Something went wrong. Try again later

Giant Bomb News

217 Comments

Worth Reading: 05/09/2014

Don't worry, I'm not about to turn Worth Reading into feature where I just read links into a camera for an hour.

Thanks for all the enthusiastic comments about my Kinect video from last week! It's given me a great deal of pause about what I might be able to produce for the site in the future, but it's early days yet on that.

No Caption Provided

Not every story makes sense for video. This video was particularly applicable because of the way Kinect works. It really came together pretty naturally.Just writing an article and having a slidehshow of photos probably wouldn't be very effective. Still, I'm now considering new ways to bring you stories on Giant Bomb, and an edited video piece is a new prospect. That's exciting!

A few people have been asking for an equivalent video for the PlayStation 4's voice control. I don't own PS4's camera, but that's something I could change, if enough people are looking for it. Lemme know. I have another story in mind for my next video piece, which would actually be a feature told through edited video, but I'm not sure if it it'll work.

Hey, You Should Play This

Click To Unmute
Worth Playing: 05/09/2014

Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?

Sign up or Sign in now!

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.
This video has an invalid file format.
00:00:00
Sorry, but you can't access this content!
Please enter your date of birth to view this video

By clicking 'enter', you agree to Giant Bomb's
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

And You Should Read These, Too

No Caption Provided

If you, like me, have generally lost faith in Square Enix's ability to produce an appealing Final Fantasy game, consider reading this thorough, exhaustive, and alarmingly honest profile of the franchise. It appears the minds behind Final Fantasy are more than aware of its shortcomings, even if it's not clear what the future direction of the series is. But hearing its decision makers humbly explaining how they're trying to turn the ship around gives me, for the first time in a while, enormous confidence in the future of Final Fantasy.

"He began our conversation by thanking me warmly for USgamer's review of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Granted, our review of Lightning Returns came in toward the high end of the Metacritic aggregate, but it wasn't the highest critical rating by far. Not only that, but our text was decidedly blunt in its criticism of the game's weaknesses. I referred to the story as "dumb" and the visuals as "a hot mess," while Pete dinged it for its "clunkiness" – not really words you'd expect to inspire gratitude. As Kitase spoke, though, I began to realize that our frankness was precisely what he appreciated about the review.

What was meant to be an interview was quickly turned on its ear as Kitase reversed the usual interview format. Could I expound more on my Lightning Returns criticisms, he asked? What makes for a good Japanese-to-English localization? What do Americans look for in RPGs? How had Final Fantasy XV's trailer been received? And so on, for more than an hour."

No Caption Provided

It's weird to say that I haven't played The Thing. (That's not entirely true. I've played maybe 20 minutes on PS2.) But I recently discovered there's a working PC version of the game, and this feature on the game's development might have pushed me over the edge. It's clear The Thing was made from a place of love, and there's something to be said about allowing a studio to adapt a property long after its initial relevance. It allowed the developers to focus on a good game that captured what people loved about the film, rather than simply creating an interactive version of the movie. That seems to be where many licensed properties go wrong.

"Nevertheless, most of the features planned by the design team made it into the final game. At the centre was a ground-breaking fear, trust and infection model that was vital if The Thing was to maintain a thematic connection with the movie. Fear was represented by the squad mates' reaction to the conditions around them; lead a nervous soldier into multiple stressful situations or expose him to one blood-spattered wall too many and an unpleasant end was in store for either the unfortunate soldier, the player, or both. 'The fear system worked but it was a bit simplistic,' remembers Curtis. 'Keeping your team sane was a matter of avoiding corpses, blood stains and darkness; but it did produce some great reactions from the squad mates. Some of them were quite rare like the electrocution suicide.' Getting your team to trust you was merely a matter of protecting them and/or keeping them well stocked with ammunition; unfortunately the system for infection didn't work quite as well, limited by technology and the template of the game itself."

If You Click It, It Will Play

These Crowdfunding Projects Look Pretty Cool

  • Loading Human looks to craft a narrative built around being a VR game.
  • The Way might be the resurrection of Another World that we all deserve.
  • The Source was part of that recent wave of PS4 indies recently announced.

