We Are Alright

For those of you who don't know, this whole operation is based out of Boston. So I just wanted to give a quick head's-up that yes, it's true that two (so far) explosions - apparently now confirmed to be bombs of some type - have exploded at the Boston Marathon. I was nowhere near the incident today, and thus far none of my family/friends are confirmed to have been in the area and are not among the injured.

Those looking to help the victims of this senseless tragedy are asked to make donations to the Red Cross and/or to give blood.

EARTHBOUND Finally Returns

Today's Nintendo Direct announced a lot, including a new 3DS Zelda that's a direct sequel to "Link to The Past," but The Internet has spoken and the big news is that SNES cult-classic "Earthbound" is finally getting a release to the WiiU Virtual Console:

By the way, have you seen our new episode yet?

EPISODE 84: "Starving Artists"

New Episode is NOW PLAYING on Blip!

Got This Covered (UPDATED!)

As you might have read previously, I wrote a book and it's coming out soon through the fine folks at Fangamer.net. I still unfortunately don't have a set date date of publication to announce, but I can now officially reveal that we'll be publishing it under the title "SUPER MARIO BROS. 3: BRICK-BY-BRICK", and here on your right you can see the cover-art that the fine folks at Fangamer put together for it.

The basic premise is a "novelized let's-play." I've re-played SMB3 (my favorite game and my unscientifically-chosen candidate Greatest Game Ever Made) and chronicled not only every step of the journey (along with corresponding noteworthy events of my real life during the months-long experience) but analyzed each and every graphical, sound and narrative element encountered along the journey for their aesthetic, historical and cultural details. Also included: A history of the "Super Mario Bros." franchise and a separate account of my own personal history as a fan, student and critic of this series in particular and video games as a whole.

More details to follow - YES, we're planning an E-Book. Stay tuned.

Come See ME at SGC2013!

ScrewAttack.com's gaming con, SGC, is returning June 21 - 23 of this year and I'll be a guest: Doing some panels, hanging out and I'm hoping to have a supply of books to sell and/or signby then as well.

Registration is still open, and if you do it through THIS LINK you'll be directly supporting me and The Game OverThinker series. So... think about doing that, please :)

Winning

So, in case you didn't hear, Sony won the "XBox One vs Playstation 4" part of E3 (which basically means E3, but Nintendo hasn't had their non-press conference press conference yet and *I* still care, okay?)

The PS4 will not block used games, will not require an online connection, and will launch with a pricepoint $100.00 US below Microsoft's console. Oh, and also Kingdom Hearts III.

"Tropes Vs Women" Releases Episode 2

Oh hey, look at that:

I'm on my way to work right now, so I'll be watching in-full and commenting further later. For now, have at it:

UPDATE 1: Work was canceled, video watched, comments below the jump:

UPDATE 2: Some vengeful asshats have (apparently) gotten the clip taken down by exploiting YouTube's draconian TOS. A written transcript is still available HERE. Obviously, as soon as I see where it goes back up, I'll repost. People with mirrored links are welcome to post them in the comments until then.





So, then...

In many ways, I feel like this episode was a really solid reaction to the "where's the new substance?" critiques of the first one - much more in depth, much more focused on the "why is this problematic?" aspects, etc. Everything from 22:35 on, in particular, should serve as an answer to the "misandry is just as bad!!!" fools; laying out how patriarchy is also disempowering to men.

Honestly, though? I actually feel like she wasn't hard enough on some of this; particularly the "The bad guy corrupted me and you must kill me to set me free!" thing. What gets glossed-over so often with the Damsel in Distress thing is that the original context of "Save The Princess!" fairytales was rescuing women from having their virginity stolen (via rape or otherwise) by parties who did not have the proper claim on such in an era where virginity was inextricably tied to marriageability and thus the entirey of female worth. "Kill me, I'm a monster!" in other words being a modernization of "Kill me, I am a 'ruined' woman!" It's a fantasy-ization of honor-killing, basically, and that's pretty fucking pernicious.

P.S. Comments will remain enabled on this post until such time as people prove themselves incapable of behaving like grownups. Abusive/trolling comments will be deleted at the discretion of me. People with an issue about the YouTube video itself not having comments are advised to click here and then go get some sunlight.