LDSO member Xistence's new site is temporarily down. Until it returns, I thought I would present all the screenshots he's released for The Digital Messiah (TDM), his Single Player total conversion for TRON 2.0.

Disclaimer: Some of these concepts may be out of date, and may no longer appear in TDM.

Enjoy.

The site Paperback Reader has interviewed Landry Walker and Eric Jones, co-authors of the TRON: The Ghost in the Machine comic.

The interview features some new insights into the authors themselves, as well as a couple of tidbits of new information. The following are the highlights of the interview.

Are there any other projects you two are working on and do they involve more TRON?

LANDRY: Yes, we're working on additional TRON material besides this one series.

This seems to confirm that there are definitely more TRON comic projects coming down the pipeline.

How far in the future have you planned issues for TRON?

LANDRY: Thirteen issues in my mind. Maybe only seven. Depends on where we decide to call it a day.

Landry mentioned the possibility of up to thirteen issues before, but I personally didn't think he would still be considering it. A run that long, would be pretty amazing.

Thanks to troff for this news tip. It looks like Reebok may have been "inspired" by the Adidas TRON shoes that are already on the market. They'll be releasing a pair of shoes that glow in the dark, with a TRON-like circuit pattern. These aren't official TRON merchandise, but are in the same vein and I thought were worth mentioning.

Click here for more pictures and information.

The site Toon Zone has interviewed SLG Publishing owner Dan Vado, where he talks some more about about the deal with Disney for their Disney-based comics (which includes TRON: The Ghost In the Machine).

There isn't much new, that hadn't already been said in his recent blog entries; as mentioned in a previous article. However, there's one new tidbit that I think stood out.

Vado also told us that he wants to renew the licensing contract in 2008, but added that he really has no idea how Disney feels about the comics initiative, and couldn’t rule out an amicable parting of the ways as a possible future. At this time, he said he had no solid ideas on what would come next.

Wizard Entertainment has recently posted an interview with TRON: The Ghost In the Machine co-writer Landry Walker.

For those of you paying attention to comments by Landry on this site and on TRON-Sector, not much new is presented in this interview. But it hints further that after the current comic mini-series is over, there's a pretty good chance that more TRON comics will follow. Provided the current comic continues to sell well enough.

Please continue to support the current comic, so more TRON comics and other products can be made. You can order Issue #1 from Amazon.com, or all three issues directly from SLG Publishing, if there isn't a local comic store in your area.

LDSO member Zook_One has just released his new Disc Arena map, called Disc Golf of TRON.

Screenshot montage of Disc Golf of TRON
It features a totally unique style of gameplay: where you try to hit targets with your disc, a bit like playing holes of golf or practicing in a shooting gallery. The idea is to beat your opponent to the end of each course, to win the match. There's also a "golf" driving course, where you can practice your disc sharp-shooting skills. And you may find a few surprises along the way, too? :) A very original and innovative map.

Download the map from HERE.

LDSO member Xistence (or perhaps more commonly known as simply X) — whom many should know for his incredible Disc Arena custom maps for TRON 2.0 — has just created a new site to showcase his many projects. This site replaces his old The Digital Messiah blog, which he has shut down.

The new site is called Xistence Imaginations.

As part of the new site, Xistence has posted some new up-to-date screenshots of his total conversion mod for TRON 2.0, The Digital Messiah (TDM).

Sample screenshot from TDM

March 10th UPDATE: Xistence's site is temporarily down. Please refer to this article to see more screenshots, in the meantime.

Here is the estimated sales figure for TRON: The Ghost In the Machine Issue #3 from SLG Publishing, according to ICv2 News:


231 7.41 TRON #3 $3.50 SLG 5,372


Interestingly enough, it placed in the exact same spot as Issue #2 did in November. It's 231st in the top 300 comics for January. As well, it was once again SLG's best-selling title of the month. In fact, no other comics from SLG made the top 300 in January.

Yet, compared with sales of 6,661 copies for TRON #2, Issue #3 sales are down by over 1,000 copies. This is disappointing. Now that the comic is back on a more regular schedule, I was hoping the number would hold steady.

