By now, dear readers, you have probably heard about the Eurogamer interview yesterday with Gearbox about Borderlands 2 and what happened with their lead designer, John Hemingway. If you haven't, well, it got a bit sexist. Literally, just a bit. A single implication turned the internet into another storm of controversy concerning the role of women in gaming.

When talking about the Mecromancer, a DLC class to be added to the game after release, Hemingway described a skill tree called Best Friends Forever, which uses an array of abilities such as ricocheting bullets to help players that "suck." It's supposed to help newbies get a grasp on the mechanics of first person shooters and bring them into the genre, which can, admittedly, be daunting to the uninitiated.

Unfortunately, he described it as "Girlfriend Mode." It didn't go over well.

"The design team was looking at the concept art and thought, you know what, this is actually the cutest character we've ever had. I want to make, for the lack of a better term, the girlfriend skill tree. This is, I love Borderlands and I want to share it with someone, but they suck at first-person shooters. Can we make a skill tree that actually allows them to understand the game and to play the game? That's what our attempt with the Best Friends Forever skill tree is."

Normally, such a slight and casual example of sexism would not be enough to set off my prejudice alarms, and this was no exception. I was much more interested in a major FPS release going the extra mile to make their game more casual-player accessible without sacrificing difficulty (though, it is via DLC, so it's not that much more accessible).

But that's just me, and writers much more diligent and talented than I raised their digital pens and said, "Hey, not cool." Gearbox has done some apologizing and the drama has essentially subsided. The beauty of it, however, has yet to be fully realized.

It's not okay to be sexist in video games anymore. We all know that. The fallout from the Tomb Raider and Hitman trailers this summer proved that large, blunt depictions of tired sexist tropes and threats of rape do not sit right with this community. And today we saw that small, offhand remarks are not okay either.

The comment was probably relatively innocent and few people really think John Hemingway is a secret misogynist trying to bring down the status of women. It was just an easy way to get his point across, right?. But that's the point of this internet drama.

Even tiny comments do bring others down and reinforce outdated stereotypes. They have an annoying tendency to push into people's subconsciousness and covertly spread prejudice. Basically, it wouldn't have made any sense calling a gameplay style designed for people that suck "Girlfriend Mode" if we didn't already think on some level that girlfriends suck at games.

Of course, today's "Girlfriend Mode" was a relatively small incident and no one expects misogynists to suddenly question their morals and decide to change before going to sleep tonight. No one's calling for any resignations or anything absurd like that. A small crime deserves a small punishment, and I certainly think Mr. Hemingway and Gearbox have had theirs.

But if we can keep the dialogue open and continue root out these easy-to-miss incidents, real change is possible.

The Diablo 3 saga continues with another set of highs and lows for Blizzard's sparkling new action RPG. First the bad news. After numerous players came forward in Blizzard's forums claiming missing items and hacked accounts, Blizzard countered yesterday that they have yet to deal with a case of hacking into a battle.net account with an attached authenticator. No outside IPs have linked back to vulnerable accounts, only addresses associated with the login.

That's right, as far as they can see right now, people are being scammed through "traditional means." This is 2012, people. By this point, the internet is almost able to drink legally in the US. We should know by now that unique passwords and any available extra security measures, like Blizzard's random number generating authenticator, are essential for online games. It might not always keep you secure, but it will definitely help.

But on the bright side for Blizzard, Diablo 3 has eviscerated sales records with an estimated 3.5 million copies sold within the first 24 hours of launch. Add in the 1.2 million people playing copies that came free with the World of Warcraft Annual Pass, and all the sales since then, and it comes out to around 6.7 million games.

"We're definitely thrilled that so many people around the world were excited to pick up their copy of Diablo 3 and jump in the moment it went live," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We recognize that setting a new launch record is a big achievement," Morhaime continued. "However, we're especially proud of the gameplay feedback we've received from players worldwide. We're pleased that Diablo 3 has lived up to players' high expectations, and we're looking forward to welcoming more players into Sanctuary in the days ahead."

