Like, I literally cannot fathom what is going on in the forums right now. Have I been gone that long? Clearly, but this is sort of the type of thing that's very insular to the specific topic. I mean, on one hand you have Patrick's op ed. about booth babes and how in the long run it makes everyone look bad. And on another, you've got the community's reaction to Anita Sarkeesian's kickstarter project. And to say that the community is negative would be the understatement of the ages, only comparable to say that water is wet.

Let's get this straight, and this is very important to Patrick's main point, the whole booth babes thing makes everyone look bad. In fact, to be very specific, the current use of models in these conventions makes everyone look bad (A point that reached the epoch in mention of the DMC pole dancers). Yes yes, I know, auto shows do it too. But let's get this straight, I can't find anybody who thinks about model use in an auto show and doesn't think it's silly. And auto shows are pretty much for the guys (Again, don't exactly have much data to show otherwise), but games are not. Again, games are not just for the boys, and games stand up on their own merit to the attraction and likelihood of people going to see them, and you certainly don't need scantily clad and attractive women to bring people to see the games, people are kind of already going to go see it anyways. What is the point of the booth babe? And know what, since the medium isn't as guy focused as we pretend it is, why not have male models too? If anything, it just shows that the industry is still stuck in the past, and are reinforcing a negative stereotype of gamers. Do we want this? No. Should we get rid of cosplayers? Never. Should the industry apply the slightest form of tact and maturity towards the real demographics of the audience they are going to sell the products to? Do I have to answer that last question? Exactly.

I think it's important to note this, gamers are really really bad at introspection. If there's one thing to take away from the kickstarter thread, it's not that a lot of duders are sexist, but rather it's that they don't dare allow any criticism of games at any point and anyone who dares to make a critique is essentially a bad person and deserves what they get coming to them. There is no other reason for the reaction against Anita, and the reaction pardoning the people who harassed her. "Well it's the internet" is no justification and will never be a justification for all the threats she received. And no, the amount of money she got by the end for the project especially does not justify it, and you using that as an example just makes you look too lazy and stupid to think of a real reason to be angry.

What is going on? Are the people who play video games truly this disrespectful as a whole? Certainly not, but it's quite scary how most of the reactions to Patrick's article and Anita's kickstarter are entirely negative, and attack the person writing it, while entirely making everyone look bad. If people who think the news medias of the world are making video gamers look bad, they certainly need a good hard look at themselves. Because anytime any criticism comes up of gamer attitudes in online play, or lazy design choices in games, or just how male oriented the attitudes of the industry and community come off, the first thing that we see is a collective "HOW DARE YOU" from a large portion of gamers. This has to end, not because of any moral reason, but because it makes us all look bad and stupid. It's bad enough that people were bitching about Aisha Tyler. Yes, Aisha Fucking Tyler.

Oh boyyyy, oooooh boy, birthday huzzah. Today I turn 22, and by today I mean tomorrow, but since it's so late everyone might probably possibly see this tomorrow, so when you do, understand when I say today, I mean tomorrow's today, no not tomorrow's yesterday, you're doing it wrong! Anyways, I just thought I'd share with you the wonder of Bumble the Great! That is all, go back to sleep, or, go to work/class. Or, go back to Max Payne 3, and if you do you have read this very very late and it is instead my friend's birthday.

Happy birthday to them on that day, of May 15th. Well goodnight.

Well, I don't have much more time left to enjoy console video gaming, all this planning to move to England for university made me realize something. Holy shit, I'm not a PC gamer. This is quite the pickle, so I figured I might as well take the time to enjoy it all as much as possible. Max Payne 3 is the only upcoming game that I can enjoy, but in the meantime, how about a bunch of games I missed to be the subject of something or other. Right? Deal with it, scroll down faster. Faster damn you!