Tweets That Make You Go "Hmmmmmm"

Oh, And This Other Stuff

Patrick Klepek on Google+

217 Comments

Avatar image for mrmazz
MrMazz

1262

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 1

damn I was hoping to hear Patricks NPR voice reading me full url's

Avatar image for sergio
Sergio

3663

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 13

@sergio said:

Samantha Allen's article is not really worth reading. I'm glad at least one game journalist out there called it out as going overboard.

You know how people say there's no wrong opinions. Well, this is the wrong opinion.

I would say that her opinion that alludes to Nintendo being bigots and their statement had any hatred to LGBT people and their supporters was a wrong opinion. I think she is within reason to feel disappointed, upset, anger, or any range of emotions towards the exclusion of same-sex relationships. However, she took it too far, and she is now upset because people are either not as mad as her or that they didn't agree with her libeling Nintendo.

I don't agree with Christian Nutt's interpretation of the "social commentary" part of Nintendo's original statement, but he wrote a better piece than Samantha did. That is worth reading over the one included this week. Samantha liked it too, but she still misses why people preferred it over her own.

Avatar image for wacwam
WacWam

23

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

I just want to be able to log onto the internet and not be told I'm a misogynistic bastard because I enjoy saving the princess in distress, and have to endure every politically correct media-representative saying "Not that it's wrong to like X/Y" whenever they mention a relationship in a video game, as if its politically incorrect to want to be sexually attracted to a woman as a male (or vice versa).

Where's my elitist support party that villainizes everyone that doesn't think like me?

Give it time, play whatever games you want to play, and enjoy yourself. If someone calls you a misogynist because you play Mario games, well, those are the crazy people that do more harm than good.

Avatar image for robopengy
Robopengy

619

Forum Posts

6

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

Edited By Robopengy

@yummylee: Maybe not for YOU MAYBE BUT THIS IS MY LIFE! My sad, sad life....

Avatar image for sergio
Sergio

3663

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 13

As much as I didn't like Samantha Allen's diatribe, let's not attack her as a person. Critique her work.

Avatar image for development
development

3749

Forum Posts

61

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By development

Holy shit, that Samantha Allen article is fucking insane.

"Behind all the corporate jargon and flowery public-relations language lies hatred, pure and simple."

There's a difference between criticizing a very poor statement by Nintendo and outright slashing at someone's jugular while decrying that they're the devil. This is a fucking ridiculous overreach.

Yeah, she's got some serious self-delusion going on. She isn't helping anyone with talk like that.

Good stuff in this week's WR besides that. In reference to Worth Playing: yes, play Spelunky deathmatch!

Avatar image for nathanxplosion
NathanXplosion

196

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

I remember loving The Thing video game, can't wait to read that Euro Gamer article.

Avatar image for corevi
Corevi

6796

Forum Posts

391

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Edited By Corevi

@slag: No matter what he does next it won't even come close to touching Minecraft in any way, even if it's a much better game.

Avatar image for zerdune
zerdune

220

Forum Posts

218

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 25

Loading Video...

Avatar image for cheerupyuko
CheerUpYuko

148

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@spaceinsomniac:

Eh, a lot of the more extreme female physiques aren't really fantasy fulfillment for women...

Avatar image for cheerupyuko
CheerUpYuko

148

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@development:

@shaanyboi said:

Holy shit, that Samantha Allen article is fucking insane.

"Behind all the corporate jargon and flowery public-relations language lies hatred, pure and simple."

There's a difference between criticizing a very poor statement by Nintendo and outright slashing at someone's jugular while decrying that they're the devil. This is a fucking ridiculous overreach.

Yeah, she's got some serious self-delusion going on. She isn't helping anyone with talk like that.

Good stuff in this week's WR besides that. In reference to Worth Playing: yes, play Spelunky deathmatch!

I randomly ran across the original Spelunky quicklook yesterday with Jeff, Brad, and Patrick doing some deathmatch mode. That was pretty great stuff. Would be curious to see if there's room for anything more than a frantic button-mash in it though?

