Gamers Declare Microsoft Winner of E3

BALMY CONVENTION CENTER, LOS ANGELES – The votes are in, gamers have declared Microsoft the winner of this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

Sony, the company that made the Discman still sitting in that one box in your attic, came in a distant second.

The polling was sampled from a selective sub-set of gamers, some who were attending E3 for their first time, others who were at the convention for what they thought was a car show and ended up staying when they saw a Lamborghini McLaren F1 P1 in the Microsoft exhibit. Continue reading “Gamers Declare Microsoft Winner of E3” »

Just Let It Happen, Microsoft — It’ll Be Over Soon

As a diehard Sony fan, and someone who only turned to Microsoft to try/test out a game that required one of their consoles, I had no intention of tuning in to Microsoft’s conference at E3.

Like, at all. I never had any plan on buying Microsoft’s newest console for a various list of reasons that is as long as Lexington Stee…

Still, I wanted to see if they could really bring their A-Game, despite the fact that even before today, they were royally screwed on so many levels, that you just wanted to cheer for them out of pity.

[Read Also: Dear Kotaku, Are We All Just Sexist?]

And then, while watching them play/reveal the demo for Killer Instinct, I watch this scene happen and my jaw just dropped. 

Listen to what he, the producer, says to her at around 0:40 Continue reading “Just Let It Happen, Microsoft — It’ll Be Over Soon” »

Dear Kotaku: Are We All Just Sexist?

I received a number of negative reactions, many of which stated that roles are superfluous and that genders are built on structures that society teaches, resulting in behaviors that are not dictated by nature. I was called sexist for assuming that men should be held accountable for their actions and that women shouldn’t actively try to rob men of the messaging meant to communicate these responsibilities. Continue reading “Dear Kotaku: Are We All Just Sexist?” »

NFL Football Player Who Hit Woman Should Be Banned From Madden 25

Video emerged this week of Adam “Pac Man” Jones, an NFL player who plays for the Cincinnati Bengals, violently slapping a woman across the face at a Cincinnati establishment. According to video of the event, Jones had two woman came up to him, one of which appeared to throw a bottle in his face, to which Jones proceded to deck her with his left hand.

While Jones turned himself in on the assault charge, he has pled NOT GUILTY. Jones, however, was quick to go on the defense and state that he was merely defending himself.

Remember Me? Apparently The Gaming World Still Isn’t Ready for Black Female Protagonists

Today begins the first day of E3, and this past weekend, I made it a point to get all of my gaming out of the way in preparation for this event, which I’ll be attending this week.

And when I say “all gaming”, I mean finally cracking open my copy of Remember Me. Any other time, I’d be happy to give a review of this amazing game, and talk about how the character development was amazing, the progressive story kept me on the edge of my seat, the gameplay was fairly smooth, and how, often, the scenery and the camera angles moved faster than the game itself could keep up with, but that’s actually not what I’m here to discuss.

Did anyone notice something interesting about the main protagonist, Nilin? Continue reading “Remember Me? Apparently The Gaming World Still Isn’t Ready for Black Female Protagonists” »

10 Year Old Boy Foils Robbery Using Burglar’s Firearm

WDAM.COM – TV 7 – News, Weather and Sports

A 10 year old boy was credited with saving the day when two burglars disguised as delivery men tried to break into his apartment complex. The robbers were packing heat and a couple of delivery boxes, as shown in the above video. What they weren’t armed with was the expectation that a 10 year old boy would be able to stop them.

According to the above video, the men brushed past two teenage girls at the front door and and told them to get on the ground. They proceeded to move upstairs to one of the bedrooms. When they tried to make their way in, a 40 year old woman shut the door on their arm, freeing the man’s firearm. Continue reading “10 Year Old Boy Foils Robbery Using Burglar’s Firearm” »

And Somewhere In This World, A Man Has Just Lost His Balls (Read: “Entire Manhood”)…

Alternative Title: “Because a woman saved his favorite hero. Oh, boo. Fucking. Hoo.”

