* A faithful reader sends us an image from his Animal Crossing bathhouse, replete with a revealing painting and a saucy leather harness. Yum!
* Speaking of saucy, see Princess Peach as you've never seen her before in this revealing piece of fan art!
* An asteroid is named after our favorite gay rights activist George Takei.
* "LESBO" is a word according to Junior Scrabble 2007 on the Nintendo DS. Hmm...
Also, this was my last weekend writing for GayGamer; next weekend, you'll have two new lovely and very capable writers to fill my shoes. I just want to thank Fruit, Tiny, Mikey and all the other writers for letting me write for one of the best gaming websites there is! Although it's only been a few months, I feel like I've learned so much, shared some wonderful experiences and made life-long friends. Most of all, I want to thank all the readers (yes, you!!) for commenting and continuing to visit and support the website. Stay tuned in the next few weeks for big exciting things happening with GayGamer; I'm sure this won't be the last you hear from me... Until next time!
Earlier, we learned that the Gears of War movie is on hold due to budgetary concerns. But now GamePro has an exclusive interview with writer Stuart Beattie who sheds details on the project. Beattie is best known for turning a Disney ride into a full-fledged blockbuster with Pirates of the Caribbean as well as writing the Michael Mann movie Collateral and the upcoming comic book adaptation 30 Days of Night. He does mention that he's working closely with Cliffy B and Epic Games, and that the film may be shot 300-style completely on green screen.
"To me, that's a good movie because that's a movie that is getting people talking about, reading into it," said Beattie. "It's interesting. Everyone's talking about 300. They use it as an example of where things are headed. That film was shot completely on green screen, which is amazing when you actually see the film. It's probably how we're going to do Gears of War."
Beattie is no stranger to video games, either. A gamer himself, he's also written The Getaway after the game-makers at Sony saw Collateral.
With his knowledge of games, one area he wishes Disney had tapped him to work on was the original Pirates of the Caribbean game. "I wish they had called because I could've helped them on that," said Beattie, who is a gamer. "That was a crappy game. I could've made a really cool game with Pirates.
In terms of budgetary concerns for the film, Beattie doesn't address them outright, but he says:
"While there are more and more videogame movies being made because there are more and more videogames being made, there still hasn't been that one that has hit it out of the park yet," said Beattie. "At the moment, I would say the perception of videogame movies in Hollywood is: they are interested, they're intrigued, but they're still not completely sure if it can actually work."
Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has set up shop in Second Life. Considered the dark horse in the race, the 61 year-old's presence in the virtual world is part of the campaign's initiative to participate in every type social networking, even going where other candidates won't go. Chad Ely, the Multimedia Director of Kucinich's campaign told Virtual Worlds News:
When asked why [Kucinich] entered into Second Life when other candidates were staying away, Ely said it’s pure social networking. “We do them all,” said [Kucinich aide Chad] Ely. “Any and all ways we can get out to the people and let them know about Dennis Kucinich. That’s all we have to do. He’s got all the other candidates beat on the issues, so his stand on the issues will do the job for us…”
Want a virtual tour of the Kucinich HQ? Here you go:
A few months ago, I wrote a post about how the Church of England was angry that Manchester Cathedral was depicted in Resistance: Fall of Man. After they've gotten money and a public apology, now the dean of Manchester wants the game withdrawn from being a nominee for the British Academy Video Games Award category, organized by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta).
In a statement, the Dean said: "It is a disgrace that Resistance: Fall of Man has been shortlisted. Sony has admitted that they did not have permission to film or use Manchester Cathedral in their computer game. Bafta should not be seen condoning such behaviour unless they are saying it is acceptable for producers to walk into historic buildings and film interiors - ignoring contracts, rights and liability." He then called on Sony to abide by new "sacred digital guidelines" as he feared other buildings would be cloned for "virtual desecration".
Virtual desecration? How about virtual immortalization? Regardless of how you want to put it, the winner of the award is chosen by the public. So let the people decide! Oh how sweet it would be if Resistance won. I'd vote for it just based on principle alone.
