When Frank Herbert began to pen the first Dune novel, video games were in an entirely nascent form. In 1965, when his iconic sci-fi work was published, a mere handful of games had been created, often for looming mainframe computers as research projects.
However, in starting to build out his world of interstellar feudal conflict, political drama, and the desperate mining of a powerful drug called ‘melange’ or ‘spice’, Herbert set in motion a series of events that would have a profound influence over the real-time strategy genre, and even the wider gaming landscape.
Herbert’s tale initially appeared as a run of serialised pieces in Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine. Soon after, Dune was released as a novel, which would in turn inspire numerous sequels written by Herbert and later his son. Such was the first book’s popularity and influence on science fiction that it inevitably attracted the attention of Hollywood. Though, as it turned out, the vast and intricate setting Herbert had spun from words was far from easy to adapt into a celluloid release. Over the years Dune movies have been panned and canned, with David Lynch even disowning his infamous 1984 film version. In fact, it was 2021 by the time a Dune movie arrived that most felt was worthy, with director Denis Villeneuve at the helm.
A TALE OF TWO DUNES
Games, meanwhile – with all their interactivity, intricacy, and freedom from linear storytelling – proved to be a little more suitable when it came to communicating the spirit and tone of Herbert’s creation.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 2022-Ausgabe von PC Gamer.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 2022-Ausgabe von PC Gamer.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
A New Dawn - The rise, fall and rise again of PC Gaming in Japan
The so-called 'Paso Kon' market (ie katakana's transliteration of 'Pasonaru Computa') in Japan was originally spearheaded in the 1980s by NEC's PC-8800 and, later, its PC-9800.
MARVEL: ULTIMATE ALLIANCE
Enter the multiverse of modness.
SLIDES RULE
Redeeming a hated puzzle mechanic with SLIDER
GODS AND MONSTERS
AGE OF MYTHOLOGY: RETOLD modernises a classic RTS with care
PHANTOM BLADE ZERO
Less Sekiro, more Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
STARR-MAKING ROLE
Final Fantasy XVI's BEN STARR talks becoming a meme and dating summons
THIEF GOLD
Learning to forgive myself for knocking out every single guard.
HANDHELD GAMING PCs
In lieu of more powerful processors, handhelds are getting weirder
FAR FAR AWAY
STAR WARS OUTLAWS succeeds at the little things, but not much else shines
FINDING IMMORTALITY
Twenty-five years on, PLANESCAPE: TORMENT is still one of the most talked-about RPGs of all time. This is the story of how it was created as a ‘stay-busy’ project by a small team at Black Isle Studios