There has been a bit of an upstart caused by an article posted earlier. One of our primary writers expressed his utter contempt at the latest Iron Man 3 movie, with:

SPOILER ALERT!

Pepper Potts being the one to save Tony Stark. That’s right. Ergo, by the woman saving the man–saving the hero–for a change of pace, there has been an outcry of men bawling their eyes out over being “demasculined” because a woman swooped in and saved the day. Continue reading “And Somewhere In This World, A Man Has Just Lost His Balls (Read: “Entire Manhood”)…” »

Was Iron Man 3 Ruined By A Woman?

Once again the unabashed  mission to emasculate men rears its head in every area it can find. For those of you who happened to see Iron Man 3, did you notice anything odd about the ending? (spoiler alert!)

Perhaps the fact that at the end of the movie, after doing everything he possibly can, Iron Man is completely defeated by the bad guy – and then suddenly out of the blue, Pepper Potts not only saves him but entirely defeats the bad guy on her own in less than 2 minutes.

Now if you are sitting there thinking, ‘so what, why can’t a female save a male character’s life’ you are clouding your mind with your own political issues and missing my entire point so I ask you to please read this article closely. The question you should be asking is, ‘why in a film about Iron MAN, called Iron MAN, with Iron MAN on the cover of the poster, am I watching Pepper Potts save the entire day alone and unaided?’ Continue reading “Was Iron Man 3 Ruined By A Woman?” »

That Awkward Moment When You Realize…Your Newest Housemate is a Gamer

Let’s play The Scenario Game! *Cue Music*

Congratulations! You’ve secured a brand new place for the school year! Achievement Unlocked! It’s a swell place, located literally across the street from your campus. It’s close to that brand new train-line that goes right past your place, and to all of your favorite hot-spots downtown. Your new place, is a sizeable room in one of the most notorious party-houses (with eleven other rooms)–but it has the three things you, as a gamer, so desire in a room: A lock on your bedroom door, multiple outlets to plug in your systems, and a bed. (Free wi-fi as well!) All of the utilities are paid, and all you have to do is worry about making rent every month!

Oh, and just to sweeten the deal, this is what awaits you every, single time you walk in the front door:

Pretty sweet freakin deal right???

Within a week of signing the lease and moving in, you’ve met all of your housemates, all cool dudes, and every, single, one of them is a gamer. They are chill, down to earth, and occasionally like to smoke and drink with you while you guys spew CoD philosphy high and drunk long into the wee hours of the night. There’s no awkwardness about dick jokes, and even walking around half naked is just about as normal as the sky being blue. Continue reading “That Awkward Moment When You Realize…Your Newest Housemate is a Gamer” »

You Were Wrong To Get Mad About DMC

Alright, confession, I was just as upset as everyone else when we got our first look at the new Dante. As someone who loves the original Devil May Cry series, I didn’t know what to expect out of this “reboot.” To me, the original Dante oozed with style—a cheesy but oddly likeable guy in the middle of this obscenely gothic world who tossed out bad one liners and treated fight scenes more like interpretive dance.

There was some interesting thematic work going on with the depictions of heaven and hell, but the best part of the original DMC games was embracing the role of this stylish, charismatic character. This new guy—didn’t look like as much fun. He was scrawny, a lot more emotionless, and had this strung out emo look that didn’t seem to carry any of the calm or confidence our old hero possessed. There was a degree of self awareness that made the original Dante’s camp sell really well, even as he shouted “Flock off feather face” or hammed his way through a faux-Shakespearean monologue.

And if Ninja Theory wasn’t going to deliver that with this new Dante—what was the point? Was he just going to be another quiet, angry smasher tearing through a horde of demons who wasn’t any fun? Continue reading “You Were Wrong To Get Mad About DMC” »

A Couple That Plays Video Games Together…Stays Together?

