New Game Plus

Games are for kids, right? That’s a popular perception, or one gamers like myself seem to have about how nongamers see games.

But I’ve been playing Pokémon and Twilight Princess with my friend’s six year old son, and I find it amazing how much supposed “kids” games or kid friendly games rely on intensive reading skills. And Pokémon is a game I don’t find especially intellectually challenging, yet there is still a huge barrier dependent on reading to not only to intake the story but even navigate playing.

I appreciate games that are smart and well written and challenging. I don’t mind reading in my games. But I do want to note the high level of literacy necessary to comprehend and play games limits accessibility, even in supposed kids games. And kids aren’t the only folks around who aren’t great readers, especially with classism and racism in the U$ educational system that particularly unprepares poor folks and people of color to have the same reading skills as middle class white folks bred for college.

Hello! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve been pretty busy with grad school and cycling. But I’m still gaming! I’ve finally gotten on the Puzzle Quest bandwagon. Wow, there’s a lot of mindless hours! I don’t even read the story because I’m so anxious to get to my next puzzle battle. The game doesn’t really question the classist feudalism in the fantasy genre, and everyone who is human I’ve met so far is white. But if I’m just looking through a gender lens, I’ve got a lot to be happy about. I play a lady, serve a queen, save a girl from being forced into a political marriage, and frequently quest for a lady dwarf with a beard!

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is out today. I’m actually planning on buying it new, which I haven’t done with a game since Pokemon Pearl. (That I can think of!) I’ll let you all know how I like it. I’m pretty pumped about all the controller options–looks like another way that Nintendo is making its games more accessible. Over all, I haven’t heard much about brawl, but I’m sure I’ll have something to say about Zero Suit Samus.

I really liked playing Mewtwo on the last Smash Bros. game. There’s something really macho about being a telepathic, god-like Pocket Monster. But I never really had the chance to get good because I used to play in the dorms with some guys who were so hardcore they always p0wned me in five seconds (although a few did try to occasionally teach me how to get better). Plus they’d say, “You just got raped up the ass.” Wow, I’ve changed a lot in the last four or five years! Nowadays, any Smashing that goes on under my watch will be smashing with love.

February’s issue of Cerise is up, and it’s on princesses.

Hey all. I want to pick your brains.

I’m taking a class on intermedia theory, and I’m deciding what to write my final paper on. I’d like to focus on remediation, the theory that new media mimics old form (like ebooks mimicking the printed page). I’m curious if there are any texts out there that mimic videogames. I was thinking about writing about how one could play the novel House of Leaves, and then bring in the DS game Hotel Dusk to discuss a game mimicking the presentation of a book (holding the DS sideways) and genre conventions of a mystery novel. (I haven’t played Hotel Dusk, but it would give me an excuse to check out a new game.)

My question for you all: any other texts (books, movies, games, otherwise) I should check out for my project? PC games are harder for me to play since I’m a Mac user, but I have access to pretty much any DS game, and am willing to rent or buy Wii and PS2 games.

I pirate games. I’m a bit afraid to openly admit it on the internet because I don’t know if saying so incriminates myself in some way, and I’m not sure if I’ll be reprimanded by my readers. I wanted to open discussion and see how my fellow radical gamers feel about pirating. I don’t want to hurt my friends who work in the game industry, but I’m a cheap-ass, capitalism-loathing student and when I can remove myself from supporting multinational corporations. I’m also privileged and know it’s unlikely I’ll ever be punished for software piracy.

Where are you all at with pirating? What’s an anti-capitalist gamer to do?

I like videogame music. Big surprise, huh? I hear enough of it when I play games, so when I’m walking around with my headphones on or burning a nerdy dance mix, I go for fan remixes of the songs from my favorite games.

I always assume that every gamer knows about videogame remixes, but come to think of it, more gamer friends than not have never heard of OverClocked ReMix when I tell them my favorite genre of music.

No surprise, most of the remixers I know of are guys, but there are women out there remixing game soundtracks. My absolute favorite remixer is a pianist named BogusRed. Check out her mp3s. Like most remixes, they’re free. My personal favorite is “Beyond Midgar.”

I got Metroid Prime 3 for Christmas. I haven’t really played much of the old Metroid games, but I figure it’s about time I get into the series because folks I trust rave about it. And I admit I’m intrigued by Samus and want to join the conversation on her gender with a little bit more authority. I left my Wii in Bellingham (I’m at my parents house, visiting), but I’ll post my thoughts once I have a chance.

Christmas was fun. I was showered in all the material goods I could ever want! I saw I am Legend with my parents and brother, and go figure, I wrote a blog post about it like I always do when I step out into pop culture.

I’m at my parents’ house for the holidays, and actually have time to go online and catch up on the old blogs I used to read.

Jeff on Feminist Allies writes in What Men Can Do Wednesday: Avoid Being the Hero that the need to be rescued is a gendered act. (And illustrates his post with some lovely pictures of knights and LEGOS.)

We all need to be rescued, from time to time. That’s what friends, lovers and family are for, in part. Our social networks are also, to some degree, our rescuers, our safety nets. There’s no shame in wanting to help people, or needing some help, gender be damned. However, men are trained from boyhood that they not only need to tend to their own needs, but they must rescue those women who need saving.

The “white knight syndrome” is replayed in videogames, where I, the player, embody the white knight in so many of the games I love, Legend of Zelda, the most of last ten years of Final Fantasy games, even Paper Mario. Growing up, living in stories through gaming in a way I couldn’t through reading books or watching films that replayed the same white male heroic trope, no wonder I expected it when I went into videogame communities as a confused and depressed teenager. As I recently wrote about in Cerise, the guys there were more than willing to step up, in a very gendered and possessive way, and be my fucked-up hero. And I wanted it.

And what’s it do to my gender identity, my self esteem, my confidence in my agency, being the hero when I game, and then entering a community of folks who share my hobby and becoming the one that needs to be rescued?

I finally updated my antispam plugins. I guess I never thought to, and just kept deleting the 40-60 spam comments and trackbacks that got through. Do the machines advertising the FF10 hentai know this is a gamer site, or throw that stuff all over the internets?’

Meanwhile, in real life, I made it through my first quarter of grad school and teaching unscathed. (I’m studying English.) The first quarter is supposed to be the hardest, but I still had time to join my university’s cycling team, keep volunteering at the foodbank, and maintain my extroverted lifestyle. I did, however, completely miss the passing of NG+’s two year anniversary. Oops.

I have no idea what’s going on in the world of gaming or game blogs. But at least I have been playing the darn things! (In the past I’ve been too busy writing about them.) As I’ve mentioned before, I’m playing Resident Evil 4 again with my copilot Meghann, this time on the Wii. We’re almost done and get to play the Assignment Ada mission soon. (We played RE4 on GameCube the first time, which left it out for some reason.)

I also borrowed Super Mario Galaxy from one of my classmates. I’m going to write a review for Cerise, but a preview: it’s an even more innovative stoner game that Katamari, but hella boring to play alone. My roommates and I have been working together on the same save file. Great bonding, and the second player even gets some action with the Wii remote.