Was Mega City only designed for the sequels?

zeroone506

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

urven

This is how I see it. Barrens and the slums looks like the first movie, while downtown looks like the sequels.
Hardline names...hmmm, I think they are diffrent, International HL's are named after Nippon cities i belive....There are biblical names, such as, magog, apollyon. There are probably some Chicago streets names on some HL's/districts.
Some of the buildings are designed after Chicago buildings.

dont have a official source =)

**Fractor**

Maybe the areas that are not in the game but were in the movies will be released in an expansion of the megacity but it seems unlikely.

zeroone506

urven wrote:

This is how I see it. Barrens and the slums looks like the first movie, while downtown looks like the sequels.
Hardline names...hmmm, I think they are diffrent, International HL's are named after Nippon cities i belive....There are biblical names, such as, magog, apollyon. There are probably some Chicago streets names on some HL's/districts.
Some of the buildings are designed after Chicago buildings.

dont have a official source =)

Well... Debir Court is in the Slums and took an important part in "Reloaded". And somehow I think the Slums just perfectly mirror that sort of sulky, dreary mood that was during the Oracle part of it.

On the other hand, Metacortex and Morpheus' rescue in the first movie were supposed to be in Downtown (well... were in Downtown). And Downtown has this unreal illusion feeling that the whole first movie, but especially the "Downtown" scenes, had.

So you see I can't fully comprehend your point, but hey, it's your opinion SMILEY

About the hardlines, all I wanted to say is that they seem to be called differently in the movies than in the game (who recognizes the chase at the end of part 1 in Stamos/Mannsen Park?).

So I thought the Wachowskis maybe thought their movie will unofficially play in Chicago, but then decided to create a separate city for the sequels (although that's weird too, they designed the whole freeway system for the chase, but didn't use it in the game).

P.S.: Adding new movie locations to the game together with a city expansion would be great as an idea, the question is, will it still be exciting if those just completely differ from their original version?

**Megarittz**

After Smith was defeated, the Matrix was rebooted. Apparently, the buildings were changed a lot during that, but who knows.

**thornTree**

Well, MxO's MegaCity was only loosesly designed after the one in the movies, it seems. Also, the MegaCity we see in Path of Neo is again quite different from the one in MxO. The downtown skyline is completely different, and I think PoN's skyline matches better with what we see in the movies.

The subway system also has nothing in common with the one we see in the movies, really (fighting Smith in subway, then chasing the TrainMan)

Just my observations.

zeroone506

I haven't player PoN yet, so I can't say anything that.

You're completely right with the subways, though, I already posted something like this in another thread.

About the city design, check the "Ask the Devs a MxO question", where Rarebit gave some detailed information about this issue.

**Stack**

The hardlines in the films weren't really named, the street names were just given as indicators to the people in the Matrix to let them know where to go.

I also heard that the giant city background used for the interrogation of Morpheus was a modified view of Sydney, which is where they shot most of the films to begin with. They had to remove the well-known buildings to prevent it from really looking like it takes place in Sydney.

As for MxO, it was definitely modeled directly after Chicago, since more than half the skyscrapers are direct recreations of buildings in Chicago.

zeroone506

Oh, Sydney then SMILEY

**DooRDie**

I myself, having lived in Chi-town a few times thruout my life, can safely and 100% surely say that the matrix movies took place in chicago, yes a lot of scenes were shot in sydney, but they main idea for the movie scenraio was ion chicago. In the first movie, they name off chicago streets and locations, plus when neo is runing from smith at the end of the movie, a lto of that was in chicago, cause i myslef have been down those streets he ran on, now it would be to hard to recreate all of chicago to T for a video game, but mega city is chicago.

zeroone506

DooRDie wrote:

I myself, having lived in Chi-town a few times thruout my life, can safely and 100% surely say that the matrix movies took place in chicago, yes a lot of scenes were shot in sydney, but they main idea for the movie scenraio was ion chicago. In the first movie, they name off chicago streets and locations, plus when neo is runing from smith at the end of the movie, a lto of that was in chicago, cause i myslef have been down those streets he ran on, now it would be to hard to recreate all of chicago to T for a video game, but mega city is chicago.