I’ve often heard this creative little spin on the age-old adage, “A family that prays together, stays together”. Regardless of your religious beliefs, or stance on said phrase, today, the phrase, “A couple that plays together, stays together” has made it’s presence known in the gaming world, among the many couples brought together by their mutual love of video game violence, and that particularly (hysterical) habit of throwing the biggest tantrums when they’re defeated at Mortal Kombat.

So, what of this little adage? Is there any truth in it? I’m going to go ahead and say: It. Depends.

I know couples who don’t play video games often–maybe have an old N64 in their house–but still play. For fun. For leisure. If one loses, there isn’t a huge display of emotion. Maybe a cute pout, or a teasing, “I let you win.”, but overall, a nice, calm bonding experience for said couple.

I also know couples who are hardcore gamers, and (not often, but it does happen occassionally) this “bonding” time ends up turning into a violent display of screaming, yelling, some serious insults exchanged, and no sex for, you know, the next two years–or worse. The big “D” word:

Divorce. Continue reading “A Couple That Plays Video Games Together…Stays Together?” »

Big Things To Look Forward To At E3 2013!

This will be my very first time at E3. Yes. I’m excited. I’m very excited. Let’s go back to the first time someone, say, your boss, told you, reader, that you were attending E3. Remember, this is the convention of all conventions for gamers. It is one of the largest pennicals of our entire gamers’ lives. Do you remember the first time someone asked you, “Hey, did you want to go to E3 this year? Getting passes won’t be hard at all.” and you knew that was the truth?

Do you remember that feeling?  I remember that feeling. I’m still ripe with the overflowing emotions of that feeling. In fact, when I was told I would be able to attend it, I responded in a calm, collective manner, nodding my head and smiling and expressing my gratitude through calm words. Continue reading “Big Things To Look Forward To At E3 2013!” »

Gamers Offer Their Biggest (and Once Again Most Explicit) Confessions – Part 2

After the success of our very first “Gamer Confessions: Part 1″, and with a plethora of submissions to my tumblr, twitter, email, and facebook, as well as requests from readers to see more confessions, we’re just going to keep this thing going and let it spread like wildfire (or herpes)!

And speaking of sex and it’s dirty little secrets , one thing I’ve noticed is that many, many confessions revolve around sex, sex, sex. And while a few were enough to make my eyebrows raise just about off my forehead, there’s no denying that these confessions always seem to be the funniest (or just plain odd–but hey, we don’t judge here!) of the batch: Continue reading “Gamers Offer Their Biggest (and Once Again Most Explicit) Confessions – Part 2” »

Let’s Flip The Script: You’re Intently Focused On A Game When Your Boyfriend Walks In Naked

…Yep. We’ll just leave that to your imagination.

One of our writers posted an interesting scenario, of which I was thoroughly amused and it made me laugh, but also made me want to challenge the original article and flip the script a bit for the ladies.

Let’s be honest: Many-a guy gamers sexiest fantasies include coming home from a long day of work and finding their lovely lady (or significant other) dressed in little next to nothing (or that special costume for those of you with interesting fetishes), and raring to go a few rounds. And the best part is that she’ll get up and make you a huge dinner afterwards. I don’t know, I’m not a guy. I’m not quite sure what post-coitus activities appeal more to men, so I’ll leave that up to your imaginations.

The running gag, however, is actually pretty true. Most men aren’t quite sure what to do when their girls want to go a couple of rounds in the hay–particularly if they are in the middle of saving Hyrule, or trying to find that POS camper who thinks their smug enough to snipe everyone and take him out. As listed in the other article, you have options and it’s all a matter of choosing the correct ones to avoid fallout–and possibly not getting laid for a very, very, very long time because Hyrule was more important than your real-life Zelda who is coincidentally, standing in a bath towel, looking rather pissed.

We’ve definitely talked about how choices can affect the outcome of a game as much as it can real life. So……what to do if you’re a girl, and your boyfriend walks in equally naked while you’re playing a game? For ladies, there are two different outcomes for this, both of them as realistic as it gets.

