I picked up Guitar Hero II a week or two ago, and I’m loving it. It’s a blast being able to rock out to tracks like Carry on Wayward Son, Tattooed Love Boys, and Psychobilly Freakout… but…

Well…

Why in the hell are all of the starting characters white?

I’m looking at the characters, and you’ve got a bunch of white men (Eddie Knox, Axel Steel, Lars Umlaut, Izzy Sparks, Johnny Napalm) and white women (Casey Lynch, Judy Nails, and Pandora). The only non-white characters in the game? Xavier Stone and the Grim Ripper.

Why?

It’s not like there’s a dearth of excellent non-white guitarists.

I think it’s safe to argue that, as far as guitar heroes go, it’s pretty hard to top a self-taught, south-paw who played a restrung Stratocaster. What about the likes of B.B. King? Muddy Waters? Chuck Berry? Carlos Santana? Bo Diddley? Chino Moreno? Meshell Ndegeocello? Prince? Lenny Kravitz?

And the song list is pretty white, too. Hmmmm.

There’s absolutely no reason why the only non-white character (not counting death) is an unlockable (I discussed this happening before, and what could be done about it).

I love me some guitar hero… so how about adding a little diversity to it in the future, okay guys?

(cross posted at No Cookies For Me)

When I took my job, I had no idea that I could combine my work and my hobby.*

* If you replace Dialga with characters from Xenogears, or Soul Calibur, etc.

So, I finally got a chance to play Guitar Hero II yesterday, when I hung out with my buddy Jim. I’m probably, like, the last gamer in the damn country not to give it a whirl, but, there it is. I’m behind the times (which should come as no surprise, given that I didn’t have a cell phone until two years ago).

I have to confess, this comic makes so much sense now.

There’s something really satisfying about blasting through “Shout at the Devil” or really nailing “Tattooed Love Boys.” And, Jimmycav? They’ve got a totally badass version of Trogdor.

Anyway, I’m pretty psyched about it. It’s extremely interactive, and, like playing the Wii, it’s hard not to get really involved in what you’re doing. I found myself really getting into the songs, sort of bouncing along with them, and generally acting like a rockstar.

I may have belted out a “THANK YOU, DETROIT!” after a song or two, while throwing the horns.

Maybe.

And, it turns out, there’s a nice little tribute to the 80s version coming out. Glorious 80s rock, including “18 and Life” by Skid Row? I’m all over that.

(stolen shamelessly from Jimmycav and his awesome post titled: Mortal Kombat doesn’t always lead to FATALITY!!!!) 

You know, you always hear about how some nutjob with a loaded gun is the result of too much Grand Theft Auto. When a school shooting happens, one of the first things the news media seems to want to cast the spotlight of blame on are video games.

So, it’s nice to see the news reporting an actual link between video games and saving lives. However loose that link might be.

Basically: A kid had a routine wherein he would wake up early every day to play Mortal Kombat. One morning, during this routine, he heard glass break, and smelled smoke. He ran to his family, woke them up, and everyone got out of the house minutes before it was engulfed in flames.

Bravo, kid. Bravo.

Scorpion is proud.

As my friends are all, I’m sure, painfully aware, I have an unabiding love of all things mecha. The sight of a trio of 35 ton mecha launching a volley of rockets at enemy mechs and tanks while 2 more come rocketing through the smoke and debris to finish off the enemy with machine-guns and hydrolic spikes?

Awesome.

So, when a game like Front Mission 4 opens with FMV of exactly that kind of sequence, and promises turn-based tactical combat with light RPG stat-building and lots of options for customizing and improving both pilots and mecha… well, you can imagine how psyched I was.  

That’s the sort of game that practically begs me to take it home. I’d go into Gamestop, and there it would sit, taunting me. “Roy” it would say, “Take me home. I’m a turn-based strategy game. I’m full of mecha goodness. You can wade through menus picking out the best way to optimize your units.”

Yum.

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You know what I miss?

I miss games like X-Com: UFO Defense.

I’m not completely sure why I’m so particularly fixated on that game, but I am. I love X-Com. I love creating bases. I love researching new technologies. I love that I even have a choice in which tech to research and develop first. I love that I can name my troops after people I know (which lets me know which troops are my best ones, but also creates a stronger emotionally attachment to them, and makes me sort of want to keep them out of danger!). I still play X-Com to this day.

I don’t even try to win, anymore. I just start up the game, and play through wave after wave of alien invasion. Aliens terrorizing New York? No problem! X-Com to the rescue! Aliens looking to harvest victims in South Africa? My team will stop them! Aliens looking to retaliate against my base in Russia? Grab your guns and armor up, team. What’s that? I could stop the invasions by attacking the alien base on Mars? Pffft. Whatever. I’m too busy kicking alien ass!

There are a few things that really attract me to X-Com. First, there’s the ability to manage so many different aspects of the team. You’re not only choosing whether to run or gun, you’re choosing exactly which weapons to outfit the team with. You’re choosing how many scientists to hire. You’re choosing which aircraft to purchase and which missiles or guns they’ll be stocked with. You not only choose where your base will be located, but what facilities to build inside the base. Hell, when you build a second base, you design the entire layout. There’s almost nothing you don’t have some control over in the game.

I like that.

Add to that the rock-solid turn-based gameplay, and I’m in heaven. The combat in X-Com will seem familiar to anyone who’s played the Fallout games. You take turns with the computer moving your team around the map, which is laid out in a grid. Each step on the grid depletes movement points. Crouching behind cover, reloading a weapon, firing one, throwing or priming grenades… all of these things take up movement points. As far as I can tell, it’s sort of the computer version of the old table-top games like Battle Tech.