For those of you who haven't picked up TRON #1, #2, or #3, read my reviews of Issue #1, Issue #2, and Issue #3 (which all contain some spoilers) to get an idea of what you've been missing. You can order Issue #1 from Amazon.com, or all three issues directly from SLG Publishing, if there isn't a local comic store in your area.

If you're a fan of TRON and haven't bought the comic yet, please consider buying it. And keep buying it! If the numbers continue to drop significantly throughout its (tentative) seven-issue run, Disney will have another excuse to ignore TRON and never do anything with the property again. (No movie sequel, no more comics, no more games.)

The Boxhat TRON 2.0 forum has just come back online!

This also means that all the file links will be working again. Everyone please give their thanks to site owner Bigred, for keeping the site alive.

Boxhat has been down for several hours now. I've been in contact with Bigred, the site owner. He's aware of the problem and is trying to get it sorted out. As soon as I find out more, I'll update this article. Unfortunately, with Boxhat down, the TRON 2.0 Chat room is also offline.

February 19th UPDATE:  Until Boxhat is back up, you can post any questions you have or continue discussions over on the LDSO site.

As most of the TRON 2.0 files linked here are hosted at Boxhat, many of the download links have also been affected and will not work. If the site is not back up soon, I will arrange for new file mirrors and fix the broken download links.

At this time, there's still no ETA as to when the site will be restored.

Landry Walker, co-writer of the TRON: The Ghost In the Machine comic, recently showed off a preview of artwork from the next issue (as seen on the left). It was posted in a thread on the TRON-Sector web site, that has lead to an interesting glimpse into what may represent the future of TRON comics at SLG Publishing.

TRON-Sector member JJ Gregarius also posted a link to an entry on the blog of SLG Publishing's owner Dan Vado, where Dan answered some questions about how all the Disney titles are faring.

When you boil down all the information to its essence, the following conclusions can be made.

• SLG's license for the Disney comics expires in August of 2008. So until then, SLG is sure to take advantage of it and publish as many Disney comics as they can.
• This likely means that when the Ghost In the Machine comic ends, more TRON projects will follow. Landry Walker has already been dropping hints (either here on this site in his comments, or on TRON-Sector) that such will probably be the case.
• Landry has mentioned the possibility of a Graphic Novel based on the original TRON film, or another comic series. (Of course, none of this is set in stone. They're just possibilities, and mighty enticing ones at that.)
• Dan Vado is apparently pleased with the performance of the TRON comic so far, and it is one of their better selling Disney-licensed comics.
• There is a strong possibility that any new TRON titles will be in black and white, rather than color. While I can understand the financial reasons behind this decision, I personally could not accept a TRON comic without color. That would be depressing. Vibrant colors are a key element in TRON; they are part of what made the film so memorable. I'm sure most of the readers out there would agree. Let's hope that there might be some way for color to remain a feasible option.

January 20th, 2013 UPDATE: Gamespy has dropped support for TRON 2.0. A fix for Multiplayer has been released. You will need the fix to play online. This article is out of date. Some of it is still useful. But, for example, installing maps is now much simpler. A self-installing Complete Map Pack is now available.


Lately, I've been seeing a lot of message posts cropping up on the various TRON sites, asking how to use custom maps in the game. People are either misunderstanding the fact that virtually all the maps are Multiplayer, or they simply want to check out the maps to see what they look like. Or maybe it's because they want to practice alone by themselves, before they play online.

Let's get something out of the way, first. Just about all the custom maps for TRON 2.0 are Multiplayer only. They aren't meant to be played alone. More often than not there are no AI opponents to play against (there are a few maps that are exceptions), and there is virtually nothing you can do in the maps by yourself. For example: the Light Cycle maps cannot be played in Single Player mode, and if you try to play them that way, they won't work properly. Instead of appearing on a Light Cycle, you will end up walking around on foot in the map.

That being said: there is a way to play a Multiplayer custom map by yourself, if you want to check it out before playing against others online. Here's how.

