Category Archives: Immortality

Why are we fascinated by the idea of haunted films? Return, again and again, to the idea of a spirit attaching itself to a moviewhether in film itself, or on the internet, where god knows how many creepypastas have been written about lost episodes, cursed movies, TV shows, and films that possess a spirit of their own? Is it an acknowledgement of how much creators put themselves into their work? Or a reckoning with the way movies can leech into our very spirits, affect us, or, for lack of a better word haunt us?

Sam Barlow and Half Mermaids new game, Immortality, is all about the way film eludes our defenses, and sneaks dangerous (and possibly unwanted) emotional payloads into our souls. The first outright horror game from the creator of Her Story and Telling Lies, the game purports to be a collection of lost footage from the filmography of Marissa Marcel (Manon Gage), an actress who appeared in three films across a 40-year careerall of them unreleased. Untangling the reasons for the shuttering of each of these projects, and the reason so many people associated with them appear to have come to an unhappy end, is the bulk of the players duties here, ostensibly as a sort of amateur film editor jumping through the archive mostly at will.

Half Mermaid Productions

Xbox Series X/S, PC, Mac, Android, iOS

Mechanically, Immortality will be immediately familiar to players of Barlows last two games, albeit with a visual twist. Where the previous games had players search out new pieces of live-action footage in their vast and hidden archives by typing in keywords in a search box, Immortality instead tasks them with selecting visual elements in the clips watched to find related ones. Interested in a background player in a scene? Take your editing window into search mode and click their face to be brought to a different clip in which they feature. Click a crucifix around a characters neck, and youll be whisked to another clip in which a cross appears. You can even do it for certain actionskissing, for instance, can jump you between each of the three films on offer pretty easily, given the ways sex and sexuality thread their way throughout Marcels fictitious filmography.

Ambrosio (1968)Screenshot: Immortality

Minsky (1970)Screenshot: Immortality

Two Of Everything (1999)Screenshot: Immortality

In review notes for the game, Barlow and his team talk about wanting to recreate the sensation of being a film editor, creating match cuts, playing with juxtapositions, etc. The problem with that approach, ultimately, is that your job as a player of Immortality is not to be an editor, but a detective, and clicking haphazardly between objects like this is a relatively poor way to go searching for clues. (We found ourselves missing that nostalgic text window more than once.) The biggest issue is that the clip youre taken to when making an edit seems to be at least partially random; theres no way we found to narrow your search if youre trying to find something specific, which can lead to lots of desperate clicking of the same element, searching for a new clip to sate your curiosity. Lost in the shuffle, then, is some of the sense of hunting down a lead that was so satisfying in the two prior games, where one interesting new term or name could open up whole new angles of the story. All three of Barlows games, by the merit of their player-dictated pacing, have moments when the momentum can crash, but Immortality feels like its affected the worst by these sudden dead ends.

IMMORTALITY Reveal Trailer - Coming Summer 2022

Aesthetically, at least, the game is a triumph, partly because of its subject matter, and especially because of its devotion to it. Each of Marcels three filmsreligious parable Ambrosio, 70s hippie crime flick Minsky, and 90s identity thriller Two Of Everythingmatch the look of the eras theyre meant to be evoking, whether that means using projected effects shots for Ambrosio, or filling the backgrounds of scenes with authentic New York artist weirdos for Minsky. None of it reads false, whether youre watching an old talk show clip, a behind-the-scenes interview, or just candid moments of rehearsal footage. The attention to detail is relentless and impressive.

It doesnt hurt that all three of the movies are actually pretty damn good. As Marcel, Gage is a consistently engaging screen presenceshe has to be, for the central conceit of the game to workand the stories being told all reflect on each other in fascinating ways. Running through each of them are thoughts on the mutability of identity, the falseness of images, the illusion of virtue. Taken together (and in discordant sequence, as the player slowly assembles fuller pictures of each of them in their mind), they create a sort of funhouse mirror of themes and ideasbut maybe the same could be said of any creators filmography, real or fictional.

And lurking beneath it all, a sense of dread. Barlows games have always had an anxious intimacy to themboth Her Story and Telling Lies contain moments that pull a gasp from the player by suddenly underlining that theyre playing as a character within the story, glimpses of another person lurking just beyond the boundaries of the screen. Immortality doesnt do that. Theres no avatar here, no separation. Its you that youre playing as, watching these clips. You, scrubbing backwards and forwards through footage, trying to understand what happened to these people. You, growing steadily more uneasy as the feeling builds that, even as you peer into the cinematic abyss, something else is peering back into you.