Avatar image for redhotchilimist
Redhotchilimist

3019

Forum Posts

14

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By Redhotchilimist

That Final Fantasy article was a surprise. Guess it's about time for some introspection, I feel like people have been complaining about the direction of Final Fantasy since Final Fantasy 7, it got even worse with 13 and Bravely Default's success seems to have come as a huge surprise to them. Not familiar enough with the series to have any opinion on their change myself. It's odd to make an article from the perspective of internet opinion, though, instead of the sales numbers and review scores. That and the Mario 3D World article were the ones I likes the most this week, it's always interesting to see developers talk about their own games in a non-PR fashion, although I wonder if there's an Iwata Asks out there with identical content and more "(Laughs)".

The Demon's Souls article was also nice. It's got elements of the "my emotional journey through this game" kind of article that I don't tend to like, but it's fine because it's all about the intended themes and backed up by the mechanics and story that's actually told. And it makes it very obvious how hollow the Dark Souls's series use of the mechanics established in Demon's Souls are. I wonder if Project Beast will be the same.

Samantha Allen was the least pleasant. The Miiquality thing was very measured and practical and aware of both the events with the bugs and patching of the original game and that nothing would change until an eventual sequel, judging from the topic on this site's forum. Her article was the opposite, if not nearly as aggressive as the comments this week would have me believe.

I would like to nominate Critical Intel for worth readings in the future, he's generally got something interesting, especially this week.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/criticalintel/11422-Activision-Documentaries-Are-Not-Ads-An-Open-Letter

@lordandrew said:

Haven't Mario and Goombella kissed? This feels like it's something that probably happened.

I sure hope not, the man must be twice her age.

Avatar image for phuturist
Phuturist

90

Forum Posts

1

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@patrickklepeck: Respectfully, can you please stop promoting racist and sexist people on this website? I am, of course, talking about Samantha who on her Twitter account openly mocks, insults white men and denies their opinions on LGBT issues any validity because they are men and white. Check her profile, her latest uploaded images for example, it's rough.

Also, since we are talking about inclusive games and representation, as a German i have received zero protagonists in gaming, even though there are 80 million of us, more than black Americans for example. The closest we get to a protagonist is Hitomi of Dead Or Alive and the doctor in Team Fortress 2, the latter being a racist caricature of a Nazi doctor. Maybe an idea for a future article! There are 80 million of us, that's 1/4 of the United States. You want to speak for marginalized groups, so please, speak about us, or I can't take your other diversity articles serious, sorry.

I'm all for gaying Tomadachi Life up, btw, of course, nothing wrong with promoting that (just chose less hateful people the next time).

Thanks!

Avatar image for wacwam
WacWam

23

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By WacWam

Yeah, I'll admit I was pretty upset and disgusted with that statement, and I've edited my response slightly after cooling down some, but I honestly don't see any other way to have a reasonable dialogue with someone whose entire statement basically boils down to "I'm tired of being 'persecuted' because I have the privilege of the status quo and my desires are catered to more or less all of the time".

I think at the point this guy is bringing up the kind of horseshit he's trying to pull there, the only hope is to jar'im a bit in a last-ditch attempt to shake some sense into him and make him realize how fucking insane it sounds.

The way you said it initially is not the first or last step one should take on any issue. It makes you look hostile and in turn it makes your ideas and views less appealing. Win people over with debates and reason. We have enough toxicity in this whole subject, adding to it is not helping.

Avatar image for fisk0
fisk0

7320

Forum Posts

74197

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 75

Avatar image for video_game_king
Video_Game_King

36563

Forum Posts

59080

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 54

User Lists: 14

Avatar image for goreyfantod
goreyfantod

248

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By goreyfantod
Avatar image for daneian
Daneian

1308

Forum Posts

1938

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 25

User Lists: 19

@patrickklepeck: Respectfully, can you please stop promoting racist and sexist people on this website? I am, of course, talking about Samantha who on her Twitter account openly mocks, insults white men and denies their opinions on LGBT issues any validity because they are men and white. Check her profile, her latest uploaded images for example, it's rough.

Go even a little into her images and you'll find her retweet of a drawing that says "Kill all men". I can't bring myself to even post the image I'm so bummed out.

