Not sure if want: Xbox 360 Game Room

A few days ago (during the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show), the folks at Microsoft announced the "Xbox 360 Game Room," an application that will, when it's released this spring, allow 360 users to "relive the glory days of classic arcade games" by replicating "the old-school look, sound and feel of a retro video game arcade."

Regarding the latter, the "Xbox 360 Game Room" will allow users to "create a brand-new social environment [their] avatar can explore." It'll also allows them to "trick out [their] 'Game Room' ... and decorate each room with themes and animated icons from [their] favorite games."

More than 30 arcade, Atari 2600 and Intellivision games have been announced for the service so far, though only a few of them (namely the arcade versions of Crystal Castles and Tempest) seem worth the price of admission (40 Microsoft Points to play a game one time, 240 points to buy a game that can be played on a PC or Xbox 260 [not both] and 400 points to buy a game that can be played on both a PC and Xbox 360).

Here's a trailer that shows all (or at least most) of the above in action:



What do you guys and gals think of this? Is it appealing--or appalling?

Surprise, surprise: Conservatives up in arms over 'dirty gay sex' scenes in Dragon Age: Origins

Actually, it isn't surprising at all. What is surprising is that it's taken them this long to make a stink about it.

Anyway, various conservative news sites (such as WorldNetDaily) are warning their readers that BioWare's recently released (for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) Dragon Age: Origins features "graphic homosexual sex between a man and an elf."

Click through to the WorldNetDaily article for more information on the "secret scene of homosexual seduction" that is causing a stir, or just watch this YouTube clip:



I don't know which scene the WorldNetDaily writer watched, but I'd hardly describe the one above as "graphic." Of course, I'd hardly describe it as "hot," either, given that the man and elf in question look more like mannequins than real people.

Oh, well, to each his own. Right? :)

Let's go fishing, girl!

Why is it that every game I want for the Xbox 360 is an XBLA title? (Aside from Fable II, of course. Oh, and Tales of Vesperia...)

Anyway, another one, called Fishing Girl, came out last week. I could write up a little description of the game based on what I've read on other sites (like GayGamer.net) but, really, the same information can be gleaned from the official trailer:



I'm not sure when I'll actually get an Xbox 360, but I can assure you that when I do I'll be dropping 80 MS points (whatever that means) on this cute little title.

"Gay Tony" Prince's coming out party

We've known for some time that the next trip to Grand Theft Auto's Liberty City would focus on "Gay Tony" Prince, but other than that we haven't had a clue as to how gay the title would end up.

Well, the folks at Rockstar Games threw us a bone earlier today in the form of a new trailer for the soon-to-be-released Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony.



The trailer starts with a bang--with Prince saying, "In my day, gay guys used to be lonely, needy and lost; now they're all in relationships"--and ends in a gay club. What more can you ask for?

Unfortunately, we still don't know how the gay community will be portrayed in the game--or if it'll be portrayed at all. We'll know soon enough, though, since the Xbox 360 title is set to hit real and virtual store shelves on Oct. 29.

(The Ballad of) Gay Tony is such a tease

I don't know about you, but the first question that came to my mind when Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony was announced earlier this year was, "How gay is it going to be?"

I thought developer Rockstar North might answer that question this morning when it released the first trailer for the much-anticipated add-on but, alas, I was wrong.

The game certainly looks good--assuming Grand Theft Auto is your thing, of course--but I was hoping we'd get at least a tiny glimpse at the gay side of Liberty City.

Considering Rockstar promised in a press release that accompanied the trailer that the Xbox 360 title will contain "guns, glitz and glamor," I'm hopeful the final product also will contain a bit of "teh gay" when it hits real and virtual store shelves on Oct. 29.

Should gay gamers boycott Shadow Complex?

Should gay gamers boycott Shadow Complex? That was the question posed by one NeoGAFfer yesterday. What prompted the query? Well, the Xbox Live Arcade title is based on Orson Scott Card's sci-fi novel, Empire, and Card, according to the NeoGAFfer in question, "is a notorious homophobe."

Twenty-four hours and hundreds of comments later, NeoGAFfers are still discussing the subject--as are visitors to GayGamer.net and Gamasutra.com, both of which have posted op-ed pieces devoted to the controversy.

