There are a number of recent and upcoming games, films and tv shows that use various cultures and mythologies to drive their stories. This series aims to explore the relationship between an IP and its surrounding mythology and how this shapes its characters. Today, we look at the tv show Moon Knight, exploring the character design of Khonshu and his links to Egyptian Mythology.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Moon Knight. 

Moon Knight

Moon Knight is Disney+‘s latest TV show set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Oscar Isaac stars as Steven-‘with a v’-Grant, a museum gift-shop employee, who has blackouts and a sleeping disorder. Steven learns he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with Marc Spector, a mercenary. Steven is suddenly thrust into a world of violent Egyptian mythology when it turns out Marc Spector is the chosen avatar of Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon. Under the guise of Moon Knight, Steven and Marc must work together if they are to overcome the evil forces that seek destruction of the world.

But who exactly is Khonshu?

In the TV show, Khonshu is a mysterious figure that seems to haunt both Steven’s mind and city rooftops. A violent god who uses his avatar to kill people – the god seems to be a mix of a petulant child throwing temper tantrums and a narcissist, claiming to be “true justice”. This unpleasant mix is also seen in the comics, with Khonshu manipulating Marc Spector to do his bidding and bring “vengeance” on those he deems deserving. The similarities between the comics and the TV show also extends into the character design of Khonshu. The god is presented as a looming figure, wrapped in bandages with a large bird’s skull for a head. But who exactly is this god?

Khonshu is based on the Egyptian god Khonsu. Khonsu was the god of the moon, but also associated with fertility and healing. It’s thought the name Khonsu comes from the Egyptian word, khenes, meaning to wander or travel. Khonsu, as the personification of the moon, would travel across the sky and was changeable in his nature – waxing and waning throughout the year.

Seen as the sole source of light during the night, Khonsu was seen as a protector against evil – battling the darkness, while Ra descended into the underworld to do battle there. Closely related with the darkness, therefore, Khonsu was also seen as a violent and vengeful god – and it’s here we see the links with the comic book Khonshu. In fact, Khonsu is mentioned in both the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts – Ancient Egyptian sources – as a force of vengeance. The Pyramid Texts state “he is the envoy who is sent to punish” and this is clearly echoed in Moon Knight, where Khonshu declares “I only punish those who deserve it, I am true justice.”

On a side note, it is also interesting how the concept of Khonsu changed over time. This is the only mention of Khonsu in the Pyramid Texts, suggesting he wasn’t that prevalent in early Egyptian mythology. This might explain why in the TV show, Khonshu seems to be sidelined by the major deities of the Egyptian pantheon. However, in the later Coffin texts, Khonsu is mentioned far more often, suggesting he had grown in importance. And by the time of the New Kingdom, when his temple was built at Karnak, he was described as “the greatest god of the great gods.” An epithet that was also used in Vol 188 of the Moon Knight comics.

The Iconography of Khonsu and Khonshu

The Egyptian god Khonsu was either depicted in mummiform or wearing a bird head. In the TV show and comics, we see Khonshu’s design takes both these elements. The mummified aspect in Egyptian iconography was probably used to point towards the eternal aspect of the god. But it also perhaps points to his protection of the wandering souls, seen in the Coffin Texts. In the comics and TV show, it serves to connect Khonshu with Ancient Egypt and also adds a disturbing element to the character. The flowing robes of the character also makes it feel ghostly – as well as a priestly image.

The TV and comics also make use of the bird head depiction. However, whilst in Ancient Egypt Khonsu was presented with a hawk or falcon head, Khonshu seems to have a raven or crow head. The falcon or hawk in Ancient Egypt was a symbol of power and sight – king of the sky overlooking his domain. However, the character design of Khonshu once again focuses on death imagery, with ravens and crows being carrion and scavengers of corpses. In addition, the use of a skull creates this unsettling image and the long, overreaching beak creates a more threatening feel than that of a hawk or falcon.

