Hey so this is cool.
The Humble Indie Bundle, which you may or may not have heard of (it’s a charity thing where you can pay what you want for a group of indie games and you get to decide how much of your money goes to the creators, the charity, etc. It’s really cool and you get a bunch of fun games out of it) has just released the Humble “Double Fine” Bundle, which is a bundle specifically of Double Fine games (Psychonauts, Costume Quest)
The regular-cool thing is that you can pay what you want and get Costume Quest, Psychonauts, and Stacking, all of which are rad games.
But the really-cool thing is that if you spend $35, you get Costume Quest, Psychonauts, Stacking, Brutal Legend, AND pre-order this new game, Broken Age, which features a woman of color in a lead role and looks really awesome.
(If you spend $70 you also get a tshirt in addition to all that but I’m mostly excited about the Broken Age thing)
Check out this awesome bundle! Giving to charity, supporting indie games, and getting awesome new heroes all in one fell swoop.
Hilary takes a further look at Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite
While Hilary’s first look at Bioshock Infinite and the way it seemed to fit into the “Damsel in Distress” trope was based on initial marketing and previews of the game, she’s now had the chance to play the game and is happy to be proven wrong about Elizabeth. While Elizabeth can still be considered such a damsel, that’s not the only thing she is. Check out Hilary’s post, but beware: spoilers!
Tomb Raider, BioShock Infinite, and the Covert Damsel in Distress
Hilary takes a look at the more covert appearance of the “Damsel in Distress” trope in video games, focusing on Lara Croft in the most recent Tomb Raider game, and Elizabeth in the upcoming BioShock Infinite.
Papo & Yo and the Three Pillars of Game Design
Rick examines Papo & Yo, a downloadable game released earlier this summer for PSN, and how it points at future possibilities in videogaming. Proposing the three pillars of game design - Story, Place, and player Agency - Rick looks at Papo & Yo, as well as games that influenced it,in an essay that should be of interest to gamers and non-gamers alike interested in diversity and innovation in interactive media.
Borderlands 2 and the White World of Pandora
Returning guest blogger Hilary shares her thoughts on the recently released Borderlands 2, pleased with slightly more diverssity in female characters in the game, but disappointed by the all too White landscape.
“we have an obligation to speak out against it more often. it’s really not cool for us to just shrug our shoulders and say that’s just 4chan being 4chan.”
Fantastic video from J Smooth.
Anita Sarkeesian is a friend of Geekquality, and when our friends go under attack, we will be there to support them 100%. The bullshit that this group of dudes is pulling is horrendous and truly alarming. Furthermore, they’re actually proving Anita’s point.
Non-male identifying gamers, your time is coming. There’s been a shift, and these little trolls have felt it. They’re scared, and the funny thing is… they shouldn’t be. We don’t want to destroy them, we just want to be accepted into the community and have more variety in our game choices.
Anita - keep doin’ you. J Smooth - you too, man. Geekquality loves you both.
-AM
Rick gives a thorough round-up of his impressions of E3 media, from game previews that underwhelmed or disappointed, to exciting new content featuring cutting edge design and character diversity. Read his full take here!
Did you miss it earlier in the week? Be sure to check out Rick Gee’s guest post on race portrayal in gaming and the importance of the next Assassin, in the upcoming Assassin’s Creed III from Ubisoft. Read the article on our site!
(Source: geekquality)
The Wilderness of Mirrors: Oh Bioware
This is a husk (in effect a cybernetically created zombie) from Mass Effect:
Given that the populations they’re forcibly sourced from are of mixed gender — something the first game at least is good with — one would assume that male or female you’re going to end looking essentially the same: neutered and unisex in appearance as every none structural piece of the body is sucked dry.
This is a banshee, or what a husk made from an asari, looks like. Compare and contrast how the race of bisexual blue space babes retain all their rather human external sexual characteristics, including glowing blue nipples.
I’ve seen it pointed out that their look is quite likely a shout-out to Sil from the film Species —
— and the resemblance is certainly very very striking. But leaving aside the point that it’s always fun to see how one humanoid species’ physiognomy differs from another in a sci-fi franchise where they’re at least some way physically compatable, that doesn’t change the fact that what Bioware have done here is both just skeezy as all get out, and sadly quite unsurprising given the franchise’s past failings.
So, I thought this a worthy addition to eschergirls’ #sexualized in defeat critique tag (thanks to georgethecat for pointing it out).
A) Thanks for the shout out. B) Bang on. C) Keep rocking (or whatever it is you do) :D
It’s amusing that even though Mass Effect lore has stated that asari resent being treated like sex objects and thought of as promiscuous by other races because of their biology and culture, the game itself often does the same thing to them, reducing them to the “sexy blue alien girls”. Considering that the asaris’ distinctive head fringe would likely have been enough to identify the Banshee as alien in origin, and that there were other types of husks in ME2 that didn’t rely on gender to differentiate them from the originals, the Banshee and her glowy nipples seem unnecessarily reliant on old (sexist) sci-fi tropes.
Well. This illustration is spookily accurate.
~ J.
