S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and COD4:MW fans can check out the real Chernobyl and Pripyat

PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
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I finished COD4:MW some time ago and am about two thirds of the way through S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (great $5 purchase!) and have been impressed by the environments that the designers of both these games chose.

While you are not likely to ever visit Chernobyl and Pripyat in the Ukraine yourselves, the guys at Madventures have - and brought back some film for you to enjoy.

Madventures Ex-CCCP - Pripyat Disaster Zone

Full version - 8:20 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYMZFSDmvDI

Riku Rantala and Tuomas "Tunna" Milonoff, both Finns, have a popular gonzo adventure travel show in Europe and I think the Travel Channel picked them up in the U.S. for a while and then got squeamish. Anyway, they have DVDs available - well worth watching for a view of places and customs you wouldn't necessarily want to check out first hand!
 
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Cadop

Senior member
Mar 28, 2003
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Good find. The empty pool area was very recognizable as part of a COD4 level.
 

Arglebargle

Senior member
Dec 2, 2006
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I had a real weird moment of deja vu when I recognized areas in COD:MW from going through them in Stalker.
 

marmasatt

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2003
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Yeah, thanks for that. That is really cool. Of course the horseshoe looking (monorail trackish if you will) thing and the ferris wheel are easily recognizable as well.
 

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
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I remember watchign the film of chernobyl in action, not pretty for a bunch of peeps.
 

PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
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At the moment I'm playing the Pripyat part of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and the overhead shots of the main street in the video are where I am taking out the rooftop snipers in the game. The buildings, the furnishings, the feel and the detail of the game are quite faithful to the real place, so props go out to the game artists.

These no-budget backpacker wild guys Riku and Tunna have gotten really good at producing and editing their video travel blogs. I had to laugh at some of the other segments they have posted - drinks with the Russian Mafiya, bungee jumping of a building in St. Petersburg, Nippon Love Dolls, Drifting and the Mad Cook segments on exotic food preparation. It's all good.

http://www.madventures.tv

Anyway, here is another, more somber, video of Pripyat for your viewing pleasure where you will recognize quite a few of the settings and battlegrounds in the games -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULerqggJ1j4

And, finally, a short live video of a Stalker being chased down and...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttQO6DvRi58
 
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fallout man

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2007
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I finished COD4:MW some time ago and am about two thirds of the way through S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (great $5 purchase!) and have been impressed by the environments that the designers of both these games chose.

While you are not likely to ever visit Chernobyl and Pripyat in the Ukraine yourselves, the guys at Madventures have - and brought back some film for you to enjoy.

Madventures Ex-CCCP - Pripyat Disaster Zone

Full version - 8:20 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYMZFSDmvDI

Riku Rantala and Tuomas "Tunna" Milonoff, both Finns, have a popular gonzo adventure travel show in Europe and I think the Travel Channel picked them up in the U.S. for a while and then got squeamish. Anyway, they have DVDs available - well worth watching for a view of places and customs you wouldn't necessarily want to check out first hand!

SWWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTT!!!!

Love the video!

When are they doing "Gonzo Adventures Ground Zero 9-11 NYC?" That would so fucking sweet, man. There's like tunnels to explore in the abandoned subway lines and stuff! Shit is SO CREEEEEEEEPY!!! So awesome--can't wait to see!
 

marmasatt

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2003
6,576
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Thanks for the additional links. I've always said the Stalker games are kind of funny. You either get them.... or you don't. If you are a shooter guy and you give the game long enough (both stipulations apply) you will love it. The original is still one of the best games I've ever played. I think I'll add 1) watch these video's first so you can get a sense of the desolation and 2) add a few mods to perfect the game. I believe Pripyat is supposed to be extremely accurate in the game. Like 90% or something. Not that 90% of the city is in there but what they did include is almost identically to scale or something. I'll try to find it. There was also an old thread w/ pics of the city and included were some of the victims. It was kind of disturbing.
 
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amddude

Golden Member
Mar 9, 2006
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SWWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTT!!!!

Love the video!

