GayGamer.net

Dragon Age: Gay Plus, Trans Negative?

2009-11-20T22:00:00Z

As with many of the writers here at the GayGamer.net castle, I've had a huge chunk of my time swallowed by playing Dragon Age: Origins. As we already have a review and sex scenes with Zevran, I wanted to write about another piece of the game across which I ran (and one more piece after that--but that includes finishing the game, which I should manage this weekend).

In Denerim, the metropolis, in medieval terms, of Fereldan, there exists a brothel you can visit called The Pearl. If you speak to the madame there, she gives you the option of choosing your preferences, whether that be male, female, a surprise, or both.

Choosing both gives you what you see in the screenshot I captured up top. So, while many of us are going YAY! about the inclusion of Zevran and Leliana, below the fold you'll read about an issue that's made me frown.

]]> It can be difficult to write into media a character that is considered a minority and underrepresented. Among those difficulties is when finally including characters of the minority, having only a few examples tends to mean that it's the only representation players have of said persons. When that is a stereotype, it can be easy to be disappointed.

What you see above, in the brothel, is my human mage standing next to a woman who is coded as trans. Unfortunately, these trans women (both the ones in the screenshot include "female" companion), are already made known to us that they are trans by the nature of the quotations around female, as if to say, "This is no real female."

Ouch.

Now, the way this makes sense is that you are in a brothel, where such would be communicated to you. That problem is solved here, albeit in an inelegant manner. Unfortunately, the trans women across whom I've come in this game are only here, in The Pearl. It is commendable that sex workers in the game are not seen as wholly seedy or villified, but the fact that this inclusion codes trans women as only sexual fetishes and makes it appear humorous (with one companion, she quips, "Oh, don't pretend to be surprised now) makes me wonder a few things:

Are there other trans persons in this game? Where are they?

Which brings me to a bigger thought about games in general. If they include a trans person, how do they become coded? If they pass, it should never become an issue what sex they may have been at birth. Otherwise, how is the discovery handled? Had they not coded these trans sex workers before selection, would people have been insulted that they were 'tricked?'

Don't get me wrong, BioWare has done an amazing job with this game, and includes many political issues which I never expected of them (and I am a BioWare fan), but this one is an example of something I would like to see as a starting point to a more friendly, less stereotyped inclusion of the (too often ignored) T from our communities.

Particularly as the game does very well at other gender issues in the game (women that play as women, instead of just a male with woman model!), especially as it includes my favorite party companion, Shale.

Recent XBox Bans Not Actually A Million; Lawsuit Possible Anyway

2009-11-20T21:01:48Z

There's been some talk in the past week about a pretty staggering number: one million XBox 360 units banned from XBox Live on account of being modified - presumably, of course, to circumvent those pesky new game prices with the magic of Bittorrent. Not that it ever sounded very wise to tamper with a closed, proprietary game console before logging onto a closed, proprietary online service and assume nothing could possibly go awry.

Well, despite many, many, many, many, many sites reporting that a million accounts had been banned, it sounds like there was a bit too much cross-referencing and not enough fact-checking. XBox Live General Manager Marc Whitten hinted yesterday that the actual number of XBoxes banned last month is much smaller, noting that the popular 'one million banned' statistic essentially came from one site.

Even if it ended up being a false lead, it's easy to see why the appeal of this particular number was pretty tempting for most. Piracy is one of those problems that hovers like a specter, always present and hurting the bottom line of companies who give their all for their projects, but also basically impossible to actually measure. Regardless of who is or isn't a saint when it comes to respecting generations-old IP laws in our digital age, it's both astounding and plausible that a million XBoxes could have been modified to play pirtaed games on XBox Live. PROTIP: That's more XBoxes than the population of Alaska!

Regardless of whethery they number into the millions or have their own senators, the mass of folks who recently found themselves banned from XBox Live may yet get their comeuppance, in form of a class-action suit. Hit the jump to read more!