Let’s peep this scenario:

You’ve just come home from work/class and the one thing that’s been on your mind all day is finally within arm’s reach (Mind out of the gutter, please)–your beloved, beloved copy of Skyrim. That’s the one thing that never ceases to calm and destress you after a long, trying day of dealing with old morons with bad combovers hanging out of the side of their cars trying to pick you up.

But. Your boyfriend has other ways in his mind to help you…unwind. Continue reading “Let’s Flip The Script: You’re Intently Focused On A Game When Your Boyfriend Walks In Naked” »

Mythbusters (Jace Hall Show Edition): Black Girls Don’t Play Video Games

Every so often, it’ll come to my attention that a female friend or a family member–or even myself–will have had their gaming capabilities question by a man. Not because they are female. Oh, no.

But because they are black.

It doesn’t seem like that would be a problem, but in fact, it is. And it’s getting bigger by the day. All it takes is a simple, off-handed comment such as, “I didn’t know black girls played video games” to make it obvious that some people are genuinely shocked and blown away by the fact that a black woman can also be a gamer. I have covered the topic only once, for Nerdy But Flirty’s black history month, and thought that would be enough of an informative message to get the point across that black girls do game. Why lie? I’ve come across plenty of people who are literally shocked to find that I’m a gamer.

Same go for certain female friends of mine. If you get us together in a room, we’ll have countless tales of how people learning that we are gamers is just about as shocking as the fact that I hate rap music, or that we don’t speak slang, or conform to some other negative stereotype of black women.

But unfortunately, two incidents over the weekend let me know that there are still some narrow-minded people out there who believe that black women don’t game–OR if we do, we only aspire to play one specific genre. Continue reading “Mythbusters (Jace Hall Show Edition): Black Girls Don’t Play Video Games” »

How Video Games Helped Me Overcome Trauma — Part 2: Speaking Without A Voice

“Dear Jackie,

Thank you for your email. Interestingly enough people always seem to assume that because I’m deaf, and don’t speak, that means I’m also inexplicably blind as well. People make me fucking mad sometimes that I just want to scream. But I know this is supposed to be a positive letter, so I’ll go ahead and share my story with you. It’s common courtesy for me to thank you for listening, but since we’re not face-to-face, I’ll thank you in type, as opposed to signing, “Please hear me. Thank you.”

I wasn’t born deaf-mute, which makes is why the accident made it all the more harder. I was nine going on ten when my family and I were involved in a wreck. A sedan smashed into my side of the car and I really can’t remember much after that. I remember waking up and being in pain, in the hospital. There was a nurse who started speaking to me, but I couldn’t hear her. She shined a light in my eye and kept talking but when I wasn’t responding, she left to get a doctor. The doctor assigned to me wrote on his clipboard: “Can you hear us?” I shook my head no. 

To make a long story short, what they thought was just temporary hearing loss due to the injury to my skull and my ear since I’d been struck by the car on my side, was permanent. My mom cried and so did my dad. And my brother, who’d only gotten away lucky with a simple concussion, would always look at me and try and talk to me. He and I would communicate via writing notes to each other. He’d tell me what the doctors were saying and try and explain what was going on.

Finally, after about three weeks in the hospital, I was released, but the doctors recommended that I be placed in a special needs for school. To help me learn how to live with my new disability was the explaination. I remember being angry, and being furious that I couldn’t hear anything. I suddenly went from being a normal kid to…being a “freak” or “special” or “handicap” and “disabled”. It was hard on my parents who had to learn how to speak to me through sign language, and my brother had to learn too. For weeks, family members I don’t even remember meeting poured in to express their “condolences”. 