With this in mind, it is clear the character design seems to pull as much from Grim Reaper iconography as it does Egyptian mythology. With his flowing bandages, hollow skull and crescent moon-adorned staff, the character seems designed to evoke the image of Death – which can only be bad news for Steven ‘with a v’.

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The post Mythology Corner: Moon Knight and Khonshu first appeared on Get2Gaming.

Unfortunately, it looks like HBO’s adaptation of the hit game will not be hitting screens any time soon.

A recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter had HBO programming president Casey Bloys confirm that The Last of Us is “shooting right now in Canada” but will not be airing in 2022. “We have not announced an air date yet,” Bloys clarified, to the dismay of fans who were hoping to see the show air this year.

The Last of Us began filming in July 2021, and is expected to end in June 2022.

This led many fans to believe that a late 2022 premier could have been possible. It seems, however, that they’ll have to wait it out for another year.

The Last of Us is the first project undertaken by PlayStation Productions.

PlayStation Productions was founded by Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2019, in order to adapt PlayStation franchises into movies and television shows. There will be a total of ten episodes for the first season, and the show will be the first HBO series to be based on a Video Game.

In other news regarding game-based film productions, the Uncharted movie has already premiered in select territories and will be showing in many more countries this coming weekend. With a $120 million budget, the movie adaptation has reportedly generated more than $21 million in its opening weekend. The star-studded cast includes Tom Holland, who is most well known for his performance as Spider-Man.

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Sifu happens to be the first ever game I’ve taken the risk of pre-ordering for, so needless to say, I’m glad that I have been getting a lot from the experience!

There are parts of the game I want to discuss in a (potentially) upcoming video essay, so consider this an introductory companion-piece. Part review, part shoving politics into my champagne!

Synopsis: Sifu is a Martial-Arts game on PlayStation 4, 5 and PC, developed by Sloclap. The story draws on old-school Kung-Fu and revenge action cinema like Kill Bill and Bruce Lee films. Your character’s sensei is slaughtered by 5 former students for unknown reasons. You’re also killed, but not before grasping a mystical medallion that brings you back to life! The rest of the game sees you uncovering the mystery of why your master was killed while also hunting the 5 ex students for some of that sweet sweet revengeance!

Gameplay Review: As is also the case with penises, rock candy, Dark Souls and supersized McDonalds meals in Illinois, it may be hard to get through, but feels amazing the more you take in! Based on Absolver‘s combat system, your character starts off with a fistful of combos, dodging techniques and counter-attacks. You also have a sweeping kick for channeling your inner John Kreese, plus a pushing punch which opens enemies up to dash-attacks or getting slammed into walls for damage.

The game has a good mixture of simple weaker enemies and stronger more defensive types. Most of the time, you can tell how quickly an enemy will go down based on their health and posture bar size, but spend too much time mashing at one grunt and you’ll get clocked by another enemy punch unless you dodge or counter in time. In addition, using the same couple of combos or ‘cheesing’ is a quick path to a game over screen, encouraging you to be mindful and really make you feel like you’ve earned your black belt status.

The death system is also well-implemented: Due to a permadeath mechanic, you can’t permanently unlock certain skills unless you purchase them multiple times with experience points from your past fights. I recommend specking into weapon durability and focus regains from dodging. The more you fill your focus bar, you can perform powerful strikes that are essential for damaging and stunning bosses.

Cool story bro, what about Sifu’s feminism? I’ll save the more specific parts on feminism in Sifu for the video (finished the first script draft last night), but until then, I will share a handful of takeaways, be it for good-faith readers or the “SJW’s want to ruin video games” crowd that will most definitely dub me ‘Manita Sarkeesian’ if this piece blows up on 4Chan or the like.

The Feminist Takeaway: Don’t talk about feminism, talk about feminisms! Sure, you’ve got your ‘men are trash’, ‘white woman’s instagram‘ and sex-negative schools of feminism, but on the other side of the coin, you have sex-positive, anti-racist and pro-LGBT+ forms of feminism.

