Neuromancer: 25 years later

How close are we to William Gibson's bleak prophecies?

Words: Joe McNeilly, GamesRadar US

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53 Comments

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crumbdunky - 3 months 12 days ago

Grought a lot back to me from my Uni days and writing a paper on "Nihilism and Hope in the 20th Century Novel" which I'd thought was a great idea 'til I started it!

I never really found Neuromancer very gripping but, like many books regarded as "cult" classics, I suppose it's partially the idea being more important than either the style or execution that makes it seem that way.

Certainly it's a book that grew in relevance over the years and deserves a place in modern pop culture and affords Gibson a rightful place as something of a visionary. It's a bit of a dull read, imo, if you don't enjoy the style it's written with or can't ignore the stilted characters but that doesn't stop it being important and even more influential in some quarters than even GR has ponted out here.

Akira, inparticular has some really hardcore spin off fan obsession fuelled media, art and neo political projects which owe more than they may know to Gibson's work-even if 99% of the people who now use the term "Cyberpunk" wouldn't have a clue about either(Neuromancer or Akira) if you pointed it out to them!

Still, great article GR even if it did bring back some vey long and pretty fruitless hours of caffeine supported research for this aging slacker. And don't worry about people calling you pseuds-take it as a compliment fellas as it's ok to stretch the grey matter once in a while!

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rxb - 3 months 12 days ago

Good article, felt like Ive be educated a bit. Will defo read the book at some time.

I cant wait till next time I jack into cyberspace to play gears of wars too.

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HardlyBirdman - 3 months 11 days ago

Another ballot cast for 'Best Researched GR Article'

The topic is a little existential in comparison to the usual "this is what's going on in games now" vibe of GR, but I'm more than okay with that. I would be supremely happy to see more articles like this about bigger issues related to games. Great read; thank you!

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IHateMakingUserIDs - 3 months 11 days ago

I believe I got the concept of the article, future bleak, technology abundant, rich people rich poor people all over. This is a well written article. However, I think this isn't the proper place for such an article. I think it would have been better suited on a more tech/cyber world webpage, not gaming. Granted there were references to it, but there were also reference to movies, and future limbs. I doubt that Hollywood or prosthetics websites would run it.

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SausageLozenge - 3 months 11 days ago

That Lift conference was crazy. Great article.

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michaelmcc827 - 3 months 11 days ago

very informative, different article. great.

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Prolific - 3 months 11 days ago

Outstanding Article! Thanks You Joe McNeilly!

"Sir, This is to acquaint you that if your thrashing machines are not destroyed by you directly we shall commence our labours. Signed on behalf of the whole

... Swing"

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GamesRadarJoeMcNeilly - 3 months 11 days ago

Thanks for all the great comments, I really enjoyed researching and writing this article. If you couldn't tell, I'm a huge fan of cyberpunk. I still cherish my Cyberpunk RPG, still in the original box with the original dice that I bought back in 1988. I wish I'd had more time to explore the sociological and philosophical aspects of our current technological scenario... know any book publishers who are interested in a Complete History of Cyberpunk?

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GamesRadarJoeMcNeilly - 3 months 11 days ago

More cyberpunk-is-now video of BigDog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXJZVZFRFJc&NR=1&feature=fvwp

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