Avatar image for headshot2391
headshot2391

78

Forum Posts

409

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 1

@patrickklepek I think video features could be interesting, a new way to present stuff. but your articles are very good and don't flood the GB. Just enough on interesting subjects to provide insight. Also I look forward to worth reading every week, thought you should know

Avatar image for hailinel
Hailinel

25785

Forum Posts

219681

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 10

User Lists: 28

Edited By Hailinel
@daneian said:
@phuturist said:

@patrickklepeck: Respectfully, can you please stop promoting racist and sexist people on this website? I am, of course, talking about Samantha who on her Twitter account openly mocks, insults white men and denies their opinions on LGBT issues any validity because they are men and white. Check her profile, her latest uploaded images for example, it's rough.

Go even a little into her images and you'll find her retweet of a drawing that says "Kill all men". I can't bring myself to even post the image I'm so bummed out.

I, uh...well, then.

Not sure if serious. I hope she's not serious.

Avatar image for hailinel
Hailinel

25785

Forum Posts

219681

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 10

User Lists: 28

Here's a USGamer article on the Tomodachi Life debate. This is, like Christian Nutt's article, far more measured and worth reading than Samantha Allen's text. In particular, it looks into the issue not only from the perspective of what NOA could reasonably do as a localize and on how homosexuals are viewed in Japan, but also how the industry by and large (not just in Japan, but around the world) still flubs it when it comes to homosexuality in games.

Avatar image for glots
glots

5169

Forum Posts

74

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

The best part of The Thing game, of course.

Loading Video...

That aside, I really liked it. Got it as a christmas gift and it was the perfect time of the year to play through a somewhat clunky, but still enjoyable game.

Avatar image for greggd
GreggD

4596

Forum Posts

981

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

@hailinel said:
@daneian said:
@phuturist said:

@patrickklepeck: Respectfully, can you please stop promoting racist and sexist people on this website? I am, of course, talking about Samantha who on her Twitter account openly mocks, insults white men and denies their opinions on LGBT issues any validity because they are men and white. Check her profile, her latest uploaded images for example, it's rough.

Go even a little into her images and you'll find her retweet of a drawing that says "Kill all men". I can't bring myself to even post the image I'm so bummed out.

I, uh...well, then.

Not sure if serious. I hope she's not serious.

I legitimately cannot tell.

Avatar image for thecheese33
TheCheese33

399

Forum Posts

1246

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 8

User Lists: 0

Edited By TheCheese33
@hailinel said:
@daneian said:
@phuturist said:

@patrickklepeck: Respectfully, can you please stop promoting racist and sexist people on this website? I am, of course, talking about Samantha who on her Twitter account openly mocks, insults white men and denies their opinions on LGBT issues any validity because they are men and white. Check her profile, her latest uploaded images for example, it's rough.

Go even a little into her images and you'll find her retweet of a drawing that says "Kill all men". I can't bring myself to even post the image I'm so bummed out.

I, uh...well, then.

Not sure if serious. I hope she's not serious.

Of course she's not being serious. The tweeted image in question, drawn by Maddy Meyers, was done as a joke.

Also, it would be lovely if the commenters here could see something from a marginalized group and not immediately react as if the sky was falling. Samantha is neither racist nor sexist, and she doesn't deny opinions on LGBT issues because of their skin color or gender. Anyone who claims differently is, in all likelihood, very confused (or worse, purposefully misconstruing the situation).

As for the people complaining about making "mountains out of molehills" with Tomodachi Life, please practice a little empathy and recognize that just because something isn't a big deal to you doesn't mean it isn't a big deal to others, or that they should "just get over it."

As someone who fits within the LGBT spectrum, Nintendo's tone-deaf statements made me feel unwelcome, to the point where I was considering selling my Wii U console + games on eBay and wiping my hands clean of the company. I decided not to, but what they said really hurtful, and their second press release makes it clear that they don't know why it was hurtful in the first place, which is really disconcerting and reinforces the notion of Nintendo's ignorance in the modern gaming industry.

Avatar image for hailinel
Hailinel

25785

Forum Posts

219681

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 10

User Lists: 28

Edited By Hailinel

@thecheese33: How do you know she's not being serious? Further, even if she isn't being serious, under what context is that sort of thing funny, or even slightly amusing? Why should anyone that doesn't know her expect, at first glance, that she's joking?

