Category: Read
-
Fire Emblem: Heroes Needs All The Shirtless Men It Can Get
So about Fire Emblem. This is a series that, in its recent entries, wholeheartedly embraces gratuitous, ridiculous, or even borderline distasteful fanservice. Yet despite—or perhaps because of—how occasionally embarrassing these games are, I’ve developed something of a soft spot for them. The popular mobile game Fire Emblem: Heroes is perhaps the most blatant offender of…
-
Ori and the Will of the Wisps is Tearfully Beautiful
At this year’s E3, Microsoft announced it’s sequel to 2015’s Ori and the Blind Forest: Ori and the Will of the Wisps. The trailer for Ori and the Will of the Wisps premiered on stage, with composer Gareth Coker on piano. With scarce expositional dialogue to carry the story’s narrative, Ori and the Blind Forest managed to…
-
‘Emily Is Away’ Is Good But A Female Protagonist Makes It Better
With the recent release of Emily Is Away Too, I decided to revisit its prequel game, 2015’s Emily Is Away. For the uninitiated, in both games, the entire story unfolds within the confines of an AIM-esque chat program, in which you converse with your friend, the eponymous Emily. The chatlogs chronicle the ups and downs of…
-
Why Did EA’s E3 2017 Press Conference Include a Racist Madden Player?
The EA press conference wasn’t…great. The use of influencers and the unclear commentary during the Star Wars Battlefront 2 gameplay portion led many to deem the presser ‘unnecessary.’ Many also argued that the best part about the whole shebang was Battlefront 2 star Janina Gavankar. Gavankar’s incredible Star Wars-themed dress was a runner-up. But one…
-
E3 Presentations Featured Just 8 Female-Led Games
You might have noticed during my Gender at E3 series that I wasn’t exactly blown away by any of the press conferences when it came to showing women. And stepping back now that the shows are done, things really come into a sharp focus: this was a terrible E3 for female protagonists. Eight games. Tacoma.…
-
The Price of Life is Strange: Before The Storm Devs Crossing SAG-AFTRA Picket Line
When Life is Strange: Before the Storm was announced, many were surprised that fan favourite Ashly Burch wouldn’t be reprising her role as Chloe Price. Later she took to Twitter to explain that it was due to the SAG-AFTRA strike that has been going on since October of 2016. Before the Storm is specifically about…
-
Gender at E3: Nintendo
The Nintendo E3 press conference opened with a reel showing a diverse cast playing a bunch of Switch games, from Arms to Rocket League. Unfortunately, while they were happy to show people of all kinds enjoying their games, they weren’t so keen on including them in the games or the presentation themselves. Female characters were…
-
Gender at E3: Playstation
The Playstation E3 press conference was a whirlwind of trailer after trailer after trailer, leaving no stage time for anyone except Sony President and CEO Shawn Layden. The games themselves, then, were mixed in every respect. Out of the gate they showed Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, featuring Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross, both women of…
-
Gender at E3: PC Gaming Show
The PC Gaming Show at E3 showed off various bits of hardware and a bunch of upcoming games. Somehow, not one of these things was represented by women. Streamer Sonja Reed was given a secondary presenter role, but the developers interviewed by Sean Plott, who was given the the main stage, were overwhelmingly white men. There…
-
Gender at E3: Ubisoft
The Ubisoft E3 press conference was hard to parse. Not just because of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, but because of the shadow that South Park: The Fractured But Whole cast over it. It’s not like I wasn’t expecting South Park to be bad. At last year’s E3, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone discussed…
-
The Ugly Past And Uncertain Future of The Last Night
Immediately after the Xbox press conference I wrote about the women that they had on stage and on screen. But one of the games that they showed, The Last Night, requires something of a closer look. Tim Soret, the game’s developer, once supported GamerGate and stated that he was against feminism. While digging up tweets from…
-
Gender at E3: Devolver Digital
The Devolver Digital presser was less of a conference and more of a surrealist skit, but it was a surrealist skit with plenty of women in it. Primarily headed up by Nina Struthers’ unblinking comedic presence, she was joined by bit characters like the scientist Margaret as things devolved (hah) into body horror and gore.…
-
Gender at E3: Bethesda
The Bethesda E3 press conference opened with a bunch of kids talking about what their parents – mothers and fathers – did for a living. Both women and men were shown enthusing about their jobs and the games they’re making. Though Pete Hines did all of the presenting, Bethesda was careful to include female Youtubers…
-
Running of The Trolls benefits The Trevor Project
World of Warcraft’s Running of the Gnomes has been going on since 2010, seeing thousands of pink haired gnomes race to raise money for charities combating breast cancer. In 2015 the Running of the Trolls for the Trevor Project was established, with the latest event taking place this weekend. Organised by Dravvie, the run chose…
-
Queerly Represent Me Showcases LGBTQ+ Games
Happy Pride Month! There’s no better time to play some games with LGBTQ+ characters – but how to find them? You would be forgiven for thinking that there are very few options available and, of course, there truly aren’t enough. But there are probably more than you think. In fact, according to Queerly Represent Me,…
-
Accessibility, Awareness and Streaming: An Interview with DeafGamersTV Founder Chris Robinson
Chris (Phoenix) Robinson, known to many under his Twitch.TV alias, DeafGamersTV, is a deaf gamer from Chicago and a passionate advocate for greater accessibility in games. Currently, he is spending his time streaming games on Twitch, tweeting about deaf awareness, and promoting accessibility within game development and the greater gaming community. Today he joins us…