From all the news I've been hearing lately about Pokemon Go and the various injuries people have sustained it keeps making me think of one thing.
Evolution and survival of the fittest in all its Darwinian glory.
It feels like I can hardly even keep track of all the news stories happening because they're at such a frequent rate. If you injure yourself playing Pokemon Go; you probably shouldn't be responsible for your life in the first place. Literally just look at where you're going. That's it, be responsible for your own life.
How people even can fall off cliffs and get injured in car accidents? It's beyond me.
With the release of Overwatch I managed about a month or two before I gave in and purchased the game. With the forthcoming news of my friends buying and wanting to play it, I just thought, why not? So I started it up (after a lengthy period of downloading on rural English internet speeds) and was actually pleasantly surprised at the amount of female characters actually listed. instead of an all male, or almost all male and 1 bikini clad woman character list. I actually played games where females outnumbered males which is something i'm not sure I've actually found in video games before, and it got me wondering.
Is Blizzard actually harming or helping in the representation of women in video games?
So what Is the controversy?
We can't forget the controversy of tracer's pose, which blatantly exposes her behind to appeal to who gamers.
But in all honesty I don't even know who. When was the last time anyone was actually bothered about a virtual ass of someone in a game, if they are clearly they need to reevaluate their life's decisions which have culminated to that point. I cant's speak for everyone but if anything its just quite annoying treating male consumers like idiots who are only interested in a female character if she's overly sexualized to ridiculous standards, and treating female consumers in an offensive manner. I'm not saying the male characters aren't a bit ridiculous, but that's not particularly the issue.
Recently one representative called out one of Symmetra's skins, which he claimed appeared to sexualize a Hindu god. Or even Overwatch porn searches increased so maybe I'm wrong? that people are interested in this kind of thing. I always preferred the allure of an actual human being in my adolescent years...
(please say no one is actually watching Overwatch porn for Christ's sake).
So how many characters are actually female?
Well there's 8 in total as of the time of writing with a further 1 more (Ana) being implemented in the near future. Although that doesn't initially look representative there are also a few robotic characters and an ape? So taking them into account and the new addition women make up about 40% of the character list. Whilst it may not be equal - and there may be some controversy over how they are represented - hopefully its a step forward for female gamers in that they actually get to play as multiple characters from their own identity. Blizzard aren't known for their amazing treatment of women in games from Wow Bikini plate armour to said tracer pose mentioned before. But at least they are making some progressions with representations (of many nationalities as well).
In conclusion, if you're bothered by women in games you're already pretty pathetic, and if you're worried about loosing strange poses to expose a characters ass you're pretty pathetic. Hopefully the amount of characters we see are going to be more equal and less ridiculous in the future as the gaming industry matures a little. Do you think Overwatch is making a step towards progression, or is their representation just another marketing ploy to try and get teenagers to buy their game? Is it harmful or positive?
The conclusion of Game of thrones season 6 marked show writers David Benioff & D. B. Weiss' foray into writing without the book series' structure and detailed plot - previously set out by George R R Martin. But did season 6 hold up to the writing of previous shows, or is it merely riding on the back of its overwhelming popularity?
Fans of the show were watching in higher numbers than season 5, but that hasn't stopped some viewers (including myself) to question some of the decisions made. David Benioff (in an interview with Deadline) spoke of how they are 'walking on [their] own and can't rely on the written material anymore'. Apart from the now infamous Hodor scene, which has spawned the creation of many (hilariously) edited images of doorstops superimposed upon his face.
Herein lies the problem as more 'tv writing' choices have emerged rather than ones solely based on quality of narrative and viewership.
[disclaimer: I'm a huge game of thrones fan and love the series as well as the latest, however these are some things that have arisen and could be better]
Number 1: Daenerys entering easy mode.
Its no surprise that Daenerys deserves a break, but the seemingly immortal conqueror this season seems to come out of any given situation without experiencing any particular struggle. She doesn't even need to have been shown successfully training or riding the dragons with skill before, but that didn't stop her from defeating an army at slavers bay and the taking over the entire Dothraki horde...