And that doesn't even take into account the Korean Internet game rooms where Diablo 3 has earned an estimated 39% of play. Ignore the subtle stereotype that official stat implies about Korean lifestyles and sit in awe at Bizzard's power.

Of course, the state we're all really wondering about is how many left clicks 6.3 million games can generate. I'm guessing trillions.

Civilization 5 will turn the tide of war and win back your time this spring with the release of the Gods and Kings expansion. Focusing on adding a few major game aspects, this expansion promises the return of fan favorite features religion and espionage, missing from the basic version of the world domination simulator, as well as tweaks to combat and diplomacy.

Religions allow players to found and grow the faith of their people from the very beginning, offering a much richer experience than religion in Civ 4. Now, religions can be customized to fit particular playstyles, such as aiding culture or war development, pulling different beliefs from a common pool shared among all players. Once an empire's faith adopts a practice, it disappears from the available options for other players, creating a new avenue for resource competition.

Religions grow in a variety of ways depending on your civilization and belief choices, such as the Celts gaining extra faith for living near wooded areas. Eventually, your faith can blossom into pantheon of gods or even see a prophet arrive to bring the true word and upgrade to major religion status, allowing further customization and development to suit your playstyle.

To hear about the more secular additions Gods and Kings brings to Civilization 5, as well as a few more nifty images, make the jump.

Your agents provide numerous behind the scenes benefits, like gathering information about what other nations are planning, giving actual insight into what the computer is running behind the scenes. They can also rig elections in city-states to install officials that like you or stage coups to try and takeover by force.

Speaking of city-states, Gods and Kings introduces two new varieties - mercantile states that can provide unique luxuries and religious states to bolster faith for their allies. Thankfully, the city-state system has also received some much needed attention. Previously, city-states would create alliances based on monetary investments, essentially letting players buy their way into powerful positions during elections.

All of that disappears with the Gods and Kings expansion. Now, these independent states will set tasks, affectionately called "quests" by the game, which determine what nations earn their favor. They cover nearly every aspect of play, from technological advancements to bringing faith to godless regions, adding a new layer of complexity demanding a leader's attention.

That is unless you want to smash your way to victory. The combat system has been slowed down noticeably, which lets conflicts grow from simple hack and burn conflicts to full on battles with dynamic battle lines and an actual feeling of war. Other tweaks include a few new ranged units to help keep pace with melee fighters and new melee naval units, like the WWI destroyer, to add more danger to coastal areas.

And, of course, the expansion comes with tons of new pieces to fill the world. 9 new civilizations will be available, including the Celts, Maya, Byzantines, Netherlands, and Carthage, each with the appropriate historical leader such as William I, Prince of Orange for the Netherlands and Boudicca of the Celts, each also speaking the appropriate language of their people in scenes.

Civilization 5: Gods and Kings hits stores this spring. Until then, pass the time looking over these screen shots and plan your next world domination.

For Pokemon fans, tonight will be a sleepless night rivaled only by Christmas Eve and the euphoria after catching a shiny Jigglypuff. Game Freak director Junichi Masuda has announced via the Game Freak blog that he will be revealing something on the Japanese show, Pokemon Smash, this Sunday.

On this coming Sunday, Februrary 26, 2012, from 7:30 A.M, I, Masuda, will be appearing on TV TOKYO's Show, "Pokémon Smash!"

I will be making a VERY important announcement, so be sure not to miss it!! Watch it live on TV!

And, for those of you who can't watch television on live, I will announce the same information right after the show via twitter!!

While the Pokemon franchise has piles of spinoffs and rereleases that could fill the spot, it seems most likely that Masuda will announce the third fifth generation game, presumably titled Pokemon Grey, to keep the streak of spring main series releases. Of course, it could also be information on the Pokemon/Nobunaga's Ambition or perhaps a follow-up to Pokemon: Battle Revolution to include fifth generation monsters, but that seems more unlikely.

Regardless, you can follow the twitter link to hear the news straight from Masuda himself this weekend or just wait for the inevitable wave of news stories sure to flood the internet. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to tend to my shiny Jigglypuff.