Category: Read
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Gender at E3: Xbox
The Microsoft press conference featured more women on stage and on screen than EA’s did within the first 14 minutes. They started out with the reveal of the Xbox One X, and the face they chose to be the player was a (white) woman. Immediately thereafter they announced Forza Motorsport 7, with a female driver…
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Gender at E3: EA Play
There was a segment in the EA Play press conference pumping up their new esports project, which is designed to encourage more new competitors. “Ladies and gentlemen sitting on your couch, this could be you!” exclaimed one man. Except that the montage of new competitors had not included a single lady. This was in many…
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The Importance of Playstation’s Pride in London Sponsorship
Playstation Europe recently announced that it would be sponsoring Pride in London. Now, normally corporate sponsorship of our events wouldn’t ping my radar, but in the games industry, it still feels relevant. The replies to Playstation’s announcement tweet are full of blatant homophobia and endless complaints about the politicisation of gaming. The reddit thread on…
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Life is Strange 2 : Please Don’t Let It Be a Prequel
Life is Strange is important to a lot of people, myself included. I started playing it after episode three was released in May 2015, just two months after I started writing about games, and it was a superb catalyst. I wrote about how much it meant to me to see myself, an anxious queer woman,…
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Two Scoops Aims to Bring More Diversity to Dating Sims
Characters in Western dating sims are often similar: the protagonist, a transfer student or new employee, choosing between a slate of potential love interests – the quiet bookworm; a jock with a roguish smile and a heart of gold; someone aloof and mysterious; a cheery goofball. More troublingly, they are also usually all thin, straight,…
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500+ Devs Pledge to End Crunch Culture
Think of any video game you like. You probably know that a lot of work went into it, but you probably don’t consider crunch. With deadlines looming and a game to ship, developers are all too often expected to work excessive overtime. Not an odd evening or weekend at the office, but 85+ hour weeks…
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A Movie Can’t Capture the Feeling of Papers, Please
To play Papers, Please is to be stressed. Stamp, stamp, stamp immigration visa after immigration visa as fast as you can, because if you don’t get through enough your family will starve. But don’t make a mistake, because your pay will be docked and your family will starve. Now you’re holding the life of a…
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Uzbekistan Ban Lends New Angle to Violent Video Games Debate
It seems that wherever video games travel, controversy inevitably follows. The central Asian nation of Uzbekistan has officially banned 34 games from import and distribution, citing the violent and pornographic content that the games appear to promote. The list itself is a bit of an oddity; it contains the usual suspects such as Grand Theft…
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Checkpoint Harnesses Power of Video Games to Tackle Mental Health Issues
Founded by Dr. Jennifer Hazel, Checkpoint is webseries with the goal is to “raise awareness about mental health issues and those affected, using the power of video games.” The series is in its last week on kickstarter, and has earned enough pledges to be fully funded. In the funding video, Dr. Hazel discusses the severity of mental…
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Far Cry 5 Makes The White Male Power Fantasy Accessible To All
Ubisoft isn’t exactly shy about courting controversy to sell video games and the new trailer for the next Far Cry promises more of the same. Where previous installments have taken players to exotic locations for their wanton murder sprees, Far Cry 5 brings the controversy home. Far Cry 5 takes place in rural Montana. The game’s antagonists…
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Kindness is Key: How You Can Improve Games Culture
Some days, it can feel like games are inextricably embedded in a swamp of hostility. Kindness just isn’t something traditionally associated with gaming. That’s a pretty discouraging thought for people who want to change that, or even just to exist and enjoy games freely without being exposed to bile. But here’s the thing: that existing…
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Breaking Down Gaming’s Socioeconomic Paywall
“Do you own a Nintendo 3DS?” my homestay brother once asked. His question genuinely surprised me. I had yet to see a video game console at any of my previous homestays in the city of Durban, South Africa. That felt doubly true for the small rural area where I lived at the time. Even the…
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Happy Birthday Overwatch: A Look Back
On May 24, Overwatch celebrates its first anniversary. And it’s been a hell of a year. The game has been front and centre in major industry talking points without pause: sexualisation, diversity, harassment, fan culture, Doing It Right™ versus getting away with its continued failures, and, of course, a deluge of memes. In short, Overwatch has…
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The Wall Looks to Make Racist Trash Fun
Whenever a developer feels the need to open their crowdfunding campaign with a disclaimer stating neither they nor their game is racist, it should be an obvious sign that maybe they should rethink their entire project. Yet far too often, a developer throws caution to the wind and goes marching forward anyway. Such is the…
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Queer Glitches and the Outlaws of Meaning
I’ll end this article the way I began it: with a glitch. So there’s this point amid one of speedrunning genius Narcissa Wright’s cataclysmic all-medallion, any-percent tear through The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that has the hallmarks of a legitimate act of sorcery. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0LqjrkpZ1A?rel=0&start=2815] ‘Okay, now this part is a little confusing,’…
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All Your Favorite Games Are Political
Battlefield 1, Watch Dogs 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Each of these games tackles political issues in a big way. DICE’s first-person shooter of course, is about World War 1. Watch Dogs 2 explores themes of gentrification and privacy in the digital age (amongst other things). Meanwhile, the player character in the latest Dragon Age…