LGBT in Video Games: Has It Gotten Better?

     Recently it has been announced that an upcoming game for the Nintendo 3DS, Fire Emblem: Fates, will allow same sex marriages. This is a big thing considering last year we had the big incident with another 3DS game, Tomadachi Life. If you don't remember, there was a bit of controversy when Nintendo made a statement that it was going to fix a glitch that would allow people to marry the same sex in Tomadachi Life. Nintendo later on, after seeing the backlash, apologized and said that they will include same sex marriages in later games. Reflecting on this, I have to wonder if as a gay man and an avid lover of video games, has things gotten better for me? Am I being represented?
     Same sex relationships isn't the new frontier in video games. It has been in games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Just after the Tomadachi Life controversy Square Enix allowed same sex relationships and weddings in its Final Fantasy XIV MMO. There was even a pride parade supporting this. This seems very profitable in games that let you customize your character, but what about games that don't?
     As being represented in games we have come a long way. Over the years, we have had gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender characters represented in games. Has it gotten better? In some ways it has. The roles of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders in video games has progressed over time. The most obvious example has been The Last of Us. The Last of Us was one of the games where they had people who were LGBT, not only Ellie and Riley, but also characters Bill and Joel. Mortal Kombat X was the most recent game where one of the new characters Kung Jin was implied to be gay in a cinematic and was later confirmed to be gay by one of the creators. These characters were written as people you can see being real genuine people instead of stereotypes that often end being portrayed in video games, but in media as well.
     While this is still good, the progression is still slow and being represented in games still seems to be a closeted thing. Gay characters are in games, but mostly they end up being supporting characters and rarely do we ever get them to be protagonists, people we control in the first place and the majority of the game. Don't get me wrong, it is nice to see people who are gay in video games, but I would like to see me being represented more than just a supporting character.
     I'm not going to lie as society progresses, we see more demand for art and media to progress as well. We are starting to see this in games, just like we're seeing better female representation in games thanks to Anita Sarkessian who has been advocating feminism and pretty much has been laying down the issues of negative female tropes in video games. Just like that,we are starting to see the ball roll a bit faster. When we see more games with protagonists who are gay, that's where I can see progress.

E3 2015: All The Other Extra Crap

Welcome to part 4. During this week I gave my two cents about this year's E3. I've done critiques on Microsoft's, Sony's, and Nintendo's conferences and events. These were only the tip of the iceberg and it wouldn't be fair to not talk about the other games that were presented. So here's the other crap that was at this year's E3.

Doom 4

Doom is back and it's back with a vengeance. Before E3 we got a teaser of Doom. At Bethesda's conference, we got to see the whole thing and it looks amazing. It feels like old Doom with updated graphics and that's all you can ask for. I can tell that iD had that idea in mind in order simplify things and just try to remember why people played Doom in the first place.

Kingdom Hearts 3

This E3 we got to see more of Kingdom Hearts 3, as a way for Square Enix to tell us that they haven't forgot about the game. Compared to last year's trailer, not much is new or different other than they shown a bit of the stages, which it seems to be that you will have a little more freedom adventuring around as you can scale mountains and jump off them and more Disney attraction summons. Hey we're getting a new Kingdom Hearts game, so that the only good news here.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

We are going to be instore for some epic moments if the game is just as intense as the E3 2015 trailer. By the looks of it, The Phantom Pain will be very story driven which is a great thing. Director, writer, and almost everything else Hideo Kojima describes the story as being "too dark." and a revenge story. If it is true that this will be Kojima and Konami's final game together, Kojima will be leaving on a high note.

Earthbound Beginnings

We are finally getting Mother in the US. The game on The Wii U Virtural console. Unfortunately I never played Earthbound, but fortunately I've had an admiration to want to play it ever since Ness debuted in Super Smash Bros. The only sad thing is that it won't be able to play it on the 3DS despite them releasing Mother and Earthbound on handheld years ago. Nintendo, what's up with that?

Super Smash Bros Direct

Christmas came early. More Smash Bros goodies! First of all, Roy is back! Roy has been a fan favorite and it's good to see him as DLC. He plays a little different but people who mained as him won't be too upset. Next is Ryu. I'm a bit surprised that Ryu was added into the game, but I shouldn't as Capcom and Nintendo have been BFFs in the past. He is a great addition to the roster and his stage looks amazing. What they added to DLC is new stages, including ones from the N64 era. I'm excited about this. My wallet is crying

Mirror's Edge Catalyst

We're getting a new Mirror's Edge game, huzzah! It pretty much plays like the other Mirror Edge games which is still good. The only difference is that this time you don't have a gun. You have to rely on your fighting skills to ward off the bad guys. This is a nice spin to the gameplay as the whole point of Mirror's Edge is that they want you to be fully engaged in the gameplay and want to make it almost as if you're in the game itself. We didn't really get to see the fighting gameplay so that's a bit of a bummer, I can't wait to see more of this game.

