I thought about posting this yesterday, but felt it was best to wait until today rather than spoil the jokes . . . in case they fooled anybody, that is. :)


First we had TheReelTodd's front page article on TRON-Sector about a luddite trying to sue the character of TRON. Considering the number of frivolous lawsuits filed by people these days, it's not hard to believe this could actually happen.



Second, was Mr. Sinistar's announcement on the front page of the TRON Wiki about the TRON movie sequel script being leaked to the internet. This one is also somewhat believable, because all kinds of leaks about new films happen quite often. I'm not sure how long the article will remain on the Wiki site, so I took a screenshot of it. There's also a Digg link to this story.


Third, was TRON.dll's message posting about a Wii version of TRON 2.0: KILLER APP being released. Ah, if only it were so.



Finally, someone put up a phony TRON 2.0 server yesterday that showed it was full of players all day. Congratulations to whoever pulled this off. A very nice trick.


These are the TRON-related April Fool's jokes that I noticed for this year. If anyone else has any to share, please let us all know by leaving a comment.

April 16th, 2010 UPDATE: This article is out of date. The Killer App Mod v1.1 has been released.



Download it here

I'll post more info later! Meanwhile, enjoy the mod. :)

UPDATE: The KILLER APP Mod is temporarily unavailable for download, but will return soon.

April 16th, 2010 UPDATE: This article is out of date. The Killer App Mod v1.1 has been released.


That's if beta testing goes well! Apologies to all those that have been awaiting this mod's release, for all the delays. But the wait is almost over! Get ready to "rezz" into the Game Grid soon with the KILLER APP Mod!

See the preview I posted in a previous article, to find out more.

After what seems like an eternity, issue #5 of TRON: The Ghost in the Machine from SLG Publishing is finally being released on Wednesday March 19th, 2008 Wednesday March 26th, 2008.

UPDATE #1: Diamond Comics' upcoming releases list was in error, and TRON #5 was not released today (March 19th). After checking the list again, it's now scheduled for next week. Apologies for the error, but this is the first time I've ever seen Diamond make a mistake on the release date of a title.

Actually, it has been an eternity as far as most TRON fans are concerned. Issue #4 came out in July of last year. And it, too, had taken a very long time to be released. Still, I'm just glad a TRON comic is being published at all.

It's also been an eternity since I did my last review of the comic, with issue #3 back in January of last year.  The reason for that has been twofold.

1. I've been extremely busy for quite some time, and I think the lack of updates to this site (compared to the early days when the site was first created) has been evident.
   
   


2. With the large gap between issue #3 and issue #4: I didn't feel it would be fair to review that issue without reading the first three again, and having the storyline freshly imprinted on my memory. And now with issue #5, there's been another large gap. So when issue #5 finally comes out, I'm going to read all five issues back-to-back and then do reviews of #4 and #5 in quick succession.

Since SLG's license with Disney expires in August of this year, we can be certain that #6 — the final issue — will be out by then. So, at most, there will be a five month gap between #5 and #6. Hopefully by then I'll still remember all the story threads, since five months isn't as far off as seven (#4) or eight (#5) months.

UPDATE #2: Landry Walker (co-writer of the comic) was gracious enough to send me an advance copy of issue #5 in PDF form. Thank you, Landry!

All I'm going to say about this issue, is two things:

• This is the best issue since #1, by far. In my humble opinion, of course. Issue #5 is not to be missed. It starts resolving many of the questions that have been brought up in the story, so far.


• A certain familiar character makes their first appearance in the comic. Well, sort-of! I'll let you guess who. :)

The Syd Mead documentary Visual Futurist: The Art & Life of Syd Mead by director Joaquin Montalvan is screening on March 18th and 19th, at the historic Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, MI as part of a double bill with Blade Runner - The Final Cut.

At this time, the theater's schedule doesn't list the starting time for Blade Runner on those days, though Visual Futurist is apparently showing at 7:00 PM. The logical conclusion is that Blade Runner would screen right after, of course. Still, as soon as the schedule is updated I'll mention the confirmed times here. It appears that individual tickets can only be bought at the entrance shortly before the screening starts, and not online in advance.

Although the emphasis for this particular screening of Visual Futurist is clearly on its Blade Runner aspects, it nevertheless deals with Syd's entire career.  So, this naturally includes TRON as well. And at any rate, who doesn't love Blade Runner? I'd be shocked if anyone who is a fan of TRON, isn't also a fan of Blade Runner.

You can read my review of Visual Futurist: The Art & Life of Syd Mead in an earlier article, where I commented on the DVD release that's available for purchase.


The director has also posted a new trailer for the film, which can be seen below.

October 31st, 2012 UPDATE: This article is out of date. An updated version of User Error that self-installs and works in widescreen (after installing the Killer App Mod first), has been released.

After about two years in development, the follow-up to the original User Error expansion for TRON 2.0 on the PC — User Error 2 — is now available for download from ModDB.

Brought to you by LDSO team members Mor.Evil-1, Win3K, and zook_one: User Error 2 adds 10 additional levels to the original User Error by Meatsack, for a total of 16 levels. The file that you will download contains both the original User Error mission, as well as the new User Error 2 mission, all in one expansion.

The storyline of User Error 2 continues the adventures of Jeremy Powers from the original, where Jeremy entered the electronic world inside the computer in order to obtain a file that could potentially be very valuable. Jeremy is struggling with serious financial troubles, and sees gaining access to this file as a way to repay his debts by selling it to a former Russian agent named Karl. However, gathering all the parts of the file is proving to be more difficult than he had anticipated. In User Error 2, Jeremy presses on to finish his mission.


Here are some screenshots from the mod!