]]> US law firm AbingtonIP has put a form on their website asking the general populace for details on their particular situations if they themselves have found their consoles banned from Live, as well as whether they've received a prorated refund from Microsoft for the amount of months of Gold account service that had been purchased.

Of course, anyone who's paused during one those easily-clickable End User License Agreements has probably seen plenty of harsh language about how Microsoft is well within their rights to ban your account, stop giving you service, negate your marriage rights, and kick your dog--all at any time and without warning. This is, one would think, one of those sad facts of living in a world of corporations and legalese: going against The Man will mean they can have their way with you, because they have lawyers and you don't.

Which is exactly why it's interesting that AbingtonIP seems to be taking the first steps to enact a class action lawsuit against Microsoft for just such an attitude. From their perspective, Microsoft basically stole customers' money to the tune of between $8 and $50 for every single Gold account that was banned. Even if it wasn't a million accounts stacking up, that's still a whole lot of paid time for which MS happily received the money and then cut the cord. Part of the lawsuit may also point out the facts that Microsoft essentially waited until around the time the biggest multiplayer games were releasing, thus ensuring more bannable accounts were racking up paid time in Gold status, before banning them en-masse without a refund; and the little detail that, unless there's some sort of disc-imprinting technology MS has perfected, it's actually impossible to prove that someone with a modded console was truly using it to violate copyright and thus deprive anyone of their licensing fees.

Again, while it's definitely easy to laugh and say, 'you done messed up' to anyone who somehow thought it was a good idea to take a modded system online, the details involved do point to some maneuvering on Microsoft's part that may be violating the good faith of those who still paid for their online service. And it's not entirely test in our legal system whether EULAs are necessarily binding agreements - generally, they are, but if a court thinks there's enough unreasonable or greedy action on the part of the license holder, the contract suddenly gets a lot less powerful.

Or, to put it differently: just because someone big puts in writing that all grass in now lavender doesn't mean it's true. Nor does it mean they won't still hold a candlelight vigil and a tribunal to ensure the voices of proudly-green grass are still heard.

In any case, class-action lawsuits tend to take years to get rolling, which means the next time we hear progress on whether the modders and the lawyers who love them actually have a case to present will be around the same time the PlayBox 4 comes out.

NIMF Closing At Year's End

2009-11-20T20:00:00Z

The National Institute on Media and the Family will be shutting down at the end of 2009. NIMF, known for its annual Video Game Report Card, will be closing because of a lack of funding. Fairview Health Services, which supported NIMF annually with $750,000, could no longer meet its commitment thanks to economic woes.

President and founder Dr. David Walsh vowed to soldier on despite the organization's closing:

The current challenging economic environment accelerated those discussions making this the right time to begin transitioning the programs to other organizations who share our mission and values. I look forward to transitioning the Institute's programs to worthy organizations that I am confident will continue to educate parents and caregivers on our rapidly changing digital culture.

And in a blog post:

We've accomplished a lot of amazing things in the last thirteen years. And in that same amount of time there has been unprecedented technological innovation and an ever-increasing number of screens in young people's lives, making the Institute's mission just as relevant today as when we started. So while this chapter of the Institute's work is coming to a close, I am excited to transition the Institute's programs to organizations that will continue to foster the same important conversations and bring relevant solutions to parents.

NIMF's most recent Report Card gave high marks to the industry for education and enforcement of video game ratings - save an "incomplete" for Parental Involvement.

NIMF to Close at Year End [GamePolitics]

Contest: Listen And Win A Copy Of Dragon Age: Origins

2009-11-20T19:00:00Z

It's the season for giving and we've got some more great games to give away! This time we have two (2) copies of Dragon Age: Origins for the Xbox 360 to give away. I'm sure you're wondering what "Listen and Win" means, so without further ado, here's the rules of the contest.