As for empathy, you sound like you could use a little practice yourself. Yes, it is a big deal to some people, but that does not mean that people that don't find it a big deal are necessarily against your stance. Different people get outraged over different things. Also, I don't see many people in here saying, "Get over it." What I see people saying is that some, like Samantha, are approaching the topic from too far in the other extreme. There's not taking something seriously at all, and then there's taking something so seriously that you seek out evidence of intentional offense where none exists.

If Nintendo's statements hurt you, explain how and why they hurt you. It's not sufficient to say, "They hurt me and you're all a bunch of jerks for not understanding the feelings I've done nothing to describe." Particularly when other LGBT gamers that have born witness to this haven't expressed hurt feelings to the degree that you apparently have. The people that organized the drive to at least bring the issue to Nintendo's attention are not responding with a boycott. Their handling of the denial, both the initial press release and the clarification, has been upstanding and respectful. Disagreement does not need to give birth to protest and rage.

I linked this above, but again, I would encourage you to read it. This is not just a Nintendo issue or a Japan issue. It is an issue that many developers have faced and fumbled. Zeroing in on Nintendo is missing the forest for the trees.

Avatar image for honkalot
Honkalot

1046

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 6

I liked The Thing game. Got pretty far in it, think I got really angry at some poor checkpoint and stopped playing.

Avatar image for stingingvelvet
StingingVelvet

596

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 6

User Lists: 0

@thecheese33: Promoting inclusiveness is awesome. Asking Nintendo to support gay marriage is awesome. However there is definitely a time, and definitely some people, who go too far and spew hate and intolerance from the OTHER side. It happens. We shouldn't be scared to point it out when it does.

Samantha Allen has said some things which fall into that category.

Avatar image for joshwent
joshwent

2897

Forum Posts

2987

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

I think at the point this guy is bringing up the kind of horseshit he's trying to pull there, the only hope is to jar'im a bit in a last-ditch attempt to shake some sense into him and make him realize how fucking insane it sounds.

Consider this statement in terms of someone who doesn't like what Anita Sarkeesian says in a video, and is moved to having to resort to insults to "shake some sense into her".

When someone holds a different opinion than you and you want to challenge them on it, bringing vitriol into the discussion will inevitably just leave both parties more divided than before.

This is precisely why I get so saddened at seeing the kinds of articles like this one from Samantha Allen lauded by people like Patrick. The Miiquality movement was a beautiful (and unfortunately rare) example of making a push for inclusivity in an inclusive way, yet the media reaction to it largely steals all of the focus from the positive point and just breeds more anger and division.

When the people in the right relentlessly use the tactics of those in the wrong, everything just gets worse for everybody.

Avatar image for mr_creeper
mr_creeper

2458

Forum Posts

13

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@gyozilla said:

"Don't worry, I'm not about to turn Worth Reading into feature where I just read links into a camera for an hour."

Then Good Day, Sir!

I'd watch that shit.

Avatar image for spaceinsomniac
SpaceInsomniac

6353

Forum Posts

42

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

Edited By SpaceInsomniac

@thecheese33 said:
@hailinel said:
@daneian said:
@phuturist said:

@patrickklepeck: Respectfully, can you please stop promoting racist and sexist people on this website? I am, of course, talking about Samantha who on her Twitter account openly mocks, insults white men and denies their opinions on LGBT issues any validity because they are men and white. Check her profile, her latest uploaded images for example, it's rough.

Go even a little into her images and you'll find her retweet of a drawing that says "Kill all men". I can't bring myself to even post the image I'm so bummed out.

I, uh...well, then.

Not sure if serious. I hope she's not serious.

Of course she's not being serious. The tweeted image in question, drawn by Maddy Meyers, was done as a joke.

Okay then, what's the joke?

When it comes to Penny Arcade's dickwolves controversy, if someone says "What's the joke?" I can say that the disposable nature of "collectible" non-player characters can often work against the narrative of video games that include them. Once you've saved enough people, the player often becomes blind to their suffering, even when horrible virtual fates await them.

I think I'd find myself considerably less able to defend Penny Arcade if their comic was a single picture of a character saying "kill all women." Even if I didn't feel that the statement was genuine, I would still find it hard to defend, due to the humorless nature and pointlessly hateful message.