"When Shadow Complex was announced, I personally was torn," shares Gamasutra's Christian Nutt. "I'd already long since made the conscious decision to not support Orson Scott Card directly with my money." On the other hand, he also "would like nothing more than to play a new game developed in the vein of some of my personal favorites--Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Super Metroid."

GayGamer.net's Dawdle was similarly torn by the situation, though he did offer up a solution. "I think if you're obviously too disgusted to enjoy the game, avoid it and speak out," he writes. "However, if you want to play the game, play it... but offset the hate: If you buy Shadow Complex, donate $5, $10, $15--if you can spare it--to a gay charity."

In addition, "in message boards or user reviews, in blogs or tweets, if it comes up, let people know exactly what Card has said on the matter and where--and damn him with his own language."

Microsoft still hemming and hawing over gay gamertags on Xbox Live

Are the folks at Microsoft going to allow a game with "gay" in its title to appear on the Xbox 360 before they allow players to use the same word in their Xbox Live gamertags? It sure seems like it.

Earlier this year, Stephen Toulouse, the company's program manager for policy and enforcement on Xbox Live, told The Advocate, “We have heard clearly that customers want the ability to self-identify [and] it's our job to provide this in a way that cannot be misused.”

During the recent E3 Expo, however, one of Toulouse's colleagues, Corporate Vice President of Xbox Live Software and Services John Schappert, told Kotaku's Stephen Totilo, "We continue to look for ways for people to personally express themselves and you can look for more features coming to Xbox Live, but [we have] nothing to announce right now."

When asked if Microsoft would have the issue ironed out by the time Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony is released this fall, Schappert replied, "I can say that we are working on [the] issue."

The Advocate: Microsoft Tries to Mend Rift With "Gaymers"

Yesterday, The Advocate published (on its website) an article I wrote about Microsoft's policy of suspending the Xbox Live accounts of gamers who include "gay" or "lesbian" in their gamertags or profiles.

Read the article here: http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid75481.asp

Money quote: Stephen Toulouse, program manager for policy and enforcement on Xbox Live, told me, “We have heard clearly that customers want the ability to self-identify [and] it's our job to provide this in a way that cannot be misused.”

Unfortunately, Toulouse wouldn't say how or when Microsoft will provide that ability to LGBT gamers, but acknowledging a problem is the first step to solving it, right?

Microsoft Shoves Gay Gamers Back Into the Closet (take two)

When gay video gamer Michael Arnold went to log on to Xbox Live, the online service for Microsoft’s popular Xbox 360 gaming system, on July 12, he thought he was on his way to another multiplayer marathon of Halo 3. Instead, he found himself face-to-face with a baffling message that said his gamertag, THCxGaymer, had been deemed offensive and had to be changed before he could proceed to playing the popular first-person shooter.

At first, the message bemused Arnold, who had been using the gamertag (think username) since he bought his Xbox 360 two years ago. “It didn’t make any sense,” he says. “I thought, in this day and age, someone’s censoring the word gay? Who still considers that offensive or vulgar?”

Arnold’s confusion quickly turned to chagrin, especially after numerous e-mails to customer service went unanswered and an hour-long call to the company’s toll-free support line proved just as unhelpful. “[They] said my gamertag probably had been considered profane and pointed me to the Xbox Live terms of use,” Arnold says.

After he got off the phone, Arnold says he went over the terms of use “line by line.” The result of his research: “My gamertag didn’t violate any of them. It wasn’t profane, sexually explicit or a pejorative slur. It wasn’t hate speech. It didn’t contain references to any controlled substances or illegal activities.”

Arnold’s gaymertag, as he puts it, isn’t the first to meet Microsoft’s axe: In early May, “thegayergamer” met a similar fate and a few weeks later “RichardGaywood” (the name of an actual person) followed suit.

So far, Microsoft has been mum on the subject other than to say fellow gamers filed complaints against the gamertags and that they violated the company’s terms of use. Stephen Toulouse, program manager for the Microsoft Security Response Center, added a bit of context on his blog when he commented on the “thegayergamer” situation: “There could be an argument that the text is not pejorative to homosexuality and should therefore be allowed. But there is no context to explain that.”

