Coming (very) soon: "Gay or Nay" reviews

Don't you just hate how some people use the word "gay" to describe something that's bad or dumb or stupid? Yeah, I do too.

So, I'm going to do my part to take back that lovely little word by introducing "Gay or Nay" reviews. These reviews will be like any other game reviews you read on the Interwebs--with one small, but important, twist: Each one will end with me saying the game is either "gay" (good) or "nay" (bad).

I'm working up two such reviews right now--one for the WiiWare title, Family Tennis, and another for You, Me and the Cubes (also a WiiWare title). Both should be posted to the site early next week.

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.

Revisiting “Nintendo’s most politically incorrect game ever"

I've been playing a lot of platformers lately--in preparation of the November 15th release of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Sadly, I don't have many platformers for the Wii (just Lost Winds, really), so I've been playing them on my trusty DS. Which ones? Well, New Super Mario Bros., of course, but also a bit of Yoshi's Island DS. Oh, and a game no straight male gamer (and few gay gamers of either gender, I'm guessing) will admit to owning, Super Princess Peach.

Actually, I shouldn't be so hard on Super Princess Peach--it really isn't a bad game. In fact, if you can get over just how cute it is, it could be considered a pretty good game. What keeps it from being a good or even a great game, you ask? It's just too easy. (And when I say easy, I mean it. So many enemies can be disposed of with a single "bop!" of Peach's parasol that after a while you start to wonder why they're even in the game.)

I have a feeling if you posed that question to game designer Gonzalo Frasca, he'd provide you with a much different answer. I don't say that because I'm well acquainted with Frasca (I wish!), but because I recently stumbled upon an article he wrote (some time ago for SeriousGamesSource.com) about the sexism on display in this Tose-developed title.

"On the one hand," he writes, "it is a blessing to find a game targeted at girls that is also top quality on a technical level: they are not that common. Additionally, it is good to see how the Princess switches roles with the male heroes after so many years of mainly being a decorative element in the series. What is shocking is that from all the possible design options available, the creators of this game had to frame the princess as an emotionally unstable person."

"I am not necessarily suggesting that Peach should go join Lara Croft’s women liberation army, burn her bra and buy an M-16," Frasca adds near the end of the article. "But at the very least, Peach should be allowed to have some fun without being portrayed as a mood swinger."

Pink-and-white PS3 Slim coming soon to a store near you ...

... assuming you live somewhere in Japan, that is.

One of the few newsworthy announcements made during the Sony press conference at the Tokyo Game Show yesterday involved the little beauty you see here:

For those of you who didn't stay up late trolling "teh Internets" for Tokyo Game Show news (like I did), the PS3 pictured above is a special edition that will be released in the Land of the Rising Sun on the same day (Dec. 17) as a little game known as Final Fantasy XIII. You may have heard of it?

Said system will sport a 250GB HDD and will set you back ¥41,600. (That's ¥11,620 more than the standard PS3 Slim.)

Personally, I'd rather have a plain white PS3 Slim, but since Sony's unlikely to release anything other than boring black PS3s in the States, my thoughts on the matter don't mean too much, do they? :)

New trailer for The Last Guardian (aka the "Game of Whichever Year it Comes Out")

I can't take credit for calling The Last Guardian the "Game of Whichever Year it Comes Out," by the way. Please direct your kudos to "leech" over at NeoGAF :)

Anyway, enough about that. The real reason you're reading this post is to see the new trailer (unveiled during the Tokyo Game Show yesterday) for Team Ico's upcoming PS3 title, The Last Guardian, right? Well, here you go:



Sadly, the title that's sure to be a contender for "Game of the Forever" still does not have a release date. Oh, well, back to that trailer...