Meet-Ups
Attending PAX this year was a revelation to me. For the first time I was able to link up with other like-minded adults in handheld lobbies designed for multiplayer gaming. I was delighted by the sheer amount of gamers, increasing the chances of gaining that elusive "mingle" xp in games like The World Ends With You. With so many games requiring interconnectivity to unlock some of the best content, situations like this practically demand the hauling of my entire DS library to an event like this. But who has time to wait for a Con? It looks as if the answer is coming from Yahoo, at least in New York City anyways. Starting this week Yahoo has enabled anyone with an Internet ready device to surf the web free from Mayer Bloomberg's city street turned tourist park right on Broadway and 42st street. This means DS/DSi/PSP owners now have an iconic location to inspire you to get out of the house and into the limelight for gaming. The entire street is ladled with red folding chairs smack dab in the middle of the center of the universe. With WiFi capability this makes it a veritable haven for gamers and techies to get together and game. Knowing the scads of fashionable gay gamers in New York love Broadway as much as I do, meet-ups and pre show dinners could coincide perfectly with the restaurants and theatres literally feet away from this hotspot! I will be on the forums this week to try and set up some holiday gay gaming fun!
Why, Nintendo, why?
As it did with the Wii version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Nintendo is removing the ability to play with legacy Gamecube controllers from the two Gamecube Metroid Prime games as they appear in the upcoming Metroid Prime Trilogy.
Upgrading the games to work with the Wiimote and nunchuck is, of course, a stellar idea - it will let anyone play the entire trilogy as if all three games had been a part of the Wii catalog all along. That'll definitely sell some additional units.
What isn't a stellar idea - what is, in fact, a pushy and controlling bit of technological dogma - is that Nintendo seems to have removed the ability to play the first two Metroid Prime games as they were designed to be played. Why both control schemes couldn't sit side-by-side seems a bit of a mystery, and would have given players an iota of control over how they wanted to experience games whose value, as part of a retrospective, are tied inherently to their original play experience.
Nintendo, we get it: there are plenty of games on or coming to the Wii to appeal to the core gamer fanbase you've been accused of alienating. You've made your point. But why in the world would you make that point while simultaneously re-alienating that same fanbase, some of whom will be understandably miffed that you won't let them enjoy the games you're selling - at least not as those games were originally designed.
If I'm not mistaken, it's the success of that original design (at least for the first Metroid Prime, if not its sequel) that paved the way for the kind of success that merits releasing all three as a trilogy. Doesn't that at least merit a little room for consideration? What's with the control-scheme control freakishness?
Metroid Prime Trilogy forces motion control on gamers [Ars Technica]
Wii Sports took the world by storm turning non-gamers into gamers and giving long time gamers some much needed physical activities. As simple as it was, Wii Sports changed the what gaming was about and brought it to people who would never even think of picking up a controller. Nintendo knows a good thing when they see it and to capitalize on the popularity of the original, they are releasing Wii Sports Resort (aka Wii Sports 2).
Players take a trip to Wuhu Island where twelve sports await them: Archery, Frisbee, Basketball, Cycling, Canoeing, Power Cruising, Table Tennis, Air Sports, Bowling, Swordplay, Golf and Wakeboarding. As with the original Wii Sports, each sport will make use of the Wii Remote (and sometimes nunchuk) in different ways to simulate the sport being played. The addition of Wii Motion Plus makes the action even more precise that the first game.
I tried out the archery and basketball games and as in life, I was terrible at basketball. The control for it was pretty dead on however. Where I really seemed to shine was on the archery. You use the nunchuck and Wii Remote like a bow, pressing the Z button and drawing the nunchuk towards you to simulate the string. A focus circle appears and once you are done aiming simply let go of the Z button and the arrow goes flying. The shots were surprisingly accurate and as the levels progress, you get further away from the target and must adjust your aim for distance and wind.
Wii Sports Resort is certain to be another big hit for Nintendo when it launches next month on July 26th. It comes bundled with the Wii Motion Plus for $49.99.
