Ass Man.
Which is what we called “Asset Management” behind the scenes, while I was writing it. Of course, back then I didn’t know I was writing it for Keanu fucking Reeves.
Apparently they mentioned my name on some ComicCon panel about a month ago, which effectively lifted the embargo (“Brag #2” was as far as I could go back in September). Now they’ve released a couple of meaty clips over on YouTube. I am—I suppose the word is psyched.
You can see me in there, kind of. My dialog didn’t make it through unscathed, because “Asset Management” incorporated specific game/plot elements that were declared off-limits post hoc (not really sure why; spoilers can’t be much of of an issue for a game that came out over a year ago). The folks at Blur had to strip out a lot of details to make that work; they changed the ending entirely. But—and you don’t see authors admit this very often, so take it to heart—I think their changes were for the better. I’d been writing within the constraints not just of Rubicon the world, but also of Armored Core VI’s specific plot. Those constraints forced the story into a specific and complex mold. Unbound, though, it could assume a simpler and more natural shape.
So the dialog in one of these clips expresses the essence of what I wrote with slightly different verbiage. The dialog in the other is pretty much all me, but there’s only one line of it so that’s not saying much. The mech, as Keanu mentions, is called Shrieker— but that’s just a phonetic simplification of a much more awkward spelling, with much more world-changing implications. I look forward to seeing whether we get to see the actual name stamped onto a breastplate or something.
Because I still haven’t seen the whole thing, you see. Blur tried to slip me a copy, but Amazon was only willing to let it stream via a service that only supports two of the most pernicious and surveillant browsers on the planet (Chrome and Edge). It wouldn’t play nicely with Firefox, Brave, and/or their associated privacy plug-ins— and there was no way I was gonna let those guards down. Hell, Amazon’s one of the reasons I have them up in the first place.
So once you check out the clips you’ll have seen all I have. But the good news is, those moments are totally in sync with the vibe I was going for when I wrote the treatment. And the changes that make any difference at all are improvements.
For a proper assessment, of course, I’ll just have to wait until December 10th with the rest of you. Steal the ep when it drops.
Ol’ Johnny Silverhand has gone from being a voice in V’s head to having a voice in his head. How the tables have turned!
In all seriousness, congratulations. I look forward to seeing it too.
As chance would have it, being behind the curve as usual, I’m just playing CP2077 now. Finished the first iteration, added Phantom Liberty, running through again.
It’s not every game that can lure me back to pancake mode.
I haven’t gotten around to it entirely, so where does that put me? In between swells?
Any chance that might be Amy Acker (of Person of Interest) as the voice in Reeves’ head? She isn’t on the credits but it sounds awfully similar to her
Amazing! I’m excited to see it!
This is fabulous. Congratulations, Peter!
Wait. Wait wait wait. You wrote the Secret Level Armored Core episode? HOLY SHIT, please, i can only get so erect!
I think that is the first unabashed good news i had for quite some day, now im double-stoked.
Have to admit though that i will probably give the great Satan Amazon my money to watch the whole series without hassle.
To be clear, I didn’t write the screenplay. Blur commissioned me to write the short story upon which the screenplay was based.
Still. Close enough.
Can we ready that Story anywhere?
Not yet. I asked a while back, and was told they were considering releasing an anthology based on the series at some point (or rather, an anthology upon which the series was based). All seems like vaporware at this point, but they’re hanging on to the rights just in case.
The moderation queue seems to have eaten my comment, so:
Fucking awesome, looking forward to the series even more now.
I have to admit, i will probably give the great Satan Amazon my money, i just want to watch it hassle-free. Give me my pork-rinds and entertainment before everything collapses into itself.
Very nice.
You might want to try the chromium browser, it’s supposed to be the ungoogled open source version – I mostly stick stubbornly to firefox but I keep it as a backup.
Stephen King also admitted the Darabont movie ending of the Mist improved on his story, iirc.
You also got name dropped in a recent Dwarkesh Patel podcast interview with Gwern Branwen
Bit of a backhanded compliment, but hey…
I have never played Armored Core, but I love From Software games.
When I found out that you wrote the treatment, I decided to watch it for sure.
In my country you are not very well known, but Armored Core is very popular.
I hope to see your name prominently displayed in the end credits.
I will shout your name loudly.
You should definitely give AC6 a try then, i rate it just a bit under Bloodborne in terms of FromSoft Quality.
You and Armored Core are a match made in heaven, congrats!
I’ve never played AC, so I’ll have to take your word for it. Although giant mechas punching each other in the face with missiles and railguns does seem to be a bit of a trope…
You really should, i think you would like it! The older AC are only for PS2+PS3 (Altough Armored Core 4: For Answer still holds up beautifully), but AC6 is on Steam and the most fun i had in a long while.
While Mechs in general are tropey, the various AC titles have quite an interesting and well presented story with interesting themes i could well imagine youd like and enjoy. It reminds me quite a bit of the best Gundam series (While Mechs are cool, War is hell and ruins people) and all the corporate backstabbing it depicts is certainly very realistic.
Great news, congratulations. As a cheap fanboy I can only squeal in delight.
Although I must admit to an internal conflict: your cerebral well-sourced inventive landscapes – worldly or internal to characters’ psyches (jeez, “whatever got lost when my parents killed their only child” – this single line is beautifully haunting) – don’t seem like a good fit for steel incarnations of the concept of overcompensation inflicting physical hurt on each other.
Then again – the fuck do I know, i can barely scribble my name on a good day. Hope to see more stuff from you, written or even processed by the entertainment industry, whatever.
“Steal the ep when it drops” – Oh please never ever change!
You encouraging (and enabling) people to find your work freely is how you got me as someone who pays cash immediately for anything you make!