Nintendo E3 2015 Digital Event: The Good, The Bad, and The Woolly World of Yoshis

Hi guys, more E3 goodies! Welcome to part 3 of my thoughts on what was presented this E3. Microsoft wowed us, Sony's press conference was cool, How did Nintendo do this time around?

Good

Star Fox: Zero

Star Fox is back! We've been waiting to hear, and see, more of this game since Shigeru Miyamoto sorta announced it a while back. We see it now and it is glorious. There are a few changes to the gameplay. You will need to use the gyro on the gamepad in order to steer your airwing. The "new" feature on the airwing is that it can transform in to a walker mode, enabling you to go around in certain areas in the game and even defeat certain bosses in a different way that you would in flight mode. Also new is a new transformation mode for the landmaster where it flies around and a new gyrowing where you can explore by dropping a little robot to search an area.

Super Mario Maker

Nintendo has been taking notes form the Kaizo Mario videos on the internet. What's more fun than playing a Mario game than making a Mario game? That's kinda what Super Mario Maker does. At first when I saw this game last year I wasn't really interested in it, but hearing about what they added in the game just make this game sound like something I need to get. Super Mario Maker leaves you and your with complete control making a Mario Stage. You can do crazy trollish things like put enemies in blocks and even put coins or power-up in cannons and even Lakitu clouds to give someone the biggest mind fuck ever. It's also cool to see enemies that weren't in earlier games be designed with those graphics, like an 8-bit Boo or Super Mario World Chain-Chomp.

The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes

This game looks fun. Being inspired by the Four Swords games, Triforce Heroes will incorporate multiplayer by having you play multiple versions of Link in order to solve puzzles in dungeons and save Hyrule. The game also features costumes that have features like having you not take damage with every hit.

Fire Emblem Fates

The theme of Fire Emblem is strategy. You make the wrong moves and something bad happens. Fates plays with that theme and makes it more drastic by having certain outcome in the game's story, more than the other games. Visually-wise the trailer and the game looks cool.

Xenoblade Chronicles

The trailer looks epic. Nuff said.

Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer

This is a nice spin-off of the Animal Crossing series. You are an interior designer and you have to coordinate your neighbors' homes from the inside out. What sets it apart from the main Animal Crossing series is that it gives you more customization when designing your house, allowing you to move carpet and other things where in the previous games the carpet would just be there and you can't move it.

Yoshi's Woolly World

This game gets cuter everytime I see it. You can even compare it to Kirby's Epic Yarn for the Wii, it's its own game. I've been praying for a completely different Yoshi game that wasn't a rehash of Yoshi's Island and we got it here. I can't wait to play this. Also this is the only game that makes me want to buy Amiibos.

Mario & Luigi Paper Jam

This game looks cool. They took the magnificent artstyle of Dream Team and combined it with the awesomeness of Paper Mario: Sticker Star, sorry for being the only one who liked that game, and made this. My biggest worry is that the Mario & Luigi series is usually off and on so hopefully this will be an on. They have so much potential not to mess this up.

Bad

Metroid Prime Federation Force

When we heard that maybe we could see a new Metroid game, we weren't expecting something like this. This just feels like your generic 4-player co-op shooter with Metroid stamped all over it. Quit fooling around and give us a real Metroid game. We deserve it.


Meh

Hyrule Warriors Legends

I know, why would I put this on the list? Well,it's cool that the game has gotten enough popularity that Nintendo decided to make a 3DS version, but I feel like even with the new Wind Waker stages would be enough to get people's attention, and make things feel new and fresh, especially given the fact that Techmo went all out with the Wii U version's DLC. Where can they go to now?

Genei Ibun Roku FE

This is the Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem crossover. It looks very beautiful, but it looks like one of those generic pop and anime. Not sure if that rubs me the right way. I'm sure the gameplay is good, but I can't get over how anime-ish the game seems.

Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival

This looks like Animal Crossing's answer to Mario Party which was Nintendo's answer to Monopoly, except that Mario Party was a bit funner and have minigames.

Mario Tennis Ultra Smash

The Mario Tennis series just keeps getting duller and duller. No amount of mega mushrooms will fix that.

The link for Sony's Press Conference is here!
The link for Microsoft's Press Conference is here!