Alpha Protocol Two Years Later

Why haven't I played this game yet? Seriously, am I stupid or something? This game gives me exactly what I want, the ability to be an asshole in game without feeling completely guilty. It took me two days to plow through the entire game, but I had taken the bland approach. Make friends with the good guys, make friends with the innocent, and be a general bastard to the bad guys. And that's fun and all, especially with Michael Thorton being amazingly dry about the whole affair, and with the story being so well written. But when you learn to be an asshole, you experience something beautiful. You put aside your problems with the gameplay and bugs, just for that one moment. The moment where Mike tells someone to fuck off, or when he nonchalantly talks about how he killed someone or when finally Mike shits on Leland for his stupid fucking tie looking like shit. Then realize, that moment happens all the time with Mike. Literally every time he opens his snark of a mouth.

This whole game brings into question what is wrong with storytelling in other games. Not those that don't give choice in how the story plays out, if I complained about that, I would feel like the biggest twat in the world. But those games that give you the illusion of choice. The illusion of role playing. In a game like Skyrim where I play a former merchant orc turned adventurer and bard, role playing that is... hard. Also it being on Master difficulty makes it harder. And more so when you take away the ability to fast travel. Anyway, those games require a forced application of role playing. You have to force yourself to behave like that character. And in the case of my orc, I have priorities. Focus on speech and all the abilities that a business owner would have in this fantasy world, like making your own goods. But aside from spec'ing, there's not much role playing to have. A game like Alpha Protocol requires you to role play, even expanding outside of the whole spy narrative, you can be a total psychopath to everyone you meet. It yields all sorts of different results. Think of the D&D system in Baldur's Gate, if you maintain something like chaotic good, you get benefits and if you depart from that course, you are slightly punished for it in terms of the buffs you get (Which is not to say it's very noticeable, veering off course in behaviour has its own results).

One final thing about the game and it's the shooting. It's fine, damn it. What do you people expect? It's an RPG in a modern setting, that uses conventions of older RPGs. That means that the protagonist isn't the greatest at what he does yet. What fun is there in a role playing game if there is zero progress in the skill of the protagonist? Now I'm not saying there's no way of doing it better, but if Mike had the ability to use all weapons perfectly, then why have any points at all? Why level up if he's already the best at what he does? This game is an RPG, not an action adventure "RPG" where your character is pretty much as good as can be but can make his guns shinier.

System Shock 2, wait, didn't I play this game before?

You bet your sweet ass, me. I did play it. Many times. But this is less about the game, and more about these podcasts featuring a bunch of former Looking Glass Studio designers. Like, oh, Terri Brosius, Eric Brosius, Greg LoPiccolo... and Ken Levine too if you want someone you recognize. But really, we all know how great their games were. The Thief series, and the System Shock games. The stories from all of these people are so interesting, and so unbelievable. Nowadays, you could not possibly get away with some of the stuff they have done. I highly suggest listening to all of them, and here's one with Terri Brosius (Voice of SHODAN) and Dan Thron who was well involved in the Thief series and is now in the movie business behind the scenes.

Sorry I lied that I would be talking about SS2, but this is far more interesting than my inane ramblings which you skipped.

To be fair, the trilogy as a story was... inconsistent, so I shouldn't be shocked. However, seeing the end just ugh...

God damn it, Bioware.

I have a certain love for block related puzzle games, I dunno about you, but whenever I combine blocks to progress in someway is absolutely satisfying. Seriously, some of the best games are block related, Tetris, Minecraft, Blocks: The Videogame (Note, that last one doesn't exist). So when I first saw Catherine's gameplay being described, I thought how long it would take for me to buy the game after it came out. The answer by the way, is 3 days. But I saw the review of it from Jeff yesterday and thought two things. First was "Holy shit I have to choose between this and El Shaddai, nice to know I've been unconscious for a year again". But the second was that Jeff's review was very... short. Yes, it is a block related videogame driven by story, gotcha. What could be said? Apparently shallow characters and boring gameplay is one of the things to be said. If you've played the game, the first critique of the characters seems to be a whole lot of horseshit (Cough cough Erica), but the blocks pushing/pulling/hanging/so on so forth is boring? Also untrue, but nitpicking Jeff's opinion can only go so far, he is entitled to it. But I'll treat it as the outlier to all the reviews out there (Like a reviewer giving Toy Story 3 2 out of 10 stars, where everyone else gives it 9 or 10 with the strong urge of murdering the asshole that gave it 2/10). 
 