Take a listen to our most recent podcast (#43 which you can find here) and be one of the first two people to return the questions below with the correct answers to info@gaygamer.net with the subject line "Listen and Win." If your email does not have that as the subject line, it will not be considered. Now, here are the questions.

1. What duo do Fruit Brute and Tiny Dancer compare themselves to?
2. What famous TV show did the duo in Question #1 come from?
3. What race and character class do Fruit Brute and Tiny Dancer play as in Dragon Age: Origins?
4. Which male character can you romance in Dragon Age: Origins? (character race and class, not his name)
5. Where did that character grow up?
6. What is the Japanese title of the Hotel Dusk sequel?
7. What game franchise has Fruit Brute given up on?
8. What is Fruit Brute and Tiny Dancer's favorite party game
9. Which characters do fruit Brute and Tiny Dancer play in Left4Dead 2, respectively.
10. What is video game character can Fruit Brute "get behind or in front of?"

Alrighty, there are your questions. Be aware that these are not necessarily in the order that they come in the podcast. You have the weekend to get your answers in and the winner will be announced on Monday. The first two people with all the correct answers will win the prizes. All answers must be submitted by 11:59pm PST on Sunday the 22nd.

Good Luck and Happy Listening!

Heroes' Paradise Hi-Res Screenshots

2009-11-20T18:00:36Z

As VorpalBunny let us know last week, they announced that they are making ports of the original No More Heroes game for both the PS3 and Xbox 360. They also announced that the game will be shipping in Japan on Feb. 25th; however, they still have yet to say when it'll be available for the rest of the world.

In the meantime, they've already launched the Japanese website for the new ports, now know as No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise. On the site you can see a number of hi-res screen shots from the game that show a glimpse of what fans will be getting on the higher resolution ports of the game. I decided to include a small gallery below to let you truly behold some of the video eye candy that will be cranked out for fans. At the same time, they've still kept the lovely 8-bit graphical interface that was part of the charm of the original title, so no worries about the developers selling out their souls to look pretty.

Video: Dino D-Day Teaser: The Greatest WTF Game Ever Made!

2009-11-20T17:00:00Z

Just when I thought it was impossible to make a World War II game not called Velvet Assassin that could impress me, somebody at Digital Ranch Interactive had to go ahead and make this monstrosity. Asking a "What if...?" question I've only asked myself during my night terrors, Dino D-Day's teaser trailer gives us a brief look into a world were Nazi's (humanity's most terrifying villains) and dinosaurs (nature's most efficient killers) team up. As you can see in the video above, the result is nothing short of astoundingly awesome! From the sight of Uncle Sam choking a raptor, to the gameplay footage of punching a T-rex in first person, Dino D-Day is promising a lot. Let's hope that the game's 2010 release via steam is able to live up to the laughably heart racing action this trailer shows off.

You can check out more information on the reptilian horde at http://www.dinodday.com/

Return to Ostagar With More Dragon Age DLC

2009-11-20T16:00:00Z

Are you one of the large number of people upset about the day 1 Dragon Age: Origins DLC? Well it looks like Bioware has listened to your complaints and will be releasing more DLC after the game's release too. See, Bioware and EA do care about you. And your wallet.

The following may contain story spoilers from the first few hours of the game, which have probably already been spoiled for you by now anyway.

The first piece of fresh DLC content was announced yesterday titled Return to Ostagar, which let's you, wait for it, return to Ostagar. After the tragic battle of Ostagar the darkspawn have taken over, and this DLC allows you to return to the battle site to fight back the darkspawn and reclaim the fallen King's armor. The DLC also gives you another opportunity to recruit the dog character into your party if you missed his side-quest in Ostagar the first time around.

Personally, I'll be holding off from getting this particular DLC since the King's weapons and armor seems to be the main draw and my mage character would have no use for them. I also have yet to find a use for the dog in my party, so I can't really say that people who missed out on him are missing that much. It will be interesting though to see if the content will take full advantage of the implications of wearing the armor of a recently deceased King, which I imagine should cause some unfavorable reactions from most other characters you meet during the game.

