that he should desert that scene as soon as possible.
More reviews can be found here, here and here.


Zaion: I Wish You Were Here - Epidemic (Vol. 1) (anime video)

zaionThis review from DVD Empire just about sums it up:
    Nanotechnology is one of the current hot topics in various fields of science and medicine. Essentially, the idea is that small machines can be made and programmed to perform a host of different tasks, sight unseen, with endless possibilities. Recent television shows, including Andromeda and Jake 2.0 explore some applications of such technology, albeit by greatly advancing what we can do today. A newly released OVA anime series, Zaion: I Wish You Were Here 1: Epidemic, explores the idea in another way, this time as a means to combat an alien virus."

    The premise of the show was that a meteor crashed into the Earth and deposited a virus; much like in the mainstream hit Species. The virus invades the cells of people and turns them into powerful monsters.
    Episode One: Encounter: The world is under attack from a virus thought to have come from a meteor. The scientists dealing with it dub it M34 as it's the 34th strain of virus originating from the source and it has fought all attempts at a cure. The world governments keep it a secret in order to prevent mass panic, and the group CURE is empowered to use any means necessary to wage a battle against its victims. The military arm of the organization, NOA, is full of soldiers who are treated with nanotechology and have tiny machines coursing through their veins that repair damage and form a protective body armor/weapon system to fight the enemy.
    Episode two: Soon, it is discovered that the virus is adapting to the nanobots and no one is safe.
And here's what SciFi.com says about it:
    The Zaion series leaves many details unexplored, but it skims across a few pertinent details—the NOA soldiers are nanotech-enhanced warriors whose bloodstreams are filled with microscopic "nano machines." In times of stress, those robots flock to the skin, extrude through the sweat glands, and expand to form armor."
Synnamon: Facing Mecha, Part 7 (graphic novel)

mechaHere's a blurb from 2000AD Review:
    Of course, a planet composed entirely of artificial intelligences has been done before, but the ideas here are strong ones, particularly the idea of nano-technology being used like a virus to infect and control the galaxy."
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (Nintendo GameBoy Advance, PlayStation 2, GameCube)

shakennotstiredHere's a plot synopsis from the Electronic Arts news release.
    James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing once again finds the world's greatest secret agent fighting to save the world from a diabolical madman; former KGB agent Nikolai Diavolo. Armed with metal-eating nanotech, Diavolo's private army will steamroll the forces of the free world, unless Bond and CIA agent Mya Starling can stop Diavolo's forces in Egypt, Peru and New Orleans, culminating in a deadly battle beneath Moscow's Red Square!"
There's more, but I'll save them for later.  Meanwhile, I'm introducing crass commercialism into the NanoBot. Click the links to the right, and pieces of nano culture can be yours.



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