Acid for Blood

Is it me, or is everyone really focused on women/gender and gaming these days? It's becoming a little irritating. I've never seen so much written about this topic as I have this year. Maybe that's just me.

Anyway, to be hypocritical, I will link to an article on gender and gaming. I found it nicely-balanced, and a decent read. It also says a bit about Samus, whom I adore, and The Boss, whom I am utterly intrigued by. I'm playing Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater right now, and this woman is so kick-ass. She's also quite attractive. Her character design really stood out when all the pre-release hype was going around. Yes, I know the game has been out for ages. But, uh -- gender and gaming. Right. Yes. Sorry, got distracted there for a moment. Here you go:

Venus or Mars? -- The Uneasy Relationship Between Gaming and Gender

Why I Wish I Still Lived in the UK - Reason # 547: The Women in Games 2005 Conference at the University of Abertay Dundee. Just across the Tay from my alma mater. God, I'd be so there.

Whilst I am vaguely on the topic of Scotland and gaming, Rockstar North are located in Scotland, in Edinburgh in fact. They made Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I'm fairly sure that someone has already noticed this, but if you haven't:

GTA: San Andreas - Garden Bridge, San Fierro (notice Kincaid Bridge in the Background):


Forth Road Bridge, Queensferry, Scotland, UK (just outside Edinburgh):


GTA: San Andreas - Kincaid Bridge, San Fierro (notice Garden Bridge in the background):


Forth Rail Bridge, Queensferry, Scotland, UK (just outside Edinburgh):


The Forth Road Bridge and the Forth Rail Bridge


Also, 'San Andreas' is translated to Saint Andrew in English. Which city is located about 60 miles north east of Edinburgh? Yes, it's St. Andrews.

My copy of the Metroid in Moton fan-made DVD from Samus.co.uk arrived last night. I have to admit, that whilst I am a huge Metroid fan, I am not incredibly immersed in the fandom. I don't write fanfic. I don't draw fan art. I don't run a Metroid web site. I don't actively participate in Metroid fandom communities. I don't feel the need to perfect my Metroid game techniques enough to even try to get all the endings. I just really like playing the games, I really like the Metroid story, and I really like Samus as a character.

I do appreciate that there are Metroid fans who are more hardcore than I am. They use their talents to create great things, such as remixed music, for other fans to enjoy. Or they compile scads of useful information for reference. Or they foster and sustain communities.

One of the results of such spirit and passion is Metroid in Motion, a DVD that collects world record speed runs, sequence breaks, television adverts, and other goodies from the series -- from Metroid (1986) up to Metroid: Zero Mission (2004).

While I admit to not being a super hardcore, frothing at the mouth, rabid fan of Metroid, I am still a big enough fan to watch recordings of speeds runs from the Metroid games. Of course, unless you've played the games, what one sees in a speed run might not necessarily be all that impressive. One might not appreciate how awesome it is to, for example, watch someone collect 100% of all items in the game and complete it in under an hour. One might not view with interest, the triggering of glitches, bugs, or "secret worlds" in-game, or to see the apparent ease and rapidity with which someone else (whom one doesn't even know) can dispatch the enemies.

It's a nicely compiled DVD. Its coverage of the games is fairly comprehensive, though it doesn't include anything from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. From a fan's point-of-view, this DVD is great. It's cool to see just how skilled some of these people are. I never did beat the original Metroid; too bloody hard for me. I love the games, but I never claimed to be good at them, so it's nice that I can watch these recordings and see how it's done. I'm quite happy with this DVD, and I salute all the super hardcore Metroid fans that made such an effort possible. Cheers to you lot; you rule.

The Story So Far

• Guild Wars, Soon -- In which she announces her intention to get a new computer (which will be built by one of her computer friends), and expresses excitement about Guild Wars
  
• Parts Shipped -- In which computer parts start shipping, and she expresses more interest in Guild Wars
  
• Brin the Builder -- In which she anxiously discovers that she is to build her computer, not her techie friend
  
• Easier Than I Thought -- In which she is relieved that putting computer parts together is not that hard, after all

It Continues...

My hope is to receive all the remaining parts of the computer by this weekend, or the middle of next week. Right now, the only essential parts at the moment are the DVD drives and 3.5 floppy drive, which are most assuredly on their way this time. The store, for some reason, voided my order following a problem with their server. My keyboard has been ordered, as has my monitor.

My Rig

• AMD Athlon64 3200+ -- Not sure of the clock speed, but I'm assured it's fast.
  
• Sapphire Radeon 9800 256 Mb Video Card
  
• 1 Gb RAM
  
• 200 Gb hard drive -- Large enough for all my pr0n. I mean...
  
• DVD-RW
  
• DVD-ROM
  
• 3.5 floppy
  
• D-Link AirPlus 802.11g Wireless LAN PC Card
  
• Hyundai L90D+ 19-inch LCD Monitor -- Isn't this hot? 8ms response time, baby. I also got an extended warranty that kicks in when the manufacturer's warranty ends. Sweet. Apparently, this is a good choice. US Embassies use this brand in their offices around the world. Also, I discovered that Hyundai uses Samsung's technology in their monitors.
  