The content has been set at a price of $5 (400 MS points for Xbox 360 gamers), and though no exact date has been set yet for the content the claims of "available this holiday season" seem to imply an imminent release.

Battleswarm: Field of Honor Launches Officially

2009-11-20T14:00:00Z

I wrote a review of this FPS/RTS hybrid MMOG back in September; a short month later Battleswarm has gone from open beta to full release yesterday as the free-to-play title opens its doors to any and all interested players.

Battleswarm is an innovative title that pits a team of human players fighting an alien horde controlled by another player on competitive maps. The humans play from typical first person perspective while the aliens march towards their opponents' base via an overhead, tactical perspective. Players can earn points in game that can be used to purchase upgrades, or fork over actual cash for credits to accomplish the same thing. Microtransactions are the business model for the title and in my time playing they're accomplished to a respectable degree.

People who play during its opening weekend will have the chance to win an Alienware m15x laptop as well as two thousand in-game prizes. If you're a fan of quick competitive games and interested in an MMOG outside the normal WoW mold then this is definitely worth checking out. At the very least its price of free, free, free means there's nothing to lose if it's not your tastes.

Suspect Charged In Horrific Murder Of Puerto Rican Gay Teen

2009-11-20T08:30:00Z

While this isn't related to gaming, I wanted to take a second to post something about an issue that might have missed the radar for some of the readers here. This story has only recently begun to receive mainstream attention.

So if you're interested in reading a bit of topical news that has absolutely nothing to do with gaming but everything to do with young gay men, read on.

]]> Last week the body of 19 year old Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado was found on the side of a road in central Puerto Rico. The body had been decapitated, dismembered and partially burned. Both of his arms and legs had been severed, an attempt had been made to do the same with his torso, and the entirety of his body had been dumped off of an isolated street. Jorge was openly gay, well liked and very popular. From a posting to CNN's iReport, a resident of Puerto Rico stated that despite the issue being talked about vocally within the gay community there and despite outcries for action, the story went unreported until it became an international issue. Soon after the details of Jorge's sexuality began to emerge, one of the officers on the case made a public statement implying that the victim "had it coming" because of the lifestyle he "chose." Thankfully, because of the outrage of the Puerto Rican LGBT community, it appears this officer has been removed from the case and reprimanded for his comments.

By Wednesday a suspect had been apprehended and was charged for the crime. Juan A. Martinez Matos was interrogated by police and confessed that he picked the victim up off of the street and offered him cash for sex; allegedly he initially believed the victim was a woman, and when he discovered that wasn't the case had a violent reaction. During an altercation between the two, Martinez Matos claimed the victim pulled a knife first. The typical "gay panic" defense here is being used; Martinez Matos claimed that he regressed to an incident when he was sexually assaulted during an earlier stint in prison, leading to the conflict between them:

Martinez Matos was "looking for women" in a red light district last Friday. He had already been turned down several times, but Lopez Mercado, wearing a blue dress and boots, agreed to get in his car.
District Attorney Jose J. Bermudez says that in his confession, Martinez Matos said that he thought Lopez Mercado was a woman. The victim asked him for money and when he refused, Lopez Mercado pulled out a knife. When Martinez Matos realized that the teenager was actually male, he had a flashback to when he was raped in prison while he was serving a sentence for domestic violence. He then attacked Lopez Mercado, separating his arms from his torso.

Police found a wig, a knife, a burned mattress, a burned PVC pipe and blood on the wall where the murder took place.

Activists within Puerto Rico are asking the media to focus on the crime and not the behavior of the victim. With the recent passage of the Matthew Shepard Act, federal agencies are working with local officials to determine whether or not this will be tried as a hate crime. If it is, it will mark the first case to be tried under this provision. A lot of commentary is claiming that if not for the efforts of the LGBT community within Puerto Rico and worldwide to break this story, it would have remained largely ignored.

