So, since Kevin is obviously a fan of subtle jokes, let's collect them here.

• Heinlein moon colony: More an hommage than a joke, this is obviously named after Robert A. Heinlein, one of the best scifi writers.
• Frakkin toaster: The guy assaulting Floyd in his short story is calling him a toaster. A reference to Galactica, another great scifi series
• Armitage Records: Looks like Henry Armitage came a long way from Arkham to New Angeles - and he let go of his tombes forever.
• Challenger Memorial Ferry: A memorial to the Challenger disaster
• Sergeant Parsons: I am most certain that he's a reference to a Parsons engineer or scifi character/writer/someone else. Since there are so many, however, I don't know which one.

My first post, I haven't had time to set up my account yet.....

I think your Parsons reference could be to The Alan Parsons Project, they did a number of E.A. Poe inspired songs.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fSQz_LQ6Kak&e

Also spoofed in the Austin Powers films.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2Duj2oZIC8U&feature=PlayList&p=C9E6A6B3756B0E6F&index=0

Is Henry Armitage specifically mentioned or is it just Armitage without a first name? If so, given the cyberpunk genre of the game, it's probably more likely to be a reference to the character from William Gibson's novel Neuromancer .

fnord3125 said:

No first name given. I suspect a double entrede.

Mike said:

Possibly more than that. There is also the cyberpunk anime series Armitage III .

Though I still think Neuromancer is most likely reference. It is pretty much THE cyberpunk novel after all.

• Memories of Green - major location - is the title of a track on the excellent Blade Runner soundtrack by Vangelis.
• Levy University - major location - is named after David H. Levy, the scientist who co-discovered the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
• Melange Mining - major location - Melange is the name of the spice in Frank Herbert's Dune .
• Strugatski Apartments - Blaine's lead location - is named after the Strugatski brothers, two Russian sci-fi authors who collaborated on most of their stories.
• Lem University - Caprice's lead location - Stanislaw Lem was a Polish sci-fi author who wrote Solaris and a multitude of other novels.
• Columbiad Arcology - Rachel's lead location - a columbiad is a loading cannon, but a huge version of the thing is featured in Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon , a device designed to fire projectiles containing human passengers at the moon.
• The guy Poole from Rachel's background story could be a reference to the character Frank Poole from Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series. Yeah okay, I'm grasping at straws here.
• Eliza's Toybox - major location - the ELIZA effect is the human mind unconsciously equating computer behaviour with human behaviour, i.e. the perception of advanced or 'intelligent' computer programs as being sentient and possessing of human traits.

Well, that's what I could uncover. Hopefuly, when I get the game itself, I might be able to find some more interesting tidbits.

Shanachie said:

Impressive. Most impressive. I'd also think the Arcology might be a Shadowrun-reference. But seing as how high Mr Wilson reached for his references in terms of scientific and scifi important, Shadowrun might be just below his standards.

Mike said:

Impressive. Most impressive. I'd also think the Arcology might be a Shadowrun-reference. But seing as how high Mr Wilson reached for his references in terms of scientific and scifi important, Shadowrun might be just below his standards.

Arcos aren't just a Shadowrun thing. They've been in a lot of sci-fi stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcology#In_popular_culture

Just got my copy last night. The first sci-fi reference to jump out at me was suspect "Dejah Thoris". She's the titular (and how!) heroine of Edgar Rice Burrough's "A Princess of Mars".

TK

Tim Kelly said:

She seems a little grumpy, though. Maybe her cranial implant itches.

How I envy you all. I won't get my hands on a copy until thursday.

I'm hoping it's under the Christmas tree....

A card shown on the back of the box refers to a 'Olivaw'

This may be a reference to R. Daneel Olivah who was detective Elijah Baley's robot partner in Isaac Asimov's Robot novels (Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn, etc).

Big Head Zach said:

She's probably pregnant again. Laying all those eggs can be hard on a martian woman.

TK

Tim Kelly said:

I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure those two sentences are contradictory.

fnord3125 said:

Nah....according to Burroughs, Martian women have a) mammaries, and b) lay eggs. And you know how miuch research went in to every Burroughs novel, right?

TK

I didn't say they didn't/couldn't have mammaries. That just makes them monotremes, apparently.

But it seems non-sensical to refer to an egg-laying creature as being "pregnant." Pregnant implies that an unborn child is gestating in the womb of the woman being referred to. But this would not be the case in an egg-laying species.

Wait, why are we talking about this again?

fnord3125 said:

I can't recall, either. But...I'll always treasure this discussion. Thanks for the mammaries!

TK

Tim Kelly said:

So long, and thanks for the mammaries?