I wonder if the people that defend censorship as "business decisions" would say the same if Nintendo would remove the gay characters from Fates. Or instead of the removal of the breast slider in the character creation removed the skin color options in Xenoblade. I somewhat doubt it.
It's all about which hill you choose to die on.
I think fighting censorship is a good hill to die on. Self censorship is real and as someone that grew up in Germany I can tell you that it fucking sucks and should not be tolerated under any circumstances.
The phrase "hill to die on" is a dumb phrase Alex (whom I like) picked up from Anti-Gamergate people.
It's a phrase that really pisses me off because of it's dismissiveness. To claim that it's a hill "to die on" suggests that it's a battle that one can't possibly win. The person quoting the dumb phrases is already saying that your position isn't worth fighting because their position is so inherently superior.
Beyond that, it's also suggesting that the thing you are upset about isn't really a big enough deal to be upset about.
"Oh, hey, staff, you'll notice that we deduced 20 dollars from each of your paychecks so that we could purchase a gift for the president of the company."
"Um... I would have liked to be able to donate to that and not have it taken out of my check..."
"It's only 20 dollars."
"Well, yes, but it's my paycheck."
"Is this really the hill you want to die on?"
Like, that's the kind of thing that one says right before they get punched in the mouth.
@bananasfoster: its not just Austin both Alex and Jeff do it too. It gets hard to listen to. I prefer how the Bombcast does it. Everyone gets their own time instead of jumping in all the time.
Yeah, I don't know. I really enjoy the banter between Backalar, Alex and Vinny. Personally i feel like they do a great job of creating energy. There's nothing wrong with interjections, in my opinion, so long as it's not changing the subject or disallowing someone from expressing the meaning of what they were going to say.
I feel like I always have to point out, when people bring up Japan's relationship with sexuality, that "relaxed" can oftentimes be interchanged with "oppressive". Japan ranks somewhere in the low 80s on the ranking of quality of life for women.
Here's just one study, but there are dozens out there. One trip to google can pull down enough results to keep you reading for hours. But, I mean, this shouldn't be shocking. When a country has to make women-only train cars to stop men groping/raping women on commuter trains... it's not going to be a shock that it's low on the list for quality of life regarding women.
But this should also not be a surprise because we're gamers and we know about Japan. The problem is, people always point at Japan and say, "But Japan does xyz!!!" and the unspoken end of the sentence is "... and THEY'RE okay!!" But that's all a point of view. In many people's estimation... Japan is not "okay".
After all, the inability for Japanese Men and Women to come to terms with how relationships should function is a contributing factor to their problem of catastrophically low birth-rates.
I find it kind of weird and narrow to say that something like changing of costumes in game being brought over from east to west doesn't fall under censorship. A word like censorship operates on multiple different levels, which is to say it can refer to more serious happenings such as a reporter being cut off from reporting because of government intervention and at the same time refer to something like Nintendo changing a characters costume.
Anything that is a block of original intent is seen as form of censorship in my eyes. In the Japanese release, that character was intended to look in such and such way, but because Nintendo felt that was too risque for western audiences it stepped in and said, "naw, you gotta change that."
And lets be honest, Japan is far more relaxed when it comes to sexuality, and in fact it is flaunted and celebrated in a way that is often perplexing to western audiences. The age consent is also significantly lower, being something like 13 the last time I heard. What is seen as gross in the west is a lot more normal in Japan. Tecmo not wanting to bring DOA over may have been for business reasons, while also being that they didn't want to deal with the same group of people who bashed the original Tomb Raider for Lara's moans apparently sounding sexual. Why even bring over this niche game when it's gonna probably get more people whining about the bouncy boobs, then the actual sales numbers for the game in this territory? Might as well just release it in terrtories they know will just enjoy it for what it is. The reasons for it not coming over don't have to be mutually exclusive.
I feel like I always have to point out, when people bring up Japan's relationship with sexuality, that "relaxed" can oftentimes be interchanged with "oppressive". Japan ranks somewhere in the low 80s on the ranking of quality of life for women. America is 8, I believe. Canada is 3. What is tolerable in one country does not necessarily translate as being tolerable in ALL countries, with legitimate reason. Not all censorship is bad. Personally, I have always really appreciated and admired the way Germany outlawed all Nazi materials at the end of WW2. That is the culture of a country who is truly sorry for what they allowed to happen within their country.
I liked this ep because they didn't talk over each other so much like they normally do.
That's due to them being on the phone, I would wager. I don't think anyone really talks over anyone else aside from Austin, which I find a little bit annoying. Part of me wonders if it's just a "listening noise" wherein people make utterances and interjections to show that they are paying attention to the conversation. Usually this comes out as simply, "mmhmms" or in someone like Jeff Backalar's vocabulary, "Totally.". But some people finish other people's sentences or repeat what they just said. I don't think that plays well on a podcast.
@sammo21: I dunno it seems like there should be a difference between someone acting like a child on their personal page and a company acting like one on their official page.
"acting like a child" is entirely subjective. The people who WENT to play asia for the behavior don't see it as acting like a child.
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