Have you ever wondered what the deal is with Toad and Toadette? You know what I mean. As in: where do little baby Toads come from? Or are you too caught up in how cute the two of them are? Hey, I can't blame you if that's the case.
When you're playing a game as infectiously compelling as Grand Theft Auto V, it can be difficult to take a step back and reflect on all the wanton acts of destruction in which you've participated.
Shortly after Ubisoft upset many Assassin's Creed fans by saying that it had abandoned its plan to have female characters in its new game's co-op multiplayer mode, the company returned with another controversial explanation about the absence of women in its games—this one focused on Far Cry 4.
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News that Ubisoft scuttled plans for including female playable characters in the upcoming Assassin's Creed Unity was met by scorn and derision by many video game commentators last night. Now, Kotaku has an official statement from Ubisoft on the controversy.
The next big Assassin's Creed game and the first to appear exclusively on next-generation consoles won't let people play as female assassins in a new cooperative multiplayer mode, Ubisoft said this week at E3.
Ubisoft's latest open world game, Watch Dogs, lets players assume the role of a hacker named Aiden Pearce. Pearce uses a cellphone app to learn more about the strangers roaming Watch Dogs' version of Chicago—and some players are using this information to kill digital minorities.
I self-identify as a straight male-bodied dude, but recently I've taken to playing as a female-bodied character in many games. It's not something the majority of people do, but it's also not uncommon. Oddly, however, men play as women far more than women play as men. Let's break down why people choose the avatars they…
This morning we all delighted in the casting announcement for Star Wars VII. And then the reality set in: There is only one new female character being added to what is arguably the world's most beloved mythic series. It's as if 51 percent of the population cried out in pain, and was suddenly silenced.
I am acutely aware of the fact that my heart is beating. Hard.
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It's tough enough getting women and dudes who aren't white into a starring role in a video game. So imagine how impossible it is to try and get a gay or lesbian character in the spotlight.
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A lot of the most interesting applications of VR have less to do with gaming, and more to do with perceptions of self. What's it like to see outside of your own subjective experience of body and self?
It would be a real shame to forget about Cate Archer.
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Dead Century is something...different. Set in the 1930s, with Nazi Germany on the rise and interested in all things occult, you control "a small team of archaeologists as they try to stay one step ahead of Third Reich scientists in piecing together an ancient mystery from the dawn of human civilization."
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When you look at the success of stuff like The Hunger Games, Gravity and Orange Is The New Black, it's safe to say this was a pretty good year for the depiction of women in media. Just the same, though, it hasn't all been peachy this year.
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Where does the myth that only boys play video games come from? Polygon investigates in a fascinating report about video game history and the way games are marketed. Definitely worth a read! (Image via Polygon)
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The game director for Blizzard Entertainment's upcoming Heroes of the Storm has apologized for his treatment of a question about how characters are designed—specifically how multiplayer online battle arena games, of which Heroes is one, tend to hyper-sexualize female avatars.
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Feminist Frequency continues its 'Tropes vs Women in Games' series, this time spending some time analyzing female characters who are kind of copy and paste versions of the male lead—only with added stereotypical stuff like the color pink, bows, interest in shopping, amongst other things.
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The unfortunate reality is that society has a certain impossible if not destructive ideal of masculinity that affects both men and women alike. PBS Game/Show here takes the time to talk about what some hurtful and problematic stereotypes video games present of men, and it's stuff that is definitely worth keeping in…
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Last month, we wrote about a song that featured women who take issue with the idea of a "fake geek girl." Naturally, these women feel that they shouldn't have to prove their geek cred. Since that sentiment was expressed via YouTube video, people left comments—and these comments could sometimes be ridiculous.
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Feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian has good things to say about a bunch of games in the third part of her analysis of the rampant use of "damsels in distress" in video games. She spends a lot of this one checking in on how indie games and modders handle things.