• Saitek Eclipse Keyboard -- Clearly, this keyboard is the sex.
  
• AP107 Computer Case -- Not the most whiz-bang case in existence, but I'd have rather spent more money on the inside bits than the outer shell. Haven't figured out how to get the blue front lights to glow yet. Nor have I got some of the audio thingies on the front panel to work, because I don't know how the plugs are supposed to fit. I think I have to modify them or something. :-/
  
• Logitech Ladybug Mouse -- I've had this for a while, but I'm including it for completness' sake. And it's not "kid sized" because Logitech mice in regular colours also come in this size. You don't see in the picture, but the red colouring is iridescent and it's cool as hell. I got it because it was shiny... Yeah, don't laugh.

The only forseeable hang-up (aside from OS and other installation problems) is me not being able to stave off the flu that seems to have incapacitated one of my family members, and is threatening to do the same to another. I feel it slowly creeping up on me. My voice is a little hoarse, and I think my lungs are becoming congested. If this progresses, I can predict mad coughing fits like that droid, General Grievous, in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. If only I can muster the same echo-y voice. That would be cool.

This incident happened over a year ago, but it demonstrates the importance of one of the most hallowed and timeless cultural conventions in arcade gaming: the coin-queuing system. Whoever invented this meme, this cultural nugget of information and behaviour patterns, was a genius (probably British as well). The coin holds your place in the queue. It's rather organised: you see a neat line of coins (be they tokens, quarters, pound coins, or what have you) on a visible part of the arcade cabinet, usually near the screen. Each person knows which coin is theirs. The person who's coin is behind your coin, knows that your coin is in front of theirs. When it is your turn, you pick up your coin, put it in the machine, and play your game. This queuing system seems to be fairly universal, as I’ve found it to be the standard operating procedure in Asian, European, and American arcades, regardless of whether you’re playing a fighting game or Dance Dance Revolution. This system works marvelously, because space is often tight and crowds are heavy at the arcade. You keep an eye on your coin, you respect the others in the queue, and you wait your turn.

This is an account of what one should not do at the arcade, because it makes mild-mannered people like me angry. It happened on a Saturday in February. Here is my story...

At the time, I hadn't been to the arcade in months; the previous autumn, in fact. I go very infrequently, because the location is inconvenient, and there are relatively few of them in my area. I was queuing up to play DDR Extreme, and I dutifully put my token on the machine in order to hold my place in the queue.

At arcades in the West, and especially with DDR you often have gangs of regulars who hang about the place. They can be obnoxious young males of the urban hip-hop culture variation, and can be of any race. Usually, at least at the arcades I have visited, one sees an inordinate number of Asians (mostly male) around the DDR machines. Many of these guys are obnoxious, and they act like they own the place. Roving bands of arcade regulars can become loud and rowdy, which is fine. They're having fun, and I probably would be the same if I had a large group of friends who enjoyed going to arcades. I don’t mind people having some sort of territorial familiarity with areas which they frequent. I admit to it myself. When I frequented the Trocadero in London, I felt like it was a second home, but I was always mindful of others precisely because it was a public place. Territorial familiarity does not grant one ownership over arcade machines. Being able to play the Expert/Maniac/Heavy difficulty level on DDR does not grant one the right to move ahead of others in the queue.

My turn for DDR came, so I stepped up to the platform. Then this Asian kid in his oversized, white (unbuttoned over a white t-shirt) button-down shirt, slicked-back, over-gelled hair, and baggy white UFO-brand rave trousers quickly edged right in front of me, and began to put his money into the machine!

Me: "Uh... I’m next".

Asian Rave Trousers Guy: "Yeah, but I haven’t played in a long time. It’s been like an hour since I’ve played".

He then put his money into the machine and pressed 'Start'.

Me: "...!"

I was speechless. What could I do? Launch a protest? I'm not the kind of person who likes to cause a scene or make a big fuss in public. I don't particularly like the attention that sort of action would bring to me. It all happened so quickly, too. Asian Rave Trousers Guy also had about five of his arcade buddies around him who didn’t protest his blatant and unseemly disregard for the queue. One of the regulars, who appeared sympathetic to my plight, then announced that I would be next after the Asian Rave Trousers tosser. Thanks a lot, non-conformist!

When my turn came, the Asian Rave Trousers Guy saw that I was playing alone, and he decided to join me. That’s fine. There is no sense in 'wasting' a space on the platform when someone else can play DDR as well. But this wanker then added insult to injury by picking the first song. If you play DDR at all, you know that when you're playing with strangers, you usually take turns choosing songs. Him choosing the first song meant I picked the second song, and then he picked the final song. He utterly usurped my game! Two songs! I was on the platform first. I should have chosen the first song. His rudeness was overwhelming.