When are they doing "Gonzo Adventures Ground Zero 9-11 NYC?" That would so fucking sweet, man. There's like tunnels to explore in the abandoned subway lines and stuff! Shit is SO CREEEEEEEEPY!!! So awesome--can't wait to see!


Where did you see that they were going there?
 

marmasatt

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2003
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PJABBER

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Feb 8, 2001
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I could watch these things all day.

This could basically be the intro to the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYkVatvFLsg

Here's one of the graphic ones. Kind of makes you feel guilty you are playing a game even remotely related to the accident. Heart/gut wrenching but sure gives you an idea of the scope of what happened. Anyhoo, graphic images alert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvAJ_u3Q0Hw&NR=1

Damn! That second vid is one I had not seen before and really shows the consequences of the disaster there. I was touched by the struggles of the workers to contain the disaster, even as they were not told that they were being exposed to fatal levels of radiation. The scene of the helicopter falling out of the sky was telling.
 

crownjules

Diamond Member
Jul 7, 2005
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Damn! That second vid is one I had not seen before and really shows the consequences of the disaster there. I was touched by the struggles of the workers to contain the disaster, even as they were not told that they were being exposed to fatal levels of radiation. The scene of the helicopter falling out of the sky was telling.

I've done quite a bit of reading on the Chernobyl accident. No one knew the radiation levels due to the fact that they only had two Geiger counters on site. One was broken and the other they dismissed because it only went up to some low dosage amount and they figured the radiation wasn't much higher than that. Unbeknownst to them, everyone at the accident was being exposed to so much radiation that half an hour was enough to seal their fate.

The firefighters and onsite personnel all died within something like 4-6 weeks of radiation posioning.
 

PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
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I've done quite a bit of reading on the Chernobyl accident. No one knew the radiation levels due to the fact that they only had two Geiger counters on site. One was broken and the other they dismissed because it only went up to some low dosage amount and they figured the radiation wasn't much higher than that. Unbeknownst to them, everyone at the accident was being exposed to so much radiation that half an hour was enough to seal their fate.

The firefighters and onsite personnel all died within something like 4-6 weeks of radiation posioning.

TWO Geiger counters? That's insane. But, from everything that I know of the Soviet system, not surprising.

All in all, a cautionary note to the hubris of both Science and the State.
 

Patt

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2000
5,288
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I tried to watch the second video, and although I'd seen several of the still images before, I couldn't make it through the 3 minutes :(

Unbelievably sad, those workers dealing with the victims of the disaster have to be absolute saints.
 

Regs

Lifer
Aug 9, 2002
16,665
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I searched for it on the map on google earth. Kind of cool in a way. You don't get the street view ofcourse..
 

fallout man

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2007
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Where did you see that they were going there?

The segment, in its entirety, really rubbed me the wrong way.

Hundreds of people lost their lives to a horrible death there immediately. Thousands were doomed to a slow, horrible death. Tens of thousands lost their homes and were uprooted, and thousands of children are still caught in the aftermath (http://www.chernobyl-international.com/.

When the scenario is depicted in games, it's one thing. When folks are willing to venture out there to view the really incredible post-apocalyptic scenery themselves to reflect upon it, that's another. When people film the area in the light of "AWWW YEAH FUCKING XTREEEM!!!..." I have to pause for a second.

Doing an "XTREEEEEEM--CHECK IT OUT DUDES!!!" video in the Zone, to me personally, is like filming an "XTREEM" skateboard video at the Berlin Holocaust memorial.

LOL LOL THESE GUYS WERE SO EXTREME. DUDES DIED WITH THEIR SKIN FALLING OFF BECAUSE THE WERE HANDLING CHUNKS OF A REACTOR WITH A RAKE!!! FUCK YEAH!!!
 
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marmasatt

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2003
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I searched for it on the map on google earth. Kind of cool in a way. You don't get the street view ofcourse..

That is cool. You you can see the main street that you come up. Appears that Chernobyl is actually south and east of Pripyat which is a bit different from the Stalker map IIRC..