Sony E3 2015 Press Conference: The Good, The Bad, and The Not So Last Guardian

Welcome to part II of my critique of all the E3 press conferences. Microsoft's conference was pretty good. Is Sony's better?

Good

The Last Guardian

The game that many thought wouldn't be made was finally announced. Things were looking a bit shaky for The Last Guardian. The production of the game started in 2007. There have been delays with the direction the product was going, people leaving, and there was even an issue with trademarking the name. Now that is over and out of the way. The game is actually happening and is finally here. With it being made by the studio who gave us Ico and Shadow of the Colossus the visuals are stunning. If you already haven't heard of the game you are a boy who has befriended a creator and you both must navigate through the ruins of a castle, almost like Ico. You have to solve puzzles as you go through the castle. The game comes out 2016, hopefully.

Horizon: Zero Dawn

This game does look interesting. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic earth where civilization as we know it ceased to exist due to a "sudden darkness." Instead of the apocalypse that we usually see with ruined buildings and deserts where everything looks like crap, the opposite happens. Nature takes over to a point where everything looks like the pre-industrial revolution, except we get machine animals as well. The game looks like you will have to incorporate a bit of stealth as in the trailer the main character has to sneak in the bushes in order to stay hidden during a hunt and try not to have the lookers find her and warn the other machines.

No Man's Sky

A lot of work has went in to No Man's Sky. The game is your standard sandbox game on steroids. Promising to explore a ton of planets and solar systems. We were only able to see a couple of planets, actually going to one in the demonstration. Overall the game looks amazing and anyone who plays it will have a ton to do.

Street Fighter V

Like Hitman, we only saw a blip of Street Fighter V, but unlike Hitman, we actually got to see how gameplay will look. It looks cool so far. There will be a beta in July so I can't wait to see more.

Destiny: The Taken King

This is an DLC of Destiny. The expansion promises more gear and maps. The DLC will be set in some time after you defeated Crota and jis father is not very thrilled about it, taking his revenge out on you. The other Destiny DLC was great, so hopefully this will be even better.

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

This game looks insane. Syndicate seems to be what the Assassin's Creed series just need in order to spark fresh new life into it. The game will feature you switching between either as a male or female lead character, which is a first in the series. It is also the first game in the main series where you play as a woman. The action in the trailer looks swift and amazing. If the action in the game looks half as good as it does in the trailer, this will be a win.

Final Fantasy VII

Holy shit. Final Fantasy fans rejoice. Your prayers since the 2002 days have been answered. We are finally, especially since the awful tease that was the PS3 Tech demo, a Final Fantasy VII remake. They only showed a teaser and it only leaves me wanting to see more.

Shenmue III

Sony's press conference this year is officially the conference of making nerd dreams come true. Along with The Last Guardian and Final Fantasy VII,  Sony has been hearing fans and have announced that Shenmue II is being put on kickstarter. I see this more as a final test to see if people really want this to happen instead of actually needing money to make the game. I never played the first Shenmue games, so hearing this I'm interested to not only see this go through but to look back on Shenmue 1 and 2 to see what I was missing out on.

Uncharted 4

To close the show, Sony show some gameplay of Uncharted 4. If you're new to the series the game loves to put you in visual fuckup situations where you will be moving your way through the environment in order to live through some crisis either with bad guys gunning you down on a sunken cruise ship or whatever. This time you're in a gun fight that turns into an epic car chase in a Favela. Seeing how this all goes down has me excited to see more.

Bad

World of Final Fantasy

This game looks cute, but I see no reason to this game other than Square Enix trying to do something cute. At least Theatrhythm had a purpose as you could play classic songs from the series.

Call of Duty

You Play one COD, you play them all basically.

Meh

Firewatch

The trailer doesn't look very intriguing. I know there's going to be big on exploring, but it looks like ti would be boring.

Hitman

The trailer was nice, but there wasn't enough of the gameplay in the trailer. I can't make heads or tails of how this game will look compared to the other Hitman games. Hoorah Hitman is back?

My post for Nintendo's Digital Event is here!
My post for Microsoft's Press Conference is here!

Microsoft E3 2015 Press Conference: The Good, The Bad, and the Rare Replays

Ladies and gentlemen E3 is upon us. Every year, video game lovers anticipate on what we will hopefully save up to play by starting our "ramen diets", cut back on stuff we don't need like certain bills paid. So this week I will be covering press conference shown at E3 and will judge and critique them, just like we all will to see what's good, what's bad, and what is meh. Let's start shall we with Microsoft...