How does "not playing in a long time" give him the right to cut ahead of me? Why did he do this? Was it because I’m not a regular? Was it because I was not in a group? Was it because I’m female? Was it because I don’t appear to be aggressive? Because I look 'nice'? Maybe I should wear a perpetual scowl on my face to scare people into acting properly. Would that work? Doubtful, since my features are, quite simply, incapable of instilling fear in another human being. Surely it couldn't be because Americans can't grasp the concept of the queue. Surely not. I grew up in America, and I know how to queue. It's not that difficult a concept. Perhaps he was raised by wolves? Finally, after attempting to figure out the rationale behind his behaviour, I could come to no conclusion except -- he's a jerk.

So there you have it. An account of a most severe and grevious transgression of the coin-queuing tradition. Do not try this in public. A lot of people might not be as tolerant as I was. If this ever happens again, though, I might be less averse to making a fuss.

I shall soon be writing game reviews for The Game Chair. I've never written game reviews for a website before, so this will be challenging and interesting. W00t. At least having to write game reviews will give me a good excuse to hammer away at my massive games backlog.

Between blogging for Playgressive and writing reviews for The Game Chair, my schedule is pretty full.

I'm nervous. I hope I do okay. I hope it works out.

I went to GameStop last night. Objective: move my reservation for Killer 7 to some other game. Reason: I want to read some reviews for Killer 7 before purchasing it. The game looks cool and all, but I've been reading previews of its control system which are slightly unfavourable. I am still interested in it, though not enough to buy it at launch.

I decided to move the reserve to Sigma Star Saga, since a side-scrolling space shooter/RPG game sounds like the best game concept ever. I love scrolling shooters, and I love RPGs. I have read good things about this one, and it's a GBA game, so it won't cost quite as much as Killer 7 at launch.

As I was chatting to the manager-on-duty, I noticed a row of cute little plush dogs sitting on the shelf behind the register. I asked him what game it was for. He thought it was for Nintendogs, but it was for Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (also known as Harvest Moon for Girls, because it features a girl as the main character, unlike previous incarnations of the Harvest Moon series). However he told me that if I reserved Nintendogs, he'd give me the plushie. How could I resist a cute little Harvest Moon dog? My Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life plush cow would be lonely! And let's be honest: I've been so interested in Nintendogs right when I first heard about it in the middle of last year. I will buy a DS; it's only a matter of time. It also depends on what additonal colours are released in the US -- yes, I do care what colour my handheld is. So... I pre-ordered Nintendogs.

The good thing about reserving games, at least at GameStop, is that you can move the reservation to a different game, use it towards another purchase, or get your money back, whenever you want. So basically, I have store credit sitting there, waiting for me to use, even if I don't get Nintendogs at launch.

Because I know from experience how much pressure the employees are put under to secure game reservations and subscriptions to Game Informer/GameStop discount cards, it's no big deal to part with $5.00 that I can claim later. Apparently, since I quit GameStop, they're under even more pressure to sell subs and reserves. If they don't sell a certain number of subs/reserves for two or three days in a row, they will get written up. Harsh! And I don't know if people are aware of this, but GameStop employees do not earn commission. Thank goodness I don't work there anymore. I always sucked at selling subs/reserves. Great with customers, bad at selling.

This is hitting close to home. According to Game Politics, the Washingon, DC City Council held a hearing on a video game bill today. From the bill (full text):

"The ultra-violent and sexually explicit content of video and computer games rated M and AO violate contemporary community standards, and, taken as a whole, appeal to prurient interests and morbid and depraved interest in violence in minors."

...

"Video games rated M and AO by the ESRB, taken as a whole, lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value to minors."

Sounds scarily similar to what Illinois Senator Deanna Demuzio said last month:

"Video games are not art or media. They are simulations, not all that different from the simulations used by the U.S. military in preparation for war."

Value-Added

Every time one of these bills comes to light, legislators always seem to make a big fuss about how games lack literary value. It sounds suspisciously like the arguments that Frederic Wertham launched against comic books in his book Seduction of the Innocent, published in 1954. Are video games the new comic books, destined to be vilified until some new form of entertainment media comes along to supplant its place as corruptors of the young? Possibly. New media has the tendency to make older people nervous or uneasy.

Strangely enough, comic books haven't gone on to produce mass murderers or sociopaths. Society and troubled upbringings are the main culprits. All those violent school killings by teenagers were perpetrated by kids who had become social outcasts, who had not gotten the help they needed, who had not gotten the attention they needed, and who had very serious family and psychological problems. These situations were in place well before they started playing video games or reading comic books.

If legislators had actually bothered to play video games, and not just any out of the Grand Theft Auto series, they might be surprised at the depth, the creativity, and yes -- the literary value that some games have. I'm not saying that all games are of equivalent literary value as Gaiman's The Sandman or Orwell's 1984, just as not all comic books and novels are literary gems, but how can one ignore the creative storytelling and the narrative that some games contain? How can one ignore the variety of experiences, entertainment and learning, that games provide?