It seems that conspiracy nut and felon Lyndon LaRouche isn't the only one who thinks video games are part of a deliberate architecture to control the minds of the young and rule the world from a seat of black-hearted anarchy.
A pair of German researchers have one-upped that rather radical notion, appending the theory with an unlikely (or perfectly likely, depending on your level of paranoia) mastermind: the Pentagon. According to the pair, violent video games are a creation of the US military:
During the nineties the killing simulators, employed for hand to hand combat in the US army and police, were released by the Pentagon to be sold for private use on the public markets. As a consequence the computer and video game industry that had co-operated with the Pentagon from the very beginning, boomed. Since then the so-called killer games have wreaked havoc among children and youths.
The US army's electronic training programs for killing people must be taken back to the US barracks, where they came from. They have to disappear from civil society altogether. They may be appropriate for the purpose of national defense or fight against crime; they have no place, however, in children's rooms or in living rooms.
Never mind that Orson Scott Card already did this story over 20 years ago, and won awards for it, or that Ender's video game war machine was chillingly effective, while the US military is often chillingly ineffective, or that the America's Army games aren't that good, or that most violent games are in fact very bad at teaching practical violence (ie, pointing and shooting does not a master criminal make, and the cops don't stop looking for you once you spend a certain number of seconds outside an arbitrary search radius).
One could go on, if one had a mind to. But what about focusing on real guns and how violent-minded individuals acquire them, rather than trying to pin down conspiracy theories about virtual guns, whose style of realism is far too incomplete to silently create an army of super-ninjas, let alone bear the blame for the violent side of human nature. Germany banned war-themed toys after World War II, but it doesn't seem to have stopped war.
Isn't the major force that has "wreaked havoc among children and youths" human nature itself? And can you really blame that on, well, anything but human beings?
German Researchers See Pentagon Link to Violent Games [GamePolitics]
Attention all Florida GayGamers! This post is especially for you because next Saturday, GayGamer will be causing trouble in the birthplace of boybands: Orlando!
Come on out and relax at Firkin and Kegler on Saturday, April 18th around 8pm with fellow GayGamers as we kick back, grab some eats, and play a whole lot of games. While there will be plenty of pool tables, bowling, and arcade games to go around (do I hear a DDR challenge?), come prepared for some special DS/PSP handheld fun because yours truly will be in attendance. The vitals are highlighted below. Help us out by RSVPing on the gathering forum thread. Can't wait to see y'all there!
Saturday April 18th, 8:00 p.m., at Firkin and Kegler, at 12850 Waterford Lakes Parkway, Orlando, Fl, 32828
Special thanks for KuuKuso for arranging all the magic!
Mikey and I have been in Chicago for the past several days (as a matter of fact I'm still here!) and had the honor of throwing and attending a reader appreciation party. It was a blast and over forty people showed up to Purgatory Pizza for a night of socializing, pizza games and prizes. It was really fantastic meeting everyone who came and I hope you all had as good of a time as we did. Unfortunately my camera crapped out that morning so I only snapped a few pics but I know some other people did so I'll be posting those later. But for now, here are the ones I got including this fantastic group shot. Sadly a lot of the group had left by the time we got this shot but now that I think about it, we might not have gotten everyone in the shot there were so many!
Be sure to keep your eyes open because you never know when a GG party may be happening in a town near you!
So this is my second day at thePyCon conference in Chicago. It's quite possible some of the things that I am learning about will turn into new feature or improvements around here. As Fruit Brute and I have both mentioned, we are having an official reader appreciation party. Fruit Brute is flying in today and should be here any time now! So all your Chi-town gamers, make sure to come out and meet us tomorrow night. Here are the details:
Friday 27 March 2009, 8:00 p.m., at Purgatory Pizza, at 3415 N. Clark St. (Brown line and Red line: Belmont)
GayGamer.net will be buying the pizza, and those of age are welcome to join us afterwards for some drinks. We've got door prizes and will have our DS/PSPs. So come meet the founders of GayGamer.net and have a good time as well.
