zircon

You could just Google it... http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/SOO.PDF 91% of rape victims are female, 99% of offenders are male. Nobody is claiming that ONLY men rape, or that ONLY females or raped, etc., but convictions / prison stats (which is the best we have to go on in terms of stats + hard data) suggests that overwhelmingly, men are the perpetrators of sexual abuse / rape.

I think the difference is that most sexual abuse of women is committed by men, whereas with men it's usually other men perpetrating (priests, coaches, etc). So, the context does matter. While I was in the car earlier I happened upon a few interesting 'hard data' studies that might be relevant. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3210143 <- Exposure to violent / degrading images of women over a long time reduces viewer empathy / sympathy for rape victims http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/faculty/caa/abstracts/2005-2009/07CAB.pdf <- Playing violent video games causes physiological desensitization to other violent imagery http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01544683#page-1 <- Exposure to rap videos with women in sexually degrading roles caused, among *women*, increased acceptance of dating violence https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDUQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fpublication%2F229493469_The_Effects_of_Multiple_Exposures_to_Filmed_Violence_Against_Women%2Ffile%2Fd912f5092ba2dc1163.pdf&ei=TsmqUcicE4ST0QHy2IA4&usg=AFQjCNHpMXojy9QgYf3_ossGanwU_vwP0w&sig2=tSQOIPKllr8c6aTanJP8sQ&bvm=bv.47244034,d.dmQ <- Multiple exposures to filmed violence against women appears to have similar negative effects I had been thinking about what Dave said about lack of evidence or whatever, and just searched for a few minutes for terms like "study exposure media violence women attitude" (and similar terms). The above is a pretty small sampling - there are actually a ton of studies, and though I didn't (and still don't) have the time to exhaustively read or review anywhere close to all of them, it seems to me like it is at least reasonable (and not just "second wave feminist" rhetoric, or whatever) to suggest that video games that have degrading depictions of women and/or violence against women have a real psychological + physiological effect.

BUMP for results, thank you all for participating! I hope you're enjoying the free CSD samples, that you're proud of your entries, and that you'll check out Juggernaut when it is released within the next month

I decided that I don't have time for these essay length posts, which is basically the length our discussion was at. Short stuff, sure. We can always talk about it more at Otakon or something My only new point in chiming in recently was to point out that since we can't agree whether there is a problem, or if there is one, how bad it is, it makes no sense to criticize her for not proposing a solution (that much you agreed with)

I'm not saying the change in Firefox isn't what created the issue (I've had weirder problems) but I don't think there is an issue with Firefox and ASIO. It may be that whatever they did works fine on 99% of other systems but not yours.

ASIO itself is just a protocol, there are many ways to implement it, sort of like MIDI. I use the ASIO drivers provided by my Presonus Firebox with FL Studio and Firefox behaves just fine. It may be that the soundcard & drivers you are using are buggy.

Yes, for clarity.

The difference between the WiiU and PS3 launch is that the PS3 launched at, what, a 50% higher price? So you would expect the WiiU to sell comparably more all other things being equal. The same kinda thing will have to be considered for Xbox One sales. If it debuts at $500, then ALL other things being equal, it will not sell as well as a $400 console, or a $300, etc. Some people simply don't have $500, no matter how much they want the thing.

Well, if you acknowledge there are problems and you're here talking about them, then she has already accomplished her goal. Sometimes awareness really is the most important thing to get the ball rolling. Political satire, in the form of cartoons, The Daily Show, the Colbert Report, etc. is basically the same story, albeit with a bit more entertainment. The point of such media is not to try and solve problems in one fell swoop, but to present them in a way that is easy to digest and to maybe make us think a bit. Perhaps ironically, viewers of the Daily Show & Colbert Report happen to be just as knowledgeable if not moreso about current events & politics. I would consider Anita to be an analyst or a critic. Most of us don't make video games or film, but we understand that you can analyze and be critical of them without having made one yourself. A film critic doesn't need to try and suggest all the ways to fix a film, they need only present their opinion (which is ideally well-thought out and presented.) Same kinda thing with these videos. They're commentary, analysis, criticism, meant to inspire further discussion. There simply isn't anything wrong with that, but some of you seem to think that there is...

It's permanent

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125+ tracks, we're listening now! It will probably take up to a week to announce the results. Lots of stuff to comb through.

30 mins left, we are ending up with at least 100 entries... For what it's worth, we are gonna expand the # of prizes. Two runners up will receive Juggernaut for free and three honorable mentions will receive a fat discount on it.

