Regarding Anita Sarkeesian

As a person with videogames and an opinion, I feel I should probably talk about the Sarkeesian debacle and feminism in games.

 For those of you who don't know, Anita Sarkeesian, a long-time internet based feminist studies major has taken a second crack of the whip at analysing videogames. This in itself is nothing new - Studies on sexualisation, non-sexualisation and representation of the fairer sex in games has been done nearly to death in recent years (I fondly recall a fantastic piece on a larger woman in Borderlands 2, and also on Chun-Li talking about the "Respectable vs Metal Bikini warriors" in games). And neither is scamming on kickstarter.

When Sarkeesian started this online venture on youtube, she first went to raise funds on Kickstarter. $6000, to be exact. Now, the production values you would think, should be great for a £4000 (ish) venture on the internet.
Well, erm... She's stood against a greenscreen. I'd love to know where that money all -went-, since greenscreening, while time intensive is certainly not expensive. Titles are impressive, granted but not FOUR GRAND impressive.

As far as the content goes - It's... a little stretched. Some good points are raised, regarding (in this first episode) the "Damsel in Distress" trope associated with games (particularly with Nintendo games). Regarding this, she starts with "StarFox Adventures", a Gamecube title that originally started out as another title called "Dinosaur planet" starring a female character. The developer, RARE left Nintendo however and the project, turned over to Ninty who turned it into the Starfox game we got. Sarkeesian's issue with this, is that the female character was replaced with the male Fox McCloud, and she becomes the damsel.

Okay, so I'll start with what actually happened, and not "Nintendo are sexist for not having female leads":
1 - The lead character of the Rare title likely had copyright on the design. With them gone, Nintendo likely did NOT have the rights and would need a new character. It happens - See Capcoms issues with getting Karin to return to the Street Fighter series
 2 - The character from the N64 beta does indeed share a name with the damsel character from the final Gamecube game. Now, granted, she is a distressed damsel but she is playable, and does kick arse. She's not helpless - out of her depth, which had happened to McCloud several times. Case in point - The amount of times Falco saved his behind in the first two games.

Moving away and on, and focusing on Princess Peach. Now, she is a damsel. Through and through, it's no secret she's designed on the princesses from fairy tales. However, she did haver her own game (Which Sarkeesian happily forgets) in which the tables are turned, and Peach has to save Mario. That there, is a great subject for feminist debate. Sadly, the only real debate here is how much of the four thousand pounds Sarkeesian has actually used on this series (In which she happily declares Ninteno to be objectifying Peach by not making her playable, despite having her own titles and being playable in nearly every spin off title).

A lot of her arguments too, are based around arcade and console games of the late 80's and early 90's. She calls this use of the trope lazy.
Now, lazy it may have been but logically, the technology back then simply did not exist for the storylines we have today. Yes, it was overused but it worked - You can blame the success of Super Mario Bros and the clones that popped up like weeds for the continuation.

Next up, the Legend of Zelda gets hit with this stick. She does give Princess Zelda (the girl, guys) some props though, for not being just a damsel but also for having a will, and fight of her own. However, she takes on a new term, the "Helpful damsel".
This is where my agreement ends. She notes two titles, Wind Waker and Ocarina of Time in which Zelda spends most of the time in disguise until the last moment when she is revealed, then kidnapped or told to wait.
Right then. Let's forget Sheik (Who Zelda plays as in OoT) then, while hinted female, fends for herself with ease and remains hidden for seven years during the game. Let's forget Tetra now, who after being complimented by Sarkeesian is attacked in seconds for being royalty. Interesting, given that Zelda has a much more dominant role in these games. Far from the damsel, she is shown to not only be a stern monarch, but also adept and taking care of herself and resisting capture - ultimately, she is the videogame version of Queen Elizabeth the first, with the heart and stomach of a man. What Sarkeesian is sheerly basing her thesis on is the physical appearance of the character, which ultimately defeats her own point.

She next makes note of the re-releases of these games on downloadable platforms like Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, Steam and so on - She claims this (in a very roundabout way) that this is potentially harmful to a new generation.
What this trend actually is - This generation of games has seen a massive resurgence of older players returning to the hobby. So it makes sense to re-release, no?

The last game that gets the slap is Double Dragon, which she claims (during the infamous intro in which the lead characters girlfriend is womped in the stomach, before being abducted) shows, allegedly, womens underwear. Fact is, it's subjective. There's a huge debate online whether this is actually shown (yes, people are fighting over a black line of pixels), so commenting on it as fact is nothing but damaging to her credibility (if siphoning cash wasn't already)

Finally on her closing statement, she urges that developers push for less "sexist" games using this trope. Again, I made the point before over technology, but she misses out on a key franchise that actually shares a birthday with The Legend of Zelda that stars a female character. And not just any, but one of the strongest women in any form of media to date - I of course talk of Metroid, and Samus Aran who has NEVER been a damsel, is the driving force in her own series and, over her 27 year career has proven herself with ease (even gaining a doppelgänger in Wreck It Ralph in the form of Calhoun) and continues to do so this day across platformers, first person shooters and fighting games.

