So... I generally avoid using the Blog(s) for things like this, but wide nets need to be wide.
I'm looking to get in touch with people in the book-publishing business, specifically video-gaming related stuff but really at this level any inroad would be a good inroad; but there's a pretty wide disconnect between the digital press world and the print world, so... don't really have any idea how to do that.
BUT I'm betting I've got at least a few friends/followers/fans/colleagues reading these things who might have some tidbit of advice/direction/access to offer; so if that describes you please feel free to pop said info into the comments here (or, if you prefer, a way in which I could contact you to get it.) Any little bit helps, honestly :)
Thanks you.
Rabu, 30 Januari 2013
Enemy
hat-tip: Polygon
Below, video of U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee. Mr. Alexander's stated position therein: "I think video games is (sic) a bigger problem than guns, because video games affect people." Alexander is known as a "moderate" and "bipartisan" within the Republican Party - which frankly says more about the Party (i.e. you can be this backward and still not be backward enough) than it does about him.
This would be the honorable Senator's website, while this would be the section for contacting his political operation. In case any fellow Americans would like to (respectfully and non-abusively) offer him their thoughts on the matter.
Oh, and Tennessee-based readers? He has to run for re-election next year. His recently-announced likely opponent is named Larry Crim, whose website can be found HERE. Just sayin'.
Below, video of U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee. Mr. Alexander's stated position therein: "I think video games is (sic) a bigger problem than guns, because video games affect people." Alexander is known as a "moderate" and "bipartisan" within the Republican Party - which frankly says more about the Party (i.e. you can be this backward and still not be backward enough) than it does about him.
This would be the honorable Senator's website, while this would be the section for contacting his political operation. In case any fellow Americans would like to (respectfully and non-abusively) offer him their thoughts on the matter.
Oh, and Tennessee-based readers? He has to run for re-election next year. His recently-announced likely opponent is named Larry Crim, whose website can be found HERE. Just sayin'.
Selasa, 29 Januari 2013
Jumat, 25 Januari 2013
Your Daily Reminder That Ralph Nader Is a Terrible Human Being
BTW, have you watched our New Episode yet?
Anyway... Ralph Nader - the man who helped give you 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency - has declared "violent" video-game producers to be "Electronic child molesters."
Screw you very much, Ralph.
Anyway... Ralph Nader - the man who helped give you 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency - has declared "violent" video-game producers to be "Electronic child molesters."
Screw you very much, Ralph.
Rabu, 23 Januari 2013
Wonderful 101
Well! "Wonderful 101" is undoubtedly the most "video-game-ish" looking video-game I've seen in quite sometime. I run hot or cold on strategy games, but I'm damn inclined to pick this up...
ALSO: Brand-new episode went up today, so go watch!
This was announced at today's "Nintendo Direct" briefing, which also included the unsurprising (but never the less welcome) news of a new 3D Mario, Mario Kart and Smash Bros. to be shown off at E3 in June. Also shown off: Another "Epic Yarn" installment, this time starring Yoshi, an HD remake of "Wind Waker" and "Mother 2" coming to the (Japanese) WiiU Virtual Console.
ALSO: Brand-new episode went up today, so go watch!
This was announced at today's "Nintendo Direct" briefing, which also included the unsurprising (but never the less welcome) news of a new 3D Mario, Mario Kart and Smash Bros. to be shown off at E3 in June. Also shown off: Another "Epic Yarn" installment, this time starring Yoshi, an HD remake of "Wind Waker" and "Mother 2" coming to the (Japanese) WiiU Virtual Console.
EPISODE 81: "Let This Be The End"
New episode, now available on Blip:
Our subject this week (inspired in part by Mr. Croshaw) is whether or not we really, really need yet another generation of new individual consoles...
Our subject this week (inspired in part by Mr. Croshaw) is whether or not we really, really need yet another generation of new individual consoles...
Rabu, 16 Januari 2013
No Fear
I'd like to spend all day engaging people about this, but the fact is I have a shit-ton of deadline-driven work to do that's only going to get done if I got media-dark for a few hours. So this will have to be all from me about the big Obama gun laws speech today.