I wasn’t dead–but I felt as if I might as well have been. The worst part is that there wasn’t a single thing wrong with my voice. I can speak just fine, it’s just that eventually, I just stopped talking all together. What was the point of speaking if no one could hear you, or when they could, they looked at you with such pity? I get so annoyed whenever my non-deaf friends complain to me about how they can’t stand when their parents nag them. It’s like, yeah, but atleast you can hear them nagging you. Imagine what it’s like to suddenly wake up and not hear the sound of your parents’ voices, or even your favorite song. All I can do is sign or write back, “Yeah, that sucks.” 

It’s actually been so long since I stopped talking, that even though I know I can’t hear what I sound like anymore, I wonder if I even would sound the same. I don’t wonder any longer.

It was even worse because at my new school I was placed with other deaf children. Was the point of speaking if I couldn’t even be heard?

I stopped speaking all together when I was twelve. By then, I had been at my new school for a little over two years. I’d become fluent in sign language, and learning how to communicate without words. I still relied on notepads, and special devices that to help me speak with people, but I still had a lot of trouble reading lips. I finally got the hang of it, but I can’t read lips speaking different languages. Or if the the person speaker is talking really fast. I’ll be honest though; when you’re deaf, reading lips can be both a gift and curse to people who think that just because you’re deaf, you don’t know what they are saying. Yeah…I’ve learned a few dirty secrets simply by reading lips. 

I wish I could say that I adjusted to my deafness well. I didn’t. I cried for months after the accident and I even wanted to die. I felt as if couldn’t live life like this. But I had no choice but to…”deal with it”, I guess. My brother was probably more understanding than my parents, and didn’t treat me any differently. We still played video games together (my favorite series has always been the Final Fantasy series), and he didn’t even get annoyed when I asked him what people were saying when we played games that weren’t subtitled. Those were the only times I didn’t feel like a freak or not a member of that family. He was probably the most tolerant of me during those first few months. I also think he tried harder than my parents to learn ASL as well. 

It was really hard when he left for college the year I started high school, but he left his games here (mainly because my parents weren’t “paying for him to play video games at school”), so I basically lived in his room and got into games that had English subtitles, like Final Fantasy (or other RPGs like Xenosaga, etc), and Okami, and Pokemon.

When I was fourteen, and had started high school–at a special needs high school that had dorms just like a college–I was paired up with a roommate named K’leigh who was perfectly normal. And by normal, I mean she could speak, she wasn’t deaf, and had absolutely nothing wrong with her. As it turns out, she was my new roommate and translator. I was really surprised. She not only knew ASL, but SSL, FSL, she was even trying to learn Chinese sign language was and on a much more complex level than a few of the student translators here at school, and even the teachers.

She would basically be my “voice” for non-deaf people. During my admissions counseling, I was asked if I wouldn’t mind having a roommate that knew ASL. I told my counselor I’d be glad to have someone else I could speak with. I just didn’t realize that she wouldn’t be deaf as well. At first, I was offended, because as far as I was concerned, I didn’t need a “helper”. Just because I had accepted the fact I was deaf didn’t mean I wanted to be treated like some special case who needed someone to speak for her.

Still…in hindsight, I realize just how much I needed K’leigh. She’s been a staple in my life, and is probably the closest friend I have. Well, her and one other.

By now, I was desensitized to a lot of things you see in a special needs school that might otherwise freak out those who weren’t used to see things like that. I had to get over a lot of the disabilities I found startling during my first few years at a special needs middle school. There are many students who have multiple disabilities, both physical and mental, and yet some of them lead fuller lives than people who have absolutely nothing wrong with them. 

One of these people was a guy named Devon. He wasn’t just a deaf-mute; he also was a double amputee and had both of his legs removed from the knee down during an accident that makes the one my family and I were in sound like a simple fender bender. What’s worse is that it happened towards the end of middle school, when he had been a lock-in for MVP of his basketball, and had college recruiters scouting him before he’d even reached high school. Suddenly, I felt selfish for wallowing in misery at losing just my hearing.