But never mind that, something that really hit me about the game was looking straight at how we view relationships, ya ya, preachy preachy whine whine. I really did answer everything honestly, and managed to get the blue karma. It's not about good or bad karma, it's about if you are submissive in the relationship, unsure about how one would be outside of the relationship and unable to cope. Essentially, imagine being Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.   

Why? I'll tell you why! People suck, that's why! Well, not all people. You know how I am, I love people. Sometimes ironically so, like the hipster shit I am sometimes. But yea, oozing disappointment, isolation and lack of videogames to play suck. You ever happen to be alone, and start to think and think and think, and at one point you start to fear everything around you and hate yourself with an everliving passion? 
 
Well, I just had one of those moments. But might as well start to have a conversation about body image and gender confusion. Both of which for me are very much connected, as it is for many others. Don't worry person reading this, video games are down below, enjoy that if you're not in the mood to think about this. If I were to describe my body, I would describe it as grotesque. That is the kindest word I could give it, because on a daily basis I look at it and manage to cram an entire hour's worth of hate right at it. It's gross.  I wish I lost 1/4th of my body width. I wish I were shorter. I wish that my hips were curvier. My shoulders less coarse. My head smaller. My hair wavy and long.

System Shock 1, more DOXbox needed

Today is an important day, possibly the most important of my life at this exact moment. It's the one year anniversary of the best day I could ever have. The only way to explain it is with a hopefully not too long post, that may or may not be posted on the forums. I'll need requests so that I can garner the courage to repost. Hopefully it'll explain why I always come here despite seldom posting, hopefully. Anyways, here goes nothing. 
  

Conclusion to a nightmare

"Giantbomb isn't a dating site, I hope you realize that"

Took your time to get here

They are all unbelievable douchebags. Hey there dudes and dudettes, and those who just prefer to be called duders. Been a long time, how are you? How're the kids? How's the sore on your ass? Glad to hear! Mine's healing up! Wanna know what I've been up to? No? Too bad! I'll tell you. 
 
September 4th, 2010: Tried to comfortably get ready for future, understood the value of friendship and hard work. Felt glad that for once, I finally settled in a spot that I can call home...  

*coma* 
 
February 11th, 2011: Wait, what the fuck happened in between?! Shit!!! Okay, collect info about life. Alone again, hard work has totally just blown up in my face because of a lack of interest. Gaming took a dive as I cared less and less into multiplayer goodness. My chest hurts, my friends are undertaking drama nonstop and think it's a good idea to drag me into it as I try to sort out my own idiocies. Anti-social attitudes seemed to have taken over ruining future hopes, god damn it I suck! Fucking shit, readers! And my Dwarves keep dying in Dwarf Fortress! Damn! 
 
Essentially, nothing new.  
 

Bill Maher's show sucks, and his audience sucks a million times more

You know what else sucks? A cold

Unfortunately, my Silent Hill 2 re-experiencing will have to be postponed, not that I was going to blog about that. I might have basically waited until the end of the playthrough, then talked about the experience while at the same time calling Pyramid Head a girl. You can blame Mangaminx for that, I swear, I would marry her if I weren't already... aww nevermind, just the ramblings of an insanely old 20 year old. 
 
Anyways, Ocarina of Time... how long has it been? I'd say about a stupidly long time. I'd also say I've never beaten it. Blame anything you want, blame me, but I blame the Water Temple. If the Water Temple were a human, I'd call that person a shit-eating, cunt-faced prick. Ick, scat, shoo you bad thoughts. Anyways, unlike other Zelda games (Other Zelda games being A Link to the Past, and only A Link to the Past), I've never been close to beating this game. In fact, I barely remember much of it. I blame the short term memory loss, or the fact that I was a little retard. That too I guess... 
 
