Moguta

How about the stereotype that if you can't protect your woman, you're hardly a man at all? EDIT: Beaten to the same exact argument by DJP. Brandon, you bring up good points about gender roles. Everyone, what if -- and I'm just hurling this out devil's advocate style -- What if greater polarization of gender roles tends to benefit society overall? It's not a popular idea at this point in time certainly, but science and truth care nothing for popularity. Two different, specialized hardware sets (genders) each with their own separate tasks (or tendencies) could very well outperform both hardware sets given the same tasks. It works in computing, why not with meatware? Scientifically inspecting the question of gender role separation is awfully tempting. Just take a set of candidates who respond as being very aligned with their gender stereotypes, another group who identify only weakly with their gender, and a control group. Set them a several group tasks and see how they perform. But the fatal flaw here is that only a single context is considered: working with strangers in an unfamiliar environment. How can we possibly extrapolate that to all aspects of social life? Perhaps with some devious cunning an unbiased experiment could be designed, but I just don't see it. So I ask: What if equality -- which seems so fair -- is unintuitively the wrong way?

I started to nitpick this before my arguments led me to realize that this indeed tends to be the case. So QFT. After all, what does it say about the male hero in games where nothing progresses unless the hero continues his rescue? He is meaningless without his girl? He has no life without her? Also, while I've been intently watching these arguments and analyzing Anita's videos, there really aren't many damsel-in-distress games I've played. And then I realized: I'm a big fan of games with immersively detailed plots, especially sandbox, branching, and choice-oriented RPGs. I do have a bone to pick with Deus Ex Human Revolution, though. They dress your love interest up as a futuristic Victorian princess -- the hero's trophy girl -- while all the other scientists parade around in nothing fancier than a lab coat. And yes she works with plenty of other female researchers. I thought that was a bit over the top, and seeming like such an artificial construct of the video game genre made me not really care about Megan or her fate. Thankfully, the game possessed many more compelling mysteries than that.

I'm glad she started pointing out video games she appreciated for their lack of gender stereotypes. Besides Beyond Good and Evil, however, I couldn't help noticing how many of those games featured characters with no gender or ambiguous gender. Honestly, I have to agree with a number of the points she's trying to make. Yes, the damsel in distress is far overused and plays into female gender stereotypes. Yes, it would be fantastic if game writers would abandon this dead horse already. However, it irks me how sensitive she seems to anything that may play into female disempowerment in the slightest. The moment I saw Spelunky's girl was interchangable with a man or a dog, my mind started repeating "don't get offended about the dog, plleeeease don't get offended about the dog". Being reduced to a powerless object is no worse. Yet she proceeds to take offense that a lowly DOG could be the companion. I see more of a problem with a dog or woman being wailed against the hero's obstacles, but maybe that's just me.

Love the ethereal philosophy quotes! Goes so well with the soundscape.

Is it just me, or is matchmaking taking longer ever since the official "release"? It has at least with my friends. StarlitVagabond on Steam if anyone wants to play. Still a bit of a n00b, but it's fun.

Deus Ex Human Revolution is gonna be on an 8-hour sale for $3! A triple-A title, could barely believe it. It's an awesome experience especially if you like cyberpunk or technology in general. EDIT: Grrr. I must sounds like a cheap ass, but upset that when I added Knights of the Old Republic II to my cart it was $3, but after putting in my payment info it went back up to $6. :/ EDIT2: What's the point of these cards? Steam level doesn't actually do anything, right?

I want to do a track-by-track personal review, but for now... Most unexpectedly addictive song: On The Run (The Returners) Difficult to recognize the source, since the melody deviates significantly. But boy is it catchy.

The harmonica melody right there sounds so so familiar, but I've never heard the score to A Fistful of Dollars. Is it a different movie? Or am I hallucinating? This is a really well-done embellishment on the Western themes present in Shadow's original tune. Was hoping for an arrangement more reminiscent of Shadow's regal horn salute in the ending theme, but that's a completely different vision. Love the real whistling and those driving guitar/percussive rhythms. It all melds together so well.

What more is there to be said? This will obviously go down as an OCR classic, and for good reason. Jake Kaufman, that madly skilled man, crafts an experience of incredible care and passion.