Yea, I thought something like this. But that was actually my original question. So, the first movie took place in Chicago and had Chicago street named off. So, that means, "Mega City" was designed for the sequels only. That should at least explain why Hel Club and Debir Court are the only authentic locations in the game (not sure about Metacortex though).

It's also more realistic because the sequels had a lot more CG environments and also an amount of panorama shots (mostly with Neo flying). Of course, they also had to create the whole freeway system with highest detail (so I wonder why it's not in the game).

Can you say the same about the sequels, i.e. that you recognize certain places?

**DooRDie**

zeroone5069 wrote:
DooRDie wrote:
I myself, having lived in Chi-town a few times thruout my life, can safely and 100% surely say that the matrix movies took place in chicago, yes a lot of scenes were shot in sydney, but they main idea for the movie scenraio was ion chicago. In the first movie, they name off chicago streets and locations, plus when neo is runing from smith at the end of the movie, a lto of that was in chicago, cause i myslef have been down those streets he ran on, now it would be to hard to recreate all of chicago to T for a video game, but mega city is chicago.
Yea, I thought something like this. But that was actually my original question. So, the first movie took place in Chicago and had Chicago street named off. So, that means, "Mega City" was designed for the sequels only. That should at least explain why Hel Club and Debir Court are the only authentic locations in the game (not sure about Metacortex though).
It's also more realistic because the sequels had a lot more CG environments and also an amount of panorama shots (mostly with Neo flying). Of course, they also had to create the whole freeway system with highest detail (so I wonder why it's not in the game).
Can you say the same about the sequels, i.e. that you recognize certain places?

in all three movies, the scenario\place, was chicago, but u didnt get to see that because 2 and 3 because you got that concept in one, plus it didnt show to many chase scense to hardlines, but mega city is a sim version of chicago. The only times in the movies they ever left chicago ( not talking about filming locations), was when they were in the merovigians mansion, which if i had to make a good guess to where thats located, id say in some mountian range in canada, because of the dinstance neos operator tesll him he has to travel to get back to morpheus and trinity.

to answer your question to why a lot of its not in the game, think how much time it would take to code that much information, to replicate the 2nd largest city in the US, and as far as meros mansion, that may already be coded, just not added yet, keepo an eye out, i have a feeling mega city may be expanded someday, if the game stays popular enough and brings soe enough money for them to keep it going

zeroone506 · 02/06/2006 06:00:20

DooRDie wrote:

in all three movies, the scenario\place, was chicago, but u didnt get to see that because 2 and 3 because you got that concept in one, plus it didnt show to many chase scense to hardlines, but mega city is a sim version of chicago. The only times in the movies they ever left chicago ( not talking about filming locations), was when they were in the merovigians mansion, which if i had to make a good guess to where thats located, id say in some mountian range in canada, because of the dinstance neos operator tesll him he has to travel to get back to morpheus and trinity.

to answer your question to why a lot of its not in the game, think how much time it would take to code that much information, to replicate the 2nd largest city in the US, and as far as meros mansion, that may already be coded, just not added yet, keepo an eye out, i have a feeling mega city may be expanded someday, if the game stays popular enough and brings soe enough money for them to keep it going

I can't remember asking why those locations weren't in the game.

My question was originally, if the idea of Mega City was actually born during the sequel pre-production, and not during the planning of the first part. The places the sequels took place are supposed to be in a fictional Matrix city, but it was obvious that the first movie was really placed in Chicago. And now, since I know from you that it actually takes place on real streets of Chicago, I'm sure. (Well, Morpheus was interrogated in front of a Sydney background (credit: Stack), but since you've really recognized the streets there it's defintely Chicago.)

Now, the question I pointed in my last message was if now the sequels were yet shot in Chicago and if you've really identified locations from the sequels as real places in Chicago. Now, the freeway was actually built separately for the filming (and is now recycled) and the Debir Court was also an artificial set. And the rest was CG overview from above. There were only a few times where the city was shown from a normal perspective (like the beginning of the freeway chase and a few other shots, let's say in front of Hel Club), but mostly it was special sets and virtual environments.

But I'm still asking if you've recognized anything that's really in Chicago (although this question kinda gets pointless because of the was the movie was shot), just in case you have.

But the sequels aren't supposed to take place in Chicago, it really takes place in a fictional city. It even has that Y-shape you can see on the atlas f.e.. So, the other question is how authentically it was made after that designs in MxO. Rarebit sorta answered that question, and from what I know, not strictly.