I imagine the number-one thing anyone wants to hear from me is how I feel about the President calling for "more research into violent video-games" as part of his big set of plans/proposals. Honestly? I hated hearing it. It cuts me to the bone when otherwise intelligent, reasonable people I happen to support have to jump and join that particular political dance; especially when I strongly suspect that they're better than that. I would prefer that the President had said "some have called for more attention paid to a link between violent games or movies and gun deaths, but the fact is that research has already been done a hundred times over and the link quite simply does not exist and continuing to call for it distracts from the real issue; which is guns and the obscene power of the Gun Lobby."
I'd have liked to see that, and maybe someday I will, but it wasn't going to be today.
The fact is, enough of my fellow Americans are paranoid enough (either through their own deficiencies or because they lack the necessary clarity and intellectual confidence to not be swayed by the propaganda of the NRA and their ilk) to give real traction to the meme of Obama/democrats "coming to take all the guns!!!;" one that only gets stronger if said propagandists can claim that they and their issue is being "singled out." That they and their issue should be singled out is beside the point - "singling out" sounds bad.
Thus was Joe Biden obliged to invite representatives of the movie and game industry (Why not books? Oh, right - older/out-of-touch people aren't scared/confused by books) to his various summitts - even though he's smart enough to know that the "link" doesn't exist - in order to affect the image that guns and gun-rights weren't "alone" in being called to the principal's office. And thus is Obama obliged to namecheck some illusory need for violent games "research" even though he's also smart enough to know better and saavy enough to know that even if he did buy into (for example) the "desensitization" fallacy, actually making any moves that even smelled of censorship would lose he and his party their crucial support among GenX/Y voters.
But here's the rub: "Calling for more research," in Washington-speak, translates to "we pretty-much garauntee nothing will come of this." It is, quite simply, a smoke-screen - a way for the President and his allies to appear to take the "broader solution" nonsense seriously while they get about the real business of breaking the back of the Gun Lobby in order to make U.S. gun laws slightly more sane.
Would I prefer that this hadn't been part of the speech, even as I recognize it as little more than rhetorical sleight of hand? Of course I would. I also wish he didn't have slip into maudlin reassurances about "Our Creator" at the end, or that he didn't need to feign four years worth of "evolution" on his support for gay marriage. I welcome the day, soon to come, when we look back on today's notions of "violent" movies and games causing real violence with the same "this was actually a THING??" horror and sadness with which we react to Calvin Candie's phrenology speech in "Django Unchained."
But that's not realistically going to happen today, and progressives, young people and especially gamers among them need to recognize that before they think about dismissing and turning their backs on an administration that - where and when it actually counts - has been (and is likely to continue to be) largely on their side. The perfect mustn't be the enemy of the good.
I imagine the number-one thing anyone wants to hear from me is how I feel about the President calling for "more research into violent video-games" as part of his big set of plans/proposals. Honestly? I hated hearing it. It cuts me to the bone when otherwise intelligent, reasonable people I happen to support have to jump and join that particular political dance; especially when I strongly suspect that they're better than that. I would prefer that the President had said "some have called for more attention paid to a link between violent games or movies and gun deaths, but the fact is that research has already been done a hundred times over and the link quite simply does not exist and continuing to call for it distracts from the real issue; which is guns and the obscene power of the Gun Lobby."
I'd have liked to see that, and maybe someday I will, but it wasn't going to be today.
The fact is, enough of my fellow Americans are paranoid enough (either through their own deficiencies or because they lack the necessary clarity and intellectual confidence to not be swayed by the propaganda of the NRA and their ilk) to give real traction to the meme of Obama/democrats "coming to take all the guns!!!;" one that only gets stronger if said propagandists can claim that they and their issue is being "singled out." That they and their issue should be singled out is beside the point - "singling out" sounds bad.