So what's the joke when it comes the idea of a male-hating manticore that says "kill all men!"? Perhaps I'm missing something and you can better explain it.

Avatar image for sergio
Sergio

3663

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 13

I'm just going to include my own tweet that makes you go hmmm...

It makes me go hmmm because she's the only game journalist/personality that I've seen that has pointed out what's wrong with that opinion piece. The rest either circle the wagons or stick their heads in the sand or mark them as worthwhile reads.

Avatar image for kentonclay
KentonClay

363

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By KentonClay

It's always frustrating when people's reaction to bigotry is "well can't we calm down and talk about it nicely? I'm sure we'll find that the answer is somewhere in the middle!"

That's not how shit gets done and it reads as "Slow down there pal. I'm all for equality or whatever, but can we talk about this in a non-threatening way?" when said by the people who the status quo benefits. I don't know how intentional it is, but a lot of people seem to want to kneecap the conversation into something that's completely impotent and worthless. If you actually want to deal with bigotry, you need to metaphorically beat the shit out of it with a fucking baseball ball and not let up until it's fucking dead.

Avatar image for cheerupyuko
CheerUpYuko

148

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@kentonclay: Can you metaphorically beat the shit out of something with a baseball bat in a non-hateful way though?

Often when people are too full of the sense of their own righteousness, they kind of turn into monsters...

Avatar image for viewtifulchloe
viewtifulchloe

24

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By viewtifulchloe

Samantha Allen owns.

Avatar image for deusoma
Deusoma

3224

Forum Posts

128695

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 8

User Lists: 4

@spaceinsomniac: Huh, that was really well thought-out and worded. Kudos, duder.

Avatar image for sergio
Sergio

3663

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 13

@kentonclay: And what bigotry are people reacting with "well can't we calm down and talk about it nicely?"

Avatar image for treulosetomate
TreuloseTomate

34

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Anybody familiar with CotGW? They've had a good discussion about the Nintendo issue and feminism in video games in their latest podcast.

http://www.twitch.tv/cotgw/b/526809825

A good point they made was, that it's also about intent. Most developers just want to make a game without any social commentary or malicious intent. Nintendo has always been very careful not to offend anybody.

Avatar image for albedo12
albedo12

90

Forum Posts

8

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@kindgineer:

I just want to be able to log onto the internet and not be told I'm a misogynistic bastard because I enjoy saving the princess in distress, and have to endure every politically correct media-representative saying "Not that it's wrong to like X/Y" whenever they mention a relationship in a video game, as if its politically incorrect to want to be sexually attracted to a woman as a male (or vice versa).

Where's my elitist support party that villainizes everyone that doesn't think like me?

You're missing the point. There will always be games where you rescue the princess and no-one is saying they should be eradicated or it's wrong to play them. The issue is there are far, far, fewer games where you rescue the prince, and this imbalance should be addressed.

Your elitist support party already exists - depending on the strength of your convictions it's probably the Republican party or the Westboro Baptist Church.

Avatar image for euandewar
EuanDewar

5159

Forum Posts

136

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

@thecheese33 said:
@hailinel said:
@daneian said:
@phuturist said:

@patrickklepeck: Respectfully, can you please stop promoting racist and sexist people on this website? I am, of course, talking about Samantha who on her Twitter account openly mocks, insults white men and denies their opinions on LGBT issues any validity because they are men and white. Check her profile, her latest uploaded images for example, it's rough.

Go even a little into her images and you'll find her retweet of a drawing that says "Kill all men". I can't bring myself to even post the image I'm so bummed out.

I, uh...well, then.

Not sure if serious. I hope she's not serious.

Of course she's not being serious. The tweeted image in question, drawn by Maddy Meyers, was done as a joke.

Okay then, what's the joke?

When it comes to Penny Arcade's dickwolves controversy, if someone says "What's the joke?" I can say that the disposable nature of "collectible" non-player characters can often work against the narrative of video games that include them. Once you've saved enough people, the player often becomes blind to their suffering, even when horrible virtual fates await them.

I think I'd find myself considerably less able to defend Penny Arcade if their comic was a single picture of a character saying "kill all women." Even if I didn't feel that the statement was genuine, I would still find it hard to defend, due to the humorless nature and pointlessly hateful message.