I'm no stranger to analysis. Frankly, I thrive off it but to deliberately ignore all possibilities and to scam people for $6000 on kickstarter? Credibility is gone. I will continue to watch the series, but don't think you'll be able to take any debate to Sarkseesian think again - Comments, ratings and messages to her are disabled (further taking away validity - If you analyse, you have to defend. This is a simple fact and kinda just common courtesy) so, sadly she'll lead on this way blindly without evening listening to what anyone else has to say.

 As is the internet. Either way. I do suggest you watch the first episode of the series for yourself and make your own conclusions. Lord knows how a debate on this would be nice

All the Best.

Four under-rated games you should probably pick up

Hello again. It's me. I know, it's been a while. I've been busy you see.
Anyway. Business.

So I've been soldiering through a hefty backlog for some time now, and, for the most part, I feel pretty darn good for it (Apart from Aliens: Colonial Marines. Fuck you, Gearbox. Fuck you and the half-arsed product you sailed in on). It's becoming a spare time obsession that's mercifully not interfering with my University life and love life (I can multi-task - Yes, men can do it too), and I'm getting a  lot of fresh stories in my mind and system.

Through this adventure, I've touched on good titles (Mirror's Edge), some titles that are somewhere in the middle (Dead Island) and utter runny plop (Colonial Marines) but what's sticking to me are the titles that, at least to me, got an unfair rap from peers and journals that could do with a little love. So, to help give them a little boost (on my minuscule circulation) I'm compiling this quick list of four under-rated titles you should check out - And the best part is that most of, if not all of them, you'll be able to find in a bargain bin!

Anyway, cracking on!

Asura's Wrath (Capcom, 2012)

Asura's Wrath was an interesting experiment - One of the "original IP's" that Capcom tried in 2012 (Along with Dragons Dogma), the hack and slash style game put you in the shoes of Asura, a demi-god with a bit of an anger problem, who, as the life of a demi-god goes, is betrayed by the other demi-gods who frame him for the murder of the monarchy - And then, to add insult to injury they kill his wife and kidnap his daughter (But not before hooking her up to a giant machine to use her godly powers against him. Bastards). Naturally, Asura gets a bit cross and goes out in a mad chase for his revenge.

The gameplay centres around Asura's, well, wrath - The angrier he gets, the harder he hits. The aim of each bought is to get Asura to his absolute angriest, at which point he'll "burst", unleashing his full rage triggering a quick-time event.
Yes, a QTE. Calm down, this is a Capcom game. I remind you that Capcom is the only company who can do these right. Case in point, Resident Evil 4.
There's a plethora of them in this game, too. Countering an attack will trigger a rather quick QTE, which gives off a lot of visual eye-candy, and a shouty demon slam from Asura.

What's most interesting about this game though is how it's presented - Each level is presented as an "Episode", in which three "seasons" are divided (Suffering, Rebirth and Karma plus a DLC season, Nirvana) which is designed to give it the feel of a Japanese Anime series. Normally, I'd be against such a venture but here, it works for some god forsaken reason and I find myself genuinely enjoying the game (Even buying the DLC for Nirvana and the Lost Episodes which added fights with Street Figher's Ryu (Both normal and Evil) and Akuma) and the style. It's worth picking up, and certainly deserves better than the 71 that it currently sits on over at Metacritic. Check it out if you're a fan of Devil May Cry, God of War or just have a thing for angry men and Hindu/Bhuddist culture (From which the story is based upon)

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (Capcom, 2012)

Huh. Another Capcom game. Makes you wonder if the gambles they took over the last couple of years with new IP's and trying to create new partnerships with western developers was worthwhile.

Coming again from said gamble, Operation Racoon City is a third-person shooter developed by Six Slant Games (The guys behind the Socom series) and Capcom that follows a hypothetical (note, not canon) Umbrella Secret Service, or USS squad through the outbreak at Raccoon city that set out the main events of Resident Evil 2 and Resident evil 3: Nemesis. Said squad is made of four members, which then in turn can be made up of many more characters with several different playstyles (from a straightforward assault, medic, stealth and even a little recon bastard that can slip in and out of invisibility like Harry Potter in the girls changing room) - The idea is, to mix and match tactics according to each mission and each scenario. Granted, this is where things start to fall apart. I chose Lupo, the assault style character and never felt the need to switch to another (However, that could be just because I prefer automatic weapons and straightforward firefighting) but, on the flipside I would never trade in the medic AI for the bloody world. 

