Bjorn

Off the top of my head I can't think of a specific example, but I'm sure I've seen TV shows or movies where an older, mentor figure woman taught witchcraft or magic to a younger woman. But of course that's still limiting it to a subject that is usually gendered anyways, so it doesn't really go against the model of the existing trope (and often has several other tropes nested in it).

Huh, Ryckert and I actually had some overlap in when we attended KU, and he was the main video game reviewer for the local newspaper for a few years before the GI job. I knew he was from Kansas, but didn't know that. I almost have to have friends who would have worked with him at the paper gig.

Put me on the list of people who desperately wants a Steam release of this.

A Pennsylvania mother is serving a jail sentence for helping her daughter have an abortion. She ordered one of the pills that causes a miscarriage after her and her daughter researched their local options for abortion and discovered they would have been financially burdensome due to the state laws that have steadily eroded Pennsylvanian's access to abortions (with mandatory waiting periods and fewer locations that perform abortions).

I'm stupid excited for this. They're running a bit behind schedule, but are just starting a massive beta (something like 2 million beta keys will be released in batches). Assuming the beta goes well, I'd hope that it's out within 2-3 months.

NPR, always on top of what's hip with the kids, decided to run a bit about the gaters. It's not terrible, but it does basically lead with this:

Same here, I don't visit much and haven't ever listened to them (tried a couple of times and it just didn't stick for me). But this conversation is basically guaranteeing I will never listen to them.

That's the thing, they aren't. I haven't seen what kind of legal basis the AG is using for this, because there doesn't really seem to be one. He's already taken one case to the state Supreme Court about it, who practically laughed him out of the chamber (unanimous decision that he was completely wrong). But now he's trying a different tact. I'm rather hoping this results in a lawsuit for abuse of power against him, because it's painfully clear that he's burning the AG office's resources trying help a political cronie rather than taking care of business that needs addressed.

Every time I see one the Ardania games mentioned (Warlock being one of them), I'm just reminded that Paradox has yet to make a proper sequel to Majesty. Which may well be my favorite sim-type game ever made.

It turns out goats and explosions don't go well together. I may have set a harder goal for myself than I thought.

I like how we're all assuming everyone wears pants.

Kansas politics are EXTRA fucking weird this year. There's a non-story about the Democratic candidate for governor going to a strip club when he was a single young man (because that never happens!), and simultaneously, the state is auctioning off thousands of sex toys seized in a tax collection case. All while the Republican Attorney General is ass deep in a fight over whether or not the Democrats are legally mandated to field a candidate for a US Senate seat (their candidate dropped out of the race), because the current Republican senator is fairly likely to lose to an independent candidate unless the Democratic vote is split between their own candidate and an independent. Roberts (the Republican Senator) has been taking a shellacking due to allegations that he hasn't actually been a Kansas resident for a couple of decades and damn near lost the primary because of those accusations. It's like bizarro politics world here right now.

I've only fooled around with Wasteland in the last year or so, never played it back in the day. But from what I know, original Wasteland was a party based game, and W2 mirrors that exactly (starting party of 4 and you can recruit up to 3 additional characters). That said, you can start with just one character if you want. I actually did that briefly just to faff about for a bit. Combat was brutal, but I just threw a character together, didn't put much thought into it. It might make for an interesting experience to try and do it with just one character (and maybe picking up an NPC once in awhile for specific help). You'd be way more limited on what non-combat actions you could do, since it's balanced around having a bunch of characters. But a lot of that stuff just gives you the ability to collect more loot. Since you'd only be supporting the health and ammo of a single character, you wouldn't really miss the lost scrap and items from things you weren't able to break into.

Man, that video does make look like a mess to control, but your description is really compelling. That just sounds like it would be a gripping experience, particularly with a more modern take on the design.

Weird, I had no idea this was even close to coming out. So it looks like they went ahead and delivered DG2 to all the backers, even though the original KS didn't come anywhere near the stretch goals.