With every step towards equality we make, it's easy to begin to forget the difficulties we actually face as a community in the larger picture. It's easy to become complacent and forget the stark reality dealt with by so many people simply because of who they are; not just in countries like Iran, but in the United States and the UK where we don't "expect" this stuff to happen. It's easy to forget the people we've lost who paved the road towards us being able to be ourselves in the open in the first place. With every act of violence against our community, with every murder and suicide, we have to reaffirm our awareness and desire to ensure that tragedies like this are stopped permanently.

From everyone here we send best wishes and support to Jorge's family and hope that he receives justice for this abhorrent crime.

Atlus Dishes Shiren The Wanderer

2009-11-20T02:00:00Z

Today Atlus released some new content for the upcoming Wii RPG Shiren The Wanderer. At the top of this article, you'll see the final North American box art, and below, the first batch of English screenshots. There's also a blog that they've started that will offer up a look into the game, its storyline and whatnot. Unfortunately, Atlus has also confessed that three online features from the Japanese version of the game will not be making it Stateside.

"Despite our best efforts, the North American version of Shiren will not include the Rescue, Versus, or Item Transfer online features," stated Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales at Atlus. "However, the downloadable dungeon content from the Japanese version will be included on the disc. Without these subfeatures, Shiren is still a fantastic RPG, one we hope all gamers can experience and enjoy. Still, we understand that the absence of these features may influence some fans' decision to purchase the game, which is why we are bringing this to their attention as soon as possible."

If you're looking forward to playing as the wandering samurai Shiren and exploring a vision of historic Japan as you unravel the story of a mysterious sleeping princess and an ancient evil, you'll only have to wait until Shiren The Wanderer hits stores on February 9, 2010. (And on the plus side, Atlus has also added an "easy mode" so everyone can enjoy their RPG goodness, not just the hardcore Atlus Faithful!)

Brad Pitt To Star In Dark Void?

2009-11-20T00:30:00Z

Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B Entertainment, has struck a deal with Capcom for the film rights for Dark Void, the new action adventure game heading for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on January 22, 2010. The storyline centers on Will, a pilot who crash lands in the Bermuda Triangle following a routine mission. He awakens in "The Void," an alternate world resembling a primitive Earth where aliens with superior technology are plotting to take over civilization. Together with other humans who have fallen into the Void, Will takes on the alien overlords using their own technology against them including an awesome jet pack.

"As a game, Dark Void was developed with a wide-screen mentality - a world full of adventure presented in cinematic scope and scale," said Germaine Gioia, senior vice president, licensing, Capcom Entertainment. "Plan B recognized the potential of our newest property and are as excited about bringing Dark Void to life in cinemas as Capcom is to bring the interactive experience to home theaters."

The movie is currently being developed as a sci-fi action franchise that could potentially star Brad Pitt himself. I don't know. He's still hot (minus that hideous beard he's growing, I pray for a role), but I wonder if he's getting a little long in the tooth for the action hero role. I mean, I chose an older picture of him to go with the article for obvious reasons — have you seen him lately? Of course, I can't think of anybody better right now...

Video: Leaked Footage Of The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings

2009-11-19T23:58:23Z

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings may not exactly be the most anticipated sequel in the development pipeline, but this leaked footage - smuggled out of Russia's IGROMIR game expo - shows quite a bit of gameplay for a 45-degree angle pocket-shot.

A boss monster around the 4:00 mark is particularly cool-looking for the requisite tentacle boss, without which any game is apparently incomplete (I'm looking at you, Wii Music).