Speaking of the AI, it's... questionable. Sometimes, it's a genius, with great aim and sometimes, it's a small child in a sweet shop on a sugar high running around getting blown to bits. This is forgiveable for the Zombie enemies, but gets a little irksome during the firefights with US spec ops troops and rouge umbrella operatives but, luckily they can aim straight (though like the close-combat options a liiiittle too much).

Graphically, it's quite nice too. The game models are detailed, and though most of the main characters are covered head to toe you can tell them apart with ease thanks to characteristics assigned not only with the combat class, but also personalities (notably the demoman has a prosthetic leg which he is VERY touchy about and a rather short temper, even telling command to "Eat a bag of shit" on several occasions) and the enemies and lovingly re-created and updated from RE 2 and Nemesis - Even the big guy himself appears for a boss fight with a rather pretty model. I feel though that I should mention a small problem with the technical side, when the game becomes manic (IE: lots and LOTS of enemies), I did notice some stuttering and framerate issues that where not game-breaking.

Overall, it's a fun action game. Granted, fans of the series expect horror, and I understand why but if you can look past that, you'll have a barrel of fun. It's certainly not 52 material as Metacritic says, definitely worth a play and a pick up.

Aliens vs Predator (SEGA, 2010)

The other game from the Alien franchise on home consoles this generation, AvP was produced by SEGA, but developed by British developer (and now publisher - Cheers for keeping 2000 AD alive guys!) Rebellion who also happened to direct the very first AvP game which hit the Atari Jaguar. 

The game presents three, rather short (but quite satisfying) campaigns, one for each Alien, Predator and Colonial marine (Which I should add blows Colonial Marines out of the water, hilariously) each with their own playstyles - Predators are all about the technology, using stealth and traps to earn kills, let down only by switching between visors to help hunt targets - A needed balance to make them vunerable), Aliens are about using the environment and speed leaving the Marines with the guns (Seemingly on top, but VERY easy to sneak up on and disorientate) and this comes off VERY well not only in single player, but in multiplayer which sadly died on my platform of choice, Xbox 360 rather quickly. 

This game lives in fame for more than that though - It's probably the most violent game of this generation, earning a ban in several countries, an 18 here and a AO with the ESRB in the USA thanks to the executions for Aliens and Trophy Kills for Predators. 

Needless to say, it's massively entertaining to a sick son of a bitch like me. 

Overall, the game is pretty solid. Graphically, it's quite nice and it plays well - The only letdown is that the campaigns are quite short. However, you do get three of them, so it's fine by me and definitely more worthy than the 68 it sits on over at Metacritic. Pick it up!

Lollipop Chainsaw (Warner Bros. Interactive, 2012)

Can anyone else say "Cult following"?

From the madness that is Suda 51, the twisted bastard that gave us the wonderful No More Heroes, came last years Lollipop chainsaw - a hack and slash game that put us in the role of Zombie hunter by night, cheerleader by day just-turned 18 Juliet Starling in a bonkers Japanese horror/comedy film on the levels of Vampire girl vs Frankenstien girl (2009, Nishimura) that will live on in memory for years to come. 

Why? Juliet is, well, unintentionally fucking hilarious.

Dragged along for the ride is Juliet's boyfriend, Nick who, after loosing a little weight (namely his body) find himself as a decapitated enchanted head on his girlfriends belt. He is the straight man to the comedy, and the only one in the madness who seems to have any grounding in reality while his girlfriend happily chainsaws her way through hordes of undead, and bosses that stick in memory (for all the right reasons). It's the kind of game that we need every once in a while - Gaming has gotten into a bad habit of being INCREDIBLY pretentious. Yes, we need some "artistic vision" here and there to give validity to the mode and to push boundaries, but don't forget the fun. Even Stanley Kubrick, greatest director who ever lived made a comedy (Doctor Strangelove in 1964, don'tchaknow) and it seemed a lot of critics have simply stuck their heads in their arses on this one. IGN slammed it with a 5/10, claiming it juvenile and crude as did Gamespot, whipping it with a 6.5. More though, decided not to be snobbish towards it and gave it the praise it needed - a 9/10 from Destructoid, along with a 36/40 from Japanese magazine Famitsu cement it with a rather unbalanced 70 on metacritic. 

I actually called this the best game of 2012, and I stand by it. I first played it at MCM Expo last may, and rushed to pre-order it when I got home and the magic remains. If you have a sense of humour, you're going to love this. If you just want to bash a game because it stars a blonde cheerleader with large breasts (even though the point is to openly mock the over-sexualisation of women in games) stay away. You might find that fine art and photography is your thing. Along with horn rimmed glasses and Christmas sweaters in July.

Oh, did I mention that Juliet is voiced by Tara Strong? Get to it, slackers.

And that rounds off the list! Do feel free to ask me about any of these, and also PLEASE go out and buy one or two of these titles and make your own mind up. It's great taking my word, or anyone else's at face value but don't act like it's your own opinion. That makes you a jerk. A really big jerk.

All the Best.