• 16May 13

  Been writing and re-writing some reviews + STFU about my banner

  

  My reaction to the comments in my last blog

   

  Heya fellow Gamespotters.

  I deleted some of my old reviews a while ago because they were atrocious. I ended up rewriting my review for Catherine (I am allowed to do that right?) and I think its much better. I also wrote a brand new review for Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, which I finished a while ago. If you feel like it, give 'em a read.

  Catherine

  Neptunia V

  Any kind of feedback or constructive criticism would be appreciated. When I'm done with them, I'll be writing reviews for Tales of the Abyss and Disgaea 4 as well. 

  Also, did you notice I changed my banner? I really liked my old Neptune banner. But I was tired of people commenting on her chest size. Okay, maybe it was only two people plus the one person that liked the comment. But its still annoying as hell. They acted like my banner negated whatever I was talking about in my blog. Her chest was the very last thing I was focused on. I thought the picture was pretty and it'd be cool to put "Lucky's Blog" between her hands and use it as a banner (the original image looked like this by the way).

  Oh well. I like this new one too. Its Katherine from Catherine. I snagged the image from the wiki then added the "cartoon" filter on Gimp. Then I slapped text on it and put it up there. One day I hope to create something fancier. But for now, this is all I can really do. What do you guys think of it?

  

  Anywaaaaay, I'm off to fold clothes and take a shower. Next blog will either be a serious editorial concerning a comment I read in the forum about kids and M rated games or one about dating T-rexs.

  ......................

  Please don't ask.......

  • Posted May 16, 2013 9:55 pm GMT
  • Category: General
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• 1May 13

  Why is it always about the breasts?

  

  Yes that was a serious question. Why is it?

  Last week, Jason Schrier from Kotaku published an article where he likened the artist of Vanillaware games, George Kamitani, to a fourteen year old boy. Why? Because of the character pictured above. Kamitani humorously fired back by posting a picture on his personal Facebook of the Dwarf characters from the same game shirtless, winking, and affectionately embracing. The caption under the picture read "It seems that Mr. Jason Schreier of Kotaku is pleased also with neither sorceress nor amazon. The art of the direction which he likes was prepared." Some took it lightly; some took it as an offensive crack at Schrier's sexuality.

  Schrier later apologized and explained his reasoning for attacking Kamitani's designs. He said "...its embarrassing. Because I love Japanese games and Japanese RPGs and I don't want them to perpetuate the ugly 'boys' club' mentality that has pervaded gaming for almost three decades now." A lot of apologizing from both sides was made. In an e-mail to Kotaku, Kamitani explained that he found the art in works such as Dungeons and Dragons and in JRR Tolkiens works appealing. However, he decided that the initial character designs wouldn't stand out amongst the flurry of fantasy designs already parading in not just games, but books, movies, and other media as well. So he exaggerated his character designs in a cartoonish fashion. All of the designs are exaggerated, not just the busty sorceress. Kamitani's intent wasn't to be a sexist pig or alienate female gamers. It was just a simple artistic choice. Despite that, today, Gearbox's environmental artist has also put in her (very nasty) two cents about the art and Kamitani.

  I am very disappointed by all this. We are nowhere near closer to a more accepting and inclusive gaming industry or community. All that's been done here is the shaming and ridiculing of a very talented artist. I mean, Kamitani has been likened to a teenage boy, a homophobe, a terrible artist, and a sexual deviant. That is completely ridiculous, rude, and uncalled for. People took one character design out of context and then decided to turn it and Dragon's crown into the poster child for what's wrong with the gaming industry.

  Never mind the gorgeous trailers that display a wide variety of beautiful and detailed locations. Never mind the interesting beat 'em up style gameplay. Never mind the detailed and gorgeous 2D graphics. Never mind that Atlus finally announced a release date and promised future updates for the game after a long stretch of silence. Once again, never mind the fact that all the character designs, male and female, are exaggerated and cartoonish.

  Now, I'm not one of those people that gets offended over people being offended. I know whenever stuff like this happens, multiple tirades against political correctness and people being too sensitive come up. But I believe that everyone has the right to be offended over whatever the heck they want. What's nothing to me might be offensive to someone else. I take no issue with that. Here's what I do take issue with though:

  1.) Being offended over something and then trying to get it banned and out of the hands of everyone else who doesn't share your values or sentiments.

   2.) Getting offended and then relentlessly and maliciously shaming someone or something when its not even warranted.

  The latter is surely what happened here. George Kamitani is a talented man, and his artwork is absolutely gorgeous. Another article on Kotaku celebrated his designs after Schreir decided to mock him. The artist of Skullgirls, Alex Ahad, stated that he was inspired by Kamitani's work. He spoke highly of Kamitani's designs and Vanillaware in general, stating that he has the utmost respect for them. I don't think anyone can deny his talent. His art is celebrated and marveled at on a number of different sites by fans and critics alike. But what happens as soon as he draws one of his character's breasts too big?

  "BURN THE WITCH!"

  All this, while infuriating, isn't what bothers me the most though. People like Schreir say their justification for screaming "sexism" is to make the industry more inclusive and get it away from this boy's club mentality. That is an admirable goal and I can get behind that. However, I can't get behind spewing vicious insults at a talented artist for one character design, nor do I get behind people who throw around the word sexism at the drop of a hat.