Thus was Joe Biden obliged to invite representatives of the movie and game industry (Why not books? Oh, right - older/out-of-touch people aren't scared/confused by books) to his various summitts - even though he's smart enough to know that the "link" doesn't exist - in order to affect the image that guns and gun-rights weren't "alone" in being called to the principal's office. And thus is Obama obliged to namecheck some illusory need for violent games "research" even though he's also smart enough to know better and saavy enough to know that even if he did buy into (for example) the "desensitization" fallacy, actually making any moves that even smelled of censorship would lose he and his party their crucial support among GenX/Y voters.
But here's the rub: "Calling for more research," in Washington-speak, translates to "we pretty-much garauntee nothing will come of this." It is, quite simply, a smoke-screen - a way for the President and his allies to appear to take the "broader solution" nonsense seriously while they get about the real business of breaking the back of the Gun Lobby in order to make U.S. gun laws slightly more sane.
Would I prefer that this hadn't been part of the speech, even as I recognize it as little more than rhetorical sleight of hand? Of course I would. I also wish he didn't have slip into maudlin reassurances about "Our Creator" at the end, or that he didn't need to feign four years worth of "evolution" on his support for gay marriage. I welcome the day, soon to come, when we look back on today's notions of "violent" movies and games causing real violence with the same "this was actually a THING??" horror and sadness with which we react to Calvin Candie's phrenology speech in "Django Unchained."
But that's not realistically going to happen today, and progressives, young people and especially gamers among them need to recognize that before they think about dismissing and turning their backs on an administration that - where and when it actually counts - has been (and is likely to continue to be) largely on their side. The perfect mustn't be the enemy of the good.
Sabtu, 12 Januari 2013
Brownshirts in my backyard
The town of Melrose, Massachusetts has become the latest gang of idiots to start-up a "violent games buy-back" program... though, at least they aren't also burning them, so there's that.
Funny thing about these "buybacks..." they were both sponsored by local-business people, and instead of CASH (like the police give for guns in the actual gun-buyback programs these ones are partially intended to belittle) for turning in your property you already bought you get... gift-certificates for local business, which in turn funnel any extra money/time you spend while going to redeem said certificates BACK to the very people propping up the bans. Huh. Funny how that works out, eh?
Meanwhile, the State overall has decided to pull arcade games that use toy guns from state-operated rest stops, replacing them with more "passive" titles (because what public arcade areas need right now is to suck MORE, right?) after some suburban asshole saw one and decided a Sandy Hook relative (which he is not nor does he have any discernable connection to) could concievably walk by it and be disturbed. I especially like that they're making their kid appear in the accompanying photo with them, an action I'm sure will have absolutely no negative effect on his social life whatsoever...
Funny thing about these "buybacks..." they were both sponsored by local-business people, and instead of CASH (like the police give for guns in the actual gun-buyback programs these ones are partially intended to belittle) for turning in your property you already bought you get... gift-certificates for local business, which in turn funnel any extra money/time you spend while going to redeem said certificates BACK to the very people propping up the bans. Huh. Funny how that works out, eh?
Meanwhile, the State overall has decided to pull arcade games that use toy guns from state-operated rest stops, replacing them with more "passive" titles (because what public arcade areas need right now is to suck MORE, right?) after some suburban asshole saw one and decided a Sandy Hook relative (which he is not nor does he have any discernable connection to) could concievably walk by it and be disturbed. I especially like that they're making their kid appear in the accompanying photo with them, an action I'm sure will have absolutely no negative effect on his social life whatsoever...
Jumat, 11 Januari 2013
Rabu, 09 Januari 2013
Brownshirts Back Down
Polygon reports that the small town of Southington, CT has abandoned it's internationally-reported - and widely-derrided - plans for a mass-burning of "violent" video-games.
Officially, the business/community-leader group that had backed the plan is saying that since the announcement itself succeeded in "promoting discussion" and "creating strong awareness," there was no longer any reason to actually go through with the event.
Unofficially? Call this another win for New Media, is my feeling. Public-shaming has always been one of the ultimate curatives for bullies and petty-fascists, and The Internet is the most powerful tool to inflict such ever devised.
