Comprehensive player reviews, video game backlog slaying, and thoughts on video game culture.
PAX West was a blast! My better half and I flew in on Thursday afternoon and spent each of the following four days at PAX from open to close and beyond. I played so many games and met so many people, some of the days are a bit of a blur, but I’m certainly not complaining. This will be a general experience overview and I have another post coming that will focus purely on all the demos I tried. Spoilers- They were fantastic!
Continue reading “Field Report – PAX West 2019!”
Just a quick off topic post while I’m still out of town… I had the weirdest dream I’ve ever had in my life a while back, so I wrote it down at the time. This dream was not lucid at all and I kept alternating between being physically part of it and watching other “scenes” without being there. Okay, get ready to interpret!
Continue reading “Monkeys, Pterodactyls, and Polar Bear Dogs, oh my!”
Trade ins. Dear lord, trade ins. Don’t get me started on those sports games that come out at the same time every year, like FIFA, NBA, Madden, etc. Folks would want to trade in last year’s Madden game and FREAK OUT when they saw the trade in value, having not realized that games depreciate like anything else.
Like, bruh. I’ve got 20 drawers of games back here behind the counter and FIVE of them are FULL of MADDEN, and then I have another shelf of them in the back room on top of that. I could literally put out a dumpster fire with the amount of Madden copies in this store — just dump them in to smother the flames. No one would miss them, and we would still have dozens left! Dozens!
The day all retail workers fear. The day the crazies come out. The day you work until you can’t stand and then work some more. One year I was on the long graveyard shift for Black Friday. I came in at 4AM and worked until 2PM. At 5AM, one of our point-of-sale computers freezes for no discernible reason. Aww jeez. We have a line out the door and around the corner, and the store is packed and sweltering. We really can’t afford to be down a register. No me gusta, amigos. Suddenly, another computer freezes. FULL RED ALERT!
Continue reading “Tales from Retail – Black Friday Edition”
Recently I was asked what my opinion was on large bust size of female video game characters and I thought that would be a great topic for a longer post. The short answer is: The size of a female character’s bust surprisingly does not matter. What does matter is whether that particular physical trait is forced on the player and if or how a character’s attire and animations (chest thrust, “come hither” expression, etc.) highlight it. Some gamers love to play seductive characters, while others prefer reserved or practical looks. Both are fine! The key factor is player agency.
Continue reading “Video Games, Cleavage, and You – Player Agency in Character Customization”
As a woman playing competitive online multiplayer games like Overwatch and CS:GO, it can be disappointingly common to encounter targeted, sexist harassment. For whatever reason, when certain types of players realize they are playing with or against a woman, they just kind of freak out –– aaaabsolutely cannot handle it at all. Yet somehow, harassers never expect spicy trash talk in response.
Continue reading “The Gamer Girl’s Comeback Playbook”
Backlog Crusader 