  I wrote about this many many moons ago in a blog about sexism. The issue of sexism in the industry is something I take very seriously. But at the same time, I can't help but shake my head at attempts like this to stomp out sexism. Its just not effective and its extremely misguided. Situations like these that get severely blown out of proportion are not helping the problem. Silly things like this usually end up desensitizing people to the real issue.

  What about the real world? What about real issues like the pay gap in the gaming industry or online harassment? What about malicious sexism directed at living, breathing, human beings? What is shaming Kamitani going to do for these women in the long run? How is calling Kamitani an immature and creepy sexual deviant making the industry and community more inclusive?

  Also, what about the people who are actually making conscious efforts to make the industry and the community more inclusive? A few weeks ago on April 22nd, the #1reasontobe panel was held at the Game Developers Conference. Inspired by the #1reasonwhy hashtag that blew up over twitter late last year, a number of women from the industry spoke about their experiences in the gaming industry. They talked about both the good and the bad of working in the industry, and what could be done to change the industry and make it better and more inclusive for future game developers. I watched it online; though I'm sure it must have been a completely different experience actually being there.

  It was a very emotional and moving panel. Afterword, people thanked and praised the women leading the panel, noting that their words and actions today were inspiring to future female game developers.

  To me, this is far more productive. Its far more productive when, in response to some guy with his foot in his mouth saying sexual harassment is normal and part of  the fighting game culture, a number of players come out and say, thats not true and its not tolerated. I also think Kim Swift's sound and fair advice is far more helpful. I think both Meagan Marie's game industry advice on her website and her encouragement of people to not be afraid to call someone out on their inappropriate behavior and speak up for yourself are far more helpful. I'd like to see more of all of this and less "LOL who hired the teenage boy to do this crappy design."

  Now, I don't see anything wrong with a polite, calm, and logical discussion on how women or any other groups are portrayed in games. But while its better and far more polite than what Schreir did, I still think focusing on changing the industry from the inside is more productive. After all, once something is out there its out there. The way I see it, a more inclusive and diverse industry that is willing to take creative risks would definitely make the problem of negative or sparse portrayals of women and minorities in games much better. Mocking George Kamitani will not.

  So lets veer our eyes away from the sorceress' chest and focus on the real issues here.

  • Posted May 1, 2013 11:36 pm GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 14Apr 13

  Gaming Update #1: Victory is Mine!! (+CSS woes)

  

  A few weeks ago, I purchased Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory. -Sigh- there I go again. I'm beginning to think there's no use putting up that personal game buying embargo, seeing as I still just buy games anyway. Oh well, when I'm done I WILL go back to my backlog. But right now I'm having tons of fun with this game. I'm in chapter 7, with about 30 or so hours clocked in. The party had just gotten their behinds handed to them by Yellow Heart. This was of course in a cutscene AFTER I completley overwhelm her in battle. Don't you just love RPGs and their disrepancies between battle and story? It's similar to when one boss takes you on and claims that they're going to destroy you, despite the fact that you clearly outnumber them. For example, when Takaya and Jin attack you in Persona 3. Gameplay wise its 2 against 4. Storywise its 2 against 9. What made them think they could win? I mean really!

  Anyway, the third game is a definite improvement over mk2. Mk2 was already a huge overhaul of the first game, and Victory adds even more onto that. Also, the music is awesome. They do recycle a few tracks (Booo Compile Heart, you cheap asses!) but most of the tracks are new. Apparently the music was done by the legendary Nobuo Uematsu and his band the Earthbound Papas. Keiji Inafune, the creator of Megaman also makes an appearance as a summon once again. Oh and a...rocket...I also spotted a Bakemonogatari reference. And according to the wiki, Kyuubey from Madoka Magica makes a cameo in the game. I'm assuming they're referring to a certain type of monster I've come across in the game. I wonder how they can afford to have all these big names and cameos in the game. I thought Neptunia was a little niche game. Gosh Compile heart, if you can afford Uematsu and Inafune, how about a stable frame rate and some anime cutscenes huh!?

  Anyway, I'm aiming for the platinum trophy. Just like mk2, this looks like an easy platinum. Then I'll get back to playing Disgaea 4. I'm almost to the end of that game. I also have the urge to play Portal 2 again. So that's next!

  I also did a little messing around with the CSS editor on my anime list. Now it looks like this. Yes, I've Nepped up my anime list, and dabbled in some Steins;gate, Shin Sekai Yori, Ghost in the Shell, and Mushishi (all great anime by the way). AGH! Lemme tell you how much hell I had to go through just to get it to look like that.

  I don't know a lick of CSS so I had to get the help of others who had tutorials in their MAL blogs. I had to go to a few different people because the initial blog I used as a reference had some sketchy information. I also had to condense the pictures I used in GIMP and stick text on 'em. Then I had to mess with the programming and...ugh. I started at 12:30 am. Before I knew it, it was 3 am. Luckily, I do have a small sliver of programming knowledge from a class I took my senior year of high school. Although that was C++ and not CSS.  My inhumane patience for electronics not doing what I tell them to was also tested daily in that class. The list doesn't look perfect (Maybe if I don't point out the mistakes, no one will notice!!)...I mean, I've seen others with far prettier lists. I will try fixing mine up again when I recover from the trauma I endured last night trying to get that thing to work.

  Tell me what you think of it. And if you have an anime list as well, feel free to add me if you like. Well, that's about it....I have no witty closing statement so here's a gif of a bratty girl abusing her sweet brother.

  

  • Posted Apr 14, 2013 5:21 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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