For more screenshots and information about User Error 2, visit its ModDB page or drop by the LDSO forum to let us know what you think of it! You can find instructions on how to use the mod in our forum. I'll also be posting a guide on how to use mods, soon. But until then, visit the forum if you have any problems.

The easiest way to use it, is to download and install REZ Handler: which will allow you to browse to the UserErrorRC2.rar file in the program and point and click the downloaded file to install it. Then a new Custom button should appear on the TRON 2.0 game launcher. Clicking that button will bring up a window with an empty checkbox beside the name of the mod. Place an X inside the checkbox and click OK. Then click Play and start a new Single Player game.

Don't forget that having the mod enabled will prevent you from playing Multiplayer online. You must disable the mod again by clicking the Custom button in the launcher, and removing the X from the checkbox.

According to a story posted on Ain't-it-Cool News, the planned TRON sequel is now due out in the Spring of 2011 rather than 2009 or 2010.

This story also backs up the earlier rumor about the sequel being released in 3-D.


So it's 2011 now? Yikes. I hope that means they're taking extra time to do it right. But then again, this is Disney we're talking about.

So when will they do a greenlight announcement? This stops just short of confirming for sure that the sequel is a go.

Thanks to DaveTRON for the news!

So, the other shoe finally drops. Discs of TRON for the Xbox 360's Live Arcade will be made available next week on Wednesday, February 13th according to a press release from Disney Interactive.


Why the releases of the original TRON Arcade and Discs of TRON were delayed for so long, is a really interesting question. But they are finally both here.

The release mentions the 80 score that the game received from the US version of the Official Xbox Magazine (OXM), but naturally neglects to mention the 20 score from the UK version of the magazine.

Considering the lukewarm reception to TRON Arcade by gamers and fans, I'll be watching closely to see if Discs of TRON fares any better.

UPDATE: The negative reviews and fan disappointment continues with Discs of TRON. Can't say I'm really surprised. It seemed pretty clear to me from the beginning that Disney Interactive was putting minimal effort into the Live Arcade titles.

My favorite quote that sums up how people feel about the TRON Live Arcade games comes from Shane Monroe over at Retrogaming Radio.

Discs of Tron sucks balls. No sale here. Disney Interactive can SUCK MY BALLS for dicking us over TWICE with Tron IP. - Shane Monroe

I truly laughed my ass off when I read that. I've been critical of DI in the past, but never quite used strong language like that. Thanks for telling it like it is, Shane. Very well put. :)

Since I'm tired of seeing the same few search query terms in hits to this site, over and over: I'm going to answer the three most popular questions that people who want to play TRON 2.0, have.

LAST UPDATED October 21st, 2012

Q: Does TRON 2.0: KILLER APP for the original Xbox work on the Xbox 360?

A: No. And it probably never will. Microsoft has not added the game to its 360 backward compatibility list, and they are actually ending their backward compatibility updates. So, in other words, since it's not on the list already . . . it never will be.

If you're really anxious to play the game, and don't want to invest in a used Xbox: do yourself a favor, and pick up TRON 2.0 for the PC instead. The Single Player experience on the PC version is far superior. Trust me: I own both versions, and I'm speaking from experience. When BVG and Climax ported the game to the Xbox, many detrimental changes and sacrifices were made. The graphics on the PC are better, there are virtually no bugs once it's patched up (unlike the Xbox version, which has some irritating bugs), and things have not been cut or downsized in order to cram it into the Xbox's more limited 64MB of memory.

TRON 2.0 is an older title now, so it's not exactly considered a demanding game any more. Any PC bought in the last 2-3 years should be able to play it at maximum settings, without breaking a sweat.


Q: Does TRON 2.0 work on Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8?

A: Yes, to all three. I can personally verify this: since I have run TRON 2.0 on the original release of Vista, Vista SP1, Vista SP2, Windows 7, Windows 7 SP1, and Windows 8. The game even works with the 64-bit versions, which can sometimes be more problematic with compatibility than the 32-bit versions of Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 that some people might still be using.

If you are having a problem getting the game to install or run in Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8, it's not directly the fault of the operating system. You probably need to update one or more of your drivers, or download all the Windows Update hotfixes. Also make sure that you are running the game in Administrator mode. The game has been tested and confirmed to work on both the original release of Vista, and Vista updated with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Service Pack 2 (SP2).

And on Windows 7, the game runs better than on Vista or even Windows XP. Yes, I am serious. Windows 7 is incredibly good and I recommend it. There is little reason to hesitate upgrading to Windows 7, like was the case with Vista. Games like TRON 2.0 run faster and smoother on Windows 7 than they ever did on Vista.

However, I personally do not recommend upgrading to Windows 8 at this time. When it comes to playing games, stick with Windows 7 for now. If I change my mind on this, I'll update this Mini-FAQ. Despite the recommendation, TRON 2.0 does run even smoother on Windows 8 than it does on Windows 7. Believe it or not.

One bit of advice I can give if you're having any difficulty, is to try using the Unofficial Patch instead of the Official one. And this goes for all versions of Windows. Sometimes, in rare cases, the Official Patch won't install properly.


Q: Does TRON 2.0 support widescreen?

A: Not properly, no. That is not to say that the game won't work at all at higher widescreen resolutions, of course. It's just that if you run the game on a widescreen monitor, the picture will become distorted. TRON 2.0 only properly supports resolutions with a 4:3 aspect ratio, while widescreen displays use a 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio.

However, the TRON 2.0: KILLER APP Mod v1.1 solves this problem. One of the features in this release of the mod, is proper widescreen support in the game. Here is a video trailer demonstrating widescreen support at 1280x720 resolution with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

As I was visiting some of my favorite web sites today, you can imagine how unexpectedly — and pleasantly — surprised I was when I discovered that Rock, Paper, Shotgun had an article remembering TRON 2.0.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun is a site that specializes in news and discussion about PC games. That they'd remember, or even mention, TRON 2.0 in a million years is quite heartwarming to yours truly. The author of the article, Jim Rossignol, basically republished a review he did of the game for PC Gamer UK, back when the game was released. But he tweaked and updated it, to reflect upon the game today.