Congrats, Peter! I can’t wait to read the short story.
For a second I thought the title was a Seinfeld reference.
It’s nice that you could make some money on the side. And I like Fromsoftware games, not that series though. But as you probably know all we want is Omniscience. Hell, 10.5 years after Echopraxia was published… Cmon, life is short.
I was surprised that you did not say anything about the last COP.
BTW here in Russia anti-utopias are most popular genre in fiction. All three years. Old ones, like 1984 are holding firmly 1st positions by sales. But also a lot of new ones coming every year. Main themes war, memory, guilt, sometimes dictatorship and China influence. Nobody cares about climate change of course. Also no “hope police”, but frankly I have not seen them much in english sci-fi / fantasy either, despite your complaints.
The money Tor offers to midlist authors is even shorter.
At this point, what more is there to say? If you check the sidebar you’ll see I’ve dropped a few comments about the proceedings as they were ongoing, but there’s only so many times you can say Look at these duplicitous assholes pretending to give a shit about the environment while continuing to expand oil production before people’s eyes glaze over. I may still weigh in at greater length when the mood strikes, but at the moment I’m upgrading the galleries so all you guys can print scrambler ornaments in time for Christmas.
That surprises me. My understanding is that Orwell pretty much ripped off Zamyatin’s We; I’d have thought folks in Russia would have rather read the homegrown original.
Oh, they’re out there. Here are a couple of slides from one of my talks (I gave it in Hungary I think, before Covid) to provide a smattering of examples.
Huh. Apparently you can only attach one file per comment. Here’s the other:
At this point i think that is mostly whistling in the dark. They KNOW just as well as we do that we are all fucked, but eh, keep smiling and dont look up!
Also, seconded for “Omniscience”. Has it really been a decade since Echopraxia? Man, time flies.
I know that for eco-activists, oil corporations are Pure Evil that should be cleansed at all costs… But if we talk more seriously, there is a huge turn toward militarization across the world. Partly due to Putin’s aggression, partly because of China-US decoupling, partly because drones have changed warfare. So pretty much everybody will spend much more on military and security, especially in Europe, NATO, and its allies. Since most of those countries are also democracies of different degrees, they cannot cut much on social spending (you immediately lose elections to the opposition, who will promise not to cut). So they will cut ecology-related spending as much as they can. Oil is nothing compared to that. Trust me, 5 years from now, you will remember, say, 2020 as a really good year in terms of efforts to stop/control climate change.
Zamyatin’s novel is much harder to read in terms of style. While 1984 is pretty upfront political horror with flashy ideas. When we talk about mass popularity it matters a lot.
I will dare to carry over our small discussion about Trump from the previous thread. First, I don’t think that anybody should take political rhetoric too seriously during a heated election campaign, especially in the U.S., where it’s always the highest quality of show with high tension and unpredictability. Second, we have already seen one term of Trump, and I expect that a second term will be much the same. Power in the U.S. is well spread out among different types of elites, so democracy is not under threat—even when one party has control over the presidency, Parliament, and the Constitutional Court (which is not unprecedented). Worst case scenario is that presidential power will grow a little (not as much as in France, for example) and republicans will have firm majority in Supreme Court for 1-2 decades.
so just to clarify, the current rate limiting factor on omniscience is tor’s lack of financial support? what are your thoughts about crowdsourcing from your loyal fans instead?
Not just Tor’s lack of financial support. I’ve gladly worked for less. But in the past I’ve encountered a certain duplicity when dealing with those guys. A propensity for petty head games. I’d write for them again―I may have to, since they have right of refusal on my next novel-length work―but given past experience I’m not sure the bucks would be worth the hassle. And it’s not as though I need the cash at this point.
That said, I know there are a lot of very decent people at Tor. I just haven’t had the chance to work with them professionally. So we’ll see.
Also, apologies it took so long for me to answer you. Somehow your comment ended up in my spam folder, which almost never happens.
this is my dream crossover. so excited!!
“They’re trying to make you waste velocity on oblique vectors”
Well that line definitely wasn’t changed (I say this with distinct fondness for your prose)
I hope you’ll make a follow up post now that you’ve (hopefully) seen the whole thing!
Actually I never even wrote that sentiment as dialog.
The actual prose that derives from is:
Same sentiment. Way fewer words.
I could learn a few things from this JT guy.
Forcing your enemy to spam quick boost, if we need an ingame term?
I pegged it as Wattsian the second the head-voice talked Keeanu about the enemy ACs moving in perfect synchronization purely through interpreting context. Man, imagine if Valerie and her ilk got their hands on ACs.
Great episode, if only it was longer. I would kill for a series like this.
Well, that was great. Grim, equivocal. Too short maybe. Hopefully we’ll get to see the source. I’d love to know what was sacrificed for these – admittedly stunning – visuals.
As a side note, is it just me, or does the WH40k one almost entirely consist of visual quotes from “Astartes”?
You are correct – Syama Pedersen is credited as a Layout Artist I believe. From Reddit comments they are involved a lot with shot composition
Well, the episode was amazing. AC6 quickly became one of my favorite game so i was pretty excited to see this, and i’m definitively not disappointed. I would loved it to be longer, but other than that ? It felt like Armored Core, looked like Armored Core, gave me the damn urge to play Armored Core.
It was great, thank you for that.
I hope we get the short story. It’d be cool to know what this would’ve been within the Armored Core 6 universe. Did FromSoft make the decision to make it separate, or was it someone at Amazon?
Shrieker = ASTGHIK? That’s all I ask. Nothing more.
Nachtreiher?
Check my next blog post, which just went live a few minutes ago. All your questions will be answered.
Or at least, that particular one.
Nope. Sorry. On the up side, you can now ask for something more.