Was Mega City only designed for the sequels?

**DooRDie**

i agree, mega city in the game isnt chicago, but based on it, the city in the movie was chicago, common sense, if it wasnt, they would of used different street names, than actual ones, and on top of that they used actual street interesctions with the same exact names (both streets) that are in chicago.

I'm not sure what the W brothers actually called it, i dont think the name mega city was ever mentioned in the movies, but not until the game. I may be wrong on that tho, might have to watch all the bonus stuff on the dvds or something and get back to this thread

**zeroone506**

I know exactly that they really created Mega City for the sequels. They've created computer 3D models of it and designed it to make difficult sequences like the freeway chase or backgrounds for, let's say, the Smith fight. The Y-shape of this city is something you already could see in the beginning of "Revolutions", first in form of a Matrix icon, until it started to zoom in and revealed itself as a city. Does Chicago or any other city in the world have a shape like that? Honesty, I doubt it.

So can you really able to name off certain streets, or places that were mentioned or shown in the sequels?

However, it's obvious that Mega City wasn't created for the first part. The fact that you (and I guess lots of other people who know Chicago) recognized some places there, prove it: The first movie was obviously supposed to take place in a world like you've described it. I think, their original idea was that it's actually the world you and me are living in. So I guess the scenes were actually supposed to be somewhere in our world, maybe not obiously in Chacago or Sydney, but somewhere in an American city, which should serve the look and atmosphere they wanted for the Matrix (I mean, is there really the Metacortex building in Chicago?).

But then they started to design a fictive city for the sequels and let the movie take place there. It doesn't mean it's now supposed to be somewhere else, so the Oracle apartment is still where it was. But during the production of "The Matrix" there was no talk about the Mega City, and then, for the sequels, they've decided to create it for several reasons (I guess one of them was this game) and then "make" the first part take there either, although it originally didn't. Therefore, we now have some places from the first part here but look different, so maybe it now doesn't fit into the master plan).

However, I don't know this from an official source (so like John Gaeta said: "We really had no clue about creating a city for the first part, but then the brothers decided to make it" SMILEY . So maybe another knows?

**Stack**

I know it was planned all along to have it just be called "City," at least. The phone booths, the garbage truck, and the Oracle's phone books all have that name on them. I remember something official a while ago (maybe on the original DVD commentary) about how it wasn't supposed to have any real name other than City or Mega City.

And the city in the first film does not have to be Chicago just because it has a few streets and intersections identical to those in Chicago. Maybe the Machines copied bits and pieces of our cities to make Mega City: parts of Sydney, parts of Chicago, etc.

And for the record, there is continuity between the first film and the sequels: the phone booth intersection at the end of the first film is the site of the crater scene between Neo and Smith in Revolutions. You can see the exact same buildings when it zooms out to show Neo flying off into the sky in the first film and when it zooms out to show the Smiths exploding in Revolutions.

**Garu**

One thing to note is that in MxO we only see a very small portion of the Mega City. Who knows what else is out there.

The most notable locations that I'd love to see:

- Lafayette Hotel
- Neo's Apartment
- Seraph's Teahouse
- Oracle's Apartment (though rumored to actually be in Richland/Westview)
- Merv's Restaraunt
- Mega City Power Plant
- Mega City Power Downtown office

And I've always been curious as to which club Neo met Trinity at.

**zeroone506**

Neo's apartment was just another apartment, I guess.

Seraph's teahouse is apparently part of the other Chinatown from Enter the Matrix, which is (unnecessary to say) not our lovely International District SMILEY

The Oracle's apartment ought to be in Mara somewhere around Debir Court.

Like most cool things, the power plant is now a piece of cinder SMILEY

Power office? If you mean the one where the Vigilant's crew died... maybe, but it wasn't really different from any other office floors (especially computer rooms) in office buildings.

However, my original point (or rather question) was that the whole idea wasn't yet born when the first movie was being done. So the club doesn't have to be anything like the clubs in MxO, just another club from the Real " SMILEY

**Cervacius**

I do remember in Reloaded, when Neo fights the 3 agents and then flies away, he then tries to search for Oracle's appartment. If you pause it, and look at the buildings he flies to, its definitely buildings in the Richland Area. I would get a picture of it, but apparently taking a screenshot while playing a dvd on your computer doesn't work like normal things do. :smileytongue:

cshank

Wait wait. There are totally more places besides just the Mega-City and surrounding mountains in The Matrix. For example, Cairo is in, since Morpheus ran from agents there. As would be most major cities. From what I've heard, the 'Mega-City' is a contruct made after the whole smith thing to accomodate all the humans in an easier way.