The review is positive, overall. He cites many of the weaknesses of the game, which I admit are there and should be taken into consideration. But he also rightly points out that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, to borrow an old cliché.

If you haven't seen or tried the game, and would like to: there is a demo of TRON 2.0 that has a couple of Single Player and Multiplayer levels from the full game. It works on just about all versions of Windows: 98, Me, 2000, XP, and even Vista. Naturally, the full game also works on all these versions of Windows. But the Multiplayer component of the demo isn't compatible with the full version of the game, unfortunately.

According to Surfer Girl, the upcoming TRON sequel is apparently going to be released in     3-D. As in, the "you will be wearing 3-D glasses and the film will leap off the screen", type of 3-D. This news is also suggesting that TRON will likely be re-released in theaters, shortly before the new film premieres.

Who is Surfer Girl? That's a good question. Apparently, nobody really knows. But "she" seems to be an insider in the entertainment business. She's posted many rumors about films and video games, and the majority of them have come true.

As crazy and far-fetched as this news may sound, there may be a grain of truth to it. It's a known fact that George Lucas wants to re-release the Star Wars films in 3-D, theatrically. The technique for making 3-D films has improved dramatically, in the last decade or so. Lucas apparently had a short test segment done for Star Wars a while back, and people were blown away by it.

Also, Disney has announced plans to theatrically re-release Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3-D right before Toy Story 3 premieres (also in 3-D).

I personally think that redoing films in 3-D is gimmicky, and serves solely as a cash grab by film studios. It's true that certain films like Star Wars may benefit from it. But Toy Story? Come on. And I'm not really sure that a TRON sequel would benefit from this treatment, either.

No matter what anyone may think of this news, what's most interesting about it is that it implies the TRON sequel is a definite go. So this should mean we'll be hearing a "greenlighted" announcement soon?

Thanks to Steve for the news!

The Starz Entertainment network has been airing the pilot episode — for a potential new series — called Hollywood Goes Gaming, in repeats for the last couple of months.

Among the people interviewed, is TRON Director Steven Lisberger. In fact, he is apparently the first person interviewed in the episode.

I have not watched the show, because I don't receive Starz. But according to a couple of reviews here and here, Lisberger speaks at length about how well the TRON arcade games did compared to the film. And about how they pioneered the idea of the video game tie-in to go with a Hollywood motion picture.

He also discusses, again, how TRON was denied an Academy award for special effects because — at the time — the Academy members felt he had "cheated" by using computer graphics. Which, as one of the reviews I linked to states, is a laughable notion today.

If you receive Starz in your channel line-up, you can catch this hour-long episode again on Thursday January 24th, 2008 starting at 10:50 PM Eastern Time on Starz Edge (East).

Thanks to tron_fanfare for the tip.

The release of TRON Arcade and Discs of TRON on the Xbox 360's Live Arcade is finally imminent, after an extremely long delay and a lot of guessing games about release dates. But it's not entirely clear to me if Discs of TRON is being released together with TRON Arcade at the same time. It would appear the releases are separate, going by the post on Major Nelson's site.

If this is correct, then each should cost 400 Microsoft Points when released. Which comes to about $10 U.S. for both.

Why the games have been delayed for so long — after their original announcement last year in May — is an open question. In this forum post, a representative from Disney Interactive Studios responded to a customer and claimed that they were "currently working on" Discs of TRON, as of this past December. Why they still needed to "work" on the game, considering the completed version had already been reviewed last year in the July/August timeframe . . . I'd really like to know.

Sounds like a bullshit excuse to me. Unless, perhaps, it had something to do with the fact that OXM UK slammed both games. Maybe DI decided to spend a bit more time polishing the games for release? Nah, this is BVG DI we're talking about.

Whatever the reason, for those of you who own a 360 and have Xbox Live: enjoy the games. I have no intention of purchasing a 360. If I'm desperate for an old-school TRON fix, I can always play the games on MAME. So for those of you who check out the games . . . let me know how good (or bad) they are. Was OXM UK justified, when they gave these games the thumbs-down?

UPDATE #1: Team Xbox has posted their review, giving TRON Arcade a score of 6.8. Reactions from fans are decidedly mixed so far: as can be seen here, here, and here. Most cite the game as having inaccurate sound, poor control, and flaky multiplayer that doesn't work very well.

UPDATE #2: Shane Monroe of RetroGaming Radio has started a petition, in the hope of getting Disney Interactive to fix the problems with TRON Arcade. Does any of this seem familiar to you?

UPDATE #3: Several more reviews of TRON Arcade have appeared at Metacritic. The reviews are almost uniformly negative. According to Major Nelson's site, TRON Arcade debuted with sales in the #3 spot and dropped to #4 in the following week. Also, Metacritic lists Discs of TRON with a release date of June 1st, 2008 right now. Looks like the second TRON title is not coming any time soon.

The site Chop Shop has a couple of TRON inspired shirts, as seen above. The shirts range from $20-$25 bucks U.S., and are available in several different sizes. They have some very cool designs. Thanks to Sketch for this info!

And over at the site Instructables, Greg Madison has posted instructions for a do-it-yourself project, on how to create your own TRON-style lamp: with circuit-like patterns, that appear to glow. Nice!

The web site for the channel IllusionTV has posted an interview with Syd Mead, where selected questions that viewers submitted, were asked.

As you might expect, some of the questions covered TRON. Syd answered them, and provided some details about his involvement in the film that I don't think have been mentioned anywhere else before. Particularly, how he went about designing the TRON electronic world.

