Effectively, right here’s one thing surprising: Kong Studios is again. The OG Gorillaz Flash-powered web site from the late ’90s was a well-liked vacation spot for followers and options mini-games, music, and extra. And now you may return to an up to date and fashionable model of Kong Studios.
Kong Studios first launched in 1998 and was the good place for followers of the fictional animated band. I ought to know, I used to go to it many, a few years in the past and struggled to apply it to my dial-up connection. The site was powered by Flash (RIP), and over time following its launch, it grew larger and greater, including extra content material to seek out, digital rooms to discover, songs to jam out to, and many enjoyable Easter eggs for followers. Then in 2008, after a decade of help, the positioning was closed and forgotten. Nevertheless, that every one modified right now as Kong Studios is operational as soon as extra.
On September 10, Gorillaz released a new updated version of Kong Studios that includes a Doom-like first-person shooter expertise the place gamers need to struggle off the zombie apes as seen within the band’s video for “Clint Eastwood.” You possibly can skip that and simply enter Kong Studios straight, and for those who do, you’ll discover a a lot higher-res model of the nostalgic web site. There’s lots to click on on and discover within the foyer of the place, and Gorillaz promise that extra rooms and content material can be added to Kong Studios sooner or later.
“Kong Studios is the home of Gorillaz and a gamified fan experience where you can explore the rooms and spaces of 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel,” defined Gorillaz on the positioning’s FAQ page. “It’s also a place to go to find out everything you want to know about Gorillaz, first.”
I’m very completely satisfied to see Kong Studios return, and never simply because I’m an enormous Gorillaz fan. During the last decade or so, we’ve seen increasingly more of the web and the tradition round it transfer from distinct locations to massive social media networks and apps. Forums are closing. Fan sites are dying. As an alternative, everybody and each model is simply utilizing Fb, Instagram, Discord, and TikTok to work together with followers and different individuals. And whereas that’s effective, it isn’t as cool because the outdated web, the place each band and individual had their very own web site. Or the place boards had been managed straight by the businesses or teams themselves.
The outdated web was a weirder, wackier, and sometimes extra attention-grabbing period that I miss. Whereas Kong Studios received’t convey that again by itself, it’s nice to see a band as widespread as Gorillaz understand that having your individual place on the internet could be helpful in 2025 as apps and networks get stuffed increasingly more with AI and bots.
Anyway, right here’s a walkthrough of the outdated Kong Studios so you may see what they took from us.