So what's the joke when it comes the idea of a male-hating manticore that says "kill all men!"? Perhaps I'm missing something and you can better explain it.

The joke is she drew a cute manticore and then thought it would be a goofy contrast to have a speech bubble coming out of it's mouth saying "Kill All Men". It's something you've seen a million times before, something adorable and wholesome being presented as violent and evil.

Also I mean, it's a Misandrist Manticore. Just the phrase "Misandrist Manticore" without the image is funny to me cause it sounds so silly and ridiculous.

Avatar image for lysergica33
Lysergica33

601

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@sergio said:

Samantha Allen's article is not really worth reading. I'm glad at least one game journalist out there called it out as going overboard.

Yep. Took one look at it and within a few lines it was "BEHIND THIS LIES HATRED, PURE AND SIMPLE" and was just like... Yep... This is a Polygon article alright..

Avatar image for onefreeman
OneFreeman

130

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@milkman said:

@zevvion: I have no opinion on the whole Tomodachi Life thing but including gay relationships in a game is not a social political statement.

Exactly and Nintendo thinking it is says more about their opinion of gay relationships than not including them in the game does.

Avatar image for spaceinsomniac
SpaceInsomniac

6353

Forum Posts

42

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

Edited By SpaceInsomniac

@euandewar said:

@spaceinsomniac said:

@thecheese33 said:
@hailinel said:
@daneian said:
@phuturist said:

@patrickklepeck: Respectfully, can you please stop promoting racist and sexist people on this website? I am, of course, talking about Samantha who on her Twitter account openly mocks, insults white men and denies their opinions on LGBT issues any validity because they are men and white. Check her profile, her latest uploaded images for example, it's rough.

Go even a little into her images and you'll find her retweet of a drawing that says "Kill all men". I can't bring myself to even post the image I'm so bummed out.

I, uh...well, then.

Not sure if serious. I hope she's not serious.

Of course she's not being serious. The tweeted image in question, drawn by Maddy Meyers, was done as a joke.

Okay then, what's the joke?

When it comes to Penny Arcade's dickwolves controversy, if someone says "What's the joke?" I can say that the disposable nature of "collectible" non-player characters can often work against the narrative of video games that include them. Once you've saved enough people, the player often becomes blind to their suffering, even when horrible virtual fates await them.

I think I'd find myself considerably less able to defend Penny Arcade if their comic was a single picture of a character saying "kill all women." Even if I didn't feel that the statement was genuine, I would still find it hard to defend, due to the humorless nature and pointlessly hateful message.

So what's the joke when it comes the idea of a male-hating manticore that says "kill all men!"? Perhaps I'm missing something and you can better explain it.

The joke is she drew a cute manticore and then thought it would be a goofy contrast to have a speech bubble coming out of it's mouth saying "Kill All Men". It's something you've seen a million times before, something adorable and wholesome being presented as violent and evil.

Also I mean, it's a Misandrist Manticore. Just the phrase "Misandrist Manticore" without the image is funny to me cause it sounds so silly and ridiculous.

Something cute doing something awful. Okay, now the question becomes "why men?" Why not people? Why not women? And why specifically a manticore? Do you know what a manticore is?

Wikipedia sez:

The manticore myth was of Persian origin, where its name was "man-eater" (from early Middle Persian martya "man" (as in human) and xwar- "to eat").

Quite a specific symbol to be praised by a person who recently wrote on their twitter:

If I had a nickel... “Can you start putting the word "Some" in front of the word "Men". We're not all assholes. :-)”

Avatar image for dezztroy
Dezztroy

1084

Forum Posts

131

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Dezztroy

@shaanyboi said:

Holy shit, that Samantha Allen article.

"Behind all the corporate jargon and flowery public-relations language lies hatred, pure and simple."

There's a difference between criticizing a very poor statement by Nintendo and outright slashing at someone's jugular while decrying that they're the devil. This is a fucking ridiculous overreach.

Now you've gone and done it. Samantha's tweeting about how she's being called insane, retarded and crazy. I don't think anyone in here has actually called her any of those (unless there have been a significant number of comments removed). Unless she thinks that attacking her work is personally attacking her?