On a side note, the documentary on Syd called Visual Futurist: The Art & Life of Syd Mead by Director Joaquin Montalvan is now available on sale in Japan, so Japanese fans of TRON and Syd's other works can now purchase the DVD in their country.

For fans in North America and Europe, the DVD can be purchased directly from Syd Mead's web site.

You can read my review of the DVD in this previous article.

April 16th, 2010 UPDATE: This article is out of date. The Killer App Mod v1.1 has been released.

The KILLER APP Mod has been postponed until January 18th, 2008. All of us on the team really wanted to release it in time for the holidays as a gift to TRON fans, and to release it during the year of TRON's 25th Anniversary. But it's still not ready for release just yet. Our apologies.

We hope to reward your patience in the New Year, which is only a short time away now.

The site Tom's Games (part of Tom's Hardware) has an interview with TRON Director Steven Lisberger, discussing his upcoming film Soul Code. (See this previous article for more info on Soul Code.) It also touches upon the possibility of production commencing, on the TRON sequel that was announced a few months ago.

It's definitely a worthwhile read. Though it's a bit saddening, to hear Lisberger a little downbeat about the possibility of a sequel being made. But I completely understand where he's coming from: considering that plans for a sequel have materialized and then fizzled again, many times over. Disney just doesn't get TRON, and they have no clue what to do with it. It's been frustrating for Steven, and TRON fans, alike.

Thanks to Cyberwolven for the news!

Fellow LDSO member Zook_One has just created an awesome machinima video using TRON 2.0, called Sark Gets Skooled.

If you want to watch his video, click on the picture to the left, or click here.


If you like the video — and frankly, I think it's freaking awesome — then please vote for Zook's video, and help him win the Blackbird Machinima contest! Click the large green plus "+" button to vote.

Yes, another asking-for-votes-to-win-a-contest post. Come on, you know you want to vote and help out! Zook's video is too cool not to win. ;)

According to Metacritic.com, both TRON Arcade and Discs of TRON for the 360's Live Arcade have new release dates of February 1, 2008. But considering the tradition of Live Arcade games only being released on Wednesdays, this date is again suspect. February 1st in 2008 is not a Wednesday.

Well, so much for releasing these games "in honor" of TRON's 25th Anniversary. You guys at Disney missed the mark (and the point) by a country mile. Maybe that's Microsoft's fault, but either way: these games should have been released around the same time as the Anniversary for maximum impact. That opportunity has been lost.

Metacritic also has pages for both game titles, with scores and quotes from the first reviews. For TRON Arcade, the US version of the Official XBOX Magazine (OXM) gave a score of 70. For Discs of TRON, the US version of the magazine gave a score of of 80.

But the UK version of the Official Xbox Magazine (OXM UK) gave both TRON Arcade and Discs of TRON a score of 20, slamming both titles. OXM UK declares TRON Arcade "a train wreck", and says that for Discs of TRON "without even a two-player mode, this won't last you ten minutes". Ouch. Harsh words. Who to believe?

Here are the links to the two relevant Metacritic pages:
TRON Arcade at Metacritic
Discs of TRON at Metacritic

April 16th, 2010 UPDATE: This article is out of date. The Killer App Mod v1.1 has been released.

ModDB is holding their annual Mod of the Year contest for 2007 right now: and we at the LDSO team working on the TRON 2.0 KILLER APP Mod, would be very honored if TRON fans out there would vote for us if they like what they've seen of the mod so far.

If you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, see this earlier article that previews the TRON 2.0 KILLER APP Mod.

Voting is easy, just click on this link or the image to the right. You don't need to sign up or be a member of ModDB to vote. Then scroll down the KILLER APP Mod page until you see the large grey button, and click on it.

I don't think any of us on the team hold any illusions that we're going to win anything, or make it into the Top 10 choices. But that's not what we want, anyway. If we can make it into the Top 100, ModDB promises that news of these 100 mods will be "widely syndicated" across the web. This would, hopefully, mean that TRON 2.0 for the PC would garner some attention once more. Reminding people that this game exists, and that there's a great new mod for it. That's all we want.

The voting ends on December 20th, 2007, so please vote before then. And tell all your friends and other TRON fans, to vote as well!

UPDATE: The voting has been extended until December 22nd. So if you thought it was too late: please vote, if you haven't already!

Thank you, from the LDSO team.

The site Collider.com has an article featuring an interview with TRON star Jeff Bridges (who played Kevin Flynn in the film), where Bridges sounds upbeat and enthusiastic about doing a sequel.

"But the reasons to do it and the reason I did that one (the original TRON) was because it was so innovative and I understand that they’ve got a whole new batch of stuff like that . . . innovations that they want to use on this so that could be kind of fun." - Jeff Bridges

Bridges is also quoted as saying "I hear they’re going to pitch me one (the sequel) pretty soon so . . .", but the tone of his speech indicates that he was joking when he said this. Or was he?

An MP3 of the interview that you can listen to, is available from the site. The interviewer asks Bridges about a TRON sequel, at approximately the 7:45 mark.

I noticed that the interviewer misinterpreted Bridges as saying "dancebell". What he actually said, was "dancebelt". Bridges was referring to the belts the actors had to wear, that were part of their "electronic world" costumes. The belts were uncomfortable for the actors, and Bridges was joking about them as perhaps being a reason not to do a sequel.

Thanks to Auric at TRON-Sector for the news.

TRON: The Ghost In the Machine co-writer Landry Walker has recently been posting quite a bit of preview artwork for issue #5 of the comic, if you know where to look.

   


A number of people seem to be confused about the status of the comic, so let me take this opportunity to clear things up.