First of all, make sure to download and install the latest v1.042 Patch. This adds the Derez (Deathmatch) gameplay mode to Multiplayer. It's also required to play Multiplayer. Without it installed, you will not see any servers and you won't be able to play online. Just be warned that if you have any saved games in the Single Player part of the game, they will become useless after installing the patch.

Next, do yourself a favor and download and install REZ Handler. It's not absolutely necessary to use this program to install maps, but it will make your life much easier if you do. The program helps you install maps and mods, and keeps track of the "REZ limit" that the game has. The game can only handle so many map packs (.REZ files) before problems start to occur. There are also numerous other beneficial features that this program has, which I will leave you to discover on your own.

After installing the patch and REZ Handler, click on the REZ Handler program icon in the Start menu. The program will eventually display its main window.




From here you click on the Main menu item, and then click on Install Map .REZ file(s) from Archive.





A file dialog appears, that lets you navigate through the files on your hard disk. A drop-down menu on the bottom lets you choose what type of file you want to search for, and extract maps from. Maps almost always come in compressed .ZIP and .RAR form. Click on the name of the file you want to extract maps from, and then click the Open button.


Maps that are installed and enabled appear on the right side, in the Active Map .REZ Files box. REZ Handler lets you disable maps (or automatically disables them when necessary), to keep you under the "REZ limit".

In this screenshot, I've highlighted a map that has just been installed.



Clicking the Exit button in REZ Handler will, by default, run the TRON 2.0 game launcher. After clicking Play on the launcher, you will see the TRON 2.0 game main menu screen.

Click the Multiplayer menu item.






Now click Host.








Set LAN Only to Yes and Dedicated Server to No, on the Connection tab.




    
Click on the Game tab, and choose the game mode by clicking in the Game Type area. Select the proper mode, based on what type of map it is that you want to play in.
Click on the Maps tab. Select the map you want to play from the list on the left, and click the Add menu item. Just in case no maps appear in the left box, place your mouse cursor over the box and use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move up and down the list.

After adding a map to the box on the right, click the Launch button at the bottom right of the screen.


What you've just done, is started hosting the map on your computer in a server session. But since you've set Dedicated Server to No, the map is actually being hosted in the game itself, where you can play it. And by setting LAN Only to Yes, the server will not be listed on Gamespy even if you have an active internet connection. This will prevent people from seeing your server and unexpectedly joining the game. Unless you want to play against others, and in that case you would set LAN Only to No.

Of course, if someone else is hosting a map online on a server . . . then as long as the same map is installed and active on your machine, when you join that server (Join Internet game) the map will automatically load and you can start playing.

This article will eventually be added to the TRON 2.0 Unofficial FAQ. But for now I wanted to get this put up and out there for people to read, so they understand how to install and use custom TRON 2.0 Multiplayer maps.

A big shout goes out to TRON-Sector member Boingo_Buzzard for this news tip. Yesterday, Buena Vista Games (BVG) announced that they are changing their name to Disney Interactive Studios. Well, returning to it, is more like it.


The gaming division of Disney started with that name, over a decade ago. Then it was split into two entities. One stayed with the Disney Interactive name, and the other division was named Buena Vista Interactive. The idea was that DI would continue releasing the traditional children's titles, while BVI would start taking risks by releasing more adult titles. TRON 2.0 was released under the Buena Vista Interactive label. But shortly afterward, yet another reorganization occurred. Both DI and BVI were merged under the umbrella name, of Buena Vista Games. And now finally, the whole thing has come full circle, with BVG returning to its original name. What a convoluted mess.

The renaming of the studio immediately brings to mind many questions. Is this just a simple renaming, or is there more going on behind the scenes? A restructuring, perhaps? Is this name change simply to gain recognition due to the "Disney" name, or is there more to it? Does this mean that Disney considers BVG's attempt at more adult titles, a failure? Will the studio be returning to mainly kiddie fare?

Or, is it perhaps, because they hope to leave behind the negative connotations that have been built up around the BVG name? The resentment that their customers continue to hold, because of their abysmal support?

