In Real Life

Sydney: Where Reality Surpasses Gaming Fiction

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11:30AM September 23, 2009 | David Wildgoose

sydney dust storm pic1Sydneysiders awoke this morning to find the entire city blanketed in a red haze. Turns out a dust storm was the culprit. But it reminded us of a couple of games we’d played recently.

My twitter feed was full of comments comparing Sydney’s “red dawn” to either Mars or a post-apocalyptic wasteland. So I figured I’d try to track down a few appropriate screenshots of Red Faction: Guerrilla and Fallout 3 to see how accurate the comparison actually is.

So up there is the Sydney CBD skyline, as snapped by Kate Geraghty for the Sydney Morning Herald. Below is another shot looking out over the harbour, taken by Shaun Brewer for News.com.au.

sydney dust storm pic2

Now here’s Mars, as depicted in Red Faction: Guerrilla.

red faction pic 1

And here’s Fallout 3′s DC wasteland, post-nuking of Megaton, as captured by Kotaku friend Ben Abraham.

fallout 3 pic 1

Clearly, neither game conveys the full extent of what we woke up to this morning. Red Faction fails to do justice to the sheer impenetrability of the Sydney dust storm, while Fallout simply isn’t red enough.

So, there you go, this morning Sydneysiders are living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland… on Mars.

Comments

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  • Dean

    September 23, 2009 at 11:48 AM

    The pics of Mars/nuclear apocalypse look positively NORMAL compared to what Sydney looked this morning. The truth is stranger than fiction!

  • Tasos Chrysostomou

    September 23, 2009 at 11:53 AM

    As quoted by someone on irc, “The skies of brisbane are turning crimson red!!! APOCOLYPSE!!!!!!!!!!! WE’RE ALL DOOOMED!!!!!”

  • Newguy

    September 23, 2009 at 11:54 AM

    If I woke up in a day like that, I’d be freaking out thinking that I am in an apotalytic world.

    That’s a really amazing effect on the city.

  • Aaron

    September 23, 2009 at 11:54 AM

    I was thinking more of a Morrowind look – near the end where you’re on the mountain in the middle.

    • David Wildgoose

      September 23, 2009 at 11:59 AM

      Heh. Good call. The draw distance would be about right too…

  • Tasos Chrysostomou

    September 23, 2009 at 12:02 PM

    This reminds me of Doom 3 sorta. But more orangy

  • Korwin

    September 23, 2009 at 12:04 PM

    Was over canberra yesterday and the day before, the dust kicked up quite a lightning storm.

  • Mr Waffle

    September 23, 2009 at 12:13 PM

    Looks like Prototype, in the middle of the infected areas.

  • TheD

    September 23, 2009 at 12:17 PM

    Try Killzone 1 or 2.

  • CJ

    September 23, 2009 at 12:21 PM

    I awoke look outside and thought ZOMBIES! XD

    followed by …zombies… D=

  • Christopher McCoy

    September 23, 2009 at 12:28 PM

    How about Morrowind?

    There were plenty of Red Dust storms on that

  • James Shen

    September 23, 2009 at 12:32 PM

    When I woke up and pulled the blinds, I thought I was in the middle of a bushfire or that my eyes finally failed me. I woke up at 7am so it was bright orange, not helped by my neighbor’s house which is white, reflecting the orange into my eyes.

    My dad woke up at 5am, so he saw the red. :O He must have thought God was bringing judgement on us for being Atheist.

  • Ashley Niland-Rowe

    September 23, 2009 at 12:34 PM

    It’s even made its way up here to Brisbane! No where near as bad as those pics though.

  • Binaryfart

    September 23, 2009 at 12:34 PM

    The first game that came to mind for me was GTA: Vice City – all the red filter effects!

  • k'Fox

    September 23, 2009 at 12:37 PM

    When I woke up and saw that out of my window, I just went “meh” and went back to sleep.
    But if you were to make a game with what happened today, man… best seller, here you come!

  • Shoitaan

    September 23, 2009 at 12:42 PM

    I was thinking more prototype around the infected areas/last days.

    Brisbane is in a similiar condition right now albeit not as severe.

  • Aaron Clement

    September 23, 2009 at 12:43 PM

    http://twitpic.com/is0qe is the view from the shopping centre next to my office. The white balance on my phone took most of the red effect out so it looks like fog + it’s gotten worse in the 30 mins since I took it.

  • Brendan Keogh

    September 23, 2009 at 12:45 PM

    It’s pretty bad up here in Syndney, too. Not quite Quake 3 Fog of Death red like Syndey, but more a Daedric orange..

    • SmartArse1

      September 24, 2009 at 12:16 AM

      In Syndney? Is that close to to the city?

  • Jay

    September 23, 2009 at 1:14 PM

    first thing i thought of when i saw these on ninemsn was… Hell followed by Red Faction.

  • Australian Bushman

    September 23, 2009 at 1:28 PM

    Whoa, sweet graphics on those Sydney shots. Your gfx card must be, leik, the best.

  • Cat Tactics

    September 23, 2009 at 1:36 PM

    poor draw distance. that’s all.

  • lance

    September 23, 2009 at 1:45 PM

    Could this be some major advertising for Red faction?

  • Brooke

    September 23, 2009 at 1:53 PM

    My dad woke me up this morning screaming “A NUCLEAR BOMB HIT SYDNEY!” and started humming
    ‘I dont wanna set the world on fire’ from Fallout 3. LOL!

    • url404

      September 24, 2009 at 8:57 AM

      Damn. I wish my dad and I could have video game referencing jokes.

  • HotDamn!

    September 23, 2009 at 2:07 PM

    Waking up to that was indeed surreal. I half expected to see a tripod from War of the Worlds approaching from my window.

  • LordLeckie

    September 23, 2009 at 2:32 PM

    Its not as bad here on the Gold Coast but on my walk to uni today it was surreal just having the sun as a white dot in the sky barely reflected on passing cars whilst visibility was down to around 1km.

    Sky is tan to yellow though not orange.

  • Jay Kay

    September 23, 2009 at 2:51 PM

    Yeah it hit brissy a few hours ago, looks amazing.

    Driving in it is a weird experience, my car is dusted over, and all I could think was zombie apocalypse
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