K’leigh introduced us during my second week in the school. What’s interested me more than anything was that I’d never met a double-amputee before; maybe a person missing a leg or an arm, but never both. He was fitted with prosthetics that he’s so good on, you wouldn’t even know he had them unless he was wearing shorts. Devon was a senior when I was freshman, so in a few ways, he was reminded me of my brother, but especially in one way:

He played video games.

That’s why K’leigh had introduced us in the first place. (I think she was seriously hoping for a romantic connection between us.) Not to say there aren’t other students here at school who are gamers, and that people don’t interact with people who don’t have similar disabilities to their own, but it was just that K’leigh was closer friends with Devon mainly because Devon was, at the time, the only black, deaf-mute in the entire school (and there were other black kids with other disabilities that she knew), since our school is predominantly white and Asian.

In fact, I almost felt guilty talking about how angry I was at being deaf, when I could have wound up like Devon–or worse. Still, he never called me on it and always listened. He understood. A few weeks after we’d met, he came to my dorm and brought me something. It was wrapped up in blue tissue paper and a blue bag with a Pikachu on it. It even said, “Let’s Pika-Party!” I wasn’t sure what the occasion was, and he signed, “Read The Note”. I did, and this is what it said:

“Welcome! This is a gift to commemorate your new start.”

When I opened the bag, there was a used an old, used copy of “The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time”. He told me, “This game helped me get through the hardest time of my life.” When I asked him why, his response was so simple, I was surprised that I’d honestly never played the game before then:

“Because Link never speaks. He doesn’t have a voice. He is the hero without a voice.”

I almost didn’t believe him until we went to the recreational room and checked out an N64 that was rarely touched, and K’leigh confirmed it for me. She said they make little grunting sounds but that’s it. He sat there and guided me through the game, and I fell in love with the storyline, and how surprisingly funny it could be. But I was a little frustrated when I couldn’t hear the sound of the ocarina. He told me to hum the melodies and notes when it was time to play the ocarina. Even though I couldn’t hear myself, I could still feel the vibrations in my throat. I don’t even know if how I hum it sounds any differently than how the song is actually played, but in the end, I made up in my mind a song for how I thought it sounded. 

He told me: “Don’t worry about how it sounds, just hear it in your mind and feel it in your heart.”

I really regret not playing the series before, because just like Devon and K’leigh told me, Link doesn’t speak with an actual voice. Neither do any of the characters. I spent so much more time playing through just about every Legend of Zelda game right up to Twilight Princess, which I didn’t get a chance to finish because he was graduating. I was devastated because next to K’leigh, he was such a good friend, and very much like a brother to me. Through our mutual love of video games, and our common disability, I had learned so much from him. I had learned to be grateful that I merely lost my hearing and not both of my arms and legs.

And yet the lost of his legs and hearing didn’t stop Devon at all. He had a great future ahead of him (he later went on to study Law), and even as childish as it was of me to say, I told him I wish he could stay. I cried all through graduation, and hugged him and told him that I loved him and would miss him. 

At the little graduation party we had for the graduating deaf students, he gave me a box wrapped in the same blue paper he’d first given me Ocarina of Time in. It was the rest of his Legend Of Zelda collection, leading right up to Twilight Princess, along with a note that read:

“Never worry about what you can’t hear; focus on what you can feel.”

Long after he graduated, I continued playing Legend of Zelda, and bought every, new game that came out. There was something Devon had taught me beyond about what I can’t hear, I could feel, and it was this:

Even though I am deaf, and I will never be able to hear the voices of my families, or even the sound of my friends’ laughter–and yes, as painful as it is to say, should I become a mother, I’ll never hear the sound of my child’s voice, nor will they ever know me–that’s fine. As long as I can feel; as long as I can persevere, and make the best out of what I have, and even what I don’t, there isn’t anything stopping me from going on my own journies and leading my life to the fullest.

A hero needn’t needn’t a voice to be heard, nor, to become a legend.  This is what Devon, and of course, Link, the silent hero, has taught me. One day, I hope to bestow my entire LoZ collection to another child and tell them the wisest words I’ve ever heard:

“Never worry about what you can’t hear; focus on what you can feel.”