The tricky thing about talking about creators who make games that are unlike anything else on the market is that it becomes very hard to compare them to anything but their own work. By that metric, Immortality is Barlow and Half Mermaids most ambitious, if not their best, game to date. (Its very hard, even now, to top the precise focus of Her Story, riveting with its unmoving cameraalthough we will say that watching three competently made movies is significantly more engaging than the vlogs and video calls that made up the bulk of Telling Lies.) The horror element is its secret weapon, though. Even when Immortality falters as a mysteryand well be honest and note that, even after hitting credits, were still unclean on some of what Barlow and his collaborators are driving at herethat feeling of discomfort persists. Immortality gets under your skin; flickers subliminally in your head. It becomes a part of you, whether you want it to, or not.

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Review: Immortality is a welcome, unsettling turn to cinematic horror ...

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There's a reason Immortality is getting a cult reputation since it was released back in August. An FMV game that's also one of the best movies and TV miniseries of 2022. just came out whose plot is the mystery of what happened to a promising young actress named Marissa Marcel. She starred in three movies, one in the 1960s (an adaptation of the real-life 1796 gothic novel The Monk, no less), an erotic thriller in 1970, and a psychological thriller in the 90s, all never released. Each movie is shot in the style of their era: 1960s Eurotrash-arthouse exploitation,1970s psychological thrillers (explicitly referencing Klute but also pulling the plot from Basic Instinct, 1990s Cinemax-style exploitation thrillers with a vague feminist edge and David Lynch.

Immortality can get tedious. You, the player, comb through the "recovered" footage of the three unreleased movies to piece to find out what the movies were about, who the lead actress is, and what happened to her. The mystery of Marissa Marcel ties it all together. It's too long to be a single movie, which puts it in the realm of a TV miniseries. There are at least six layers of meaning and theme operating here. You click on an object, pixel-hunting to unlock more clips, so if you're just playing a game, you might get frustrated. If you immerse yourself into the rabbit hole of the movies and what's going on underneath, that's where you might get hooked. Menon Gage gives possibly the most layered performance of the year, grounding the whole story as she acts in different styles specific to their genres and time periods, on top of the evolution of Marissa Marcel from fresh-faced ingenue to increasingly jaded but ambitious artist as well as the fiction characters Marissa plays in the three movies.

To anyone who's ever worked on movies or been on a set, the whole cast gives utterly authentic performances as professionals on a set. The behind-the=scenes drama of mounting tensions, the abusive personalities, the predatory directors, the commentary on the abuse and exploitation of women in the industry, and the lasting damage it does is the story's biggest theme. These women's thoughts, emotions, and revenge is also the payoff. The three movies, Ambrosio, Minsky, and Two of Everythingaren't jokey spoofs like FMV games often are. They're co-written by Allan Scott, who wrote for Nic Roeg and most recently The Queen's Gambit, Amelia Gray, a writer on Mr. Robot, Maniac and Gaslit, and Barry Gifford, author of Wild at Heart and collaborator of David Lynch, who worked with director Sam Barlow to make them feel true. Each movie is shot with an aspect ratio and color scheme that replicates era-specific film stock and design. All these elements come together to make us feel immersed in the story more than the clicky gameplay. Players to engaged as audience members, observers rather than gamers, forced to think about their own relationship to movies, particularly sex, nudity, and the predatory impulses behind the camera that drive the male gaze. What you find is a story of heartbreak and tragedy in the pursuit of Art over more than 30 years.

More than one YouTube commentator has cut together videos that line up the clips in a linear manner to explain clearly the three movies and what happened to Marissa Marcel on the literal, surface level. It is an example of Gnostic storytelling where there is a hidden meaning to the world. To spoil that final mystery is to deprive you of the pleasure of discovering it yourself. It is meant to be found first by accident while you play, then it reveals itself more consistently once you know where and how to look for it. It is as strange and mysterious and immersive as Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and the works of David Lynch, both already proponents of Gnostic storytelling. It's a meta-commentary about filmmaking and creating art and their parasitic nature. It's really about trying to achieve immortality through Art.

Immortality is now out on Xbox Game Pass and Steamand will be on Netflix's mobile games platform for iOS and Android phones and tablets, which points to it being a game/movie/TV show binge hybrid.

Review by Adi Tantimedh

9/10

Sam Barlow's latest FMV game Immortality is his most ambitious yet, a meditation and deconstruction of filmmaking, the creation of Art and the exploitation of women in the film industry as players uncover a decades-spanning mystery filled with heartbreak and tragedy.

