'I think that developers are worried about getting it right more than anything else'

The quote above--attributed to Chris Shroyer, a designer at Florida-based developer n-Space--appears in "Playing It Straight," an Edge magazine article about LGBT characters in video games.

Here's the rest of the openly gay Shroyer's quote, by the way: “I don’t think there are many on the development side that are opposed to including LGBT-related content, but I think there is a fear of offending publishers and consumers."



Also quoted in the article: GayGamer.net's David Edison, Jeb Havens, an openly gay designer who works at California-based developer Slide, and a number of other gay and straight "industry insiders."

Although the three-page article--which is followed by a trio of intriguing case studies of Bioshock's Sander Cohen, Bioshock 2's Brute Splicer and Fable III's Reaver--doesn't really tread new waters, it's still well worth your time. Read it here.

October 17

That's the day the proudly two-dimensional platformer, Kirby's Epic Yarn, will be released in the U.S., according to a recent piece of Nintendo of America PR.

Here's the cover art Kirby fans should search for on and after that date:

Kirby fans across the pond will have to endure a bit of a wait before they can add this cute-as-a-button game to their collections, as it won't be released in Europe until sometime early next year. (It has yet to be announced for Japan or other territories.)

Pre-order: Kirby's Epic Yarn

And this week's 'WTF is this?' award goes to ...

... Atlus' just-announced action-adventure game, Catherine.

What's so WTF-ish about this title, which the Persona publisher is prepping for both the PS3 and the Xbox 360? Take a gander at its first teaser trailer:



A bit of a head-scratcher, ain't it?

For a bit of background on the game's main character, Vincent, and the girl of his, er, nightmares (the titular Catherine), check out this post and this post over at andriasang.com.

Beulah, peel me a grape

Sorry, the quote above--from the 1933 Mae West film, I'm No Angel--is the first thing that popped into my mind when I came across artist Kim Roberts' (aka Kimbot1984 over at deviantart.com) "Katamari Fun" a few days ago:



Don't you just love how Godzilla and King Kong are duking it out in the background while a pair of UFO float overhead?

My last Dragon Quest post (I promise!)

I wrote the following haiku at the same time I wrote this one, but I didn't post it because I thought it was a bit too rhyme-y.

Bright eyes, brighter grin
Red, blue and metallic skin
Beating you? A sin

Why am I posting it now? Honestly, I wanted an excuse to share the following image, which I found on tinycartridge.com a few weeks ago.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't know if the slime sprites were pulled from actual Dragon Quest titles or if they were produced specifically for this image.

See also: 'A slick haiku'