There will be six issues. Four have been released, so far. Issue #4 came out in July. The release date for #5 is unknown at this time. According to the latest schedule update on SLG Publishing's site: it will not be out by January 2008. However, this could very well change. If the date becomes known, I'll post an update.

UPDATE: According to Landry, issue #5 may be released in December.

You can expect both issues #5 and #6 to be released by August of 2008, because that's when SLG's license for their Disney comics expires.

As some of you may have noticed, I still haven't written my review of issue #4 yet. Well, it's still to come. I haven't forgotten. :)

Well, almost.

It's taken a lot longer, and been a bit more difficult, than I expected. But the upgrade for this site is very close to being complete. I'll be fixing any other minor problems that remain, over the next few days.

Hope you like the new look and features.

Note that the site looks a lot better in Firefox and Opera, than it does in Internet Explorer. I'll try my best to improve the appearance in IE, but no guarantees. I'd recommend switching to Firefox or Opera, anyway. :)

Mike Bonifer, the publicist for the film TRON, has posted an article on his web site where he recounts the work he did for the film.


He discusses how even today, when he mentions that he worked on TRON: people's eyes light up at the mention. Bonifer also remarks that revealing he worked on TRON has become "a special badge of honor".

A short biography on Bonifer can be found on this page at TRON-Sector.

April 16th, 2010 UPDATE: This article is out of date. The Killer App Mod v1.1 has been released.


Download the KILLER APP Mod Preview Trailer


Download the KILLER APP Mod Test Footage

The TRON 2.0 KILLER APP Mod is either one of the best or worst kept secrets in the TRON 2.0 PC gaming community right now. And as of late, it seems to have become the latter. Because recently I've noticed hits to this site, with search terms like killer app mod download.

I didn't want to announce or advertise this project (which is the one I was referring to in this earlier post) here on this site, because I prefer to announce things when they are done and ready. Announcing projects early, usually leads to less enthusiasm when it's released. It's always better when something is an unexpected surprise. Also, sometimes even with the best of intentions: unforeseen circumstances can arise, and the project can run away from you. This is definitely what has happened with the KILLER APP Mod.

But since I am seeing people searching for information about the mod, I've decided to post some info about its current status.

The KILLER APP Mod is almost complete, and will be privately beta tested by the contributors to the project. Most of whom are members of LDSO. Contributors to the mod are Zook_One, Kain-Xavier, 9VoltChicken, Raven, win3k, Mor.Evil-1, Load"*",8,1, and myself.

Some of the major features of the KILLER APP Mod are:

• New Multiplayer Characters such as Sark, Thorne, the DataWraith, etc. by Zook_One
• New Multiplayer Skins by Kain-Xavier, which are improved versions of the skins from his earlier KMX Skins Mod
• New Rod Primitive and Energy Claw Weapons in Multiplayer Derez
• New Light Cycle Colors by Raven, Kain-Xavier, and myself
• Enhanced Light Cycle Trails and New Flashing Wheel Spokes
• Fixes to Single Player Text and Level Design errors

The KILLER APP Mod is a merger of Kain-Xavier's KMX Skins Mod, Raven's Light Cycle Colors Mod, and my own Orange Light Cycle Unlock Mod, but with plenty of additional enhancements.

The mod is currently not available for download anywhere, and won't be until it's complete. The release of the mod will occur in December. I won't go into all the various factors that are responsible for the slow progress on the project. But suffice to say, the mod is nearly ready and will be released before the year's end. The team is committed to completing this project no later than Christmas, and probably earlier than that.

Before I conclude, I'll just add that the preview trailer for the mod was made many months ago and does not accurately represent the current state of the KILLER APP Mod. Many improvements and additions have been made since that time. Some of the Light Cycle colors have been revised to look different, new colors have been added, and the Multiplayer Character skins have since been improved.

If you'd like to find out some more information on the mod, and see more up to date screenshots, then visit the following links:

ModDB KILLER APP Mod page
LDSO KILLER APP Mod forum section

Back in May, it was confirmed by Disney Interactive that remakes of the TRON Arcade game and Discs of TRON would eventually appear on XBOX Live Arcade for the 360. The games were to be released "in celebration" of TRON's 25th Anniversary. Yet here we are in October, and they still haven't been released. Way to miss the point, Disney.

So when are they going to be released? In July, I discovered a page on the MSN Games site that listed both TRON Arcade game and Discs of TRON as having a September 30th release date, which has come and gone. Since then, I've learned that Live Arcade games are only released on Wednesdays. And since the 30th was a Sunday — that, plus the fact that the 30th was the last day of Q3 2007 — leads me to believe that the date was simply a placeholder in absence of concrete information.

Various gaming sites and even the Disney Interactive site itself, have listed the release dates variously as Summer 2007, Q3 2007, and now finally "TBA". On Major Nelson's site (he's a member of the XBOX Marketing team at Microsoft), it shows that this Wednesday's (as of this writing) Live Arcade release is neither of the TRON games. So apparently, the date from the MSN Games wasn't even good as a rough indicator of when we could expect the games. So basically, at this point, we have no real idea as to when the games will be released.

Perhaps there's a slim chance the releases are being held up, due to the fact that Microsoft is preparing a version of Live for Windows that will bring it up to par with what XBOX users expect from the service. At the moment, Live can only be used in Windows games that are Live-enabled (Shadowrun and Halo 2). Microsoft is planning to break Live out of the games and make it a separate application that can be run at any time, independently. They also plan to bring a version of the service to Windows XP, rather than keeping it Vista-exclusive as originally intended. The improved Games for Windows Live is supposed to make its appearance in November. Maybe Disney Interactive is preparing Windows versions of the games as well, and will release both 360 and Windows versions simultaneously? Who knows.