Also Available On

Xbox Game Pass

Excerpt from:
Review: Immortality The Game Is The Best Movie & TV Series Of 2022 - Bleeding Cool News

The human mind knows no boundary not even the universe. Welcome to the world of metaverse a world designed by the human mind. Its delivering experiential and immersive environments to learn, enjoy, interact, collaborate, create and trade. Its a world thats witnessing massive technological advancements and an ever-expanding bouquet of use cases.

At its core, the metaverse allows an individual to do things that might be improbable in the physical world. Its also an avenue to experience the internet in an alternate and augmented form. While the gaming industry has been at the forefront of its adoption, its embrace is unlikely to exclude any. An avatar and its real-world alter ego, exhibit undivided attention while absorbing the contents of this virtual world a dream come true scenario for advertisers. Doctors can learn intricate procedures while operating on digital twins. A breakdown on the factory floor could be analyzed by experts from around the world using a photorealistic virtual environment. An avatar empowered by AI/ML technologies can even self-learn. One can not only enjoy a Justin Bieber show, but also own a house next to his. All this is now within the realm of possibility in a metaverse. Or should we call it a multiverse?

The Business Opportunity

Interestingly, avatars arent, just yet, capable of moving into a different universe, necessitating the need for multiple identities. Blockchain based solutions that delink the underlying data layer from the application layer, could hold the key to this problem. The content, platforms, technology, governance, interoperability standards, security features etc. for the metaverse are in their infancy. It represents the next wave of digitalization opportunity for technology companies. Producers, far and wide, with computing power, devices, software, experience, NFT and content, will partake in this opportunity, which promises to be as large as the internet itself. The world will increasingly see tie-ups like the one that has been announced between Nvidia and Siemens to harness the potential of the metaverse.

With the absence of a universal standard, every enterprise is building its own version of the multiverse. Since the metaverse is going to be built from scratch, its music to the ears of Indian tech majors. It plays into their strength of custom developing solutions. For greater worldwide adoption, cost will be an important consideration, and the depreciating rupee keeps Indian IT perpetually cost competitive. No wonder, according to Xpheno, at last count, there were already 55K open job positions for metaverse related solutions in India alone.

The Governance Conundrum

There are, of course, two sides to any coin. The risks of a digital divide, addiction, AR induced depression, VR hangovers etc. are all real concerns. What fascinates me even more are the challenges around crime and punishment in a virtual world. If an avatar misbehaves in the metaverse, who needs to be held accountable the platform, the creator or the avatar? Remember, in an AI/ML world, an avatar can self-learn and can potentially act without the creators consent. How would we deal with crimes that spillover from the metaverse into the physical world say a Blue Whale equivalent? Would there now be a digital police force? Given that metaverse is digital, which countrys jurisdiction would apply to prosecute any misdemeanor? Maybe it is a fit case to apply the law of high seas, where the laws of the country where the ship is registered is used to prosecute a crime committed on that ship, while sailing in international waters. In essence, the domicile of the platform would determine the jurisdiction.

At an individual level, what degree of IP protection could be offered to an avatar? Will it pertain to the physical features or even around its behavioral characteristics? Think of a virtual Gabbar Singh. Since an avatar can outlive its creator, besides inheritance, it brings into play moral and ethical considerations. One can immortalize a digital twin, but what if the originator thought otherwise?

The Road Ahead

A generational change in technology is upon us. What direction it takes from here, and how long it takes to become mainstream is still a trillion-dollar question. What is certain is that it would be more than the internet in 3D. Enterprises would vie to shape its evolution rather than be shaped by it. Analysts are already predicting revenues from the metaverse to exceed US $ 10 trillion by 2030. McKinsey has estimated a cumulative investment of US $ 120 billion by funds and enterprises within the first five months of this year itself. While death and taxes have been certain, the metaverse promises a sliver of immortality in the ether.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

END OF ARTICLE

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Immortality in the Metaverse - Times of India

3 Up, 3 Down September 2022

September ended up being an insanely good month for video games. COGconnected published more 90+ review scores this month, more than any other in recent memory. Most of the major releases were excellent, but there were some unexpected gems that shone incredibly brightly. Nothing scored poorly either, with our lowest entry in The Three Best (and Worst) Video Games from September 2022 still being a 60. We have to mention that The Last of Us Part I Remake scored a 99, and is the definitive way to play that PS3-era classic. But we wanted to highlight the insanely high scoring new games that arrived over the last month. The Three Best (and Worst) Video Games from September 2022 are:

***click here for our review***

Immortality was actually released at the very end of August, and, admittedly, flew under COGconnecteds radar. Its the third FMV game by Sam Barlow, who created the two modern masterpieces Her Story and Telling Lies. All three games involve sifting through video clips to unlock a mystery narrative. Immortality is about the failed career of an actress whose three films were never released. Players get to look at footage from those well-crafted films. Our reviewer concluded that all of Barlows games have been excellent but Immortality is probably the richest and most thought-provoking of the three. Any thought-provoking game that pushes expectations of the video game medium deserves to be highlighted.