But is Sifu Feminist? In my opinion, yes, but in a way that brings up a little ludonarrative dissonance (aka, when something in gameplay causes a disconnect between that and an in-game story), but also in a way that makes that dissonance thematically rich to the story in a different way! I’ll save specifics on that for my video!

For jokes, I could say “you can play as a guy or a girl, plus you can beat up strong lady enemies among dudes too, so equal rights, equal fights, no?”… Regardless of my thoughts alone, engaging with and discussing media through a lens of feminist theory can help reveal more about the art we enjoy and the world we live in that gave it to us.

For more interesting watches on ludonarrative and feminist critique of action films, have a butcher’s at these videos by Hbomberguy and Innuendo Studios respectively.

Product Poems:

Bioshock? Collection. Chemstunned? Erection!

“Annie, get your gun, gal“! Her mech appeared. “Shooty bang-bang, y’all”!

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The post Sifu! A Feminist Gaming Masterpiece? – Review first appeared on Get2Gaming.

John Carpenter, Professional Gigachad Director Lad behind The Thing, Halloween and They Live recently ‘twet’ (tweeting in the past-tense, you see) his enjoyment of Halo Infinite, praising the ‘immense beautiful production design’. Even calling it the best of the Halo series. And with fixes for the game already confirmed, seems the main issues with the game’s multiplayer will be getting ironed out, hell yeah!

“This is now a dream! Phew. Time to rewatch Prince of Darkness” – Frank O’Connor (Halo Franchise Director).

Elon Musk also commented, praising the Halo Infinite campaign, but as is mandated by the CEO of Antifa, I am legally obligated to direct your attentions to Abigail Thorn’s philosophical analysis of Elongated Musket and ‘tech-daddy‘ concepts in general… BUT! As someone with a couple mates who also like the guy, you may also have this cheeky partially-praising meme in his honor:

The Halo Infinite devs at 343 say the Big Team Battle mode should be getting fixed up this week, plus a ‘Halo Infinite Cyber Showdown’ event is dropping tomorrow!

The devs also announced a reduction in prices for the in-game micro-transaction store, which is all well and good… Though in mentioning this, I’m also divinely moved by the RNJesus Chr1st to remind y’all that while these things in moderation are fine, a lot of companies and games (cough, cough, loot box controversies) use predatory gambling techniques that tie the part of your brain that loves Overwatch skins to the part of your brain that responds to randomized Pavlovian conditioning!

Product Poems:

Yippee Kayay Mister Falconeer! “Astroneer, you’re mad”!

Broke: Loot Box. Woke: Loot Crate! Woker: Themed backpack for your own loot!

Hashtag Style, Hashtag Chic. Hashtag Sword? Hashtag Neat. Buy it now!

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The post John Carpenter, Halo Infinite and Roasting Elon Musk! first appeared on Get2Gaming.

Friends! Cinephiles! Technophiles! Lend me your financially-beneficial algorithmic attention!

Epic Games has prepared a virtual film festival this Halloween season called Shortnitemares, where you can load up Fortnite and enter an in-game cinema to see what fresh meme-laden circle of hell is on display now. The festival includes 7 Halloween-themed short films and started running from October 28th at 5pm CT (or 11pm last night in UK time) and will end November 1st at the same time. The Shortnitemares Theatre was built by Quantic Dream (who have had some rumblings of a potential Star Wars game) in Fortnite’s Creative Mode. You can also get neat cosmetic rewards for watching Shortnitemares, so get in there folks!

If you’re looking for more Fortnitey goodness, have a butcher’s round our store for themed merch, a peculiar monopoly game, bundles,figures, themed board games and more.

How to Watch!

The exact buttons for use vary depending what you use, but you go to the location that allows you to choose which game mode you want from the lobby. Then you select the ‘Shortnitemares’ playlist from there. Bob’s your Uncle, Fanny’s your Aunt. You can go for the private room experience where you’ll have full control over the theatre, or you can hop into a public server and watch all the films that are being played on an infinite loop all day.