You'd think that perhaps by now the situation would have changed, and that the poor support TRON 2.0 game customers had to endure would be a thing of the past? Think again. Over in the Desperate Housewives game support forum (gag), the complaints are overwhelming. Customers cite the game was rushed into production, minimum requirements on the packaging are misleading, and a patch was required right out of the box to even get the game running properly. Customers are also talking about the feasibility of a class-action lawsuit. Sound familiar? Any of you who have been regularly reading this blog, would have heard several of these complaints before.

How about if you want to download the latest patch to TRON 2.0 from the BVG DI site? How difficult is it? Here's what was involved, up until a few weeks ago . . .

Step 1                                Step 2

Step 3                                Step 4

Step 5

As you can see for yourself, the support section of the site is needlessly arcane and complex. Finding the patch required going five levels deep, before reaching the anticipated result. A recent update to the support section has reduced this to four levels. Still, the hoops through which customers are expected to jump to find the patch, are rather ridiculous. Of course, it doesn't help that the game is no longer even listed on the site. And visiting http://www.tron20.net/ simply redirects you to the main page.

Good luck finding their phone number if you live in the U.S. or Canada (hint: it can be found on the company page), or their e-mail address (the forms you fill out on their "help system" actually generate an e-mail, or at least it used to be that way, so an e-mail address exists).

I recall reading more than one interview where the company's execs stated how their mission was to make BVG DI become a premier, first-rate publisher. Yet, they continue to offer third-rate support to their customers. Whether or not there has been any actual reorginization happening behind the scenes . . . all I see is the same shit, in different packaging.

To think that the future of any TRON games, still rests in the hands of BVG DI. May the Users help us.

UPDATE: Unbelievably, the day I post this article: the Desperate Housewives game forum went down temporarily. (I thought maybe it had disappeared.) Regardless, the game is no longer listed on the BVG DI site! Hahaha! History repeats itself! Well, sorry BVG DI . . . but just in case you decide to try and nuke the game's existence from your sites entirely, you can't hide your dirty laundry so easily (read the comments).

As you all may have noticed, I haven't posted much in way of news recently. The last month has been quite hectic for me, so I didn't have a lot of time to devote to the site. Also, quite frankly, there hasn't been much TRON news to talk about lately. But that will likely change, very soon.

I've also just switched the site from the old Blogger platform to the new one. I figure that Google will inevitably force everyone to switch at some point anyway, so might as well get it over with. I'm hoping nothing became broken in the process. I'll be checking for problems, though. If anyone notices that anything has become broken, please let me know.

With that preface out of the way, let's talk about something really worth checking out. I discovered through TRON-Sector, that there's a new interview with Steven Lisberger on IGN. I don't normally like to take news headings from another site and report them here — I prefer to break the news first — but this was too important to pass up. Besides, I share news items with TRON-Sector when I find them. So I think the reverse should also apply. :)

Steven Lisberger Interview - Part 1
Steven Lisberger Interview - Part 2

The interview is pretty insightful. Mr. Lisberger shares a few anecdotes that he's never talked about before. And the interviewer, fortunately, "gets" TRON and appreciates all the work that went into it.

While I have tried to keep them to a minimum, this article contains spoilers about the third issue of the TRON: The Ghost In the Machine comic. So if you haven't read the comic yet, you may want to stop reading this!

Originally scheduled to be out in December, Issue #3 of TRON: The Ghost In the Machine has arrived. Fortunately, the release dates more-or-less seem to be back on track. Let's hope we never see another huge delay between issues, like we did for #1 (April) and #2 (November).

The latest word (from Landry Walker, co-writer of the comic) tentatively puts the Issue #4 release date at April.

As with the previous two issues, the quality of the materials and print are top-notch. I'd even go so far to say that they have actually improved slightly with this issue. In fact, the owner of the comic store commented on the quality of the comic when I purchased it. He was rather impressed. I responded by saying: "I don't know how they make any money on this. They must not make much." SLG and its owner Dan Vado really seem to be going the extra mile. I hope this continues for the run of the comic.

And as before, the inside-front cover begins the issue with a recap of the previous one: to help bring new readers up to speed, and get them interested in prior issues.

