Pyrian on 20/10/2014 at 04:32
I wonder if, at some point in the design of the Alien, there was a discussion along the lines of "That's great, except without the cocks."
Weasel on 20/10/2014 at 04:32
Quote Posted by Neb
Giger's creation was made with a real human skull. The head was slightly transparent so that when light shone on it you could see the empty eye sockets. I don't enjoy speculating on lore or canon much, but I wondered whether it was meant to be a vestige of the host's DNA (or, it could just be Giger being Giger.)
They did pretty much make it canon in other movies that the alien inherits traits from its host (such as the Alien in Alien3 that runs on all fours because it came from a dog (or cow in the Director's Cut).
I did know about those eye sockets, but how would it see without eyes in the sockets? Alien Resurrection has the strongest evidence I can think of (in the Quadrilogy) for the aliens having sight, when they're behind glass and respond to Brad Dourif taunting them with a big button. It's not definitive, but it seems to be a stronger case than the simple prey stalking that occurs otherwise, which could be done with other senses.
Thirith on 20/10/2014 at 05:28
Quote Posted by Weasel
Right now SLI is not a good approach to VR. Apparently it introduces a little bit of extra lag, which is no good. Maybe some day soon, when video card technology is adjusted to meet the specific needs of Virtual Reality...
From what I've read, it's either restricted to the new cards (900 series), not implemented yet or both. The thinking behind it sounds good; there's some info here, even if it's rather advertisey:
(
http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/maxwell-architecture-gpus-the-only-choice-for-virtual-reality-gaming)
henke on 20/10/2014 at 07:44
Quote Posted by Phatose
Either the thing failed a spot check hard, or it was deliberately fucking with me.
Maybe it just wasn't hungry right then. It could've just come into the room for some other reason but then forgotten why it did so and walked back out. We've all been there, right? Pretty impressive AI if that's the case!
Thirith on 20/10/2014 at 09:00
Not that it's particularly relevant, but I always liked that we had no idea at all about the alien's sensory equipment. Does it see? Hear? Smell? Or does it sense us in ways that are, well, alien? There were no obvious relatable sense organs on the damn thing, so you couldn't obviously "aim for the eyes, Boo!" or similar.
On a different, similarly irrelevant note: while I generally like the extended version of Alien 3, the dog always worked better for me as a host than the ox, because the resulting alien comes across as more canine than bovine. I can't remember what the birthing scene was in the longer version, but the alien being born from something living is definitely more creepy than it coming from an ox carcass. Unless the ox is alive as well, but I simply have no memory of such a scene.
nicked on 20/10/2014 at 09:39
The ox is a slaughtered one, hanging up and surrounded by flies. We don't see whether it died as a result of alien impregnation or was butchered regardless. I also think the dog makes more sense - surely a parasitic organism like that would require a living host, otherwise it implies that all the aliens need to breed is somewhere to function loosely as a womb. That ox had been dead long enough that it wouldn't even have been warm. They could presumably therefore impregnate a sofa. Wonder what traits that would impart on the creature... nice chintz upholstery perhaps?
Thirith on 20/10/2014 at 09:55
Not sure how nutritious a sofa would be as a host, although I like the idea of a paisley-textured xenomorph. It wouldn't be very scary, mind you... until that paisley nightmare bites your head off. In any case, the dog-->ox change was definitely what would be called a "Verschlimmbesserung" in German: an improvement for the worse.
bleaksand on 20/10/2014 at 13:16
Quote Posted by SD
I just did the third mission, but I'm not convinced I'll ever complete this game because it is absolutely terrifying. I can only manage about an hour of gameplay at a time before I feel like bursting into tears. I haven't been killed by the alien yet, just hostile humans. However the brief encounters I've had with the creature thus far have reduced me to a dribbling mess.
… I didn't manage to get through mission 2 before calling it quits …
(the original movie terrified me as a teenager!) Thanked my friend for the game loan, but I'm content to watch the rest through a "Let's Play". With my dreadful memory, this will take the edge off, but still allow me to experience the game if/when I impulse buy it
(on sale, of course) a couple years down the road.
For now, I'll just leave Ripley cowering in the locker …faetal on 20/10/2014 at 13:52
I've got a copy of viva piñata which I no longer use if you're interested.
N'Al on 20/10/2014 at 16:25
Quote Posted by Thirith
On a different, similarly irrelevant note: while I generally like the extended version of
Alien 3, the dog always worked better for me as a host than the ox, because the resulting alien comes across as more canine than bovine.
The Alien (TM) - Now with 4 stomachs! And udders!
I'm terrified even thinking about it.