Avatar image for deactivated-6050ef4074a17
deactivated-6050ef4074a17

3686

Forum Posts

15

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

Apparently my comments were deleted because I said she was "acting like a crazy person"? Is moderation that harsh when that incredibly common phrase is used against virtually anyone else? Whatever.

The issue with this Tomodachi Life stuff is that it started as an incredibly inclusive and positive effort to just get Nintendo acknowledge the unfortunate position they were in and strive to do better in the future. It was never intended to strike some sort of angry cord and get people to boycott Nintendo or the cutesy life simulator itself; the person who started it all explicitly said he likes Nintendo and doesn't want anyone to do anything like that, and actually encouraged people to buy the game regardless of Nintendo's response so we get more games like it in the future.

In these forum arguments, we're constantly berated for the tone of a few crazy types who get upset and throw around bombastic, unnecessary language that causes people to feel super bad and only raises the temperature of the dialogue more and more and more. The way the story got picked up in the media was completely awful, because it turned a mild mannered effort of community outreach that actually wasn't all that negative into basically "Is Nintendo Saying They Dislike Gay People?" articles from several different media sources. What wasn't a meanspirited campaign suddenly had the unfortunate consequences of giving weight to misrepresentations that put Nintendo on the defensive and slammed their character for something Nintendo of America has little control over.

Nintendo aren't evil bigots because they just barreled along aloofly like Nintendo always does and then when the issue was brought to their attention just weeks before the game was going to be released for the west they probably wouldn't have had any time to do anything about it. They were just caught in an unfortunate position and were afraid of their options. Occam's Razor, etc. The simplest explanation here is that Nintendo just didn't know any better and made a tone deaf statement about it because they've never dealt with anything like this before. After they realized how it seemed, they apologized more directly and that was pretty much the end of it all.

I'm gay and would love more options in all games to reflect that. But to look at the situation of the last couple weeks and come to the conclusion "Nintendo must obviously come from a mindset of hate against gay people!" like that Samantha Allen article is insane. Anyone speaking on a forum with the tone and charged language she used in that article, and how she seems to follow things up with on Twitter, would've been moderated on forums like Giant Bomb or Neogaf in the blink of a fucking eye. The media headlines over this blew the issue, and the campaign itself, wildly out of proportion, and actively hurt the conversation.

We're not revolutionaries fighting a guerrilla war against Nintendo. And folks like us in marginalized social circles (and we are quite marginalized, unfortunately) don't have get-out-of-argument-free cards because of it. I'm glad Nintendo had the good sense to finally come around and apologize for their disconnectedness, but anyone who saw it as anything more than just mild ignorance on their behalf is getting way too close to the flame. It would be nice if the media in general could take a point or two from the person who started this entire campaign in the first place.

I should probably just go buy a 3DS.

Avatar image for conmulligan
conmulligan

2292

Forum Posts

11722

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 11

Edited By conmulligan

I'm glad Samatha Allen wrote that article, and I'm glad she's angry. Everyone's in favour of scorched earth editorials when it comes to some DRM nonsense or day-one DLC, but God forbid someone show the same passion when it comes to their identity and self of belonging.

Also, it's hilarious that some people are taking the "Misandrist Manticore" drawing at face value.

Avatar image for euandewar
EuanDewar

5159

Forum Posts

136

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

@spaceinsomniac: I mean I think you answered your own question. It's a cute female version of a creature that is typically portrayed as male and as a "man-eater". It's a subversion of well-known imagery for a misandry joke. I'm sorry I don't mean to be rude or misunderstanding of your point but I just don't get the offence at the drawing.

You seem to get the joke as much as I do but you just have a problem with Samantha Allen's praise of it. I recommend you take that up with her in a calm and considered manner. You seem to have issues with the way she carries herself and considering her last few tweets she likewise seems to have the same issues with a lot of people here, you included probably.

Personally, I don't have a problem with it. Samantha clearly feels like she and her peers have been fucked over by men in life and is using the internet so show her anger. I'm fine with that, she clearly doesn't actually want to 'Kill All Men' and until the day she comes at me with a knife like Valerie Solanas I'll probably continue to be fine with it. But that's just me.