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Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => General Internet News => Topic started by: System on October 22, 2003, 12:51:52 PM
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The website for Genesi's planned computer game "Gladiateur" is online now at http://Gladiateur.PegasosPPC.com (http://Gladiateur.PegasosPPC.com).
Gladiateur - The game takes its inspiration from the spectacular stage production by Elie Chouraqui and Maxime Le Forestier, which debuts in Paris in 2004. The game allows you to take the role of Spartacus the Thracian, and lead the slaves in their revolt against the powers of Rome. Can you lead Spartacus and his army of slaves to success, or will the might of Rome crush their dreams of freedom?
Read more on the official Gladiateur website (http://Gladiateur.PegasosPPC.com).
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...and the whole project started here online at amiga.org!
:-)
See the orginal threads on the MorphOS Forum.
R&B
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Ave, imperator, morituri te salutant!
:-D
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I am still in awe over the scope of this.
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If they get someone with good historical and military knowledge to tweak the rules, this could be a winner.
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I just hope that they don't do that stupid "thumbs up to live, thumbs down to die" bit that's total bunk.
All because someone misinterpreted the term "thumbs turned." It was the sign to die, when you point your thumb to your throat and gesture, thereby signing that you want them to die. If you want to live, you grasped your thumb and held it up, as if to say "sheathe your sword."
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I just hope that they don't do that stupid "thumbs up to live, thumbs down to die" bit that's total bunk.
(http://amiga.org/images/subject/icon13.gif)
Vae victis!
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I just hope that they don't do that stupid "thumbs up to live, thumbs down to die" bit that's total bunk.
Actually there's a lot of debate about this - as far as I know all the contemporary writers were simply too unspecific about this for us to be sure exactly what the ritual was. I guess they assumed their readers would all be familiar with the process. It doesn't help that fashions changed throughout the history of gladiatorial combat either.
As you state, there are various references to the "turned thumb" as the method the crowd uses to indicate they want to see a death, but it's not clear what this means. Other gestures are mentioned, such as pressing the thumbs together or holding the thumb in the fist, which are indications of approval. Another was to jab the thumb upwards towards the heart, to indicate death, and this may well have given rise to the idea that thumbs up meant death.
Reversing that gesture to thumbs up for life (and by logical extension thumbs down for death) is thought to have originated with a 19th century painter, although I can't for the life of me remember who.
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@AndrewKorn
here (http://www.romanempire.net/romepage/images/ArtGallery/RomeandRomans1/Thumbs%20Down.jpg) is the painting I believe you were referring to.
A masterpiece.
But yes, a lot of debate. Ok ok, I can live with thumbs up/down, just don't forget the Rolex Watches*. This is, after all, the Spartacus revolt. 8)
*during the making of the movie Spartacus, several actors were spotted on film wearing their watches, which they'd forgotten to take off.
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That looks like the one, ta.
I also notice it shows a Thracian (probably the type of gladiator Spartacus was) having defeated a Retiarius, an unlikely scenario. Thraex were usually pitted against heavily armoured gladiators of the Hoplomachus / Myrmillo type.
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@AndreKorn
I've always liked the Retiarius, but then again, I've always been a good fisherman. (Ironic, as I'm allergic to fish)
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Also less known are these facts:
* Only about half of gladiators were slaves or criminals. The rest were actually willing participants and were paid or did it for the fame and/or women (of which they got plenty).
* Gladiators got the best medical care of the time.
* Most gladiatorial combats didn't involve the death of any gladiators. Being expensive to train, they weren't just thrown away. Being a blood sport it was dangerous of course, but only where politics interfered would fights to the death usually be necessary.
* Gladiator blood was once famed to be a cure for epilepsy.
* Gladiators had "unions" with which they could negotiate with the owners for pay and conditions and collected money between them to pay for their burials if they were killed.
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@KennyR
And if you think merchandising is bad today? Ho boy, you should see some of what they've dug up in the ruins of Rome. Huge tile adverts, with some Gladiators face selling Chariots! The old "billboard" is hardly a new idea, and using a handsome, famous athlete to promote your product is ancient.
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@downix
Worse, they had action figures. No kidding! You could buy little ceramic models of top gladiators in action poses.
@KennyR
Nobody's really sure how much death there was - but remember that these were shows put on to prove the power and wealth of the sponsor, so in some cases a lot of people DID die, expensive or not.
The origin of gladiatorial combat was a funereal ritual combat to the death, and the concept of sacrificial death appears to have been important throughout the history of the games. However it became an entertainment industry, and the biggest stars became just too valuable to kill - although we do hear of Emperor Commodus having the victor in a combat killed because he claimed such a good fighter would make a really great sacrifice (it was more likely jealousy - Commodus was a very nasty man). Certainly if the top gladiators often survived, there were always cheaper slaves with little popularity or expensive training who could be killed. In some of the massive spectaculars, the death toll was in 4 figures.
Fatality rates aren't known - estimates vary wildly. I think we can assume that for top gladiators it would be around 5%, while there were other gladiators who were basically trained as victims for the famous gladiators, for whom the rate might have been 50% or so. What the average was is anybody's guess.
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Andrew:
You are doing fantastic work on this project. The guys who did the website should be congratulated as well. The artwork is very clean and nice. I am very excited by this project! Its going to be fun..
magnetic
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My only reservation is about how the open-ended nature will fit it with historical consistency. Not so much Spartacus' own fate, but that of any character the player may choose to play. Will events be led by history?
That's always the dilemma of such games. In exchange for the consistecy of a real-world scenario, you have historical constraints to adhere to.
(Personally I prefer turn-based strategy to real-time engines any day, but nevertheless I wish the project well. In essence it's a very interesting venture.)