I knew something was up when I kept seeing hits to this site, with the search term "TRON 2010". My immediate thought was, where are people getting this from? How do they know to expect the film in 2010?

Well, now I have my answer. IMDB has added a listing for the sequel, as being released in 2010. A little further off than I was expecting.

That is, if this project gets off the ground at all. A listing on IMDB does not automatically mean a sequel is definite. A lot of speculative projects appear on IMDB, only to disappear again just as quickly.

Anyone out there with IMDB Pro access, that would care to drop me a line? Are any more details available on the Pro site? :)

Over the next few days, I will be experimenting with updates for this site. I'm going to try and improve the functionality, while at the same time reduce the visual clutter. I'll also be doing some other updates as well, and may even take a crack at giving the site more of a TRON visual theme (but no promises).

Please bear with me as I experiment with updates. My experimentation may cause some links to become broken, or make a mess of the site's visual presentation. I'll eventually get everything sorted out. Hopefully you will find the updates a welcome improvement.

It's been just a couple of days since I stated that a TRON sequel would not be coming "any time soon" or "at least not one directed by Lisberger". It seems that I may not be correct about the former, but was correct about the latter?

According to the Hollywood Reporter, newcomer director Joseph Kosinski is "in final negotiations" to direct a new TRON sequel for Disney. (Newcomer, in the sense that until now he has mainly done television commercials.) Sean Bailey and Steven Lisberger are producing. Lost writers Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz are writing the story.

Since I'm not familiar with the work of anyone on this project other than Lisberger, I can't make a judgment call at this time. But I will say that I am glad Disney has apparently decided to give up its plans for a remake, and is interested in a sequel instead. I imagine that when fans met the news of a remake a couple of years ago with much derision, that Disney quickly realized it was not a good idea to pursue that route.

Now after having said all that . . . this news gives me some hope, but I'm going to treat this as an "I'll believe it when I see it" item.

Big thanks to Avi for the news!

Back a few months ago, when it was announced that Jeff Bridges would be taking part in the upcoming Iron Man film, it was then that I knew there was no hope of a TRON sequel in time for the 25th Anniversary.

Now, it's been announced that Steven Lisberger (the Director of TRON) has written a script that he's going to direct, called Soul Code. The premise of this film sounds a lot like the film Brainstorm, with a dash of TRON thrown in.

While I'm happy for Mr. Lisberger and look forward to seeing Soul Code, this also means that a TRON sequel is not coming any time soon. At least, not one directed by Lisberger. But perhaps, if Soul Code is a success, Disney will wake from its stupor and finally give Steven the chance to make that TRON sequel almost everyone has been waiting for.

As an interesting aside, the Variety article that is the original source of this news, mentions that: "A 2003 videogame tie-in, however, sold extremely well". Really? Again, judging by the lack of support or even mention of TRON 2.0 on Disney Interactive's site, you sure as hell wouldn't know it.

Thanks to Steve at TRON-Sector for the news tip.

I think it's safe to say, that Boxhat is gone for good. The site has been down for over a month, and I've had no contact from Bigred.

Luckily, I created mirrors for most of the TRON 2.0 files that were hosted on Boxhat, in anticipation of temporary or even permanent downtime. For the few links that are now broken on the All Files page, I will see about trying to create mirrors for those files as well.

I'd just like to say thanks to Bigred for keeping the site going as long as he did. I have good memories from the early days on the site. But toward the end, the spark was gone.

Both TRON-Sector and and LDSO will now carry on with TRON and TRON 2.0 discussion, but we won't ever forget Boxhat.

As you all know, I haven't posted any updates for a month. Suffice to say that a combination of work, other interests, and needing a break, all contributed to the lack of updates. Working on the best (worst?) kept secret project for TRON 2.0 has also been a contributing factor, which I'm not ready to announce here until it's completely finished. (Though you can find details on it if you know where to look.)

But I felt it was time to stop neglecting this site, and to catch up on various TRON news items. So over the next few days, I will be doing my best to make up for lost time. Expect to see several updates, including my long overdue review of issue #4 of the TRON comic.

I'll also be doing at least a couple of off-topic posts, that hopefully you will all still find interesting. If not, you can always just ignore them. The majority of posts will always remain TRON related, no need to worry there.

LDSO member Xistence has brought back his personal site: where he talks about the projects he is working on, including the upcoming The Digital Messiah or TDM for short.

You can visit the site by clicking on the now active link in the grey sidebar on the right.

However, it is somewhat sad news to learn that he has decided to no longer create TDM as a total conversion for TRON 2.0, but rather as a conversion for Unreal instead. But I can understand his frustration in working with the poorly documented and supported Lithtech engine, that TRON 2.0 uses. Creating any significant modifications for TRON 2.0 is an enormous challenge. There are severe limitations in what you can do, unless you have the source code. It's just better to move to a well supported game engine.

It's a shame because TRON 2.0 is so well suited to the concept of TDM, and there's a pre-existing audience there who would be instantly attracted to TDM's virtual world. Not to mention, TRON 2.0 can use all the help it can get. But I still look forward to playing TDM on Unreal, once it's released. :)

Since I last searched the web for articles or pages mentioning the 25th Anniversary of TRON, a number of them have popped up. Out of them all though, only two are significant.

The first article has snippets of a new interview done with Steven Lisberger, for a book that's coming out.

The second is an interview with John Knoll at the site Computerworld, about CGI during the last 25 years in general, and TRON specifically. Knoll did not have anything to do with TRON as far as I'm aware, but he is the Visual Effects Supervisor at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) which certainly makes him qualified to speak about the subject.


While searching for any other significant 25th Anniversary stories, I did happen to stumble on to a couple of others that I found interesting. They don't have anything to do with the 25th Anniversary, but they are about TRON and I thought were worth sharing.