Number 2: Tyrion 'screen time' Lannister
Tyrion was an excellent character potentially challenging perceptions of minorities and how they were treated in Medieval societies. However, the recent characterisation of Tyrion has unfortunately fallen into the mists of an all too quoted line (which I will now quote). 'I drink and I know things', but what does tryrion know anymore? When we could of had plot arcs and development. We were instead fed unnecessarily elongated scenes of Tyrion drinking...and that's about all for a lot of the development. This is potentially due to the popularity rise in his character and the show's willingness to expose audiences to their favourite characters, rather than what would be best for the narrative. (like showing Dany actually riding a dragon).
Number 3: Arya stark - What is...alive? may never die?
Unless there's some unexplained plot or wild fan theory, arya stark's plot line for Braavos has been interesting yet filled with some minor details, like surviving a dagger to the stomach among other things. Now I may not have a medical degree, but I know enough about what happens if you get stabbed in the stomach.
She crossed the worlds deadliest magical assassins, got stabbed, picked up her sword and set off for westerns with a chirp in her step.
Number 4: Jon Crow
Now Jon is my favourite character like most people. But you have to agree after his resurrection the legendary commander's demeanour was fairly meek. Once a young hero who gained the vote of the knights watch to the position of commander. To then making basic mistakes, and running into a fight with a few hundred against figures in the thousands! It was just illogical suicide. But a similar theme was still echoed in that there was no danger, of course he would be saved, of course he would be a terrible military leader who has lost a lot of his strong and in depth characterisation. (or maybe the Resurrection was a bit tougher than we thought). But Jon's character seemed to lack the qualities he's so fervently been presented as having before. Although if the series is keeping in line with fantasy filmography, after a resurrection Jon will likely be more powerful than ever, and tied into the narrative. Certainly with the reveal of his Mother a song of Ice and Fire seems an apt description to some for his lineage.
These are just some of the issues in the great show that I loved. Whilst I appreciate it, season 6 has made me appreciate the work of George even more so when translated into the hit HBO show. Characters sometimes didn't seem like themselves, or screen time that would be better spent developing the narrative is actually just pandering towards fan service. What do you think about the characters developments in season 6? is there a noticeable difference from the past? please comment below with your own opinions.
( I personally enjoyed the battle of the bastards which i felt had a lord of the rings-eque touch to it, where the giant's death was very reminiscent of Borimir and Jon's rescue like that of helms deep)
Living in England as an avid gamer i have always thought games consoles and technology was much cheaper in the US. I took to the internet to search for some statistics to use to find out if there really is a difference at all and with Google's (hopefully) trustworthy currency exchange rate found some samples from popular online websites. Both using the £ and $ equivalent websites and i found a drastic difference.
First i went to Gamestop, a well known retailer. I based my searches on Watch Dogs since it is a big title newly released at what is considered a high price for a game. I found the US version online to cost $59.99 US Dollars, in comparison to the UK where the game was £49.97 Pound Sterling.
The $ price converted to £ shows a significantly less price, and for a newly released title personally i would consider to be pretty cheap for a game. The £ price converted to $ is obviously a lot more as well by approximately $23/24 more !
Again using the website Amazon, the same results were found for both PS4 versions and XBOX ONE versions, and in fact all the searches i conducted.
these can only be considered a small sample but i think the price difference its pretty clear by now. Even more so when i searched and converted prices for the basic console model.
The 'Console war' when it began showed a huge difference in the price of consoles and at the release. I found a BBC article that covered the initial price difference, this is what a Microsoft spokesman said.
"There are many factors that influence the final price of consumer electronics in different markets," a spokesman for Microsoft says. "This includes, but is not limited to tax, tariff and exchange rates."
Credithttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22868787
This shows that even taking tax into account and all the differences it still shows quite a difference.
(ironically the difference of the cost of a $ to £ brand new Watch Dogs game).
No doubt paying the extra price for the same product is frustrating to say the least, as prices in gaming keep getting higher. The additions of micro transactions are slowly taking over moreover trying to get us to cough up more and more of our money. Begging the question just how expensive will gaming be for some? and will it get to the point where it starts to become not affordable for the masses? Well if the prices keep on changing it certainly looks like those paying in Pound Sterling will be hit harder.
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