Huh. Replaying Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011) and just realising that there are.... phone booths in it.
Petrol stations have vanished, but there are still phone booths.
Also there are CD-ROMs in all the office computers.
I guess predicting the future is hard, and seven years was a while ago.
@natecull Well, the plot point isn't just a software upgrade, the recall-upgrade involved a physical operation (the chip you encounter designers talking about while at TYM)
@elomatreb Right, but in our post-Apple, post-Amazon world, the limbs would come out of the shop proudly *advertising* that the manufacturer has full lockout control at all times 'to protect you from crime'. Limb Security As A Service.
And they'd sell in the millions.
This thought brought to you by Apple, Inc, February 2018:
<<SAN FRANCISCO/BEIJING (Reuters) - When Apple Inc begins hosting Chinese users’ iCloud accounts in a new Chinese data center at the end of this month to comply with new laws there, Chinese authorities will have far easier access to text messages, email and other data stored in the cloud. >>
Note what's not even up for debate: that Apple *does* hold users' iCloud encryption keys.
@natecull
The only personal cloud one should use is a internet connected server located in house attic. XaaS is good for small to medium enterprise
@natecull I'm the last person to give Apple the benefit of the doubt on this topic, but they could conceivably store the keys only for the Chinese customers.
Or perhaps hand them over the the Chinese government and not keeping them themselves. That would allow them to still claim they don't have the keys and still technically tell the truth. That would be a very Apple thing to do.
@natecull iCloud, yes, because services have to get files from it. iMessage, no, all they can read is metadata (which in China is enough to jail/execute someone for). There's a recent Apple TN about the exact details.
Timmy Cook's a bastard for giving in on this.
@natecull
Phone booths are necessary for superheroes to dress, that's why they have to stay!
@natecull I think it´s rather because it was supposed to be a prequel to the Original Deus Ex, which was already a bit behind and extrapolating from there means that the DX:HR prequel had to have even older stuff.
Of course that clashes with the new, modern, sleek future style of modern game design.
But honestly, the thing that stands out the most?
That it's a major plot point that the Evil Corporation have to fake a defect recall in order to plant a secret upgrade into everyone's artificial limbs to take contol of them.
In our world of mobile devices and Cloud and 'As A Service', it's just taken for granted that OF COURSE a few megacorps read everyone's data, and force weird upgrades to your devices at all times.
How... how did we get *beyond* 'Deus Ex cynical' so fast?