A couple of the films will also be made by bigger studios, likely showing off Epic Games’s chops for that potential Fortnite Movie that was teased not long ago. ‘We Will Be Monsters’ was a collaborative effort between Epic and Universal Pictures, made with Unreal Engine 5 and MetaHuman Creator.

Spooky Synopses!

We Will Be Monsters – Frankenstein’s MONSTER embarks on an epic quest to save his kidnapped wife, shenanigans ensue.

The Eye – An Alien-inspired short film seeing a maintenance worker called out to fix a busted drone. She comes across a hostile force, shenanigans ensue.

Aaaand, it turns out because it’s so new that more are hard to find at the moment, so to make up for that, have a butcher’s hook at the trailer for the different films or just log on for yourself.

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The post Fortnite’s Film Festival, Shortnitemares Tips first appeared on Get2Gaming.

Daaamn Stefan, back at it again with the Fortnite blogs? Why, yes, yes I am, how extremely observant of you, bravo, tip-o’ the cap’o to you. BRILLIANT DEDUCTION HOLMES!

Reports claim that Fortnite developer company Epic Games have been announced to be considering taking the Fortnite franchise to the world of cinema.

This news got to us via the information outlet called ‘The Information’, which sounds like a fictional newspaper brand run by ‘The Party’ from George Orwin’s 1913, but that’s besides the point. The Information claims the talk of a movie project would in-part help Epic Games diverse its entertainment range in new ways as a response to Fortnite being removed from the iPhone mobile app stores (resulting in a currently ongoing legal battle between Apple and Epic Games). The hiring choices of Epic Games also lend some credence to the likelihood of a Fortnite film’s likely production: Early 2021 saw Epic Games hire various LucasFilm executives, one of which being Jason Gatlin, formerly vice president of Physical Production at Lucasfilm and now president of Special Projects at the Fortnite developer. Considering one of the most popular Fortnite products out there is entirely digital (the battle royale and related modes), maybe Epic needed someone to more advice on how to distribute more physical products, DVD’s likely being one of them. McGatlin also cut his teeth as executive producer on every Star Wars film since 2015! I mean, at this point, I think Avril Lavigne  could sum up the situation pretty well!

Most-Likely Pitches:

Oddly enough, the Fortnite series seems to have a fair bit of pre-existing story that filmmakers could pull from, check out Game Theory’s playlist if you want to have a gander at that. To very briefly summarize the main plot point of Fortnite, it essentially boils down to “what if multiverse travel, but random”. That’s how you explain Fortnite simultaneously having Batman, Halo, The Terminator, real-life celebrities, Star Wars, Marvel heroes, and Rick Sanchez all exist in the same story; alongside Peely McSkeletonboy and 10 blokes called Jones with a different visual gimmick each. Think Space Jam, except in this version, the protagonist doesn’t kneecap themselves at just Looney Tunes characters purely for the sake of plot contrivance. That said, getting every single property (or even most) back again for that Fortnite film would likely be VERY expensive depending if copyright laws from the game carry over to other properties. The only way I could see other studios be lenient with their properties towards Fortnite at a low price is that there’s a possibility Epic will pitch the film as a hybrid artistic masterpiece that happens to be a commercial at the same time. Take The Lego Movie: On the one hand, Lego Batman poking fun at Lego Chris Pratt while a pop song about overpriced coffee being awesome plays in the background. On the other hand, commentary on the powers of childhood nostalgia and forms of creativity on the other.

In the event the Fortnite film decides to start off a cinematic universe with a stand-alone introductory movie to get newcomers on board, here’s my guesses on how it would go down like ‘Spies in Disguise’, but following the multiversal misadventures of Jones The First as he struggles to get back to his universe and hijinks ensue. Alternatively, a Groundhog Day-esque dark comedy where Jones is trapped in a time loop of Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode by nefarious forces.

