No movie monster has seen the success and staying power as Godzilla. Since its debut in 1954 by Ishiro Honda, made with modest and primitive methods, it has sprouted dozens of sequels, remakes and reboots over the years.
The monster was originally an allegory for Japan dealing with the aftermath of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US in 1945. The film was made in the wake of a country lifting itself up after admitting defeat in the Second World War and suffering massive casualties from the atomic bomb.
To date, the nuclear-powered reptile has featured in 38 films between Hollywood and Japan. Japan’s latest, Godzilla Minus One, won an Oscar for its special effects last month.
The popularity of the character has also translated to video games, with the monster first appearing in games as early as 1983. There have been many Godzilla titles over the years, with varying degrees of quality and entertainment value.
As Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire released in theatres in the Middle East in time for Eid Al Fitr, here's a look at some of the best, as well as an entry for its unlikely friend King Kong.
Super Godzilla (1993)
In the early 1990s, there was a huge jump in the quality of video game graphics, far exceeding the simplicity of the '80s. Nintendo’s lead console at the time was the SNES, capable of producing games with a level of depth that wowed gamers.
The first Godzilla game to come out on the console was Super Godzilla in 1993, a battle game that allows control of the monster as he takes on others in the film’s universe. These include King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla and Bagan.
The game is simple to control and focuses mostly on reaction time and strategy of when to use the monster’s abilities and superpowers.
Godzilla Generations (1998)
An often-forgotten console is Sega’s Dreamcast due to it being overshadowed by the PlayStation 2. It was Sega’s last venture into console production and shifted the company completely into video game production and design after the system failed to compete.
The console had some memorable games, however, and one of the best was Godzilla Generations. It features a lumbering Godzilla controlled by the player to achieve one objective – destroy the city.
Many have watched the Godzilla films and wondered what it would be like to lay waste to skyscrapers as if they were made of cardboard. This game makes it a reality.
Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee (2002)
Moving past the new millennium, gaming experienced another jump in quality as Nintendo’s GameCube and Microsoft’s Xbox were released. During the same time, fighting games became more popular.
Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee allows friends to pick their favourite monster to duke it out and see who comes out on top. It is not framed as most fighting games are, it gives players a perspective from above to see them destroy the cities they are in as well.
The game features different versions of Godzilla from over the decades, as well as different versions of his enemies, including Gigan, Megalon and Rodan.
Godzilla (2014)
Video game releases in the past 10 years have achieved a level of graphics fidelity and an entertainment factor many never imagined was possible. Video games are becoming more cinematic, and Godzilla has come along for the ride.
This 2014 release revives the need to destroy a city wantonly and without recourse, giving players an even bigger playground to run riot in. The level of destruction on the PlayStation 4 game can become quite chaotic, with everything from helicopters to submarines trying to take the big monster down.
Every level is also accented with battle against another monster, building in difficulty with every encounter.
King Kong (2005)
While Godzilla has experienced an incredible amount of attention from filmmakers and video game designers over the years, his sometimes enemy/compatriot King Kong has not enjoyed a fraction of the adoration.
The latest King Kong video game experience came last year with Skull Island: Rise of Kong, but the less said about that game the better. It scored dismally for being a buggy mess of an unfinished game.
In 2005, King Kong experienced a cultural moment with the release of Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson’s adaptation. The film starred Jack Black, Adrian Brody and Naomi Watts. As was the case in the 2000s, the film received a video game adaptation as well, a first-person adventure game that follows the events of the film.
While it might seem at first that players will only be able to control the human main character of the game, there are levels that allow players to control Kong as he takes on large birds and spiders on Skull Island.
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Jawan
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How to donate
Text the following numbers:
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*numbers work for both Etisalat and du
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
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PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre, six-cylinder
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 395bhp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: from Dh321,200
On sale: now
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