Anyways, just a message to y'all that I'm revisiting the game. Will I do a written LP of it? Heck no, my only LP will be dedicated to someone very special, and I still need the recording tech for that. Also the game.
 
With hugs for all, 
Snipzor

Remember that Margaret Somerville rant I had twice that I never got back to because of stupid school and lack of continuity? Well I'm back... kinda. This is my birthday present, ranting against an annoying bitch of which I have vast and probably intense disagreements with on both an ideological sense, and on pretty much every other thing I can't think of at this moment because I still hate the fact that I'm turning 20 in just a few more hours (Reminds me of Majora's Mask actually, stupid Kafei). But my transition from one second to another second aside, I want to feel better about myself. Thus, Part 3 of the possibly ongoing rants against Margaret "I'm not a homophobe, I just don't want them to have the same rights as me" Somerville. 
 
Now, you probably already guessed what I'm talking about. That's right, cheese... no wait, secularism. Can't believe I got that wrong. The whole secularism debate is very tricky, in a way that totally isn't tricky at all. Every time a social conservative argues an idiotic point while claiming they are secular, I raise an eyebrow, and then the other because I can't actually raise only one. Are their arguments based upon old ideology? Are their arguments presuming that society is fixed in culture? Are their arguments that fucking stupid? These three questions come up, and are imperative in finding out if they are secular, and it's quite easy in this case because one calls bullshit very quickly. Why? Gay marriage debate, and I have an article so I don't have to read through that FUCKING BOOK ever again. Now, where did I raise the eyebrows first? Well, where I got the article, The Catholic Education Resource Center. Okay, technically she did not publish it there, but there is something about this that is weird. Christians who are also social conservatives won't take steps to learn anything. So any real secular knowledge they hear won't be listened to, because they don't understand it (And refuse to). They post this article because the ideology in it is very familiar, and very... Christian. Reproduction, culture, I'm sorry but these two things have no place in the secular field, because they are purely Christian in nature. And also bullshit. 
 
Second eyebrows came up in the specific part called "Attributing Homophobia". Now, here's something you should ponder. Do you ever pre-emptively introduce yourself to a neighbor by stating "I'm your non-racist neighbor who does not go to klan rallies and does not do bimonthly crossburnings"? Obviously not, and for good reason. Now, why would she have a very specific part in her article dispelling claims that she is a homophobe (Also not an anti-semite)? And another question, why would UKIP do the exact same thing? But UKIP is another story altogether (Brits should care about their racist ideology though). She immediately talks about ad hominems, and then ends it right there. Note, she doesn't actually dispel the claims, she just complains about it. Generally I'll support a logical fallacy dispel, but when the line of reasoning of calling her a homophobe is directly related with the fact that her arguments were taken from a homophobes playbook, she probably should not use that card. 
 
In terms of points, she makes, we must understand two things. One, they are Christian implicitly, and two they are homophobic in source. The first point she makes is that marriage promotes creation of human life. If you did not scream bullshit the second you read that, read it again. Now, how many ways can we dispel this? Many actually. First being that I'm pretty damn sure the human race managed to promote creation of life before religion or even marriage (Oh yea, marriage happened before religion), after all we are here are we not? Second, married couples don't all have kids or can have kids. These are the obvious ones, but her argument is essentially already devolved into the appeal to tradition (Hey look, I can call out logical fallacies as well!). So already, this is a bullshit point. Her second point (And ignore the fact that she has an entire rant after the previous point I pointed out, it is a continuation of the first) is that same-sex marriage will harm the religious and restrict their freedoms. 
 
If you didn't call massive bullshit on that, read it once more. That's right, her second point against same-sex marriage is that it harms the religious. Now there are many reasons for this argument to go fuck itself. But that shall be unspoken, because I don't want to say the obvious of something we both know. So again, right-wing ethics are bullshit. My whole feeling regarding this can be summed up in two words, right after a quote FTFA.