The story of the game is simple: Aliens are invading. Stop them. 

The long version- You control X-Com: UFO Defense, a global paramilitary organization funded by the world’s governments in an effort to combat the alien threat. They provide you annual funding, which you must use to purchase supplies, hire scientists and techs for research and development, and hire soldiers for combat with the aliens. As you defeat the various races of aliens (each with different tactics and abilities), you can set your scientists to work researching captured technology or interrogating alien captives.

The game is old and dated now. The graphics are nothing to write home about, and the sounds are pretty standard for their time. Despite that, the game is still fun, and there just aren’t that many games like this anymore. If you can find it, I highly suggest checking it out. It’s a shame that developers just aren’t that interested in games like this (or, maybe it’s a shame that I’m the only one still playing games like this. Take your pick).

Random Ten

1. Death in Vegas - “Dirge”
2. Kid Koala - “Fender Bender”
3. L7 - “Shit List”
4. KMFDM - “Terror”
5. The Animals - “Bring it on Home to Me”
6. Alice in Chains - “Grind”
7. Cibo Matto - “King of Silence (Dan the Automator Remix)”
8. The Strokes - “Is This It?”
9. Camera Obscura - “Let’s Get Out of This Country”
10. Blur - “On Your Own”

The Last Six Video Games I Played

1. Worms (Dreamcast)
2. Toy Commander (Dreamcast)
3. Super Bust-a-Move (Dreamcast)
4. You Don’t Know Jack (PC)
5. Soldat (PC)
6. Mario Party 5 (Gamecube)

Note: I’m currently guest blogging for the week over at feministe. This was a post I put up earlier today, crossposted here, and at No Cookies For Me…. Enjoy… 

As some of you may have noticed in my bio that Jill posted, I’m a self proclaimed geek. One thing that I’m particularly passionate about is video gaming. I’ve been a huge gamer for almost as long as I can remember. My father purchased one of our first gaming systems, waaay back in the 2600 days. I can still remember the first computer that my folks had- it used a cassette tape as data storage- and the games I used to play on it (basically, a really primitive version of Space Invaders… only, with a single enemy). I still remember the sense of excitement and wonder when my parents brought home the ol’ Tandy computer- it had color graphics and a floppy drive. That was a big deal. Twenty plus years, multiple computers, and over ten platforms later, I’m still an avid gamer.

In the over two decades that I’ve been playing, gaming has changed tremendously- systems are more powerful, the graphics are prettier, the controls are better, and the stories they can tell are more involved and interesting. Lately, I’ve been particularly interested in the stories. As a feminist, and a philosophy student, I’m particularly interested in the intersection of gaming and morality/ethics. Not in a casual “games are corrupting our society” sort of way- but in the ways that games contribute to and are effected by our society, and the ways that we can explore and learn about complicated moral issues through the use of games.

But…

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I make no secret of the fact that I’m a gamer. I’ve been playing video games for as long as I can remember. My father loved video games and bought a 2600 when they came out. My parents picked up a computer back when they were using cassette tapes as data storage. Given how much I love video gaming, it should come as no surprise that I’m very interested in the intersection between my hobby and my socio-political beliefs. I’ve been really interested in how gaming and feminism intersect and overlap… if they do.

Women have really gotten a raw deal when it comes to gaming. Historically, games have been made by men for men. When most people think of a gamer, they probably think of either a child, or the stereotypical fan-boy living in a basement eating Cheetos and drinking Mountain Dew (Sorry, Jimmycav). There may have even been a time when that was true, but now? No way. Gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry. It’s huge. It’s time for the industry to recognize the fact that roughly 43% of gamers are women, and quit churning out the typical sexist fanboy bullshit.

It’s time for women to be recognized as real gamers.

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Random Ten

1. They Might Be Giants - “Letterbox”
2. Death Cab For Cutie - “Transatlanticism”
3. Bloc Party - “Like Eating Glass”
4. Camera Obscura - “Footloose and Fancy Free”
5. Badly Drawn Boy - “Silent Sigh”
6. Interpol - “Mascara”
7. Franz Ferdinand - “Take Me Out”
8. The Clash - “Clampdown”
9. New Order - “True Faith”
10. The Gossip - “Lily White Hands”

Four Hip Fashions When I Was a Kid (That I Never Had)

1. Skidz (gods help us)
2. Z Cavaricci
3. Guess
4. Hypercolor

Five Cool Video Game Characters

1. Alucard Tepes - Castlevania: If goth is your passion, you can’t get much cooler than the son of Dracula. It’s not every guy who can pull of knee-high boots.  
2. Jade - Beyond Good and Evil: A hip, green-lipstick wearing, leather jacket sporting, photo journalist who kicks ass with a staff? Cool.
3. Claire Redfield - Resident Evil: While I can’t always commend her fashion choices (red daisy dukes with biker shorts underneath? Ugh), you can’t deny she’s cool. She’s a motorcyclist who loves Queen. She kicks zombie ass. Enough said.  
4. Solid Snake - Metal Gear: A badass secret agent who fights giant robots and is rewarded for not killing? Pretty awesome. He’s cool factor is so good that I can even overlook the mullet he tends to sport. Now that’s cool.
5. Ladd Spencer - Bionic Commando: Ignore the cover art to the game (where he looks like some kind of weird Star Trek reject), and check him out in-game. Spikey hair, cool glasses, and a robotic extendo arm that he uses to punch people and swing, Tarzan style, over pits? Come on. Cool.