I think the title of the video series makes it pretty obvious, not to mention the description for the Kickstarter itself... Her stated purpose on the Kickstarter page was to help create and amplify conversations about these topics, and possibly "get the attention of the gaming industry to start creating more interesting, engaging and complex female characters, that avoid the standard boring cliches." This is one of the longest threads on OCR, the discussion quality is fairly high, and there are many discussions like this all over the internet. IMO she is definitely achieving her goal. I think it would have been too lofty to try and not only analyze and raise awareness but also try to solve the problem all at once... surely everyone would jump on her for having the "wrong" solution, considering there is disagreement as to whether there is a problem to begin with.

But that wasn't the complete statement at all, she was saying even if any one example isn't that big of a deal, it's the trend, and how it ties in with our culture and real-world issues of violence against women. You're watching these with the wrong expectations I think. The whole thing has been framed from the start as tropes vs. women, not a critique of game design or narrative in general. If you want general game design/narrative critique then watch Extra Credits, this is obviously more specialized.

Yep 11:59est!

Here's a bit of news: Beatdrop has swooped in on a cloud and remixed the last unclaimed track, "The Unforgiven", meaning we now have 74 complete tracks and EVERY source tune arranged! (OK, except for "What?!")

Track name? I'll check it for you.

I think it makes sense to just wait and see what MS actually confirms at launch. IMO, don't believe anything you read until then, even if it's supposedly coming from an inside source.

This thread is FULL of people saying exactly that.

Yeah, but not all smartphone games are Angry Birds. There are plenty of great strategy games, racing games, sim games, RPGs, puzzle games, action RPGs, etc. for iOS and Android. Of course a hardcore dungeon crawler isn't gonna be the #1 bestselling game on these platforms but if you WANT a game like that (for example) there are dozens. There are also great ports available - something that I know I used my Nintendo DS & PSP for quite a bit (they're now collecting dust). Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy games, Bastion, and so forth. Mobile lends itself particularly well to turn-based games, sim/management type games and puzzlers, basically anything where it's not super tight twitch action. Rama hit the nail on the head. It's not that people are suddenly making a black-and-white switch, but we all have limited time and money. Previously, if I was going to spend time and money on handheld gaming, it was going to be on my PSP & DS. Now, 9 times out of 10, I buy a new game for my iPad or Galaxy S3. I also did not buy a Vita or 3DS whereas if iOS/Android didn't exist I would have probably bought both.

OK, so maybe that was a bit of hyperbole. But again, you can't argue with reality - that being the handheld space is more competitive now than ever before, and that is eating into the market for dedicated gaming handhelds. http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/24/4259328/nintendo-posts-loss-wii-u-sales-weaker I think Nintendo's success is driven more by its SOFTWARE than its hardware. But anyway, this is all getting a bit off topic. My original point was just that making a multi-purpose gaming console is a smarter move than a single-use device that doesn't have all these extra software features (Skype, Netflix, TV, etc.) That's NOT making a prediction about the success of the Xbox One... since the 360 & PS3 already do 90% of this stuff, many consumers will not be interested in an upgrade.

Again, you can't argue with the market share being heavily dominated by iOS/Android now. Nintendo is not thriving, profitable, or the market leader in handhelds anymore. Sorry if that doesn't fit YOUR narrative. There is no way they will ever achieve the same level of market share they had before - smartphones will continue to grow. As for the PC thing, PCs and consoles have not directly competed because consoles are designed for the living rooms and PCs aren't, among many other reasons. Most people use computers for work tasks, emails, etc. and it is inconvenient / infeasible to put them in your living room and hook them up to your TV to do that. Could you buy a second computer dedicated to that kind of thing? Yes, but now you're talking about a much richer audience that represents a tiny minority. Consoles are the de facto standard for living room media / entertainment.

I liked your quote from earlier in the thread. Surprisingly, some people have just as much (or more) fun playing Scramble With Friends or Punch Quest as Fire Emblem and Pokemon. The point of games is to have fun, right? Plus, don't forget all the emulators for Android (or jailbroken iOS).

Sales figures like that are not meaningful without context. Are SOME people buying 3DS? Obviously, but overall, handhelds have lost a ton of market share to smartphones. http://cdn.gizmocrazed.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Chart_USportableGameRevenue_MarketShare_2009-2011-resized-600.png Not to mention, Nintendo is selling 3DS units at a loss right now and they're overall losing hundreds of millions of dollars... so that's kind of an argument in my favor. I just don't get this elitist attitude, and honestly you're just kinda ranting at this point. Exactly what functionality am I giving up on my smartphone in exchange for being able to take pictures and play games? What functionality are consoles giving up in exchange for having integrated internet browsers, Skype, Facebook, Netflix, whatever?