Church criticises gun game award [BBC News]
[via Kotaku]
Remember the awesome Nintendo-themed tattoo I mentioned a few months ago, which featured Mario, Luigi, the Princess, and even Wario? Well, it turns out the guy has another arm to adorn with Nintendo-related ink. Samuel Mullin e-mailed GG to let us know that his Legend of Zelda sleeve, as promised, is in the works. He writes:
Just wanted to let you know that I started work on my Zelda sleeve! The first linework is complete and if you're a fan you should take a look and make some suggestions as to what other Zelda elements I should include!
The artwork is again being done by Daniel Innes, and as you can see, the linework shows Link, Zelda and Gohma. In three weeks he's going in for his next sitting, and so Zelda fanatics, if you have any suggestions for the bottom of his arm, you can weigh in!
Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered a "previously unknown sex difference in spatial attention," finding that "on average, women are not quite as good at rapidly switching attention among different objects." However, an experiment conducted showed that both sexes' spatial skills can be improved by playing video games and that women can actually catch up to men by doing so. According to Professor Ian Spence, Director of the Engineering Psychology Laboratory in the Department of Psychology:
"[Video games] may cause the expression of previously inactive genes which control the development of neural connections that are necessary for spatial attention. Clearly, something dramatic is happening in the brain when we see marked improvements in spatial skills after only ten hours of game playing and these improvements are maintained for many months."
What does it all mean? That playing video games can be used to improve spatial skills that are necessary for ordinary tasks, "such as reading a map, driving a car, assembling a barbeque, or learning advanced math." The results of the study could lead to more women working in mathematical sciences and engineering.
"Since spatial skills play an important role in these professions, bringing the spatial skills of young women up to the level of their male counterparts could help to change the gender balance in these fields that are so important to our economic health," added Spence.
After being bombarded with Halo 3 news (like the Bungie/Microsoft split), it's nice to have something that you can just laugh at. Like these hilarious screens of Master Chief and co. caught at the perfect moments. Some of the images remind me of one of my first posts, where I wrote about accidental video game porn. Ah, memories... And yeah, I'm immature.
A Kotaku reader noticed that on Solid Snake voice actor David Hayter's YouTube page, he confirmed that he will indeed be lending his voice talents for the character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl:
I am indeed voicing Snake in "Smash Bros." I've recorded it already, and I believe that fans of both games are going to be extremely happy. It's very cool. That's all I can say.
While I played through a new dungeon in World of Warcraft, got through seven campaign missions so far in Halo 3 and finally started playing Eternal Sonata all this week, this morning I felt a little depressed after I saw a pile of unwatched Netflix DVDs, unread magazines, half-read books and an office that looked like a tornado blew by it.
Which got me thinking about a recent Wired column by Clive Thompson; it addressed "gamer regret," what he dubs "a sudden, horrifying sense of emptiness when we muse on all the other things we could have done with our game time," like volunteering at hospitals, learning new languages, playing the guitar (a real one) and the like. But he concedes:
A really superb game sweeps you into its embrace because it offers a seductively controllable alternative to life. You're wrestling to master a system -- a war, a puzzle, a mystery -- that is enormously complex but, unlike the rest of our lives, actually masterable.
He also says some people watch TV as much as some people play video games, and ultimately he figures that gamer regret is an internal debate that every gamer wrestles with. Do you? I know I certainly do. But in the end, when I've had a tough day at work/life, shooting aliens, rescuing princesses and battling mystical creatures really cheers me up. Okay, now I feel better. Time to finish the fight!
What better way to make video games even more fun? I saw this photo and thought of two very dear friends who like to smoke, er... things while playing video games. I wish how-to instructions were included so I too could smoke "tobacco" while trying to play Halo 3 multiplayer this weekend...
[Editor's note: GayGamer believes firmly in being high on life and only life. Drugs are bad, m'kay?]
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