The fight now moves to politics, with gaming and Hollywood "leaders" scheduled to be part of the "comprehensive talks" with the Obama Administration this week and next. The fact that they're there doesn't particularly worry me - this administration is smart enough to know that the idea of a direct causal-relationship between "violent" media and real gun violence is soundly-discredited, unscientific horseshit - the "comprehensive talks" are a smokescreen, "cover" for the administration so that they can avoid looking like they're focused on "going after" the gun lobby when that's in fact what they ARE and should be focused on.
My only "worry" is with just how committed they are to said smokescreen. Obama etc aren't "anti-gaming," but they have shown a political willingness to throw this or that "under the bus" in order to affect the image of bipartisanship - I can easily imagine them "bending" on censorship in order to be able to say "See? We aren't just after your guns. Your turn to give something, NRA."
To my mind, that would be both disasterous in general and an utterly useless gesture on the administration's part; and not just because it would damage the invaluable clout Obama and Democrats in general currently have with the youth vote. Mr. President... in case you haven't noticed, these people already attacked you as an "anti-gun" zealot during the four years when Washington did/said jack shit about the issue. You will never win these people over - to them, you're just a guy with the wrong politics, the wrong name and the wrong skin - forget winning The NRA and it's ilk over, focus on winning over them.
Officially, the business/community-leader group that had backed the plan is saying that since the announcement itself succeeded in "promoting discussion" and "creating strong awareness," there was no longer any reason to actually go through with the event.
Unofficially? Call this another win for New Media, is my feeling. Public-shaming has always been one of the ultimate curatives for bullies and petty-fascists, and The Internet is the most powerful tool to inflict such ever devised.
The fight now moves to politics, with gaming and Hollywood "leaders" scheduled to be part of the "comprehensive talks" with the Obama Administration this week and next. The fact that they're there doesn't particularly worry me - this administration is smart enough to know that the idea of a direct causal-relationship between "violent" media and real gun violence is soundly-discredited, unscientific horseshit - the "comprehensive talks" are a smokescreen, "cover" for the administration so that they can avoid looking like they're focused on "going after" the gun lobby when that's in fact what they ARE and should be focused on.
My only "worry" is with just how committed they are to said smokescreen. Obama etc aren't "anti-gaming," but they have shown a political willingness to throw this or that "under the bus" in order to affect the image of bipartisanship - I can easily imagine them "bending" on censorship in order to be able to say "See? We aren't just after your guns. Your turn to give something, NRA."
To my mind, that would be both disasterous in general and an utterly useless gesture on the administration's part; and not just because it would damage the invaluable clout Obama and Democrats in general currently have with the youth vote. Mr. President... in case you haven't noticed, these people already attacked you as an "anti-gun" zealot during the four years when Washington did/said jack shit about the issue. You will never win these people over - to them, you're just a guy with the wrong politics, the wrong name and the wrong skin - forget winning The NRA and it's ilk over, focus on winning over them.
Senin, 07 Januari 2013
MAGFest Panels
Everybody Watch Jimquisition Now
Jumat, 04 Januari 2013
I Don't Want To Game On This Planet Anymore
Y'know, it's funny. When I created The AntiThinker, he was supposed to embody an exaggeration of the absolute worst in gamer culture. Turns out, I didn't exaggerate enough...
Patricia Hernandez over at Kotaku points the way to a new candidate for gaming's worst human: A (popular, of course) YouTuber who puts up "how-to" videos instructing his followers on how to harrass female gamers for the crime of playing video games while female - "justified," of course, by the idea that these women are only gaming as a way to "con" poor, helpless men out of their money with sex appeal.
I'm not going to link directly to his stuff, but you can get the gist of it and watch (if you want to) from Hernandez piece HERE.
The whole thing is nothing short of revolting, top to bottom, particularly the sociopathic glee that the guy takes is carrying out and encouraging what's basically a keyboard and a mouse away from what'd be (verbal) sexual assault in the real world. But I'm particularly fascinated/repelled by the argument of him, his fans and too many of the Kotaku commenterati that somehow this is tit-for-tat "payback" because some of the women MAY be using their sex-appeal for attention or even monetary gain - essentially "they're WHORES, so they had it coming."
