A Precursor Orb Shows Up in Chapter 12
Keep an eye out during Chapter 12 and you'll spot a Precursor Orb, the glowing collectible that drives the plot of the old Jak and Daxter games. It's just sitting there for anyone who bothers to look.
All Knowledge
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Night Versions of the Maps Almost Existed
Digging through old build files shows Infinity Ward experimented with night-time versions of several multiplayer maps, including Ambush, Strike, District and Overgrown. They were basically identical to the day versions bar the lighting, and none of them made the final cut.
Ellie Finally Learned to Swim
Anyone who played the original game remembers the running gag that Ellie couldn't swim, which led to some clunky pallet-pushing puzzles. Naughty Dog leaned right into it here: swim over to a pallet by the museum and Ellie cracks a joke about Joel once having to shove her across the water like that.
Fake Bands, Real Parodies
The Marquis Music Store in Bill's Town is stacked with fictional album covers that are clearly winking at real bands - 'Into the Breach' by the Blaggard Boys riffs on AC/DC's 'For Those About to Rock,' while 'Unidentified Objects' by FULLFUNK mirrors Parliament's 'Mothership Connection.' A fun little detour for anyone who actually stops to browse the shelves.
The Community's Favorite Callsigns
Bungie once published data on the most popular service tags players had chosen for themselves, and pop culture references dominated the list, with a nod to James Bond's '007' topping the chart, followed closely by tags referencing the M16 rifle and other numeric in-jokes.
Headshots Don't Stop the Screaming
Shoot an enemy's head clean off in this game and they'll still let out a scream, despite very obviously no longer having the equipment to do so. A weird little audio bug that nobody at Treyarch seems to have caught before shipping.
Shipment Was Never Meant to Ship
One of the most beloved multiplayer maps in the whole franchise only exists because somebody forgot to delete it. Multiplayer design director Geoff Smith has said Shipment started life as an internal test map built for old-school split-screen play, and it got accidentally left in the launch playlist. Nobody ever pulled it back out.
The Fellowship's Matching Ink
Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, Dominic Monaghan, Sean Astin and Billy Boyd all got the Elvish word for 'nine' tattooed on themselves during the shoot, in the same script but different spots on their bodies. John Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli, was the one holdout.
The Batmobile Is Basically a 1970s Comic Come to Life
Instead of the usual sleek, gadget-laden tank, this Batmobile is a stripped-down muscle car, and that's a deliberate nod to the Neal Adams comics from the 70s, where the car was meant to look ordinary enough for stealth rather than intimidation.