Welcome to Getting Some Play — the spiritual successor to Sarah Warn‘s excellent Good Game column – where we’ll take a look at the latest releases, news and developments in the world of videogames.
No Homo
Lest I be seen as a columnist who only writes about Bioware games and the queer romances within, I’ll make this brief: David Gaider, a writer on Dragon Age, recently — and publicly – schooled a homophobe on the Bioware forums with sweet, delicious logic.
The forum fool claimed that the company had forgotten the so-called “straight male gamer” in the latest title, and demanded a “no homosexuality option”. In response, Gaider said this:
The romances in the game are not for “the straight male gamer”. They’re for everyone. We have a lot of fans, many of whom are neither straight nor male, and they deserve no less attention. We have good numbers, after all, on the number of people who actually used similar sorts of content in DAO and thus don’t need to resort to anecdotal evidence to support our idea that their numbers are not insignificant… and that’s ignoring the idea that they don’t have just as much right to play the kind of game they wish as anyone else. The “rights” of anyone with regards to a game are murky at best, but anyone who takes that stance must apply it equally to both the minority as well as the majority. The majority has no inherent “right” to get more options than anyone else.
He goes on to invoke privilege and political correctness and romance itself, closing out with a nice, succinct “get over it”:
The very best we can do is give everyone a little bit of choice, and that’s what we tried here.
And the person who says that the only way to please them is to restrict options for others is, if you ask me, the one who deserves it least. And that’s my opinion, expressed as politely as possible.”
Huge props to Gaider for staying classy while giving this moron a proper browbeating. You don’t see this kind of LGBT-friendly courage often in the world of mega budget games, so good on you, Mr. Gaider.
Unfortunately, a petition has been created for his firing from Bioware, with the misguided assumption that the Dragon Age characters were written specifically to vilify LGBT people. The good folks over at GayGamer strongly disagree, and they’ve even started a counter-petition to show Gaider a little support from the community.
Spider-Man, Spider-Man
The biggest news of the week was surely the launch of the Nintendo 3DS, but we covered that last time around. Even more exciting for superhero fans was the announcement of a brand new Spider-Man game, a dimensional/time-traveling action adventure aptly named Spider-Man: End of Time. The team behind the solid (if somewhat uneven) Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is handling this iteration of the spandexed crusader’s adventures, so it should be one to look for. If you’re one of those lucky people going to Wondercon this weekend, there will be a “sneak peek” presentation on Saturday (4:30 p.m. in Room 103).
Incoming
There’s a whole lot of “shovelware” coming out in the next couple of weeks, but fret not — there are plenty of gems to keep the first half of April interesting.
Shift 2: Unleashed just came out, and it’s getting good reviews. I adored the first game, with its innovative “points” system and beefy sense of speed, so this should be high on your speed demon list. Also on the horizon for racing fans is MotorStorm Apocalypse for the PS3, which could be a solid bet if you aren’t sick of the whole “brown” aesthetic yet.
Golfers take heart: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 is available for all of the major platforms. This is me rising above the urge to make a Tiger Blood/Tiger Woods related joke.
I have no idea if it will be any good at all, but I’d be remiss in my queer duties if I didn’t mention that Karaoke Revolution: Glee 2 is due out for the Wii on April 5th. Personally, I’m more interested in the “Ultra Edition” of the super-hardcore platformer Super Meat Boy, out on PC the same day, but hey, to each their own.
Last but certainly not least; Patapon 3 should be at the tippy-top of every PSP gamer’s list.
On the horizon are the new (awesomely 90s-looking) Mortal Kombat, Wii Shooter Conduit 2 and PS3 tactical combat/shooter SOCOM: Navy Seals 4, so if nothing strikes your fancy this week, the next will be brighter!