This issue introduces a new art team, consisting of penciller and inker Michael Shoyket, and coloring team Guru-eFX (aka Jochen Weltjens et al). There is a significant difference in style between Louie De Martinis' art in the previous issues and the art in this issue, as could be expected. And I find myself missing De Martinis' art already. But more on this later.

The dark trend in the storytelling continues in this latest installment, and nothing could make me happier. But if I thought the opening panel in the last issue might shock some readers, well . . . that was nothing. There's a full-page panel in this issue, that actually borders on the gruesome. Can you believe that? A TRON story aiming squarely at older readers?

Who would have thought it? How do they get Disney to sign off on these things? What's their secret? ;)

Last chance! Spoilers start here!

The issue begins with what would appear to be a flashback. Jet is talking to his father Alan Bradley, as he prepares to be digitized and enter the electronic world of the computer. When Alan activates the digitizing laser, the reader is quickly led to suspect that Jet is actually still hallucinating — still in the same state as we last saw him, in Issue #2. But is he? That's the big question. The writers (Landry Walker and Eric Jones) sure like to keep us guessing.

If there's one constant in his perception of the world around him, it's that a voice is speaking to Jet. Warning him that he's in danger. That voice ends up being personified by an anthropomorphic, talking rabbit. Just who or what this entity is, is somewhat unclear. Is it just part of the hallucination, or something more?

I must admit, that when I first read about there being a "talking rabbit" in this issue, my expectations were not the greatest. But unlike a comment by Jet later in the comic, I was thankful to find this element of the story wasn't too clichéd. In fact: this character challenges Jet's beliefs and perceptions at every turn, in a satisfying way.

Of course, after seeing the conclusion of the last issue and the previews of this one, the first thing on the minds of current and potential readers is likely to be "this looks like it's going to rip-off The Matrix". Well, after you read this issue, I doubt you will be saying that. Any connection between that film and the story in this issue, is tenuous at best. And The Matrix isn't exclusive, nor the first, in making reference to Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland.

After conversing with this character for a time in a strange landscape, Jet suddenly finds himself back in a setting he recognizes as the electronic world. Several programs, including Mercury, are concerned for his well-being and are tending to him. When Jet looks at them, their appearance has now changed. Rather than having an updated TRON 2.0-style look, they appear as they would have if they appeared in the era of the original TRON film. Mercury tells Jet that his optical subroutines have been upgraded.

Two things immediately came to mind for me, at this point. The first, is that the nature of a User's existence in this story, is demonstrated to be that of a program. A User-Program, to be specific. If there were any doubts about that before, which were left by the film, they've been eliminated now. Users become programs upon entering the system. Unique ones, perhaps. Very special, sophisticated ones. But still programs. And not something perhaps altogether different. (Of course, this was also made clear in the TRON 2.0 game. But not everyone reading the comic will be aware of that story.) This all makes one wonder if the process cuts both ways. Which was, in fact, alluded to back in Issue #1.

The second thing that comes to mind, is that while the altered appearance of the programs was a pleasant surprise: the explanation given, doesn't really make sense to me. How could a changed subroutine in Jet's User-Program, alter his perception in this way? If — in fact — what he is seeing at this point, is what is actually happening to him? The rest of the environment apparently hasn't changed. Only the characters. This story point just seems like a gratuitous excuse to draw the characters in the older style from the film. Not that it isn't welcome. But it is rather odd.

After trying to collect himself, Jet once more readies to lead an assault against the MCP and the red faction of programs. Mercury tells him she believes that without his assistance, they will fail to defeat the MCP this time.



Just when Jet is starting to feel grounded and safe again, the rabbit returns to interrupt him. Once more he is yanked into what we can only suspect is a hallucination. Jet confronts his adversary again. It's my personal belief, that the rabbit is somehow a manifestation of the MCP in some form, attacking Jet's mind. This is fueled, in part, by what I see as visual cues in the artwork. Whether I'm correct, remains to be seen. I look forward to finding out.

The issue ends with Jet escaping from the presence of his hallucinatory pest, and leading the assault on the MCP. But can he handle it, in his current state of mind?



