Big Picture: "If The Oscars Were The VGAs"

What if Hollywood's big award show sucked as much as gaming's?

The Escapist : The Big Picture : If the Oscars Were the VGAs

Only YOU Can Rescue The 1% in "Rainbow Six: Patriots"

I have my well-documented "issues" with the mega-popularity of the First-Person Shooter genre, but for the most part it's centered around their part in the blanding-up of the medium and the devaluation of the single-player experience. But there's a darker side to the whole phenomenon - namely, that it's helped to make the gaming medium a favorite new roost for the more despicable elements of America's political "right-wing."



While the film and television industry (with some noteworthy exception) doggedly avoided serving up the kind of NRA-empowerment/vengeance-porn some audiences were clammoring for in the wake of 9/11; the games industry pretty-much jumped in and said "let's do this!" - Neither Obama or even Bush could ever blast enough craters in the Middle East to slake the voyeuristic bloodlust of Team Nugent; so "Modern Warfare" and the like have been filling the void... and reaping enthusiastic "attaboys!" from wingnut nation for doing so.

It's an unpleasant development from any angle, but thus far it's at least been one-sided: Sarah Palin's America may love Military-FPS's; but thus far Military-FPS's haven't been (openly) loving them back - even "Modern Warfare" hedges it's ideological bets by dropping a "renegade American general" bad guy into it's assinine Neo-Soviet/Muslim/Illuminati/S.P.E.C.T.R.E. overarching conspiracy storyline. But that may be changing in the newest Tom Clancy-branded shooter, "Rainbow Six: Patriots," which just ran a new trailer on the excerable VGAs and in doing so revealed that the NEW villains you'll be blasting away at this time are...

...Occupy Wall-Street.

Well, okay, not exactly - the baddies are supposedly a homegrown terrorist militia called "The Patriots" who're as miffed at the government as they are at corporate America (so... the Sons of Liberty without all the cool robots and ninjas), but it's telling that this is the flavor they wanted for the big debut. It's an effective spot, to be sure, but it also carries an unmistakable implication that they've looked at the current zeitgeist and determined that their audience is more inclined to see the activists as potential terrorists and Wall Street as a threatened victim in need of protection. Is their calculation correct? Does the "Rainbox Six" audience look at OWS and see the American Al-Qaeda?

I'll admit, it'd be less "creepy" without Clancy's name attached. If you only know his "brand" from the movies you may not be aware of it, but Tom Clancy's stuff took a turn for right-wing fringe wackjobbery awhile ago; so it's not exactly a "reach" that his name would be on a "let's blast the hippies!" game - though I don't think he actual contributes to the content of the series anymore...

Fortune Street

From now on, whenever I'm feeling down in the dumps about the future of the gaming medium, I'll just try and remember that there's a game where the Mario and DragonQuest characters can play a version of Monopoly against one another... and that someone at Nintendo decided "what the hell, let's bring it Stateside!"



I feel like this is the sort of franchise (there's been a few of these in Japan already) that would've become kind of a "cult classic" in the West if it had come out in the PS2/GC era. Wonder if it actually sells decently here now, just on the Mario brand factor?

EPISODE 61: "Bells & Whistles"

UPDATE (AGAIN!) As it turns out, Shigeru Miyamoto is NOT retiring and may not even be changing his "official" title within the Nintendo corporation. They are now calling the Wired article that began this (apparently false) reporting - which is now being blamed for Nintendo's stock price taking a two-point hit today - the result of bad translation.

Think of this as a brief respite between "big stuff," as the very NEXT episode (next Friday!) features both a controversial topic and the introduction of a new character. Technically, this week has the "live" debut of Jack Lieberson: Ninja Senator, though he's been seen and heard before. Enjoy!

Scheduling!

Reminder: EPISODE 61 will be viewable by ALL AUDIENCES tonight at 11pm EST!

In addition, EPISODE 62 will run MUCH earlier than usual (next Friday, the 16th - time not yet confirmed) owing to the topical nature of it's main discussion subject (to be revealed soon enough.) ADVANTAGE members will be able to get an early look on the 13th.

ALSO: I am schedule to appear at the Boston-Area scifi/fantasy/etc convention "ARISIA" on all three days (January 13th-16th.) While I'm not yet able to divulge which panels and/or events I'll be appearing at, I'll also be up and around the area so any fans attending feel free to say hello.

Project Rainfall Wins One

After much fan outcry, Nintendo WILL bring "Xenoblade Chronicles" to the U.S... as a GameStop exclusive.

Now, will fans actually BUY IT; or will this be like every other 'hardcore' Wii title where everyone says they DESPERATELY want it and then it sits on the shelves (No More Heroes, Madworld, need I go on?)

"Skyrim" Fans, This is Your New Favorite Thing Today

I'm inclined to think that Nintendo may have made a substantial mistake in releasing "Skyward Sword" (which I'm loving, don't get me wrong) opposite "Skyrim" - but then, who could've realistically predicted that a new "Elder Scrolls" game would be THIS big of a hit (which is in itself good news) in age of COD?

Anyway, here's a cartoon from Harry Partridge: