Worth Reading: 11/29/2013

You only get the free games if you are a Gold member, so it's a fair comparison. I would normally agree about the age not mattering if it's quality, but if you are even remotely interested in shooters and have a 360, I guarantee you've played Gears of War. On top of that, I'm pretty sure every copy of Gears of War Judgment came with a free copy of the original GoW, so this free gesture of Microsoft's is pretty empty, all told.

Yeah, bro, it is.

I thought the controls in Galaxy made it unenjoyable.

Dang it!

Will there ever be a point where every article on the Internet that has the words "video game" and "woman" in it will not become a fucking circle jerk of "Anita Sarkeesian is a LIAR!!!!"? Because it's seriously draining.

It is draining, I agree, but as long as people can't express their frustration on the relevant channels (for example, on the videos or websites themselves), and as long as gaming sites post these kinds of links, then these comment sections are the only places that people can really express their disdain.

It doesn't help that there's an article posted seemingly every week about "women" and "video games". If it's not RPS, it's Polygon. If it's not Polygon, Kotaku will pick up the slack. Until these kinds of articles stop, you'll always get these comments sections beneath the articles in question.

In fairness, it's the articles themselves that are more draining, and the comments sections are just people saying "Please stop doing this, these are ignorant and ill-informed views." You can call it a circle-jerk if you want, and I'm not going to argue semantics or usage of weasel words, but you have to admit that it's a case of most people who have read these articles finding the content disagreeable, and wanting to explain why.

I think Jonathan is a bit too full of himself. Every creation has its place on the market. He is nobody to dictate what games should be.

This Feminist Frequency stuff seems to be nothing but trollbait when it's posted online, for either party. I just have to say that I think she's gone a little too radical in the more recent videos.

I believe her videos have went out of hand with some of the recent assertions, because at first, I saw it as a noble attempt to point out some obvious problems with women in game and mass media (which does have some problems, mostly in the wage gaps), but now, these videos have spiraled out of control to "any single female trait is considered sexist". I don't really want people quoting me or saying I am wrong because that is basically the root of these videos now, and the audience of the videos seems to agree with that sentiment without much in the way of alternating opinions, or seeing another side of the argument.

Video games have been pretty fucking terrible for stories for the longest time, from all accounts, until at least fairly recently, so just using, for instance, "pink = color for girls" is not an offensive jab at women and is more or less just a simple identifier in a game without much story for either party.

And saying that pink is a color used traditionally to embody girls is sexist now? I don't really get riled up when blue is considered the boy baby color because these are things that mean nothing but cultural gender differences, and a ton of women embrace that as something fine. Hardly any of these "hot issues" Anita brings up actually really mean anything worthwhile when it's so obviously just trying to have a reason to complain and assert some holy-than-thou opinion.

People who get so wound up tight about miniscule issues about gender division in games need to actually look at how fucking good, comparatively speaking, we all have it here to how women have it in some countries. As in, they can't go to school, show their faces, their hair, whatever. These videos just reek of first-world problems to me and they're laughable examples to say the least. Obviously there's still a ton of problems and that blows, but when it comes to focusing on the idea of "women being treated badly in video games" it comes off as a little bizarre to me in a world with meaningful problems for women in real life.

Women have huge boobs and exposed tops in games like guys are running around shirtless with a ripped body with a hefty codpiece. Games sometimes just take super easy cuts through the path, also regarding the fact that historically video games are a predominately male hobby, although with the rise of mobile games and the like that is certainly not as male-centric as it once was.

Anyway, in brief, I feel that there's a huge problem itself with crying foul at art as meaning this or that in the world of media, whether it be games, movies, or whatever else. Seldom are things so cut and dry and "good or evil" in terms of what they might mean or the interpretations behind them.

If you haven't already, watch ulililia's videos on Bubsy 3D.

Which part of that Bubsy 3D thing is supposed to be interesting? I get it's trying to be pretentious, but to what end? Frog Fractions felt genuinely bizarre, this feels like it's trying too hard to be relevant.

The design studio that designed the original Xbox and Duke controller reviews the PS4? If the first line isn't, "Damn, wish we had come up with something like that," then their opinion is meaningless.

@themasterds: I had thought Anita's latest video was her best yet, far from perfect, but better. However, I wasn't familiar enough with Dixie Kong, and reading your comment once again confirmed my belief that she's a hack that's given far too much attention by gaming journalists.

Really enjoyed the Ms. Male Character video in this. Thanks for sharing.