And that leads me to my original question again, was Mega City idea really only created for the sequels and not for "The Matrix"? Well, I'd say, that would it be. Although it isn't completely clear if there was still some kind of idea behind it.

Message Edited by zeroone5069 on 02-06-200606:00 AM

**DooRDie**

zeroone5069 wrote:
DooRDie wrote:
in all three movies, the scenario\place, was chicago, but u didnt get to see that because 2 and 3 because you got that concept in one, plus it didnt show to many chase scense to hardlines, but mega city is a sim version of chicago. The only times in the movies they ever left chicago ( not talking about filming locations), was when they were in the merovigians mansion, which if i had to make a good guess to where thats located, id say in some mountian range in canada, because of the dinstance neos operator tesll him he has to travel to get back to morpheus and trinity.

to answer your question to why a lot of its not in the game, think how much time it would take to code that much information, to replicate the 2nd largest city in the US, and as far as meros mansion, that may already be coded, just not added yet, keepo an eye out, i have a feeling mega city may be expanded someday, if the game stays popular enough and brings soe enough money for them to keep it going
I can't remember asking why those locations weren't in the game.
My question was originally, if the idea of Mega City was actually born during the sequel pre-production, and not during the planning of the first part. The places the sequels took place are supposed to be in a fictional Matrix city, but it was obvious that the first movie was really placed in Chicago. And now, since I know from you that it actually takes place on real streets of Chicago, I'm sure. (Well, Morpheus was interrogated in front of a Sydney background (credit: Stack), but since you've really recognized the streets there it's defintely Chicago.)
Now, the question I pointed in my last message was if now the sequels were yet shot in Chicago and if you've really identified locations from the sequels as real places in Chicago. Now, the freeway was actually built separately for the filming (and is now recycled) and the Debir Court was also an artificial set. And the rest was CG overview from above. There were only a few times where the city was shown from a normal perspective (like the beginning of the freeway chase and a few other shots, let's say in front of Hel Club), but mostly it was special sets and virtual environments.
But I'm still asking if you've recognized anything that's really in Chicago (although this question kinda gets pointless because of the was the movie was shot), just in case you have.
But the sequels aren't supposed to take place in Chicago, it really takes place in a fictional city. It even has that Y-shape you can see on the atlas f.e.. So, the other question is how authentically it was made after that designs in MxO. Rarebit sorta answered that question, and from what I know, not strictly.
And that leads me to my original question again, was Mega City idea really only created for the sequels and not for "The Matrix"? Well, I'd say, that would it be. Although it isn't completely clear if there was still some kind of idea behind it.
Message Edited by zeroone5069 on 02-06-200606:00 AM

You're reading "inbetween the lines" to much. Yes the highway was built as a set, as was debir court, but movie 2 and 3 took place in the same city (not filming location wise) but the scenerio location never changed betwene the 1st movie and the 2nd and 3rd. As far as filimg locations, yes they used more cg than actual places, but it was still chicago, like when neo first goes to see the oracle in the 2nd movie, he goes to the same place as he did when he saw her in the first, which was in chicago. And in the 3rd movie when agent smioth pays the oracle a visit, its at her same apartment in chicago. Chicago isnt thw only city within the matrix, even tho it never states this, but my best guess is, that every country that exists in the real world, exists in the matrix, like if Morpheus and Niobe wanted to take a honeymoon to France, they could prolly goot an airport, buy a ticket, and fly there. Just an example, i know that would never happen, they would just jack into a HL in paris, but u get the point. The machines made the matrix world just like the real world, there wasnt just once city with-in the matrix, and they didnt add cities that didnt exit in the real world, to the matrix.

But you are right, more of the filming locations of 2 and 3, were done in cg, but the "in-movie" location is and always was chicago, except the meros mansion.

**Stack**

Let's get this straight: Mega City is not Chicago. It is based on Chicago, but it is not Chicago.

They've already stated that Mega City, the mountains, and the Chateau are the only places simulated in the Matrix. So, from what we can tell, it doesn't simulate the entire world, the Chateau doesn't need to be in Canada, and the Mega City isn't really Chicago. It shares many qualities with Chicago because the Wachowskis are from Chicago, but they stated that it's not supposed to be any real city, which is why it's just called "Mega City."