Here is a quote from Stephen Johnson's Everything Bad is Good for You, that shows another perspective:

Reading books chronically understimulates the senses. Unlike the longstanding tradition of gameplaying—which engages the child in a vivid, three-dimensional world filled with moving images and musical sound-scapes, navigated and controlled with complex muscular movements—books are simply a barren string of words on the page...

Books are also tragically isolating. While games have for many years engaged the young in complex social relationships with their peers, building and exploring worlds together, books force the child to sequester him or herself in a quiet space, shut off from interaction with other children...

But perhaps the most dangerous property of these books is the fact that they follow a fixed linear path. You can’t control their narratives in any fashion—you simply sit back and have the story dictated to you... This risks instilling a general passivity in our children, making them feel as though they’re powerless to change their circumstances. Reading is not an active, participatory process; it’s a submissive one. [New Yorker book review, if interested.]

It was written half-jokingly, but the point of it is that games have much to offer players. Even games that don't involve story -- how can one deny the artistic merits? Not all games can be called masterpieces of art, but every single game involves artists to visualise the designer's world. Games like Madden have artists working on them. Does that mean that those artists lack creativity or skill? I would argue that they don't. Just because you're stuck making the textures on buildings in EA's next racing game, doesn't mean that you aren't an artist.

Commercial graphic designers certainly wouldn't think that their works are devoid of creativity, despite their utilitarian objectives. It takes talent and skill to create striking and memorable brand logos. Architects, while they are involved in the creation of useful things such as buildings and bridges, also must take into account the aesthetics of their endeavours. Do these creations lack artistic merit? Some architects even create structures whose sole purpose is to beautify the landscape. People who direct pornography may believe they are creating art. Some commercial fashion photography might border on the pornographic to some viewers. Others may disagree.

I won't say that I have never seen a piece of art that hasn't offended me or been, in my view, absolutely tasteless, horrible, disgusting, without value, and even dangerous to young viewers (and a lot of mature viewers, too). However, art is very subjective. Who are legislators that they can tell us how to view an image, a game, a story? Shouldn't it be up to the viewer to decide whether something has artistic or literary merit?

Access

On the issue of restricting sales of certain games; I'm not against M or AO games being restricted from purchase by minors. The reason the ESRB has rated them as such is precisely because they should be played only with a parent or guardian's consent. Just as I would not advocate a minor reading American Psycho, I would not advocate a minor playing Doom 3 or Resident Evil 4. On this point, I agree with legislators. However, making more laws won't solve the problem.

Let's think for a second. Who has the money in a family? Who is supplying violent video games to children? The Cathode Tan entry in the last Carnival of Gamers makes a very good point on this issue. Parents are the main suppliers of (violent) video games to children.

Some key facts (from the Entertainment Software Association, emphasis added):

75% of heads of households play video games
30 is the average age of a video game player
43% of game players are aged 18 - 49
37 is the average age of the most frequent game purchaser
92% of the time, parents are present at the time games are purchased or rented
87% of the time, children receive their parents' permission before renting or purchasing a game

There should be more education, not more legislation. Just as with comic books in the 1950s, I think it's a lack of knowledge that scares people. All this media is new to them. They didn't really grow up with video games. They only see the bad potentialities, and seek to protect the young from unkown horrors.

I'll end with a comment I made in the Cathode Tan post I linked to earlier, regarding my experience working in a video game retail store:

So many of the parents who came were incredibly uninformed about what their kids were playing. The number of parents who were shocked when I told them why GTA: San Andreas has an M-rating was substantial. If parents refuse to get involved in what their children are doing for fun, that is their fault. It shouldn't be up to the government to raise children.

Because: The Case of the Non-Game that Barked Like a Game

It's a very interesting review of the games design of Nintendogs. The review explains that Nintendogs is more game-like than people have been saying, it bearing many similarities to RPGs, in fact.

You know, ever since I heard about Nintendogs getting a perfect score in Famitsu, a feat that reportedly only three other games have ever accomplished in the history of the respected games mag (I don't know which games, so don't ask), I knew that part of the reason is because of the cultural context of the game; what Danc calls the "game anthropology".

Many Japanese people live in cities, which is prohibitive to keeping pets. Many Japanese people also lack the time to raise a live pet. Many Japanese people would like to experience having a pet. Having a virtual puppy like the one you can have in Nintendogs fulfills this desire. Also: no cleaning up pee and shit, no requirements to take it out for walkies, and no problems from animal control if you neglect it. Good times all round.

[Via Kotaku and Playgressive (Shush. I know I'm self-promoting. This is my blog, not yours! :-P)]

All I can say is "finally". It's taken me months to finish Beyond Good & Evil, and not because it's a long game. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of free time, so even a game that takes less than 20 or 15 hours to finish in game-time takes ages for me in real-time. You will notice on my Now Playing list, that I have a large number of unfinished games. It doesn't even include the games that I have decided not to finish for one reason or another, or the games I've bought but haven't started.

