Does the video game Control (2019) depict a real computer system? What is it?

Question

I was playing Remedy Entertainment's video game Control the other day. Inside the game world, I've come across several computers. (They all look extremely similar.) To me, it looks like some kind of DEC system. Now I'm wondering... is it just designed in the style of a DEC? Or is it an actual real-world model? And if so, which one? Perhaps someone more familiar with this stuff can tell me...

Answer 1

TL;DR:

Is this a real system? Which one?

No, it's most likely not a specific machine but a setup to look contemporary.

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In Detail:

I've come across several computers. (They all look extremely similar.)

The usual way of game designers to speed up development: Reuse of props.

[or] is it just designed in the style of a DEC

That seems to be the purpose. All elements are at least smoothed or outright edited/recreated.

Or is it an actual real-world model?

Nop. Even if these were real components, they would be quite unusual one, I mean, 11 CPUs and only tapes for data storage? Even if, they would be mounted in a more accessible way - this is pure random.

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What is visible?

It's made up of typical PDP elements but in rather random order and mixture. There are for example:

• three PDP-12 front panels (the ones with a keyboard like 'table', two of them with a screen atop)
• four boxes that seem like PDP-8f, but edited (the black/orange boxes).
• four boxes that may be based on a PDP-11/04 or 11/34 with programmers console (or PDP-8a) but quite heavy edited (the ones with a black front and a keypad to the right).
• three TU56 dual DECtape
• one (again edited) TU-60 cassette drive (top of second last rack), which is interesting, as it's a rather rare device.
• The grey boxes with cables seem to be either I/O interfaces for some process/lab control, Or maybe some terminal interface - I'm not really remember any name here.

Long story short, it's most definite made to represent a DEC(ish) machine, but its parts do not make much sense. The game designer took (or found) some pictures edited (or recreated) them and used the result to 'build' the setup.

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Bonus Content:

There are some oscilloscopes on the right side which look much like classic Tektronics. The lower one might be a 555 or 556. The one above might be a 564. Again both are rather edited. The 555/6 should have a rather bulky power supply below. The cart holding them is again heavy edited, but rather true to the design of carts supplied by Tektronics.

Looking close, I start to appreciate the time the artist did spend to model these items in a way capturing the essence. Would be interesting (although not really RC.SE related) to see the whole setup. Maybe add a wider picture?

In addition, scopes are not exactly a to be found in a computing room. At least not a setup that expensive. Laboratory computers were usually lower end configurations - their main point was still about having budget for a computer after paying for all basic equipment to run the shop :))

Answer 2

As @Raffzahn answers, this is probably a concocted image made to look like various real DEC setups. The attached image is of a PDP-12. You can see the heavy tilt towards DECtapes. You also see an object in the lower image that might be an oscilloscope.

(Image taken from Ed Thelens great site)

Answer 3

The question has already been answered, but as the color scheme topic came up in the contents, I'd like to add some pictures from the technikum29 museum, with all three color schemes (orange, green, blue). Images are Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 4.0) licensed.

All of those PDPs can be seen there (and are in working order, I have used some of them).

Classic PDP-8

PDP-8/I

Used integrated circuits (74xx series), hence "I". Tape containers are also available in orange (I've seen some), but these probably came from the other PDPs.

PDP-12

"Lab" computer, PDP-8 compatible.