Honestly had no idea what I was in for until 0:34. Love how the subdued intro accelerates into some ol' timey modern swing. If there's one thing OCR needs more of, it's swing jazz. The "old speaker"-filtered dialogue added nicely to the old-school atmosphere. And that ending is perfect. Too many songs try to wind down at the end, instead of finishing in such a triumphant climax of a note. Wasn't even a song I was particularly looking forward to, and turned out to be one of my favorites. Good job, dude! Also, can someone add "swing" to the tags? XPERT's inspiration, Caravan Palace, is electro-swing and while I'm not qualified to speak on klezmer this is definitely swing style.

Ambitious. The intro left me with high hopes for this track. However, the instrumentation 0:45 onward is really not my style. The distortions and electronic percussion felt too chaotic for my personal taste. Maybe if it had some bass kick I would've enjoyed it as happy hardcore, but as-is I just don't understand where it's going. Also agree the high frequencies sound excessively gained. However, I am a fan of Laura's vocals. They come shining through everything. So this track is a mixed bag for me.

Couldn't agree more.

I go by Cyberpunk Techno. Though that sounds more like your specialty, honestly. I find the differences between Dota 2 and LoL almost like nitpicks, but something about LoL makes it seem more accessible to n00bs like myself. Perhaps the fact that your hero's projectiles seem much quicker than your minions', so it's a bit easier to get that last hit vs your little mages. And the helpful hero tips when you get killed.

Pretty fun game. After trying a couple heroes, I'm enjoying Singed and Sivir. Boomerang of death!

Isn't it common for a company to sell stock to raise funds for the corporation as a whole, though?

That does seem like an awful lot of stock $$$ to be cashing in! If he's putting that money back into company expenses such as lobbying, would that be reported on Pandora's public accounting statements? I had sympathy for Pandora's plight, but if all of this is going to the CEO's coffers and nowhere else I may really have to question that.

Half of the Star Ocean Till The End Of Time Soundtrack Volume 1 is relaxing orchestral. For example:

Exactly. I eyed that one for sooo long before reason kicked in, reminding me that I'm a poor college kid now.

The moral exploration of the original Star Trek certainly suffers at the hands of JJ Abrams. However, I did enjoy it for the action movie it was. Still, if all science fiction becomes lasers and explosions... to quote a famous bald captain, "do you remember when we used to be explorers?"

Really, I shouldn't be surprised to see swing coming from DoD. But yet I am. Also: Keep up with DoD better, self! Super to hear you hosted such a nerdy dance. Would love to see the tracklist. Woah! OCR Big Band!?!?! I'm in love.

So I've got an urge to dance with some geeky tunes, and plan on throwing a local VGM dance party. What remixes would be good for this, especially overlooked ones? (I have several of the obvious, like Wild Arms A Ring And A Promise and FF4 Somewhere.) Also, anyone know of swing vgm renditions?

Whoa. Not sure I can control myself. Apologies in advance for the mess.

1. Saren (Mass Effect) 2. Q*bert 3. Abe (Oddworld)

Thanks! And the rest of your post takes all the words right out of my mouth -- in more elegant form than I'd manage. Jim undoubtedly has more industry access than Anita, and yes, excluding the consumer perspective would be a travesty. Still, taking a decently-large randomized sample of games is something perfectly within her crowd-funded means. I expect some rigor when I hear "analysis", because it's too easy to throw opposing anecdotes back and forth. Also, I'm glad DJP brought up those sweeping generalizations that seem to pop out of her video every few minutes. Wonder if I should be expecting so much, though, since video is the ideal format for entertainment, not rational discussion. Thanks, dude/dudette! ( And I'm a "he". ) Honestly, most of the video games I've grown up playing do a pretty stellar job of portraying women. Bethesda RPGs, my bread and butter, always let you choose the hero's gender, send you to the aid of men probably as often as women, and feature females in roles from powerful monarch to master thief to noble warrior. And Bioware adventures, my new favorite, seem just as open to the true variability of gender roles. I appreciate these kinds of progressive atmospheres, though what really draws me is the deep customizability and detail of the worlds.

I totally agree. Sad to see the end of a once legendary gaming company. While it's not Star Wars, I'm definitely looking forward to http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/star-citizen/