Spoilers end here!

As always, the story delivers in this issue. However, I feel the art is again a kind of mixed bag. While Mike Shoyket is clearly a talented artist and I enjoyed the detail in his artwork (which is something that was lacking in the last issue), I'm not fond of the way he is drawing most of the characters. Alan Bradley looked about spot-on, but Jet and Mercury did not. At least, to me, anyway. You, as the reader, may have a different take. I just felt that Jet did not look like the Jet that I knew, from TRON 2.0 and from the previous issues. In fact, he looks more like Flynn now.

On the other hand, the coloring in this issue is nothing short of astonishing. While the style is a little different than before, there is no questioning that the colors leap off the page. This type of strong, vibrant coloring is exactly what any TRON fan would want — no, expect — to see. Kudos the the Guru-eFX team for nailing the TRON look so expertly.

To my pleasant surprise, the lettering in this issue was — for the most part — larger than the previous issue. One of my gripes about Issue #2 was that the lettering was rather small, making it a bit hard to read. Not this time. A big thank you goes out to letterer Eleanor Lawson, who also worked on Issue #2. The change is much appreciated. And the different coloring on the word balloons in this issue, is also a nice touch.

If there's one thing that really bugs me about this issue, it's that . . . ah, forget it. I give up. It didn't happen last issue, and I didn't expect anything to change for this issue, either. It's a discontinued product anyway, right? That has virtually nothing to do with the comic. Yeah, that's it. Cross-promotion was a silly idea. :p

An interesting side-note: this issue is introducing the idea of a future letter column, where fans can write in and perhaps have their letters published in the comic. I'd heard this mentioned a while back, around the time Issue #2 came out, but wanted to see if it panned out before saying anything. Looks like it is going ahead.

Overall, I feel this issue is even more entertaining than the last one. Perhaps in time I will become used to the way the characters are drawn. But there is no denying that the panels were detailed and the color palette extremely rich. Not to mention, the panel layout in this issue was very straightforward and easy to follow. Unlike last time, which was a bit of a mess in that regard. I recommend this issue highly.

If you'd like to know more about the previous two issues of TRON: The Ghost In the Machine, check out my reviews of Issue #1 and Issue #2.

Don't forget that you can purchase TRON #3 directly from the SLG store, if you don't have a local comic shop in your area that carries the title. You can also buy TRON #1 from Amazon.com, or TRON #1 and TRON #2 from the SLG store.

According to a recent entry on the SLG Blog, TRON: The Ghost In the Machine Issue #1 placed quite high on the "top 300 for 2006" list at Cold Cut Distribution, one of the few independent distributors in a market dominated by Diamond Comic Distributors.

TRON Issue #1 came in at 94, edging out some titles like Dragonball Z trade paperbacks.

I realize that Cold Cut's numbers only represent a fraction of the total market. But it's nice to see that at a smaller distributor, TRON: The Ghost In the Machine is one of their best-selling titles.

Here are the latest results for this site's polls.


As before, the vast majority of fans want to see a sequel with Steven Lisberger at the helm, rather than a remake. The ratio of fans wanting a sequel to a remake is virtually identical to the last time I checked the results.


The majority of TRON fans are interested in the comic. However, I'm a bit surprised to see now that about ten percent of the fans are apparently not interested — more than I would have expected.


Since last time, the number of votes indicating fans thought the first issue of the TRON comic was "great", has pulled away dramatically from those who thought it was "okay". And there are still no votes from anyone who "didn't like it". This is quite an impressive showing!


If you'd like to vote in the polls yourself: they will remain open for an indefinite period of time. You can find them on the right side of the page, in the grey sidebar area, toward the bottom.

According to (the newly made-over) SLG Publishing site's Production Schedule page, TRON: The Ghost In the Machine Issue #3 will be released on Wednesday, January 17th!

Fortunately, the delay turned out to be a short one. :)

Don't forget to pick up issue #1 from Amazon.com or both TRON #1 and TRON #2 from SLG's store, if you don't have them already. Help ensure that new TRON comic lines, and TRON products in general, continue to be made.