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| If you know Duke Nukem and didn't expect controversy, you might just be a stupid person. |
This is going to be a little bit tougher to defend because they didn't give the idiotic statistics like with Bulletstorm nor does Duke Nukem Forever have the narrative merits of Mass Effect (not that it's meant to), but I do believe I can do it. While I have not played any of the game, I guarantee I know more about Duke Nukem Forever than anyone at Fox.
Duke Nukem is essentially the 90s chauvinistic anti-hero taken to the -nth degree. He's a parody of that kind of hero and a hilarious one at that. Whether you think that makes the chauvinistic portrayal justified is totally up to you and if you don't like it, don't buy it. I think the 'M' Rating shows that most people who play this game will understand the humor of the series and not take the sexist attitude of the main character seriously or as a representation of Gearbox's views on women. Personally I can think of quite a few portrayals that are more offensive, either more subtle or more blatant but without the tongue and cheek humor involved.
Next up is Dragon Age II. Good god, BioWare cannot catch a break this month. They're going to look back on March 2011 as one of the worst months in the history of the company due to the PR disasters they've had. This is actually kind of minor compared to the others but it shows how popular it is to bash on BioWare at this point.
After David Gaider, the lead writer for Dragon Age II, called out a homophobic gamer who didn't like the inclusion of homosexual relationships in the game, now a "homosexual gamer" (I use the quotes because I actually doubt he is) has called for, and started a petition for the firing of David Gaider for "stereotyping homosexual characters". (WARNING: A FEW SPOILERS BELOW)
This is in response to the character of Anders and the actions he performed in the game as well as the fact that he hits on you and rejecting him gets rivalry points. Okay, I'm not homosexual, but I think that is a trait in both homosexual and heterosexual people. Also, David Gaider didn't write the character of Anders, Jennifer Hepler did and while yes he went through some character derailment, I don't remember any of the actions that he committed had anything to do with anything beyond being a heavily flawed human being. (SPOILERS OVER)
Fortunately, even if this guy is gay, GayGamer has thrown their support behind BioWare and David Gaider showing that this guy is FAR from any kind of majority. GayGamer also stated that BioWare is one of the most (if not the most) progressive developers in the industry for the LGBT community which they appreciate and give further support beyond that. Hopefully all this bad publicity for BioWare will blow over and they can get back to how they were before this month.
Next LA Noire will be premiering at the Tribeca film festival on April 25th.
Honestly, I don't know how to feel about this. I mean I'm glad that games are being more accepted and that a company like Rockstar got this kind of honor, but I really don't want games to be lumped into films like this. Video games are a medium of their own with cinematic elements.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy seeing cinematic elements in games. Metal Gear, a series with cutscenes that go for nearly two hours, made #2 on my Top 10 Series. And I love that storylines in games have been as strong as many movies lately. Red Dead Redemption is one of the best westerns of the past few years, I'm currently working on a post about why Dragon Age II's storyline is the best fantasy I've seen since Pan's Labyrinth, Silent Hill 2 is one of the best horror stories I've ever had the pleasure to experience with almost everything being symbolic in the story and I see the Mass Effect series as being one of the best sci-fi stories ever written (this coming from a big sci-fi fan).
However, while I love cinematic elements in games and incredible storylines, I want them to be seen as separate because they are. There are things movies do that games can never do and vice versa. But while I don't fully support this, I'm still highly anticipating the release of LA Noire on May 17th. It's gonna be awesome.
Next up, I mentioned Metal Gear. Well Hideo Kojima, the magnificent bastard behind the creation of the series, has been promoted to be the vice president of Konami. This is a well deserved promotion as Kojima's creation of Metal Gear helped create the stealth genre and Metal Gear Solid on the original PlayStation popularized it and led to the creation of other stealth series, perhaps the most notable being Splinter Cell.
The series has continued to go strong both commercially and critically and is definitely Konami's flagship series. Whatever your opinion on the stories in the games or the incredibly long cutscenes may be, its influence cannot be overstated. Kojima, well done.
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| Congrats to Kojima on the promotion. |
Finally, Mass Effect 3 is set to get some gameplay updates in April. Many journalists have let loose that BioWare will be showing off some gameplay for the highly anticipated trilogy closer in the next month.
As it is easily my most anticipated game of 2011, I will be giving updates on the gameplay, but DO NOT ask me for story updates because on that front I'm staying as far away as I possibly can. I don't want any story elements given away because BioWare can get a little overeager. I want to be shocked at every turn by this ending especially after the "Lair of the Shadow Broker" and "The Arrival" DLCs.
So ask me anything you want about the gameplay that I see in the next month, but don't ask me anything about Mass Effect 3's story until my review goes up.
With a little luck next week I should be able to get up two planned blog posts. First, my first retro review of the awesomeness that is Super Metroid where I defend my assertion that it's the best game I've ever seen. Second an article about why Dragon Age II despite its flaws had such a brilliant storyline that kept the game enjoyable in my mind. Keep an eye out for those.
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