Work

Bleh..

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Death Stranding: The Director’s Cut was due to be released on the Mac on the 2nd December, but has been moved back to the 31st January 2024.

Even Kojima-san (who came and visited us at SMG a few months ago along with film director Nicolas Winding Refn) can push back release dates at the last moment. Actually, that’s not quite true. I’m guessing it’s all to do with 505 Games, Inc., as they’re the ones that ported the original PlayStation game to Windows PCs and have consequently ported the game to the Mac. No reason has been given for the delay, but at least they’re willing to delay in order to fix any last minute bugs, etc.

(Perhaps one of the most difficult, saddest moments in the game. But undoubtedly the most beautiful too. The game features some incredible songs throughout.)

I’m very much looking forward to seeing how well this game fares on a Mac on both a professional and personal level. Death Stranding is an absolutely superb game, and is currently my all-time favourite. So I’m happy to wait a bit longer for it to appear on my platform of choice. In the meantime, here’s hoping the dystopian cat game, Stray, gets an on-time Mac release – due the first week of December.

Happy SysAdmin Day

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July 28th 2023 is System Administrator Appreciation Day, and it is usually celebrated .. oh wait, it isn’t. Well, not usually. And it’s not terribly grand even when it is.

I honestly can’t think of many occasions over the past decade or so where SysAdmin Day was celebrated in the office. Only MPC, I think, did the department get a proper cake. I’m sure we did something at Memset or KPS, but my mind is somewhat foggy of the details. I only remember the MPC cake because it was a proper surprise.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some troublesome computers to bring inline (well, online at least – haha).

Marvel’s Secret Top Gear Invasion

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Marvel’s Secret Invasion did indeed revisit my old stomping ground of Dunsfold Park this week, where the episode did its best to try to outdo Top Gear. But try as they might, the Marvel team never came to the level of insanity (which we at Memset often witnessed in person) of the Top Gear team (Clarkson, May and Hammond – and then the other lot – and then the other lot – three sets of presenters during my tenure there).

Anyway, the shenanigans began as we looked out of Air Force One parked on the main Dunsfold runway. In the background we see the Memset building where I used to work (blue) and the former Top Gear studio (in red).


The majority of the action takes place on the other side of Dunsfold Park and where more Land Rovers than I could possibly count comes screaming out of bushes with helicopters and all sort of madness that was once only thought about on Top Gear start exploding with bullets and CG missiles flying about like War was having an end-of-year sale. It’s all very silly, to be honest.

More Skrull Shenanigans..

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After discovering that the Marvel Secret Invasion team went to Dunsfold Park, home of Top Gear and my former employers, Memset Ltd., to film a variety of stuff for the show – another former employer’s building turns up in this week’s episode! Ten Trinity Square.

Former home of Willis Faber, this was where my dad spent the majority of his career, and I would occasionally accompany him to work during the school holidays. It introduced me (and got me hooked) on computer communications, and later I’d spend a couple of summer holidays on work experience for Willis Faber doing data entry work on powerful Macs (we’re talking late Motorola 68000, early PowerPC stuff). It’s now an exclusive member’s club and hotel – something I could never afford to stay at (unlike the Eurobet House Premier Inn in Woking where I could – and indeed, did).

We see the majestic pillars of Ten Trinity Square when Talos and Gravik leave the art gallery. It’s a small, but instantly recognisable location for me. But it’s certainly not the first time Ten Trinity Square has been in the movies – James Bond, Alexi Sayle (yes, really), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (the fictional Lara is from Guildford, Surrey – double co-incidence), Bridget Jones, The Professionals, The Bill, and Luther.

Marvel’s Avengers also shot at my former university, the University of East Anglia (UEA), a few years back at the Sainsbury’s Centre, which stood in for the Avengers HQ. Which is directly opposite Constable Terrace, the block of student accommodation I lived in.

Kaboom?

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I’m currently enjoying the current Marvel television series, Secret Invasion, on Disney+ which stars Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury who returns from shepherding Skrull refugees across the galaxy. Alas, when he returns to Earth, he finds himself during a full blown Skrull separatist invasion – made much more difficult given that Skrulls can shapeshift and become anyone… who do you trust?

Well, it turns out that the majority of the filming was made in the UK – London to be specific. This has had some interesting consequences because at the start of the first episode which is set in Moscow, it is clearly NOT Moscow because of London’s road markings, building style and bollards. Despite having been to Moscow myself many, many years ago, even a hamster could easily tell it was London and not Moscow.

What did surprise me was a particular scene in this week’s episode in which was – no, could it be? Shot at Dunsfold Park? Why, yes it was. Despite not working at Dunsfold Park for close to 6 years (which was home to Memset Ltd. for at least 5 years before I left) I could tell it was DP because of the planes, the hangers, the layout and most importantly – they were shooting the scene at Gambon corner. Directly opposite (almost) to the Memset building.

And speaking of the Memset building – you can see it in the official trailer in the background while a cavalcade of cars makes it way to the aerodrome except, well, they’re about to go kaboom because (CG) missiles are about to blow them to kingdom come. Naughty Skrulls.

In any event, it’s bloody strange seeing a former place of employment in an action-packed series like this. We can at least expect some interesting stuff to happen in forthcoming episodes that are going to give Top Gear a run for their money – although enhanced with VFX (an industry I also used to work in – oh, the irony).


The official trailer for the show: