@epicsteve: I definitely don't discount the Guard. My brother, specifically, wasn't infantry. The company he was in didn't lose anyone and they weren't on the front lines. He usually moved in large supply convoys with a drone overhead. They ran over a few IEDs and had some scary moments but they were lucky, a few guys got concussions but those were the worst physical injuries anyone suffered. I'm grateful they all made it back in one piece.
kirklebum's forum posts
Thank you for your service @EpicSteve.
My brother got back from Afghanistan 2 months ago. His tour wasn't as intense — he's in a National Guard and rode around as a gunner in an MRAP shutting down FOBs, dodging IEDs, rocks and long-range small arms fire — but I know video games were a big part of their down time between convoys.
Now that they're back, a lot of the guys in the unit play Battlefield 3 together. I knew a lot of them before the deployment but playing with them and hearing some of their stories has helped me understand what my brother and his friends went through. Video games are an outlet for simple stresses in my civilian life and I know it has helped him ease back into normal life in the States.
@mrpandaman said:
@Kirklebum said:
@Luthorcrow said:
@Binman88 said:
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My initial reaction to the Katie Williams story was the same. She should have stood up for herself, however, as she wrote, it was her first time at E3 and being treated that way caught her off guard. She wrote that the condescending treatment continued throughout E3 but didn't elaborate on how she reacted to it. I hope she took control and asked about the games she cared about, but that isn't the point.
Time is a valuable commodity at E3 and she has every right to be upset about having to justify her existence at the event to PR person after PR person. Yes, she should expect to be treated different, it's a fact of life when you choose to work in a field traditionally dominated by people who look different than you, but that doesn't make it OK and it doesn't mean she should just shut up and accept it as her fate. It's E3 2012, not the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
I'm journalist in a field where women are the minority and often have to work twice as hard to do the same job I do through no fault of their own. When I interview people there's a certain amount of knowledge they assume I have because I'm a male who writes about sports. Young female sports journalists often have to work harder and dig deeper because many of the people they interview assume they won't understand an in-depth answer. No matter how much I prepare for an interview, I usually get the most interesting information and anecdotes through follow up questions, but her coverage of a game will certainly be hurt if the PR person dumbs down their answers because she is female.
It's disheartening when talent is held back by people's assumptions, fortunately, talented people usually find a way to succeed despite the obstacles and that's how change happens.
I think the one of the reasons she didn't speak up for herself was because journalists have a job of being a PR person for themselves. She seems like she is fairly new to writing about video games and maybe does not want to necessarily create negativity around her name as being possibly hard to deal with. It could possibly cost her, her job.
I don't know, though, but I do agree that she should have just stood up for herself. At least the very least, it's good that she wrote this article to shine the light on this apparent issue.
Nowhere in a journalist's job description does it say anything about being a PR person. She wouldn't be fired for standing up for herself and asking for equal treatment, at least, not if her editors are worth a shit. You don't have to be rude to stand up for yourself so I don't think her reputation would be harmed, not that it matters, you need thick skin to be a journalist because some people will dislike you no matter what you do.
@Luthorcrow said:
@Binman88 said:
Katie Williams needed to immediately step up and say "no, I know how to play video games, let me control it like everyone else", or pose the question to the PR guy as to why he had to play it for her. She should have embarrassed the PR guy for making a stupid assumption and should have refused to view their game if he wasn't going to let her have the same experience as everyone else. Then name the guy and the company he works for, and the game she was being shown. Stop tip-toeing.
I'm absolutely not blaming her for what happened, but it does no good to sit there and end up with no information (as she stated), and then make a complaint on the internet after the fact. If someone is being rude to you, stand up to them and put them in their place. Someone made the comment on the article that women are afraid of looking like a "bitch" if they stand up for themselves, so it's not as "easy" as it is for men. Not if you're reasonable about it. Furthermore, if some asshat who clearly thinks less of you in the first place will think of you as a bitch for standing up for yourself, who the fuck cares? Let him think you're a bitch, just as he'd think you were a prick if you were a man standing up to him over something. If you're in the right you have nothing to worry about.
Don't agree with her about the Hitman thing though, but she doesn't really go into that.
Edit: Also: why in the fuck did Kotaku shine a spotlight on a guy who cheats in video games? Why not have an in-depth review with the 14 year old kid who called you a faggot on XBL while you're at it. Don't give these retards the time of day.
No doubt, it is disappointing that a professional journalist would let an under paid PR person treat them like a tourist. It doesn't change the fact that it clearly illustrates stupidity and sexism of the event. But at the same time my B.S. meter is getting a tickle. What do I mean? Let's face it what makes a better story, the one where she shuts the PR guy down with a sentence or to be a passive, take notes and write a story about it. Because the fact is if she actually confronted any of these PR guys with a sentence she could have shut them down and got her demo. So yes, I see a little of the writer purposely riding an experience for the purpose of a story.
On the other hand sometimes, you have to sit back and let people talk to find out what they are really up to so being a detached writer in this case might not be such a bad thing. On the other hand, here is cold hard fact kids, you have to fight for what you believe. So next time, confront the guy in the moment.
My initial reaction to the Katie Williams story was the same. She should have stood up for herself, however, as she wrote, it was her first time at E3 and being treated that way caught her off guard. She wrote that the condescending treatment continued throughout E3 but didn't elaborate on how she reacted to it. I hope she took control and asked about the games she cared about, but that isn't the point.
Time is a valuable commodity at E3 and she has every right to be upset about having to justify her existence at the event to PR person after PR person. Yes, she should expect to be treated different, it's a fact of life when you choose to work in a field traditionally dominated by people who look different than you, but that doesn't make it OK and it doesn't mean she should just shut up and accept it as her fate. It's E3 2012, not the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
I'm journalist in a field where women are the minority and often have to work twice as hard to do the same job I do through no fault of their own. When I interview people there's a certain amount of knowledge they assume I have because I'm a male who writes about sports. Young female sports journalists often have to work harder and dig deeper because many of the people they interview assume they won't understand an in-depth answer. No matter how much I prepare for an interview, I usually get the most interesting information and anecdotes through follow up questions, but her coverage of a game will certainly be hurt if the PR person dumbs down their answers because she is female.
It's disheartening when talent is held back by people's assumptions, fortunately, talented people usually find a way to succeed despite the obstacles and that's how change happens.
I just beat the single player last night, I'm planning on spending all day today playing the co-op. If there's a Syndicate out there looking for players, especially one that's active this afternoon, I'd love an invite.
Xbox 360: Kirklebum
Fuck that guy, bullies suck.
I worked for a newspaper during a time when our parent company's stock plummeted and we were bought out by Rupert Murdoch. For a while we weren't sure if our chain would be sold off as a unit or split up. Eventually they held on to us because it was just cheaper and didn't require as many lawyers to ignore us. We had a buttload of layoffs at the editorial level to make us "more profitable," and most the top executive types were canned with the regime change, but we continued to produce content. I'm not sure if the corporate structure of the video game industry is similar to that of newspapers but that was my experience going through a dire financial situation at a large media company as an peon editorial guy.
@plainplease: I'm a sports reporter but writing about video games was my New Years resolution so I don't have much video game related writing out there yet. I'm going to blog several times a week so you're welcome to follow me on here.
This rounds out the 2011 releases which I played through to completion or, in some cases, more than 50 hours. I wasn't able to put together a top 10 list - I only played enough of nine new games in 2011 - but this was a good year to be a video game fan. I bought Battlefield 3, Gears of War 3 and Dead Space 2 this year and haven't had a chance to spend more than an hour or two in any of them. I also need to play Saints Row: The Third, Batman: Arkham City and all the other games everyone is raving about.
I wrote about the first three games on Tuesday and followed up with three more yesterday and here are the final three.
Fuck gymkhana.
I kind of wanted to leave it at that but, other than gymkhana, I dug Dirt 3. I found myself playing the trailblazer races the most. I like the long meandering tracks. The Nordschleife of Nürburgring is probably my favorite race track to drive in games - I've never driven the real thing but some day I'd like to - and the trailblazer races have that same kind of feel but on a dirt road.
I don't mind that gymkhana is in the game but I don't like that its mashed into the single player part. Every gymkhana event I've played I play as little as possible. I want to race and I kind of resent that I have to do even one gymkhana event, it just isn't fun. If you disagree with me you can go suffocate yourself in a Monster Energy Drink branded pillow. I'm kidding, but gymkhana does suck.
Dirt 3 is at its best when you're hauling balls down the dirt roads around the long version of the Michigan track. The inside the car view is a must for this game if only for driving through puddles. This game isn't Forza 4 when it comes to realism but it's still realistic feeling enough even though sometimes the car does feel like it's locking into an imaginary grove even with all the assists turned off.
It's been a while since I played two racing games in the same year. Before this year the newest racing game I have is Forza 2. Before that it was probably a Gran Turismo 2.
I have a few minor quibbles about the game. It pisses me off that if I don't do as well as I'd like and hit restart after finishing a race I don't get experience but if I hit continue to return to the menu I get the experience. All that does is makes me waste time in loading screens and menus before reselecting the event and racing again. I probably shouldn't pick on Dirt 3, I think Forza 4 does the same thing so maybe they can't figure out a way to do it. Whatever the reason, it's annoying.
Did I mention the music and menus are terrible? Now that I really think about it, and yes I'm writing this stream of consciousness-style because I really am just thinking about this, the only thing I like about this game is the actual racing. I wish Codemasters would tone down the Mountain Dew-infused extreme sports schtick for this game.
I did the same thing with Portal 2 that I did with the original. I played it once, set it down and have no desire to touch it again. The game is perfectly enjoyable because it is challenging and makes you feel clever. The story is a great follow up to the first and garners a fair share of belly-jigglers along the way. Maybe the reason I don't want to play the Portal games again is I know I'll feel stupid when I get to a puzzle I already solved but can't remember the solution.
Out of all the games I played this year this is the hardest one to write about because I don't share the same love for it as I probably should. I like it well enough but it's not the type of game I normally fall in love with. I really enjoyed the co-op but one time was enough for me.
I enjoyed the subterranean sections of the game and thought the Wheatley wackiness was well done. The gels were fun to play with. Who doesn't like to speed off a ramp, bounce off a wall and fly through a hole? The controls felt like Portal and it's still fun to endlessly free-fall.
I played through Renegade Ops twice. Once because I was having fun and it seemed like a moderately humorous game I could play with my friends and then a second time when during the very last part of the very last mission of my first play-through the game froze and destroyed the save.
Playing through a second time wasn't too bad because the game is actually a challenging, well-designed dual joystick shooter with an over the top sense of humor. The first level got a little old and not all of the characters were worth playing but my friend and I powered through.
As I think back about Renegade Ops now, I can't remember anything about it other than the mechanics of the shooting. I know there was that Inferno guy who was this game's Makarov and there was a betrayal jammed in there somewhere but, other than the first few levels, I can't remember what the hell I did in that game.
The fact that I remember liking the game a lot and can't remember much about it baffles me. I only bought this game because of the Just Cause 2 connection and it fulfilled its end of the purchase. I'm happy with spending the money on it even if it was forgettable. Some day I might even hop back into it if the mood strikes.
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