Good

Halo 5: Guardians

Right off the back, we got to see Halo 5. Not only did we get to see a bit of the trailer setting the story behind the game, but we also got to see gameplay as well. The gameplay looks really smooth as you're maneuvering in the map, you have intense moments that happen like you almost falling through the floor and fighting the boss. What they made a big deal over was multiplayer, which is pretty much why we all play Halo in the first place. The map they shown briefly was Warzone and it actually was one allowing you to play with 24 different players, accompanied with helper AI. Overall Halo V looks like it will be crazy and fun.

Recore

This game was made by Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune and the makers of Metroid Prime. The trailer features a woman and her robotic dog in a desert. They get attacked by bad robots. During the attack the robot dog sacrifices itself by blowing itself up to save the girl, leaving an orb behind. The woman then puts it inside a robot she found earlier before the attack. The trailer gives details on what the gameplay will be. You will basically be assisted with different kinds of robots that you will attach that one orb to in order to navigate throughout the game. This will most likely be used in not only puzzles, but mostly in combat as well. This is something new and fresh. I can't wait to see more of this.

Fallout 4

We got a tease for the new Fallout game days before E3, so thankfully we got to see a bit more during Micrsoft's and Bethesda's conferences. Fallout 4 has a brand new crafting feature which makes the customization more, customizable.

Cuphead and Mugman

I love this game. I love the artstyle. It looks like the vintage Disney and Betty Boop cartoons that I used to watch when I was seven. That and it being a Run and Gun, a la Contra, this looks like it will be amazing to play.

Sea of Thieves

Rare is giving us a brand new game, well, not kinda as it is Project Dream a.k.a the game that would become Banjo-Kazooie. You will be sailing the seas as a pirate in the MMO fighting skeletons and finding adventure and treasure. Supposedly the characters that were suppose to be in Project Dream are suppose to be in the game like Captain Blackeye, who made a cameo in Banjo-Tooie. This looks cool and hopefully it will deliver that Rare awesomeness that Rare had in their glory days.

Microsoft Hololens

Earlier this weekend we learned that Oculus Rift was joining forces with Microsoft and all Oculus Rift devices would be coming with Xbox controllers. That wasn't all. Announced was the new Microsoft Hololens. Hololens would enbale games to see and manipulate holograms as they play games. Honestly the design of hololens does look a lot better than the Oculus head set and the

Bad

Forza 6

I know people like this stuff, but I'm not really excited about a racing game driving standard racing cars. If I had that interest, I would play Gran Turismo 7, when it comes out...

Rare Replay

I know, why did I put this on the bad list? It hurts me to do this but I had too. The collection does feature some amazing games like Perfect Dark, Conker, Battletoads, and Banjo-Kazooie, but I don't need a collection of old nostalgic games. I need rare to stop cashing in on my nostalgia. I would rather have new games from some of these old franchises. Get on it Rare.

Meh

Rise of the Tomb Raider

It looks amazing, but it looks and feels like you're playing Tomb Raider all over again.

Xbox Backwards Capability

I know people are genuinely excited about this and they should. But this should've been available from the start, especially during that PR scare they had before Xbox One's launch. Also, only Xbox 360 games and no Xbox games?

Xbox One Elite Controller

I admit this looks pretty cool. The controller features a ton of pieces that are suited to making your game experience better and making you feel like a pro gamer. Again it looks cool, but I would like to see just how elite it will actually be when it comes out.

Check out my post for Sony's E3 Press Conference here!
Check out my post for Nintendo's Digital Event here!

This Is A Pre-E3 Post

     Ladies and gentlemen, it's that time again. E3, or the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is here again. Every once in a year we prepare and look forward to hearing and seeing what the biggest gaming companies have to offer us this year and the years ahead. We see trailers and gameplay from upcoming games. We get excited and make plans on how we are going to save up on getting these games. So, enough chit chat, what do these companies have to offer us this year?

Microsoft

     First things first, let's start off with Microsoft. A standard Microsoft conference at E3 would be basically showing off the capabilities of the Xbox console and what games you would play on it would sit a bit of the back seat  Last year at E3 Microsoft decided to be more about games instead of how you can watch YouTube and Netflix the Xbox One. That was bit of a good thing after all that's what you bought the console for in the first place. Microsoft has promised that they will be more about first party games at this E3 and I cannot be more happier about that news.
     We know that their big exclusives Scalebound, Crackdown, and Quantum Break will not be there as they decided to show them off at Gamescon, so that is bit of a bummer. But don't fret we will be hearing about their other titles like Halo 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider which I am excited about. Recently we had heard that Microsoft has made a deal with the Oculus Rift, so we can expect to hear more about that.