I might actually enjoy that. I've played through IV several times (though it's probably been 12ish years since the last time), and I can still remember specific battles. Though if the option exists to just revert exists as Twig said, I also might favor that just to breeze through it. The last few times I played through any of the older FFs, I've done it by emulator just so I could crank up the game speed and blow through the boring/grindy parts in a matter of minutes instead of hours.

I just had a customer cuss me out and call my business ethics "deplorable." Been awhile since I've had that happen. Nothing to do with journalism. Just thought I'd share.

At least it's a sweet alien head hat.

Yeah, XIII next month and then XIII-2 and Lightning Returns staggered a few months apart. FFIV also appeared on Steam a few days ago, with very little fanfare around it. It looks like it's the remake that was originally on the DS (I think?). For pure nostalgia, FFIV is probably my favorite so I'll have to pick it up at some point.

I'm just picturing TB in a video rapping, "Fucking Ethics, how do they work?" It's like magic and shit.

Edited: Basically what Busby just said in about a tenth of the space as I used. I think actually having critical discussions about any commentary is important, it's just been next to impossible to do it with FemFreq in a large part because showing vocal support of those under siege is more important than a reasoned analysis of her criticisms. As for your specific points: While there can be truth to this, the problem arises in that sometimes ridiculing something (or even a middling attempt at subversion) just means that you are repeating the trope and engaging in the same kind of sexist content creation as those you are mocking. Like if your game doesn't have any good female characters, but you mock the sexist content of other games, you've still just made sexist content. Satire, ridicule, and mockery don't automatically excuse a game, and from what I know of NMH, there's still a strong argument that its inclusion in something like this is valid. Edited to add: As an additional exterior reference point, I think this kind of content falls under the same umbrella as hipster racism. I'd actually like to see you expand on your thoughts on this, as I kind of, but not entirely, follow your reasoning here. This is, to be honest, the kind of thing that strikes me as trying to distract from the work she is creating. The kind of thing you're talking about is a Sexism 101 course, and can be applied as a criticism to any feminist critique of anything. Part of the reason I say that is that when someone writes about the sexist content of a television show, no one says, "Well what about the greater social context like the role that games play in sexism in our culture." I think it's perfectly valid to focus on specific areas for criticism or analysis without having to include a significant amount of greater context, because that's a rabbit hole of infinite depth. Like you give two examples, and in the first case, I dont' think that is ever implied in any way and in the second case, haters are going to make specious objections no matter how much context is given.

But FFXIII is coming to PC next month, so there's still hope!

Nothing says isolation and horror on a desolate space station like CELEBRATORY TEAM FORTRESS 2 HATS!

Yeah, the writing is really good (with all the caveats that it's still video game writing). I've genuinely gotten a good chuckle out of a bunch of the humor. And each character feels like he or she has a voice all their own, not like you could just swap out any of the dialogue onto someone else and it would still fit. The personality of the world is also getting me to start to try and actually role play my created characters, and not just treat them like meat bags of stats and skills. My shotgunner is not very bright. She has two jobs, to soak up damage and shoot things in the face with a shotgun. She also likes animals. She befriended a goat while Vargas was having some new recruits recite the Rifleman's Creed. She doesn't have a rifle, so she has no creed. In her limited wisdom, she has decided that her goat is her rifle, and so she has the Goat's Creed. "This is my goat. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My goat is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My goat, without me, is useless. Without my goat, I am useless. I must lead my goat true. My goat must be better behaved than my enemy's goat. My goat must butt him before he butts me. I will... My goat and I know that what counts in war is not the heads we butt, the noise of our braying, nor the cud we chew. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit... My goat is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its horns. I will keep my goat clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will... Before God, I swear this creed. My goat and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but peace!" (The goat is in fact nearly completely useless, but my Shotgunner doesn't know that and so charges into battle with her loyal friend, braying together in the face of death.)

The first suggested game in my personalized queue was DOTA 2. I have never played a single minute of any LOMA. I have never downloaded a LOMA. But it is their top pick for me. gaben, y u push DOTA 2 so hard Edited: I realize this has nothing to do with curation, but, whatevs, it is part of the new store.