But developer CD Projekt RED seemed none too pleased that footage of the still-unannounced sequel escaped the conference. Said CDP CEO Adam Kiciński:

"Unfortunately, I have to confirm that the video which appeared a few days ago on the Internet is indeed a presentation of The Witcher 2. It's a video of a demonstration of the game during the so-called business days of the IGROMIR game expo in Russia."
"It was a closed demonstration for business partners, representatives of the biggest trade chains and a handful of chosen journalists - one of many such demonstrations CD Projekt RED has been doing in various countries. Unfortunately, despite a declared ban on filming and photography at all such events, someone managed to shoot a video at IGROMIR. Just like last time, we will not comment on that. Simultaneously, we can assure you that all confirmed information will be revealed soon after the game is officially announced."

Snap! Embrace the free press, fella. Or, for the paranoid, pretend to reject the free press while silently reveling in the success of your feigned leak. Whichever fits.

The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings Leaked Video; CDP Comments [VE3D]

Chumby One Makes Gaming And Applications Accessible

2009-11-19T23:00:00Z

The Chumby One was announced today. It's an adorable little computer that can play games, music, movies, and do internet stuff! Think of it as an iPod Touch that takes up the amount of space as a small radio. It has 15,000 apps pre-made for it, but it's also open source and you can unscrew the back and take out it's SD memory for hacking--which is encouraged by the manufacturer!

But the real market for the Chumby One is old people and young people--basically anyone who doesn't know how to fully utilize a computer. It's a device that can be set up by a techy person to be convenient for a non-techy person. So if you're looking for a way to ease your significant other, parent or kids into gaming it's a good place to start. Find out more about the Chumby One at the official website.

Resident Evil 5 Gets New Episodes, Costumes This Spring

2009-11-19T21:01:48Z

In just under a year after the game first launched, Capcom is delivering even more head-shooting, roundhouse-kicking zombie fun to fans of Resident Evil 5 by releasing two new episodes and separate costume packs.

The first episode was teased in the middle of RE5 and given more light in a recent TGS trailer - longtime fans of the series will get to jump back in time to Raccoon City, as Chris and Jill hunt for biohazardous baddie Albert Wesker in the original Spencer Mansion. This episode, "Lost In Nightmares," will be available February 17-18 as DLC on consoles along with the first costume pack. The second episode, of which no details are currently available, will be available a few weeks later starting March 3-4.

If you're like me and can enjoy a whole new experience just by having your character in a different outfit, the costume packs alone will mean quite a bit of added replay value, and apparently they're only going to put you out $2 for each pack. The episodes themselves also seem rather reasonably priced at $5 apiece. When one considers that RE5 itself was made up of only six chapters, it does seem to be a winning proposition, even if the new episodes don't end up quite as long as a full chapter.

Gamers who are getting into next-gen Resident Evil for the first time, or those who've already given up their copy to a friend, zombie, or second-hand retailer, will still have an opportunity to jump back in the game. Capcom has also announced a disc-based version of the original game plus all the bonus content listed here, bearing the moniker of Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, which should see a retail release on March 9 for a beefy $50.

While some of the new content was announced in conjunction with Sony's Glowing-Ball-On-A-Stick motion device, and a playable build of the RE5 has been shown off using it fairly effectively as a pointer, no word has been offered by Capcom as to whether Gold Edition will coincide with the motion controls or whether they'll be patched in later.

GayGamer.net Podcast #43

2009-11-19T21:00:00Z

The GayGamer.net Podcast #43 is here! Join Fruit Brute and Tiny dancer as we discuss the game news of the last week including: The latest 360 update, keeping up with the Joneses, The God of War Collection on PS3, EA layoffs, a possible Hotel Dusk sequel plus more on the racy Dragon Age: Origins gay sex scene!

We're always looking for reader questions to answer on the show so if you have a query for the crew that you'd like answered or would just like to suggest a topic for discussion, send it here with the subject line "Podcast Question."

THIS LINK WILL TAKE YOU TO THE GAYGAMER.NET PODCAST ON ITUNES!

or if you prefer you can

DOWNLOAD THE FILE DIRECTLY HERE!