Also, for those people that talk about the lobby-scene being in Downtown. We don't know WHERE it was, technically. The lobby in MXO was moved there by machines after the matrix rebooted.

**zeroone506**

cshank wrote:

From what I've heard, the 'Mega-City' is a contruct made after the whole smith thing to accomodate all the humans in an easier way.

Wait, wait... where have you heard that? The Mega City was already designed for Reloaded and Revolutions, just watch the DVD bonuses. However, from what I can see, MxO and the movies aren't really canon regarding the world.

The lobby in MXO was moved there by machines after the matrix rebooted.

Just in the eventual case that you have this information from MxO Archive, it isn't canon and was just invented by Stack -- which was also stated by himself.

**SolidRevolver**

If you look on the atlas you can see that all of Mega City isn't open... YET. Look at the dark area's that have a green outline , that to me signifies that there is going to be more than just 4 districts open and hopefully more places from the movies will be explorable!

pseudo-blade

do we have any confirmation that new districts will be open....this would be so cool and give new players a chance to explore an area at the same time as the more experianced as opposed to trying to explore and getting pvped before you can find anything. Bring it on!!

**zeroone506**

I know it's the first thing that comes in your mind when you get to see the Atlas, but trust me, the way the things stand today, nothing like this will happen in any foreseeable future.

**SolidRevolver**

Yeah it won't be for a long time but it they will be opened some time, and when they do they are going to have to raise the max level as you will be able close to 50 with the access nodes and Hardlines alone.

Message Edited by 20136098 on 06.08.2006 01:54 PM
Message edited by SolidRevolver on 06/08/2006 12:54:02.

**Praey1**

I've been inclined to call it the Minicity since launch personally. . .

[CoZ]LostProphet

zeroone506 wrote:

It's just logical. First of all, the three inaccurate locations (Government Building, Heart O' The City Hotel, and most likely Metacortex) are places from the first movie, whereas Hel Club and Debir Court are from the sequels.Another argument is that the city in "The Matrix" looked completely different from the one in MxO, without the rectangular shape and ... just different. So we see Neo and Trinity saving Morpheus from a place that's supposed to be in Downtown, and after a short helicopter flight, they go into a subway station which is not only supposed to be in Westview (since Neo runs from the subway to the hotel), but also looks completely different from every subway station in the game (as already pointed out, it still looks like a normal subway in the real world). I've read the hardlines' names were actually referring to streets in Chicago ("Names of locations" thread), the city that served as an inspiration for Mega City, and if I remember the Ultimate Matrix Collection feature correctly (I don't feel like watching it all over again at the moment), the city background for Morpheus' interrogation scenes was actually a Chicago wallpaper (something similiar at least). So everything seems to indicate that Mega City was born during the "Reloaded" and "Revolutions" pre-production. Does anyone know an official source or, even better, an official statement that refers to this issue?Of course, just others' opinions would be very appreciated either! lol

I think you're right.

The locations in the Matrix (first film) don't seem to tally with the sequels as you've rightly pointed out, and it doesn't make sense that they had to get all the way from Downtown to Westview before Tank could find them an exit.

There's a piece in the Ultimate Collection where John Gaeta (I think) has a large map drawn out of the 'glyph' that:
a) Is our MegaCity
b) The operator of the Mjolnir 'zooms' through while looking for Niobe and Ghost.

What I would do to get my hands on that is another matter entirely SMILEY

I believe that they created it to serve a 'mapping' purpose for the 3D work for that searching sequence, but also as a general point of reference for Neo flying towards the highway.

MxO was built around that, but clearly not too close to spec, as most of the locations and 'landmarks' look totally wrong. In my view, not necessarily because of the "no map for Matrix, map for the sequels" but more because too many unique buildings (like MetaCortex) pose a problem for the way the game works.

**zeroone506**

Well, I think that's exactly the map you see when totally zooming out in the Atlas. But without the zooming in.

According to Rarebit, it was never planned to recreate every building and street from the movies, but they got it approved by the original Matrix stuff or something like that, in terms of shape (the Wachowskis wanted it to look like a computer chip from above) and look.
They got this Mega City map from the original stuff, aswell.

It's actually sad that we'll never get to access this entire city with its original shape.