First off, the thing is... I don't give a shit. Setting aside that I have no real moral objection to (ethical) sex workers in the real world, I see absolutely NOTHING wrong the flirting-for-attention/cash "camgirl" phenomenon in gamer culture or otherwise on the net. People pay ME because they think I'm funny/insightful/whatever, I don't see how paying someone for being pretty/flirty is any different or deserving of "punishment." If you get "conned" out of kicking some paypal credits to this or that person online because she batted her eyes or flashed some cleavage and you felt like a schmuck later... that's on YOU, pal.
Secondly, what experience in real life tells you that this would be "okay" even in a virtual space. Do you imagine that punishing women for being sexy for attention or some other gain is a thing that happens? Do you know what would happen to anyone who walked into, say, most non-shithole strip clubs and spoke/acted towards the dancers the way this kid does to "virtual" women? A trip to the parking lot and a new set of finger-splints.
Patricia Hernandez over at Kotaku points the way to a new candidate for gaming's worst human: A (popular, of course) YouTuber who puts up "how-to" videos instructing his followers on how to harrass female gamers for the crime of playing video games while female - "justified," of course, by the idea that these women are only gaming as a way to "con" poor, helpless men out of their money with sex appeal.
I'm not going to link directly to his stuff, but you can get the gist of it and watch (if you want to) from Hernandez piece HERE.
The whole thing is nothing short of revolting, top to bottom, particularly the sociopathic glee that the guy takes is carrying out and encouraging what's basically a keyboard and a mouse away from what'd be (verbal) sexual assault in the real world. But I'm particularly fascinated/repelled by the argument of him, his fans and too many of the Kotaku commenterati that somehow this is tit-for-tat "payback" because some of the women MAY be using their sex-appeal for attention or even monetary gain - essentially "they're WHORES, so they had it coming."
First off, the thing is... I don't give a shit. Setting aside that I have no real moral objection to (ethical) sex workers in the real world, I see absolutely NOTHING wrong the flirting-for-attention/cash "camgirl" phenomenon in gamer culture or otherwise on the net. People pay ME because they think I'm funny/insightful/whatever, I don't see how paying someone for being pretty/flirty is any different or deserving of "punishment." If you get "conned" out of kicking some paypal credits to this or that person online because she batted her eyes or flashed some cleavage and you felt like a schmuck later... that's on YOU, pal.
Secondly, what experience in real life tells you that this would be "okay" even in a virtual space. Do you imagine that punishing women for being sexy for attention or some other gain is a thing that happens? Do you know what would happen to anyone who walked into, say, most non-shithole strip clubs and spoke/acted towards the dancers the way this kid does to "virtual" women? A trip to the parking lot and a new set of finger-splints.
Rabu, 02 Januari 2013
EPISODE 80: "Collect Calling"
The new episode is now up on Blip! The OverThinker counts off five "classic games" compilations that need to get made already.
REMEMBER: The OverThinker's panel at this weekend's MAGFest is Saturday at 10:00am!
REMEMBER: The OverThinker's panel at this weekend's MAGFest is Saturday at 10:00am!
Brownshirts (Update)
(Re-post to correct coding error in original post)
hat-tip: POLYGON.
This is how it begins...
I "get" that grief is a powerful emotion that can override common sense and reason, even in the best of us. I understand that, therefore, we are expected to be deferential and sympathetic to even the most awkward, outlandish or uncomfortable expressions of grief: "Oh, it's alright. They're just upset. Let them vent." I get that... but there's a limit to everything. So, I have ZERO problem saying that the folks in Southington, Connecticut who've more-or-less decided to hold a mass-burning of "violent" video games (music and movies, too) as some kind of reaction to the tragedy in nearby Newtown are, whateve their intent, essentially painting themselves as a pack of ignorant, knuckle-dragging, reactionary cretins; and that they deserve to be called-out and shamed for what is - regardless of scale, circumstance or intent - a crime against art, culture and an affront to civilized modernity.