One of the articles is about the TRON remake rumor that circulated a couple of years ago. The author puts into words what I believe most TRON fans were thinking. "God no, not a remake. Please Disney, don't screw up TRON!"

The other one compares TRON to William Gibson's Neuromancer. I hadn't really given this notion much thought over the years, particularly since I haven't read Neuromancer and because TRON was released before the novel was published. But I can see how the two could be compared directly.

What was particularly interesting to me, is that in reading the article, it suddenly became obvious that: while Neromancer couldn't have influenced TRON, Neuromancer could have influenced TRON 2.0. And there is definitely some evidence to prove this. In early concept art for the game, the DataWraiths were called NetRunners. And it was by reading this article, that I realized Neuromancer and the series of Gibson novels that followed, had originally coined the name NetRunner. I'm guessing though, that Disney and Monolith dropped the NetRunner name, to avoid any potential legal action by Gibson or his publisher.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has both read William Gibson's novels and played TRON 2.0, if you think there are any more similarities between the two.


Props go out to TRON-Sector member Sketch, who originally found the two 25th Anniversary article links.

Something that no one has been been able to answer, is when the TRON Live Arcade games are going to be released. If you visit the various major gaming sites, all you'll get is a vague "Summer" or "Q3 2007" release date for the TRON Arcade and Discs of TRON remakes. The site 1UP.com lists Release Date: 06/15/07, but this is obviously incorrect since the games have yet to show themselves.

However, I believe I have uncovered the actual release dates of the games. Which can be found HERE and HERE.

And just in case this information gets pulled, I've taken screenshots of the pages. They come from the MSN Games site. Seeing as these pages are hosted by Microsoft's MSN service, I'd say the chance of these dates being legit is very high.

  
And the release date for both games is (drum roll please) . . . September 30th, 2007.

Wow. Far later than I ever would have guessed. Not even close to the 25th Anniversary date, which just passed by a few days ago (July 9th). It's no wonder a lot of sites have stopped quoting "Summer" and switched to "Q3 2007" instead. And the games will just barely squeak by, under the definition of a Q3 release, at that.

There's a small chance that this information is incorrect, of course. But if Disney Interactive was going to release these games soon, wouldn't they have announced this at the recent E3 2007? Instead, it appears they said absolutely nothing about them. This lends credence to my conclusion, that these dates are correct and the games are not coming out as soon as we all might have expected.

LDSO member Mor.Evil-1 has made a new Disc Arena map called DA-7982 based on the Discs of TRON arcade game, to celebrate the 25th Anniversary!

Sample screenshots of DA-7982 by Mor.Evil-1

You can download the map from HERE. If you don't know how to use custom maps in TRON 2.0, I suggest reading this guide to help you out.

July 21st UPDATE: A problem with the map was discovered, so Mor.Evil-1 has released an updated version to fix the issue. Please delete any older version that you have, and re-download the map to get the latest version.

It was 25 years ago today, that TRON premiered in theaters on July 9th, 1982. I won't go into a long speech about how great I think the film is. By now, everyone reading this site should know I think the film is a classic. And today's news post at TRON-Sector expresses the same kind of sentiment that I would only repeat in a slightly different way. So I'll just let that post speak for me. (Especially since, I helped out a little in writing it. But the main credit goes to TheReelTodd.)


Instead, I'd like to focus on a couple of things.

First, doing a quick search of the internet: I ended up discovering that while everyone is talking about the upcoming Xbox Live TRON arcade game remakes and the (very uninspiring) Anniversary pin, nobody is currently talking about the film itself or asking "where on earth is a sequel". Well, again, except for TRON-Sector and the LDSO site. There was the LA CityBeat article about the Anniversary, but that was published back in May.

Although not entirely unexpected (I've become very cynical about it all), it's still a bit disappointing to see no real discussion about the film itself. I guess people just can't be bothered to remember. We'll have to wait for the games to be released on Xbox Live before the majority will even discover that the 25th Anniversary has arrived, I imagine.


Second, and more importantly . . . I'm betting a lot of you have been wondering for a long time, what's up with that petition in the grey sidebar on the right. The one about TRON 2.0. "Is it ever going anywhere?" you might ask. "Will it do any good? Why should I sign it?"

Well, I would like to thank everyone who took the time to sign the petition. Because as I write this, several hard-copies are making their way to Disney right now. If there was any time to bring the future of TRON to the attention of the staff at Disney: it's now, at the film's 25th Anniversary.

While the petition was mainly intended to persuade Disney Interactive Studios to bring back support for TRON 2.0 on the PC (and Mac), and even create an update or expansion for it, it also serves as an example of fan interest in a sequel TRON film. I mean, who on that list that want more new TRON games, would also not want a new film? The two go hand-in-hand. That's why copies have been sent to Disney Film Studios as well, accompanied by a letter explaining this very logic.

Will the petition work? I don't know. But it can't be said that myself, and those who signed it, didn't try their best. That's all we can do.

Even though hard-copies have been sent, the petition will remain open and continue to accept signatures. Also, keep your eyes open over at TRON-Sector for some more information about this petition and what more you can do to help. The hope is that people within Disney will keep an eye on the petition as the number of signatures continues to grow. There's no reason to stop, until a new game or a sequel film is announced. The more people sign, the more Disney will realize people are interested in more new TRON items.

I'd like to thank the following people for their cooperation and assistance, and for helping to bring the petition to the attention of the right people at Disney. DaveTRON (for his advice), Sketch (for providing the beautiful cover to the petition, which is also available as a wallpaper on TRON-Sector), and TheReelTodd (for motivation and for the great 25th Anniversary news article on the front page). Thanks also go out to LDSO member Load"*",8,1 for the link to the Anniversary pin on the Disney site.