Neither Arnold nor Gaywood are impressed by Microsoft’s response (or lack thereof), but that doesn’t mean they’re ready to turn their backs on Xbox Live. At least, not yet. “I'm not really annoyed at all this, just bemused by how stupid it is,” Gaywood says. “Between this and the two times my Xbox 360 has had to go back to Microsoft for repair, though, it's hard not to start suspecting them of being idiots.”

(Note: This article was written last August. It was supposed to appear in an upcoming issue of a bi-monthly LGBT publication but was "killed" in early February.)

Microsoft Shoves Gay Gamers Back Into the Closet (take one)

It’s hard to imagine the word gay offending anyone anymore. Microsoft seems to think otherwise, though, as evidenced by the company’s recent campaign to rid Xbox Live, the online service for its popular Xbox 360 video game system, of gamertags (think usernames) that include the contentious term. One of the first such gamertags sent to the gallows: thegayergamer.

So far, Microsoft has been mum on the subject other than to say a fellow gamer filed a complaint against the gamertag, after which it was found guilty of insinuating sexual innuendo—an act not condoned by the company’s terms of use.

Stephen Toulouse, program manager for the Microsoft Security Response Center, added on his blog that “there could be an argument that the text is not pejorative to homosexuality and should therefore be allowed. But there is no context to explain that.”

Gay gamers aren’t the only ones being forced to make their Xbox Live identities a little less fabulous. Shortly after Microsoft got rid of thegayergamer, it got rid of Richard Gaywood’s gamertag, too.

Toulouse initially told Gaywood (who, coincidentally, is not gay) that his gamertag had been singled out because it revealed his real name—another no-no according to the company’s terms of use. “Eventually … I got him to admit that the ban came about because of [my gamertag’s] content,” Gaywood says. “He said, ‘There's no context to tell the community not to be offended, that you are not trying to skirt the rules.’”

Although Gaywood describes the situation as “astoundingly stupid,” he isn’t turning his back on Microsoft or the Xbox 360. At least, not yet. “I'm not really annoyed at all this, just bemused by how stupid it is,” he says. “Between this and the two times my Xbox 360 has had to go back to Microsoft for repair, though, it's hard not to start suspecting them of being idiots.”

Rene Rivers, whose gamertag, sleepygaymer, has yet to meet Microsoft’s axe, offers a similar assessment. “The policy doesn’t make any sense,” he says, especially since the company’s own games for the system feature gay content. “Mass Effect has a lesbian love scene. [Soon-to-be-released] Fable II has gay marriage,” he adds. “So it’s OK to play a gay character, but you can’t be gay in real life?”

(Note: This article was written last July. It was supposed to appear in one of the August issues of a bi-monthly LGBT publication but was "killed" in early February.)

Microsoft acknowledges gaymer gaffe

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last two days, you've likely seen the news that Microsoft recently suspended a female gamer's Xbox Live account because her profile mentioned she is a lesbian.

It look little time for the story to hit the gaming and gay press, and even less time for gamers of all sexual identities and persuasions to call on the house that Bill Gates built to address the matter.

Well, Microsoft did just that earlier today when it allowed Stephen Toulouse, program manager for policy and enforcement on Xbox Live, to talk to MTV News' Stephen Totilo. (Which, as you'll see in the next few posts, is quite a step forward from how the company's PR department handled earlier, similar situations.)

"It is true that as a matter of policy, the expression of relationship preference in gamertag profiles and tags is not allowed across the board, whether that's heterosexual or other," Toulouse told MTV News before admitting that the policy is, "inelegant. And it's inelegant because the text-box field is freeform."

Toulouse suggested his employer is looking into a more elegant solution, such as allowing gamers to check off boxes or use symbols to denote their gender, sexual orientation or other qualities.

"That's the type of thing we're looking at as a solution," he told MTV News. "I can't talk about future plans, except to say we want to provide the capability for our users to express relationship preference or gender without a way for it to be misused."

(Note: Last summer, when Microsoft first made headlines for suspending the Xbox Live account of a gamer whose name and gamertag were Richard Gaywood, I wrote an article on the subject for a well-known LGBT publication. I later revised the article to include the story of a gay man, Michael Arnold, whose Xbox Live account met a similar fate after gamers complained about his gamertag, THCxGaymer. Since neither version of the article were published by the unnamed magazine, I am going to publish them here.)