Southington SOS, which purports to be a charitable organization comprised of local business and community leaders set up in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre (which, just to reiterate, took place in a different community in CT) are the force behind this gesture. They put out a press release announcing it, which includes contact information for a local YMCA chairman who is apparently a spokesman for the group (I've contacted him for some clarification, awaiting response.)
Said press-release claims that it isn't trying to suggest that games are "to blame" for the shooting and that it's more interested in getting parents and their kids to "have the conversation;" though it goes to claim that "ample evidence" exists for violent media contributing to aggression, "desensitization" and the usual malarkey... without, of course, providing a source of said "ample evidence" (spoiler: that's because there isn't any.) They'll be rewarding "donations" with $25 dollar giftcards, which seems a little rotten to me since I'm more than certain the victimized town they're supposedly supporting could probably use that money... That the "returned" offending materials will be destroyed and "likely" incinerated was revealed by the Southington School Superintendent, Joe Erardi.
Like I said, these are the sorts of things that happen when people's emotions - especially grief and the impotent rage that comes with it - override common sense, and it only gets worse when it grips a community and becomes a kind of mass-pathology (see: Salem, 1692-1693). Often, the only "cure" for such circumstances is for non (or, at least, less) irrational people to hold up the mirror and point out the absurdity and wrongness of what said community is doing - sunlight, as ever, is the ultimate disinfectant. Which is why I think it's proper to publicize this event and respond (civily!) to Southington SOS; if only to let them know how much damage they're doing, image-wise, to themselves and their purported cause by engaging in such vile and wrongheaded behavior.
Note: If and when the representative I mentioned responds to my call, I will post any details/clarifications he wishes to make at my earliest ability.
hat-tip: POLYGON.
This is how it begins...
I "get" that grief is a powerful emotion that can override common sense and reason, even in the best of us. I understand that, therefore, we are expected to be deferential and sympathetic to even the most awkward, outlandish or uncomfortable expressions of grief: "Oh, it's alright. They're just upset. Let them vent." I get that... but there's a limit to everything. So, I have ZERO problem saying that the folks in Southington, Connecticut who've more-or-less decided to hold a mass-burning of "violent" video games (music and movies, too) as some kind of reaction to the tragedy in nearby Newtown are, whateve their intent, essentially painting themselves as a pack of ignorant, knuckle-dragging, reactionary cretins; and that they deserve to be called-out and shamed for what is - regardless of scale, circumstance or intent - a crime against art, culture and an affront to civilized modernity.
Southington SOS, which purports to be a charitable organization comprised of local business and community leaders set up in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre (which, just to reiterate, took place in a different community in CT) are the force behind this gesture. They put out a press release announcing it, which includes contact information for a local YMCA chairman who is apparently a spokesman for the group (I've contacted him for some clarification, awaiting response.)
Said press-release claims that it isn't trying to suggest that games are "to blame" for the shooting and that it's more interested in getting parents and their kids to "have the conversation;" though it goes to claim that "ample evidence" exists for violent media contributing to aggression, "desensitization" and the usual malarkey... without, of course, providing a source of said "ample evidence" (spoiler: that's because there isn't any.) They'll be rewarding "donations" with $25 dollar giftcards, which seems a little rotten to me since I'm more than certain the victimized town they're supposedly supporting could probably use that money... That the "returned" offending materials will be destroyed and "likely" incinerated was revealed by the Southington School Superintendent, Joe Erardi.
Like I said, these are the sorts of things that happen when people's emotions - especially grief and the impotent rage that comes with it - override common sense, and it only gets worse when it grips a community and becomes a kind of mass-pathology (see: Salem, 1692-1693). Often, the only "cure" for such circumstances is for non (or, at least, less) irrational people to hold up the mirror and point out the absurdity and wrongness of what said community is doing - sunlight, as ever, is the ultimate disinfectant. Which is why I think it's proper to publicize this event and respond (civily!) to Southington SOS; if only to let them know how much damage they're doing, image-wise, to themselves and their purported cause by engaging in such vile and wrongheaded behavior.
Note: If and when the representative I mentioned responds to my call, I will post any details/clarifications he wishes to make at my earliest ability.
Selasa, 01 Januari 2013
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