Jacqueline, thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my story. I hope this gives you, and others, a new perspective, and teaches you how to truly listen with your heart.

While signing, “Thank you”, and “I love you, though I do not know you, thank you for hearing me”, I remain yours,

~Amie. 

You’re Focused Intently on Your Video Game, When Your Naked Girlfriend Comes In and This Happens…

It’s a Wednesday evening. You’ve just gotten off work at the restaurant or the video store or the office or some wacky combination of all three.

Ten minutes is a very long time…

You kick off your feet, which have by now become extensions of your body, pop open a carbonated beverage and turn on whatever console or PC of your choosing. You begin.

After a beat, from out of the shadows lurks a figure. A familiar body comes into the light signaling that it is not a crook or a robber, but in fact is the woman that you live with, or for all intents and purposes, might as well. Even more light reveals something revealing — she wears a thin outfit and a large smile.

“Hi,” she says.

“Pause” your game screen flashes.

Your head asks you what you’d prefer, while the rest of your body made up its mind the moment you woke up, this morning. Continue reading “You’re Focused Intently on Your Video Game, When Your Naked Girlfriend Comes In and This Happens…” »

Joe Biden’s “Violent Video Game Tax” Smells A Lot Like Old Urine

Vectigal Urinae.

Translation (from Latin to English): Urine Tax.

In first century A.D., The Roman Emperor Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus sought to raise revenues for his government and subsequently put more gold into his, um, toga. So, naturally, he taxed his constituents’ urine. In the Roman days, urine wasn’t merely flushed away to be forgotten, it was sometimes used as a “chemical” to help clean clothes.

As history tells us, Vespasianus’ son Titus apparently opined to his father that the practice was dirty and shameful. As a response, Vespasianus held up a gold coin for his son to see and asked him “sciscitans num odor offenderetur” (are you offended by this smell?). Continue reading “Joe Biden’s “Violent Video Game Tax” Smells A Lot Like Old Urine” »

Remember The Guy Who Wanted To Ban Violent Video Games? He’s Now Going After Printers

California State Senator Leland Yee is no stranger to getting himself in front of the spotlight, be it for vociferously coming down on violent video games or for his wife’s tendency to crash their government funded automobile.

Yee’s latest act is to spearhead efforts regulating 3D printers, particularly the ability to “print” plastic guns.

“We must be proactive in seeking solutions to this new threat rather than wait for the inevitable tragedies this will make possible,” Yee said in a press release.

What Yee is referring to is the viral video of a Texas man successfully firing a plastic gun he manufactured using a 3D printer. The uploader, Cody Wilson, then put the design/manual of how to create the gun on the web for 100,000 of his closest friends to download (until the Feds took it down). Continue reading “Remember The Guy Who Wanted To Ban Violent Video Games? He’s Now Going After Printers” »

How Video Games Helped Me Overcome Trauma — Part 1: Conquering a Phobia

On Wednesday, we ran an article that featured gamer’s confessions. Some were funny, some were just plain odd (hey, who are we to judge), and yet the ones that really moved us (and readers, especially) were the ones that talked about how video games had helped the cope with some tragedy, trauma, or even come to terms with a disability.

With all of the negative hype video games receive from time to time, it’s incredibly inspiring to see just how strong of an impact video games can have upon us, and even change our lives in amazing, inspirational ways. And so, that being said, for the rest of May, every Friday, I’ll feature an inspirational story about how video games did more for people in ways you’d never imagine.

A little know fact about me is that I love to surf (A black girl who surfs?! Get out of here! No, really). I take to the water like a member of the Zora tribe. I love it. What few people know is that I used to take to the water like Sonic The Hedgehog (and as everyone knows, Sonic’s greatest weakness and fear is H2O).

For a very long time, Continue reading “How Video Games Helped Me Overcome Trauma — Part 1: Conquering a Phobia” »