P.S. Curious, that today of all days, this site is about to reach 30,000 hits, after being in existence for about 18 months. It took my TRON 2.0 Unofficial FAQ site 4 years to reach about the same number of hits. The TRON 2.0 News site will overtake it any time now. What a coincidence to have that fall on the same day as the Anniversary date. :)

A while back I purchased the DVD Visual Futurist: The Art & Life of Syd Mead. I thought I would write a review of it so that people could get a taste of what it's like, and determine if it's worth buying. So I decided to sit down and write this: giving my honest opinion on the documentary itself, the features of the DVD, its packaging, and its overall presentation.

When first playing the DVD, you are greeted with a very simple and bare-bones menu that either allows you to play the documentary, or go to a screen with a chapter list that lets you jump to various points in the feature. There are no extras: such as any behind-the-scenes vignettes that show what went into the production of the documentary, director commentary, or footage from the screening at the Dances with Films festival where it premiered with Syd Mead himself attending. Which is a shame. However, Director Joaquin Montalvan has posted such clips online. So I encourage everyone to check them out. They're called Visual Futurist Q&A Video and Syd Mead Candid Video Footage.

The documentary itself starts off by showing a montage of Syd's work, and it isn't until almost three minutes into the feature that the documentary proper begins. It's an interesting choice to start Visual Futurist this way. If there's one thing that can be said, it's that the man's artwork certainly speaks for itself. It's easy to just sit there and watch, drawing in the detail and richness of each work, and letting your mind wander off into these realities. Realities that are extremely functional and realistic in appearance. Some people might find this section a bit boring, but I didn't mind it at all.

Then Syd Mead himself appears, in what can only be described as his "workshop". Sitting at a table, drawing, he begins to tell you about his background. As you listen, he makes no bones about the fact that he is very confident, considers himself very intelligent, and he enjoys his success. Who can blame him, really? For someone like me, who isn't that familiar with Syd's background or early career: this section of the documentary is very enlightening. It takes us from his earliest days as a professional industrial designer, all the way to his film design career. I gather that most of the public, like me, will also only be familiar with the latter — his work on Blade Runner being the most notable, followed by TRON. And it's his credit in the film Blade Runner, for which this documentary is named. Visual Futurist.

As the documentary progresses, we cover his careers at Ford, U.S. Steel, Philips, and many other companies. Eventually we're told about how Syd found himself without a job at one point, and decided to start his own company. Then in the late seventies, Hollywood entered a phase where they sought out designers to become attached to films, and this is how Syd entered the movie industry. His first work was on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and from there he entered a whirlwind period where he designed for picture after picture. Blade Runner, TRON, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, Aliens, Short Circuit, Mission to Mars . . . the list goes on and on.

The lengthiest segments pertaining to the films he worked on are for Blade Runner and TRON, as you might expect. Steven Lisberger (the Director of TRON) and Richard Taylor (Visual Effects and Computer Graphics Supervisor for TRON) appear throughout the documentary, commenting on various facets of Syd's career and not singularly on TRON. While all of the people in the documentary have interesting and intelligent things to say — including Mead himself — I found Lisberger's comments to be the most entertaining and eloquent. You literally can see the gears turning in his mind like an intricate and precise machine, with his thoughts and their enunciation coming at a rapid-fire pace.

Since this is a TRON-based site, I will keep the coverage of the documentary focused on the TRON portion. But I can tell you without hesitation that I enjoyed all the segments. Especially the one regarding Blade Runner. Blade Runner is definitely another one of my favorite films, and I can't wait for it to finally be released on DVD this year. It's been a long time coming.

The TRON segment of the documentary shows how Syd is responsible in large part for the look of the TRON electronic world, and is completely responsible for items such as Sark's Carrier, the Tanks, the Light Cycles, the MCP, the prison cells, and Yori's apartment. He also designed the TRON font, and even had some influence on the costumes. We are shown many of his concept sketches that resulted in the final look in the film, while Lisberger and Taylor comment throughout. Lisberger felt that Mead's work was "cutting edge" and exactly what they were looking for. And Syd himself states that his work in the film and the film itself, had an enormous impact on the youth watching it at the time. That most of the people in the computer graphics industry today, credit his work and the film TRON as being responsible for leading them into their profession.

A notable aspect of the documentary is its soundtrack, presented in Dolby 5.1. Throughout the film we hear composer Richard Souther's themes, that he specifically composed for Visual Futurist. Souther's ethereal compositions often evoke memories of Vangelis' score for the film Blade Runner, and they are a clear homage to that film. Thus, the music fits the subject matter and the tone of the documentary perfectly. In fact, the music is so good that I would recommend purchasing the separately available soundtrack CD wholeheartedly.


With regard to the aesthetics of the packaging itself, the DVD comes in an Amaray keepcase with a somewhat bland wraparound label. The design is quite minimalist, and perhaps even unexciting for a DVD featuring a documentary about one of the world's foremost artists. And I don't know if it's intentional or not, but the type on the label and the insert booklet has a blurred effect that makes it a bit hard to read. You can't pick it up in the scans above, but it is there. Considering the price for the DVD itself ($29.99 U.S.) and the shipping (anywhere from about $7-$10 U.S.), I was personally hoping for a bit more of a refined looking package than what I got.

Still, in the end, it's the documentary itself that matters most. And in this area, the DVD does not disappoint. The transfer quality of the film seems very good. Clocking in at approximately one hour and forty-five minutes, it quite extensively covers Syd Mead's career and shows us an incredible number of his works. The film never becomes slow or boring (except perhaps at the very beginning, as I stated earlier) and is a fascinating look at a fascinating man. It's no wonder the film won an award for audience appreciation when it premiered at the Dances with Films festival.

Highly recommended.