I originally wasn't going to write this post. This morning I read a great piece in Offworld by Aevee Bee on video game bodies and physical conflict as metaphor for interpersonal conflict. I really liked the kinaesthetic metaphors and language Aevee used in the piece. They were this great bridge between the conceptual material and… Continue reading Dys-embodied
Author: Todd
See Something, Say Something
TW for this post: homophobia, transphobia Because of the sensitive content, the remainder of this post comes after the jump: Welcome to a couple of whiplash weeks for queer representation and themes in pop culture, especially games; from Kung Jin and Bobby Drake right around to yesterday morning's fantabulous and short-lived Steam Greenlight game about killing… Continue reading See Something, Say Something
Object Lesson
I'm gonna keep this short and sweet, ideally, because this situation has become so absurd that I'm not even sure it's real anymore. So there's a fighting game by FK Digital called Chaos Code. It came out last year-ish? Around the same time as AquaPazza. I bought it for a pretty cheap price (around $10, I think)… Continue reading Object Lesson
Brofist Intimacy
Just this morning I said that I was pretty close to done when it came to talking about Final Fantasy XV, mostly because, quote: "It's like shouting at an incoming meteor with a megaphone asking it to politely turn around." That was maybe me being a little upset because I've had a trying morning in general,… Continue reading Brofist Intimacy
From Purgatory: Poison, Birdo, and Trans Character Discourse
So I was looking through my blog drafts folder and noticed a few blog posts that I never actually finished, but had started writing at some point. I don't have significant time to finish most of them, but since Twitter expressed some interest in seeing them, I figured I'd do my best to bring them… Continue reading From Purgatory: Poison, Birdo, and Trans Character Discourse
Dog and Pony Show
So as some of you may have read, yesterday Kotaku's Stephen Totilo posted a story based on an interview with Zelda mastermind Eiji Aonuma about Majora's Mask and other topics. One of said other topics was the creation and history of series NPC and running gag, Tingle. And if you follow me on Twitter? Well... https://twitter.com/laevantine/status/568148510853492736 ...you know… Continue reading Dog and Pony Show
You Can’t Take It Off
Lately, I'm beginning to feel like a bit of a crank when it comes to LGBTQ issues in games. Specifically, I'm worried that I'm being too hard on people who are potential allies. And while I am vehemently against that as a critique coming from allies themselves ("you're not making any friends, you know") I… Continue reading You Can’t Take It Off
She’s Not That Into You
I want to talk about the part of Dragon Age: Inquisition that made me cry, or at the very least to tear up and force myself to not cry. There are a lot of narrative beats, a lot of moments, in DA:I. I am sure you might expect that this emotionally-impacting scene is one of many in… Continue reading She’s Not That Into You
I’ll Be Watching
So, this is an open missive to the creators of HBO's Looking, about their upcoming second season of the show. Now, I know that on the eve of the premiere tonight is too late to reach them before these episodes were filmed. Consider this gesture symbolic, perhaps. Certainly, I feel like it's a necessary step for my… Continue reading I’ll Be Watching
Lewd-ology
So I've been doing everything in my power to... well, power through the end of Dragon Age: Inquisition, since I've already sunk 70 hours into it. With the sudden reversal of the games press's game-of-the-year sentiments, it seems like now is the time before my motivation evaporates. Probably the most widely-discussed critique of DA:I to make the… Continue reading Lewd-ology