Nintendo

     Nintendo has been passing making live press conferences at E3 for awhile, instead deciding to make Nintendo Direct announcements. these directs have become a big thing as well as never failing to disappoint. The directs for last year, while still good, have been a bit underwhelming compared to the previous year. Nintendo gave us a bounty of amazing games to look forward to in 2013 with Smash Bros, Mario Kart 8, and Super Mario Land 3D.
     Last year we did have some great announcements like Splatoon and Yoshi's Wooly World, but again, it's wasn't as bountiful as the previous year. Hopefully they can deliver for us this year as they kinda still need it to help further sell the Wii. I'm sure we'll will hear more about Mario Maker, a platform creator which will hopefully put those Super Mario hacks to shame. It looks amazing and filled with Mario crap that will make the biggest Mario addict happy for years.
     Sadly Zelda Wii U will not be there which is sad as I, along with a ton of people are excited to see more of. There are rumors of Retro Studios and Platinum games have something cooking up and that could possibly be a new Metroid game. That would be amazing as we seriously need a new Metroid game on this system badly. Also what we need badly is an update of Star Fox Wii U so hopefully we will hear more about that.

Sony

     So last year, Sony took a page form Microsoft's old playbook and decided to make their conference about the functionality of the PS4. There's a good possibility that we'll still be in for that at this year's conference, but hopefully they won't. Honestly there isn't enough games on the PS4 that is sparking my interest which makes me sad because I love Sony and PlayStation. So hopefully this year Sony can deliver on that. Luckily for them it was just announced that Street Fighter V will be, so far, only on the PS4 and PC so that's a huge plus for them.
     One of the big news Sony has is that there will be a new Ratchet and Clank game that will be a PS4 exclusive which will go along the the new movie coming out in the near future. From the trailer it does look interesting. We will hopefully hear more about Fallout 4 which will be a good thing. Fallout 4's announcement has pretty much set the internet by storm so hearing more about it would be amazing, as well as seeing more of it in action.
     Another game everyone is looking out to hear is Doom. It's been awhile since we had a Doom game and I remember being in love of Doom back in the day so it feels great that there we're getting a new game in the series. The new Doom game is going to be a reboot other than a continuation of Doom 3. This is good as Doom 3 wasn't. It will be interesting to see where iD will take it. It will be more interesting if we see gameplay.

What are you looking forward to at E3?

Remakes and Reboots: Do They Really Suck?

     Like fashion, trends come back in again over time. The latest trend in movies to come back is remakes. That's right it is remake and reboot season again in Hollywood. It seems that this summer we have been receiving a ton of remakes happening and being announced.

     We have just gotten news that there will be a remake of the classic Big Trouble in Little China with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and not too long ago we just heard there's gonna be a remake of Stephen King's It. We also heard that there will be remakes of movies like Ghostbusters, The Craft, Gremlins, and many others. We just gotten movies not to long ago like Poltergeist and Mad Max. The remake reboot machine is fully running in Hollywood. But is that a good thing?

    Remakes and reboots get a flack from moviegoers and it seems rightly so. Most people write them off as lazily made with little to no originality in order to bank off of nostalgia and never could be better or is nowhere near as good as the original. And at times they are right. The Amityville Horror remake is a prime example. The original scared us while the remake was just an big overabundance of lame CGI that wasn't. The only good thing about the remake was all the good shirtless Ryan Reynolds scenes. But is it true that any remake or reboot that comes out is marked with the curse of it being bad? 

     It is true that a lot of these movies do end up being bad, but a some of them are not. Scream 4 is a good example. Scream 4, even though it is a sequel director Wes Craven set 4 to be a reboot with a completely new trilogy. 4 was almost as good as the other Scream movies as it was nearly in the same vein. Just as the original trilogy parodies horror movies, Scream 4 parodied the remakes and reboots of horror films. But Scream 4 is just one example.The truth is that remakes and reboots suck just as any other movie. Like any movie, you have to work with a certain, script, image, and direction.
     As for the demand of originality, some remakes do in a way try to be original when remaking a film. People who make these remakes were inspired, or at least they should, by the bar the original has set. Whether they set themselves near that bar varies. They can be very damn near it or miles below. Just like The Amityville Horror the director and the CGI probably tried to be original adding CGI effects to the movie and trying to make things and probably scare moments from the original scarier, but ultimately they failed.
     It seems that people don't really complain about remakes about them being unoriginal, but mainly because we want to see something new. We want to see something we've never seen before. We already know what happens in Poltergeist and Big Trouble in Little China, so seeing a remake of it does seems to be a burden unless to see what small changes have they made to the script, only to compare to the original and decide to complain about how it isn't like the original. What are your thoughts on remakes and reboots?