Marc Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure

Marc Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure is a 2006 action-adventure video game for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows developed by The Collective and published by Atari in collaboration with streetwear figure Marc Eckō.

The game centres around a budding graffiti artist named Coltrane Crowley, voiced by rapper Talib Kweli. Trane, as he is known throughout the graf underworld, seeks to make a name for himself in the dystopian city of New Radius, whose mayor Miguel Sung (George Hamilton) turned into a localised police state where civil liberties and self-expression (or lack thereof) are suppressed at gunpoint. Throughout the game's first act, Trane trades blows with rival street art gangs, most notably the Vandals of New Radius (VaNR), led by Gabe (MC Serch). Amidst this rivalry, Trane learns of a conspiracy involving Mayor Sung in connection to his slain father, and in the process takes on New Radius's militarised police force, the the Civil Conduct Keepers (CCK).

The game is often compared to Jet Set Radio as both revolve around the use of graffiti to resist an oppressive regime, but unlike Jet Set Radio with its colorful cel-shaded art style, Getting Up is grittier and firmly grounded in reality, going so far as to including cameo appearances from real-world street artists who would give Trane advice on how to rise through the ranks of the graffiti scene, or in their own vernacular, "getting up", hence the title.

In addition to the Windows and home console releases, a cut-down version by Glu Mobile was released for mobile phones. Unlike the console releases, the mobile phone version is presented as a platformer where the player has to collect spray cans in order to progress throughout the game. In 2013, the game was re-released on Steam by Devolver Digital who acquired the PC rights to it from Atari following its bankruptcy. The re-release came with a number of quality-of-life and compatibility fixes for modern systems through a fan-made patch as the original source code was presumably lost.

The game received average to positive reception, though it was also fraught with being overshadowed by blockbuster game releases during that period as well as development problems and controversy relating to its premise as a graf simulator, with civic and watchdog groups decrying its supposed glorification and encouragement of urban decay and vandalism; the game was banned for a time in Australia due to said concerns, though the country's ratings bureau was slammed for perceived double standards in that a game glamorising guerilla street art was denied release while games glorifying even more dangerous acts such as Need for Speed: Most Wanted were left off the hook with a General Audiences (G) rating.^[1] Not helping matters was that it was released late into the sixth-generation life cycle, with gamers looking forward to the then-upcoming consoles than the now-antiquated PS2s and Xboxes they used to play on. Nevertheless, the game remains a Cult Classic with a small but dedicated community.

The game also inspired a live-action adaptation also produced by Marc Ecko entitled Legends of New Radius. It is still in the works as of 2025, though an extended trailer was released in 2022.

• 100% Completion: Complete all main and optional pieces and freeform challenges, collect all iPods, Ecko Rhinos and Montana spray cans, and rub elbows and take pictures of all graffiti legends.
• Aerosol Flamethrower: Trane can use his cans of spray paint as an Improvised Weapon to dish out damage on rival taggers and CCK guards.
• Arc Number: "9/06", the day that Sung ordered the murder of Trane's father to cover up his involvement.
• Batter Up: Trane can pick up baseball bats with shards of glass stuck to them for deadly effect.
• Big Applesauce: New Radius is basically New York with shades of Kowloon's infamous Walled City.
• Big Brother Is Watching: Mayor Sung and his Orwellian CCK.
• The Cameo: Real-world graffiti artists such as Cope 2, Futura, Shepard Fairey, Seen, Smith and T-kid all appear as mentors whom Trane look up to and rub elbows with throughout the game.
• Conspiracy Theorist: Decoy, a graf artist and activist who knows the truth about Trane's father's murder.
• Content Warnings/Don't Try This At Home: Both the game's instruction manual and startup screen contain a disclaimer warning players about the legal risks involving real-world graffiti art and discouraging them from defacing public property. Given the controversies faced by the game and at least a ban in one country over the game's content, this was basically obligatory.
• Crapsack World: New Radius used to be a vibrant urban area with art schools and free expression, but was reduced to a gray and drab dystopia when Mayor Sung came along.
• Defeat Means Friendship:
  • Subverted with the rivalry between Trane and Gabe. Trane beats Gabe in a graf battle, and both come to the conclusion that they have a common enemy they have to take on, only for Gabe to betray Trane under pressure from Shanna, a mercenary on Sung's employ. Trane eventually leaves Gabe to die from a (presumed) fall after having enough of his treachery.
  • White Mike initially shows up as a boss character whom Trane has to take on, but later joins the Still Free Crew due to his mutual friendship with Kry-1.
• Disney Villain Death: Gabe as he is left by Trane to (presumably) fall from the edge of a billboard. It is also fairly common for Trane to yeet Mooks from great heights during combat.
• Enemy Mine: Trane and Gabe come to a realisation that they have a bigger fish to fry in the form of Sung and the CCK. It did not last long.
• Generic Graffiti: The game's bread and butter.
• Heel Face Turn: White Mike as he joins by the player character's side. Gabe was for a time this until his betrayal in the later chapters of the game.
• Heroic Albino: White Mike, a portly pale-skinned Black kid whom Trane initially butts heads with but later joins the Still Free Crew.
• Icon of Rebellion: Trane and his mates' use of graffiti count as this.
• In Medias Res: The game starts with Trane confronting Shanna for the last time and musing how he got to this point from an aspiring graf writer to a leader of an organised rebellion against an oppressive regime.
• Intrepid Reporter: Karen Light, who reports on the graf situation in New Radius. She would later make a scathing story of Sung following an exposé on his corruption.
• The Man Is Sticking It to the Man: Getting Up has this premise of street rebels taking on the oppressive establishment, all while the game plugs ads for Montana aerosols (and in general the Ecko Unltd. fashion brand), and has the player character listen to music on iPods and take photos using a Nokia smartphone. The game itself also earned the ire of purist graffiti artists who felt that it needlessly commodified a subculture known for its anti-establishment/anti-authority roots and history of criminal run-ins with the law for vandalism.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Decoy is said to be based off famed British street performance artist and activist Banksy.
• N-Word Privileges: Played for Laughs with White Mike, who has pale skin but is otherwise Black in heritage and has no qualms about saying the magic slur in certain scenes.
• Oddly-Overtrained Security: The Civil Conduct Keepers (CCK), a paramilitary police force set up to crack down on hooligans and vandals, Trane and his crew included.
• Police Brutality: The CCK's modus operandi.
• Product Placement: Plenty of them ingame, which was a point of criticism by some reviewers. You bomb walls with your tags using Montana aerosol cans, listen to music on an iPod, and take pictures with a Nokia 7710. And three guesses as to who produced the game.
• Retcon: White Mike is changed from an albino to a Black man with vitiligo in the live-action version likely due to sensitivity concerns.
• Serious Business: The crews throughout the game treat graf as a sacred art form and hold territory throughout the city. Truth in Television at least in some graffiti circles where the art of tagging up walls has its rules and serious consequences.
• Stealth-Based Mission: Becomes increasingly common as Trane is gradually outgunned by the CCK.
• Stout Strength: Beth of the CCK and White Mike. Both are imposing as boss characters in the game.
• Technology Marches On: Besides the numerous references to iPods and Nokia mobile phones, the game itself became victim to this especially with the Steam re-release; the original game was built with 4:3 Aspect Ratio displays in mind, and the widescreen patch used in the Steam re-release could not thoroughly account for this, leaving weird pillar-boxing artefacts in certain menu screens.
• You Killed My Father: Trane unveils a conspiracy involving Sung killing Trane's father as part of a coverup.