UPDATE: The SF GDC gathering is at 10pm, not 7 as stated earlier...
Two GayGamer gatherings in one week! What is the world coming to? This week the two events take place in different cities, San Francisco and Chicago.
In San Francisco, GGers Fruit Brute, Pixel Poet, GameBoy and Asterick will be on hand for our annual GDC gathering in league with the Gay Game Industry Professionals group. That event will take place at the Pilsner Inn this Wednesday (tomorrow) at 10pm. The Pilsner Inn is conveniently located at the corner of Church and Market Streets, right by the J Church line stop.
The Chicago event will take place on Friday (March 27) at 8:00 p.m. at Purgatory Pizza, at 3415 N. Clark St. (Brown line and Red line: Belmont). This gathering is a bit more GG centric and will be hosted by Mikey and yours Brutely featuring pizza courtesy GG, handheld gaming and door prizes including the coveted GayGamer T-shirts. There will also be T-shirts for sale so if you want one, bring $20!
I hope to see you at one of these two events if you can make it so be sure to come up and introduce yourselves!
A week from tomorrow, GayGamer will hold it's first official GG gathering in Chicago! So if you are in the Chicago area please come down and meet us at Purgatory Pizza on Friday, March 27th at 8pm. Mikey will be there and in a surprising turn of events, I will be there too! We are really looking forward to meeting all of you, so much so that we're springing for the pizza. There will be some door prizes and of course geeking out on our DSs and PSPs.
Check out the info below for directions and such and we'll see you all there next Friday!
Friday 27 March 2009, 8:00 p.m., at Purgatory Pizza, at 3415 N. Clark St. (Brown line and Red line: Belmont)
So I'm going to do my best up uphold my ÜberDork status by attending the PyCon conference in Chicago this month. So, I thought it would be appropriate to host a reader appreciation event for all our friends in Chicago while I'm there. So here are the details:
Friday 27 March 2009, 8:00 p.m., at Purgatory Pizza, at 3415 N. Clark St. (Brown line and Red line: Belmont)
Purgatory Pizza is suitable for all ages, and GayGamer.net will be buying the pizza. So, if you're in the greater Chicago area and haven't made it to a meet-up in awhile, come out and show me just how marvelous your city can be. I'll definitely have my DS and a pocket full of games. I should be able to bring a few things to give away as door prizes too. As far as I'm concerned we can start with pizza and move from there to additional Friday night activities.
So, mark your calenders and come out to help show me your fair city on my first trip beyond the doors of O'Hare. p.s. There is a rumor that Fruit Brute might be able to show up too, but only time will tell.
Name: Ant Man
Age: 27
Astrological sign: Aquarius
Gay, Straight or Bi: Gay
Relationship Status: Taken
Consoles/handhelds you own: Xbox360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Gamecube, DS Lite, N64
It has been a while since we've had a Fan Art Friday mostly because we need YOU to send in your awesome Fan Art! Unfortunately, I don't have the time I used to to peruse Y! Gallery, DeviantArt or even (shudder) 4Chan so I rely on you to help me out! If you see anything really awesome or have something of your own, please send us a link!
This week's entry was sent in by reader Paul N. who has created a very, very gay PS3 Theme for us all to enjoy. I used to think the ABBA theme would be the gayest theme on my PS3 but I have to say, this one surpasses it with its rainbow lights and little go-go boy silhouette. If you would like to have this theme for your very own, you can download it here from Paul's DeviantArt page.
If you need some help installing, here are some simple instructions:
- On a memory stick, create a folder called PS3 with another folder inside it called THEME
- Take the .p3t file and put it on the memory stick in the following location: PS3->THEME->
- Put the memory stick in your PS3 and navigate to the theme setting on the XMB and you will have an option to install.
- Choose install and browse to your memory stick.
Good luck and enjoy the awesome gayness! Thanks, Paul!
And girls who like girls who like rumble packs!
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