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The post Epic Games’ Fortnite Movie: News, Pitches, More first appeared on Get2Gaming.

Bandai Namco release Pixels Defense, a game based on the upcoming action comedy film

I think we’d all be right in saying that it’d be pretty silly NOT to release a game based on a film about video games, right?! Well Bandai Namco have done just that. They have created an iOS and Android game dubbed “Pixels Defense”. This is undoubtedly going to be the best game of the summer, and the ONLY film related game of the summer it seems.

Pixels Defense is a free-to-play (woohoo!) tower defense mobile game, which lets you team up with the film’s heroes (Adam Sandler, Peter Dinklage, and Josh Gad). Players will be able to face-off with classic video game characters such as Frogger, Pac-Man, Q*bert, Galaga, Centipede, Tetris, Dig Dug and much more.

The player will also get to command the heroic “Arcaders”, where they will strategically set up the team to defeat hoard after hoard of enemies, before they can pixelate the cities of the world.

You can acquire the game by heading over to the Amazon App Store or Google Play. It’s a summer game that you won’t want to miss!

The post Pixels Defense – Bandai Namco release NEW Game first appeared on Get2Gaming.

Rampage – The classic arcade game turned film

Following the success of his most recent film, San Andreas, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is set to appear in another similar film.. Except this one is based on Midway’s classic arcade game, Rampage. Details on the plot have not yet been revealed but, needless to day, it will include a giant gorilla, lizard, and wolf, who will rampage all across America and destroy anything that gets in their way!

The script is set to be written by Ryan Engle (Non-Stop), and produced by Beau Flynn (San Andreas, Hercules, Red Dawn), who frequently collaborates with Johnson. The New Line film is said to be going into production next year, and this will be Johnson’s second video game based film, after starring in 2005’s Doom.

As the original arcade game, Rampage was released in 1986 in arcades, before being ported across dozens of other paltforms. A number of sequels have also been produced but, by the time the film is released, it will not have seen the screen since it’s last release, Total Destruction, more than 10 years ago.

The post Rampage – The Rock to Star in New Film Based on the Classic Arcade Game first appeared on Get2Gaming.

Industrial Light and Magic (ILM)

ILM have created a video which showcases 40 years of stunning visual effects, and all condensed into one minute!

Industrial Light and Magic was founded by George Lucas in 1975 and, even though it has been tied to the Star Wars franchise, it has now branched out and become larger than life! Back to the Future, E.T, and Jurassic Park are but a few that ILM have worked on in the past. Under the stewardship of Disney, the company have worked on other more recent and equally as major films such as Pacific Rim and Avengers Assemble.

Their upcoming venture is the film Warcraft, which is based on Blizzard’s infamous World of Warcraft MMO game franchise, and the studio will be creating the Orcs for the film. Very exciting stuff there!

You can check out the video here, on our ‘Exciting Game Trailers‘ playlist on YouTube. ILM’s work is truly fantastic, and how time has flown after 40 years of making such incredible effects!

The post 40 Years of Insane Visual Effects all Rolled into a Minute first appeared on Get2Gaming.

Spider-Man

The directors of the infamous LEGO Movie are now producing an all NEW and animated Spider-Man film!

Fresh out of the bag from CinemaCon! The recently announced animated Spider-Man film is set to exist independently from the rest that have gone before. The rumours about this enthralling new venture first came to light during the Sony hack and leaked emails travesty, and the two geniuses who’re taking this film on are non other than Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The LEGO Movie directors). You’ll also be pleased to hear that they will be in control of writing the story too!

As well as this, it has also recently been exposed that the two guys will be writing the story for the upcoming film, The Flash. The Spider-Man movie is set for a 20th July 2018 release. 

Go, Spidey, GOOOOOO!!

The post Spider-Man – LEGO Movie Directors are Producing NEW Animated Film first appeared on Get2Gaming.