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1973 Japanese Magazine shows Big Daddy & Little Sister

M

Mr. Bamboo

Member
That's really interesting. It reminds me of that Truth from Legend/Columbia: a modern day icarus? trailer for Bioshock Infinite. Though of course this isn't viral marketing spanning decades... or is it
panda-emoticon-67.gif
.

I definitely want to find out more on the story.
 
O

OverBlood 3

Banned
Ah yes the girls in the shining, that makes sense because in the shining one of the girls was actually a man in a diving suit. Like in that Japanese magazine.
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
It's unclear if that issue of SF Magazine featured some sort of underwater tale or if the cover was simply striking artwork.
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Too bad there are apparently no journalists at Kotaku that could do some research and find out for us.
 
P

Poimandres

Member
Currygan said:
yeah, no way that is not an inspiration to say the least, Levine

great find OP, videogame facts that blow your mind material
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It's pretty striking, but this seems pretty damn obscure. It could be one of those things where it wasn't actually an influence at all, just an amazing coincedence.

Then again, he didn't actually say he was unaware of the magazine in the tweet...
 
H

HiddenForbiddenHolyGround

Member
Based on the concept art for the Little Sisters and Big Daddy's I don't find it that hard to believe it could be a coincidence. These things do happen.

Of course it could have been an unconscious inspiration, something they saw once and didn't explicitly remember. But why deny it could have been a conscious inspiration if it was? I don't see any reason for him to deny it. They have no problem admitting inspiration from other sources.
 
M

Maintenance

Member
Busted.

Nah, probably just a coincidence. If he really did use that as an inspiration then congratulations on being able to hide for this long.
 
Adry9

Adry9

Member
BlackLagoon said:
...that it's possible for multiple people to come up with the idea if pairing a little girl with man in a old fashioned diving suit?
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The way she's dressed like, the look on her face... I think Levine took inspiration from this or something related to it, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing.
 
M

MormaPope

Banned
disappeared said:
And a baseless one at that.
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This too.

So Levine somehow found a 1973 Japanese magazine either in a physical location lying around somewhere or on the internet, cause, you know how people search for magazines in languages they don't understand. Then he decided to make a game based on the image alone, and that in of itself is stealing and makes him a hack.

Yeah, this line of thinking sure is smart.
 
B

Black Door

Banned
TucoBenedictoPacifico said:
On a side note, the content doesn't even need to match to confirm the cover as a potential inspiration.

Anecdotally, I remember a case where an Italian comic writer (for Nathan Never, a somewhat popular character here, some sort of special agent in a cyberpunk setting) had a chance to browse some volumes of the Japanese edition of Go Nagai's Devilman, and while he was completely unable to grasp what was going on, he was so fascinated with the general art style and mood that he wrote an episode where he... well, he essentially made-up a new story using those drawings as a reference/inspiration.
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So, the reverse of Tezuka's Metropolis (he basically saw the promotional poster and built an entire script off of it)
 
C

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
Poimandres said:
It's pretty striking, but this seems pretty damn obscure. It could be one of those things where it wasn't actually an influence at all, just an amazing coincedence.

Then again, he didn't actually say he was unaware of the magazine in the tweet...
Click to expand...


how many chances are there about a game featuring a big guy in a diver suit holding a little girl's hand and a magazine cover featuring a big guy in a diver suit holding a little girl's hand being a concidence?

497319835.gif


also, Bioshock Infinite features more similar "coincidences" with a very old Sierra game, so Uncle Rupee's remark isn't too far from reality
 
Adry9

Adry9

Member
MormaPope said:
This too.

So Levine somehow found a 1973 Japanese magazine either in a physical location lying around somewhere or on the internet, cause, you know how people search for magazines in languages they don't understand. The he decided to make a game based on the image alone, and that in of itself is stealing and makes him a hack.

Yeah, this line of thinking sure is smart.
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You mean like the girl who found it?
 
D

d0c_zaius

Member
MormaPope said:
This too.

So Levine somehow found a 1973 Japanese magazine either in a physical location lying around somewhere or on the internet, cause, you know how people search for magazines in languages they don't understand. The he decided to make a game based on the image alone, and that in of itself is stealing and makes him a hack.

Yeah, this line of thinking sure is smart.
Click to expand...

um people do that all the time, ESPECIALLY in gaming development when researching subjects/symbols. anything that can stir up inspiration is open to being used, especially something as simple as "creepy dive suit images".

going equally on the hyper defensive isn't going to help anything.
 
B

Bossofman

Neo Member
The basic concept of a innocent (malevolent?) little girl being protected by a hulking form, Robot,Space Marine, or Monster has been done in every way imaginable, Long before Bioshock was even an idea.
 
H

HiddenForbiddenHolyGround

Member
For being a coincidence stranger things have happened. Like the simultaneous but unrelated creations of the UK and US Dennis the Menaces with different inspirations but similar surface characteristics and traits.
 
M

MormaPope

Banned
Currygan said:
how many chances are there about a game featuring a big guy in a diver suit holding a little girl's hand and a magazine cover featuring a big guy in a diver suit holding a little girl's hand being a concidence?

497319835.gif
Click to expand...

Really?

You've personally never thought of something and then seen that thought not only utilized, but actually fully developed? I've had this happen all the time.

Anyone that doesn't think this is a coincidence is applying zero logic to this scenario. So Ken Levine looked up "Japanese magazine diver art 70's" and found the perfect image. Yup, right.
 
M

Man-is-Obsolete

Member
I have always been intrigued by this idea that piece of work could theoretically be recreated by someone else without ever knowing the original existed. For instance could a person who has never heard Twinkle Twinkle Little Star "write" that song? Or how many times have you or a friend said "I should totally invent this thing, people everywhere would need it", only to find out it already existed even though this is the first you heard of it? So it is possible too that this magazine and Bioshock are totally unrelated, but just a fascinating coincidence.
 
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