I don't know how many endings there are in Beyond Good & Evil. I just did the barest minimum to finish. There were some unanswered questions at the end, and the game was left open enough to beget a sequel.

The final boss fight wasn't that difficult, although it did take me a little while to figure out the patterns and the rhythm. Most of the melee combat in the game was a piece of cake and quite satisfying. It was satisfying because actual physical combat is infrequent in a game which is primarily based around not engaging the enemy directly, and I do enjoy combat. Jade's main 'weapon' is her camera. Missions involve infiltrating enemy-held areas and taking incriminating pictures.

Trickier were the vehicle-based tasks and all the sneaking around. Looter's Cavern 4 (a side area in which you have to speed through a cave on your hovercraft and chase a bad guy for money) was harder to beat than the final boss, which tells you how much I suck at racing games. I defeated the final boss on my first try (although I did have a massive stockpile of health power-ups), but it took me 11 or 12 tries (and over 25 Boost Capsules) to get through Looter's Cavern 4.

What always impresses me about video games is how many people are involved to pull everything together. It seemed like the creative talents behind Beyond Good & Evil truly put forth their best efforts -- a real labour of love. What I haven't seen before (probably because I don't play video games in huge quantities, and I finish even fewer than I start) is credits for staff in other locales. It's cool that Ubisoft included credits for France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and so forth, in the North American version of the game.

My favourite parts of the game were less the goal-oriented dungeon-crawling (although I did enjoy that as well), and more the ability to roam freely in the world of Hillys, and just take in the sights. The designers were clever in encouraging the player to do just this, because Jade, the main character, must take pictures of animals in order to earn money. The player necessarily must look around the gameworld, which is nicely crafted and detailed enough to suspend disbelief. For example, you can look at star constellations with your camera, and the little computer tells you their names. That's a nice little touch, and the game has a lot of them.

The world of Hillys is amazing. A "complete" world is one way I would describe it. The player is limited in terms of where she can go, but the places she can visit are alive and vibrant with a variety of creatures and people. The artwork is of a high standard. The water on Hillys is just amazing to stare at when you're zooming around in your hovercraft. And, of course, you must take in Hillys during different times of the day to see the lovely lighting effects. I am not sure how the PlayStation 2 or Xbox versions look (or play), but the GameCube version is great.

As for the characters, I'm not overly fond of the Western, cartoony, talking animals millieu, so I guess I found them less engaging than others might. The character designs, are well done, though.

I didn't notice any problems with the controls. I got used to them fairly quickly. However, with the way I play games I had to sometimes re-learn the controls, because I often find myself not playing a game for a very long time, then coming back to it.

The music was pleasant and usually unobtrusive, though the sneaking music got a bit old after a while. I do love the theme that plays when you're on the waters of Hillys. It's similar to the end credits theme. I believe someone on either VGMix.com or OverClocked ReMix did a rather nice remix of this theme.

The story was fairly straightforward, contrary to what the title implies. There was a little twist at the end that I didn't expect. In retrospect, it does make sense, although not in terms of the in-game plot. It more makes sense when you think about how game makers want the player to feel special, and want the character to be special in some way.

Jade is constantly cited as a "non-stereotypical, good female character" as compared to other video game ladies. There's a lot to be admired in her character, as she's courageous, compassionate, determined, and strong, while not being made to appeal to any particular segment of the population (e.g. gratuitously, so that young men will drool over her).

She also wears sensible clothing! That is a plus in making a character more real and a story more immersive. Because, to me, if you can't picture yourself running around killing baddies and doing sneaking missions in high heels and next to no clothing, chances are that you won't be able to suspend your disbelief well enough to get involved in a character who is similarly inappropriately dressed.

All in all, Beyond Good & Evil is a good game, and I don't think enough people have played it. It's fairly underrated.

To say that I'm "annoyed" would be a massive understatement at the moment.

I'm a member of the Luminoth Temple, an offical Nintendo forum originally created for Metroid fans. The only way one can join the forum is to have a current forum member invite you in. According to their welcome note, "it is a site for mature gamers, 17+ years old". The forum grew beyond its Metroid orientation to embrace general discussion on games, with sub-categories for particular Nintendo games or other aspects of gaming. They made it a point to emphasise their "maturity" compared with other forums, specifically the Nintendo NSider Forums.

The fact that video gaming is a male-oriented and male-dominated hobby has never struck me so keenly as today, because I tend to hang out in communites that are actually mature as opposed to being only superfically so.

I visited the Temple today to find an entire message board created to rate the attractiveness of booth babes. Obviously, there were many threads created that contained images, and forum members were free to comment. You can imagine what kind of stuff people say when they don't think someone is attractive. You can also imagine the sort of attitude that people have towards booth babes.