***click here for our review***

And speaking of thought-provoking video games that push the boundaries of the medium: Inscryption is another video game from an auteur of design. Daniel Mullins created the genre-bending titles Pony Island and The Hex, and has now outdone himself with Inscryption. All three games play with the idea that they appear to be one kind of game at first, but the game designs and narratives change. The less one knows about Inscryption, the better. It begins as a roguelite deckbuilding card game, but transforms into an unforgettable story. Our reviewer proclaimed Inscryption to be a must play for anyone who is a fan of experimental video game storytelling. So, play it.

***click here for our review***

Some games are cerebral and experimental. But thats not what everyones looking for. Some people just want pure fun, and SpiderHeck is definitely that. Its an arena brawler featuring spiders swinging around, waiting for lightsabers to spawn so they can go on the offensive. Our reviewer began his article with the statement that SpiderHeck is probably the best local multiplayer game youll play all year. His family couldnt get enough of the addicting gameplay. So, if youre a player on the lookout for an ultra-fun multiplayer experience, then SpiderHeck is a must-play.

More here:
The Three Best (and Worst) Video Games from September 2022 - COGconnected

Kobe Bryant was one of the most competitive basketball players in the history of the sport, always looking for the smallest of advantages over his opponents in a game. That sort of instinct is required in the NBA, as the smallest margin of error for one player can lead to big results for another player. Kobe knew this better than anyone and spent his whole life honing his mentality.

Bryant spent the early years of life in Italy, as his father, Jellybean Bryant played professionally in the country after a few years in the NBA. Kobe learned about the game from his father and put his skills on display against other kids his age in Italy. This led to a young Bryant being racially abused and called a 'scuro', which means dark in Italian, as he made the 9 players he shared the court with cry.

He dribbled and shot and shot and dribbled and scored so many points scored the first ten points in his first game that the other nine players started crying and their parents started screaming to get this spoiled little scuro off the court." (h/t NY Post)

This was revealed in Mike Sielski's book 'The Rise Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality'. Bryant would move back to the United States after his father retired from basketball, becoming one of the best high school players in Philadelphia and being drafted into the NBA before turning 18 years old.

Kobe Bryant was always going to have an edge over his opponents in Italy. Not only is basketball not the primary sport there, but he was also being personally taught by his father at that age. We all know the mentality that Kobe had, so he was going to use everything in his arsenal to prove a point.

His opponents were other kids who didn't take the game as seriously as him, so they were bound to be upset. Kobe's mentality served him well for the entirety of his NBA career, as the teachings of his 'Mamba Mentality' have become an aspirationaltarget for NBA players. Everybody wants to have Mamba Mentality on the court, and that credit goes entirely to Kobe.

Excerpt from:
A Young Kobe Bryant Once Made 9 Players On The Court Cry While Playing In Italy: "The Other 9 Players Started Crying And Their Parents Started...

It wouldnt be Spooky Season without a new vampire show, and AMC is helping to bring back some of the most beloved vampiric characters of all time. Interview With The Vampire, a new adaptation of the classic Anne Rice novel, is coming to AMC on Sunday, Oct. 2 at 10 p.m. ET. Watch Louis and Lestat come together once again, in an epic story of love, blood, and the perils of immortality with a 5-Day Free Trial of DIRECTV STREAM.

Episodes will air simultaneously on AMC+. The first two episodes will debut on AMC+ on Oct. 2.

A sensuous, contemporary reinvention of Anne Rices revolutionary gothic novel, Interview with the Vampire follows Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), and Claudia (Bailey Bass) in an epic tale of romance, violence, and the pitfalls of immortality, as told to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian).

Chafing at the limitations of life as a Black man in 1900s New Orleans, Louis finds it impossible to resist the rakish Lestat de Lioncourts offer of the ultimate escape: joining him as his vampire companion. But Louis intoxicating new powers come with a violent price, and the introduction of Lestats newest fledgling, the child vampire Claudia, soon sets them on a decades-long path of revenge and atonement.

Interview With The Vampire has yet to debut, but is generating so much buzz that its already been picked up for a second season.

There are six major streaming providers that offer Live TV Streaming. Five of these providers allow you to watch Interview With The Vampire using iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromecast, and Web. You can stream it with DIRECTV STREAM, fuboTV, Sling TV, Philo, and YouTube TV.

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How to Watch 'Interview With The Vampire' Series Premiere For Free on Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV and Mobile - The Streamable