On the one hand the guys drool over them as if they've never seen a real, live woman before, yet on the other hand, they condemn the same women for working there -- calling them whores or other derogatory terms. Men celebrate booth babes' presence in as much as it gives them pleasure to look at attractive women, but they judge them harshly for having this job. Why the hypocrisy? These women are paid models, and many of them are aspiring actors. I may not agree with the entire concept of booth babes, however these women are there to work. People should respect them, and not label them whores simply because it's their job to look good and promote products.

I don't agree with this conservative games blogger on most things, however, I do agree with his sentiments on booth babes.

I hadn't intended this place to be a ranting ground for gender and gaming issues, but lately it's all I seem to post about. Maybe the discussion isn't new to a lot of people (judging by the reactons to this post which made it to the most recent Carnival of Gamers), but it's very familiar to me. I'm just getting a bit tired of debating it and other related issues. It gets tiresome, having to state my opinions over and over again every time I encounter gamers who need to see another point of view. *sigh* I just didn't bother this time.

EDIT: If you want to find out what the Luminoth Temple mods did to address this issue, check out my follow-up post.

I can't take this woman seriously. I make no apologies for that. Maybe it's IGN's spin that makes her out to be so... Ugh! Jesus fucking Christ. I'll leave you to read what real gamers think, because it's too early for me to type intelligibly.

I like Pokemon. The first game I played was Pokemon Blue for the GameBoy. Loads of fun, let me tell you. I just happened to get Pokemon Blue over the Christmas holiday, and my boyfriend at the time, unbeknownst to me, had got Pokemon Red. Of course, this meant that we had to trade pokemon. Loads of fun, let me tell you.

I think me, my ex-boyfriend, and one of his flatmates were amongst the few (university students) who would admit to liking the game (and the anime). I recall that his friend had some sort of opinion on Pikachu that my ex disagreed with. They both heatedly and rather animatedly debated their perspectives on Pikachu. I forgot what it was about, but I remember it being really funny. Good times, dope rhymes.

Oh, and his friend had a talking Psyduck plush toy, which I was extremely jealous of. So last year, I stumbled upon a similar plush Psyduck on eBay, and I had to get it (of course). It's not exactly the same one, but it's Psyduck, and I like Psyduck. It's so cute!

Since then, I haven't picked up another Pokemon game. Now I am starting Pokemon Fire Red. I've played about an hour into it, and I'm determined to own Toru (the name I have given to my rival; sounds better than 'Gary', doesn't it?).

Oh wait. I remember what the drunken Pikachu argument was about. They were arguing whether or not a glowing Pikachu keychain was cooler than a talking Pikachu keychain. My ex argued that his glowing (but silent) Pikachu keychain was much cooler because it glowed. His friend, who was the only inebriated one, argued that his talking (but not glowing) plush Pikachu keychain was cooler because it talked.

I had to side with the talking keychain. Someone gave me one of them, and it's really cool. It says "Pikachu!" and "Pi Pikachu!" -- which you have to admit is far more impressive than a blinking bit of plastic.

This comic from Penny Arcade articulates how I feel about my impending participation in Guild Wars (and perhaps any MMORPG). It's good to play with friends. :-D Therefore, I will be waiting until Dyannamika gets her new laptop before joining the fray, which won't be until next month.

I do need to scope out a new monitor as well, and it would be wise for me to purchase it in July, as this month, I have been (quite happily) bleeding money in the name of computer parts and other geeky stuff. And I do want a nice monitor. I also have a tonne of other games to catch up on, so I will be patient about unleashing my Necromancer/Mesmer upon the unsuspecting monsters of Tyria.

I realise that, with this post, I have well and truly become a blogger: I am perpetuating, and perhaps even starting debate that would have lain silent (stewing in my head, no doubt) had I bothered to keep my fingers from typing all of this up. But, I have something to say, and I have a place where I can say it.

It seems like my posts last week, both here and on Playgressive have been garnering a lot of comments. The comments on my blog are largely well-thought-out and nicely articulated. However several of the responses on Playgressive are fairly dismissive. They basically amount to: "If you don't like those games, don't buy them." and "Stop whining, bitch." Okay, those aren't direct quotes, but the spirit of the comments is there.

To address the first point: I don't label a game as bad simply because it portrays women in an unfavourable way. Just because a game objectifies women is not in and of itself going to stop me from looking into the game (or buying the game), because it is my own interests and tastes that will ultimately determine whether I purchase it or not.

For example, Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines portrays most of the female non-player characters as sluts, whores, prostitutes, and evil temptresses of the night. I may disagree with the sheer number of unsavoury depictions of women in the game (versus 'good' depictions of women), however I also understand that it's Vampire -- it's meant to show us the darkest side of humanity. The World of Darkness is not a happy place. And it's not like the men in Vampire are that much better than the women in regards to their morality. I happen to enjoy Vampire: The Masquerade because I did play the game in it's non-digital form for several years. Ergo, because I do enjoy the stories of the World of Darkness, I would be interested in the Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines PC game.

Second example: I was, at one point, both intrigued and put off by Rumble Roses, the all-women wrestling game, made for the sole purpose of titillating young men. Clearly the game objectified women. And it was one of those games where you know it'll be so bad, that you can't help but keep an eye out for it. But I do have a(n ironic) sense of humour. The game looked like cheesy fun. If I hadn't read several reviews which stated that the controls were really shite, and that the game was really shite all around, I might have rented it (provided I could find it).

Third example: Death by Degrees. Arguably, Nina Williams is one of Tekken's most lusted-after female characters. One could hardly disguise a spin-off game starring the buxom Irish assassin as anything more than a huge cash-in on her sex appeal. However, Nina Williams, including her sex appeal, is one of my favourite Tekken characters. Hell, I think she is my favourite Tekken character. So, I couldn't very well ignore any forthcoming solo game, so I kept an eye on it. It turns out, this game was utter shite as well. Surprise, surprise.

So to conclude my rebuttal to the first point of "If you don't like those games, don't buy them", well... I don't. I voted with my wallet, and hopefully, shitty games like Death by Degrees will be less likely to see the light of day (Poor Nina). And at the same time, I won't avoid a good game just because I think the portrayal of women could be improved.

To address the second point about "complaining". A majority group doesn't always good-naturedly tolerate the complaints of the minority because they don't see the complaints as valid, or perhaps they don't see the situation as all that bad. In other words, there might be a failure to see the perspective of the other side. So, it's hardly surprising that most gamers would dismiss or ridicule another gamer's complaints about video games vis-a-vis gender. From their perspective, there isn't really much wrong with the status quo, and there are any number of explanations for their rationale, the big one being "most gamers are male, so they have to make games that will appeal to men".

I don't know if I would be able to explain my point in a way that would be acceptable or understandable to people who believe that everything is okay and everything is cool in the industry. At least, not without one of those point of view guns that I saw in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film a few weeks ago. I feel I already did that just fine as I already wrote a huge explanation of what I think is wrong about games that try to appeal to women, and what changes could be made to games to attract women.

If people saw my side of the issues, disagreed with my opinion, and still complained about me "complaining" (when, from my point of view, I was simply voicing my opinion) -- well, tough shit. I think there are a lot of things that could be improved in the industry, not just the gender thing. Therefore, I won't stop commenting upon them, because I simply disagree with the opinion that "everything is fine".

I don't complain all the time. I love video games. I love playing them. I love reading about them. I love discussing them. I enjoy debating issues about them. I wouldn't have an entire blog devoted just to video games if I didn't think they were important to me, or if I didn't like them. Hell, I complain about them precisely because I love them, and because I see so much potential for where they could go.

Miracle of miracles -- I actually played video games today. I can't even remember exactly when the last time was before today. Kind of sad.

Beyond Good & Evil

I made good progress on Beyond Good & Evil. I got lots of pearls (the major form of currency on the planet Hillys). With the pearls, I bought flight stabilisers for my ship. I can sense the end is near.

Tangent: I was reading Nintendo Power today and found out that Peter Jackson handpicked the lead designer for his game adaptation of King Kong. This person is Michel Ancel, the lead designer for Beyond Good & Evil.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

I wandered around in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, having forgotten where I was supposed to be searching for the Sky Temple Keys. In a moment of inspiration, I checked my inventory and discovered that I'd already found all of the Sky Temple Keys for the Temple Grounds and Dark Agon. So I just needed to search Dark Torvus and go back to the Ing Hive for the keys there. I got one of the Dark Torvus Keys, and decided to call an end to the session. Sadly, I didn't find any more power-ups.

Guild Wars Prep

I read this yesterday, and I'm tempted to create a Monk primary in Guild Wars just to experience what it is to be a Monk. This makes me wonder whether I have masochistic tendencies (that was a joke). I may just do it because I am really curious. I've never played an online game before, and I think it would be interesting to experience as many aspects as possible, even the potentially horrible ones.

I got the Guild Wars strategy guide last week. An unusual move for me, because I generally don't buy strategy guides. Even before reading the guide, I had already decided which professions to play, but it is interesting reading.

I have a narrowed-down list of potential character names. It will probably be long-ish and a bit poncy. :-D I tend to spend ages picking out character names, because that's the kind of person I am. I think the only exception was for my first D&D character Wolf Jäger, who's names I chose from a list of German names.

Dyannamika and I settled upon a name for our guild, but my other friend was not so keen on it. He didn't say it outright, but I could tell he didn't like it. He didn't have any suggestions, either. I think it's a cool name, and hopefully it's not taken whenever Dyannamika and I finally get playing. If Roomiepbt doesn't like it, then he had better come up with viable alternatives, or he can go form his own guild or join another.

Both Dyannamika and I want to be guild leader, but there can be only one. I think we can all agree why I am the best candidate:

Star Wars Horoscope for Aries

Like many Aries, you have demonstrated your penchant for inflicting pain. You feel you are at the center of the universe and that you must be in control. You enjoy being a leader... and you find that your aggression and quick temper serve you well. Star wars character you are most like: The Emperor

I haven't seen my Nintendo football (soccer) jersey in about a month (perhaps longer). I think it got sucked into the laundry black hole.

I love this shirt. It's made of that woven polyester that is breathable and all high-tech. It's a navy blue short sleeve shirt, and it has a white stripe that goes down each of the arms. The Nintendo logo is on the upper left corner of the front of the shirt in white. Most importantly, it's my size! It fits me very well. There are hardly any video game-related shirts that I like that do fit. Even a Men's Small is a little big for me, which was why I was pleased to stumble upon this shirt on eBay. The seller was a booth babe (she called herself a model) at E3 2004.

Where is it?!

The physical building of the computer was pretty easy. My CPU, RAM, hard drive, and all that good stuff are working and accounted for.

I need to figure out those little... Plug thingies on the motherboard so that I can get my front USB, audio, and microphone ports to work. The bundle of wires that make them work is separated into these miniscule wires with plastic bits on the end, and I'm supposed to plug them in... I've figured out where to plug them in, but I don't know what "jumper" means, and the book that came with the motherboard said something about this in relation to my audio.

My friend didn't bother with this bit on his computer (he's building another one for himself), because it's a little fiddly (my small, slender fingers seem better suited to such tasks than his large, stubby fingers) , so he wasn't of much help. I'm determined to get to the bottom of this, so I'm going to keep trying, even though I don't really know what I'm doing. I think I can figure it out though.

I'm still waiting on the DVD-ROM, DVD-RW, and 3.5 floppy drives.

Oh, and the stupid online store gave me a wireless card for a laptop, instead of a PC, so now I need to send that back and get the right one.

Once the other drives are installed, I can do the fun, day-long event of installing my OS, drivers, updating my software, and eventually moving all my files and crap from my laptop to the new rig.

After that, I can prepare my old laptop for transfer to my brother. I'm sure he'll be happy with a halfway decent computer of his own. He isn't a gamer, so it will more than meet his needs.

My side fan has glowing lights, but they are multi-coloured. This will not do. It must glow blue, and only blue. I will have to do something about this down the road.

When I worked at the game store, I once had had a nice conversation with a boy about Metroid games. He was cute in a way that only a pre-pubescent, blonde-haired, nerdy game geek kid taking Tae Kwon Do lessons (there's a TKD school down the hall from the store) can be cute. He was rather sweet, actually.

We talked about Metroid Prime and the copy of Metroid Fusion he and his sister were buying. It's always nice to see people who are really excited about games. I don't often get a chance to geek out about games, but when I do, sometimes I act just like that boy -- really talkative, really excited, and super enthusiastic.

A month or so later, he came by and talked about his progress in Metroid Fusion, asking me for some advice on a certain part. I couldn't remember specifically what strategies he needed, because it had been about 3 years since I've played that game, but I tried to help him, anyway.

Metroid is one of those types of games in which you reach can a part that is so frustrating, that you put it down, take a break, and then come back to it. After the break, sometimes lasting a week or more, suddenly the problem you faced before isn't as bad as you thought it was. You mentally bang your head against the wall for being so blind as to not spot the solution, but you solve it with the satisfaction that you solved it, and without a strategy guide. I just told the boy to persevere and eventually he would figure it out.

After the boy left, another customer sort of smiled at me, because he had been observing me chatting to the boy. The customer said something to the effect of, "I'm sure you must get tired of all the customers coming in and talking your head off". And I would have to say that I never got tired about talking about games, especially when I actually knew about the particular game that the customer was interested in. The manager gave me a look, as the boy headed out the door, that sort of said, "I can't believe you humoured that boy. I would have told him to shut up if I had been talking to him". I would have agreed, if the kid had been annoying like most of the kids are who wander in to the store, but this one was able to carry on a decent conversation.

I like talking to intelligent kids or kids who can talk intelligently. They're very interesting. It almost makes me vaguely interested in having one of those things, just to see if my offspring could actually have an intelligent, mature discussion with me. That is such a bad reason to have a child! Thank God I've never been (and I hope never will be) in a position to decide whether or not I should get one of those. The ironic thing is that I'm sure I would make a decent parent.

Apparently, I am going to build my new computer, and my friend will supervise. I have no idea what makes him think that I am capable of building a computer, but he says I have more knowledge than I think I do. Can I do it? He thinks I can! Eep!

I now have everything except the DVD-RW drive, the DVD-ROM drive, and the 3.5 floppy drive. I just ordered those a few minutes ago. I should probably get a new monitor, but for now I'll just use an old one (which is currently hooked up to all my consoles). I'll see what the prices are for flat panels, maybe next month or the month after.