pokemon

…a satire of the American dream without using misogyny. They didn’t. The game they made is a satire and misogynistic. The game asks you to deride representations of the American dream but not how sexist those representations are. Is the real American dream still wrapped in a patriarchal bow? Yes. But, GTA 5 doesn’t ask you to see that bow for the sexism it is.

On Ballistically Grapelike, here’s an interesting reading of Hitman‘s Agent 47 as an inverted Christ figure. And Eurogamer’s Rich Stanton explains how he got going as the Pokemon equivalent of a puppy farmer.

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…submissions allowed me to couple two unlikely topics: Pokemon and first person shooters.

Monica Kim has an interesting article up at Modern Farmer on the politics of the belly in the Pokemon universe. She states, “The ethical dilemma is complicated by the fact that each species can be a beloved friend of fighter, or it can be a delicious meal.”

Bridging the gap between Pokemon and first person shooters, is Bryan Rumsey’s article “Searching for Wonder in Games,” in which Rumsey muses on the stagnation of innovation across game genres.

Jamin Warren also questions the possible stagnation…

…creates a sense of location and time. Brad O’Farrell discusses how the geography of Pokemon is based on real-world countries, including Japan, and how that plays into the game’s plot. Colin Campbell investigates people developing games from a country not commonly discussed or represented – Cameroon!

Keeping What’s Ours

Mitch Stoltz gives EFF’s perspective on the lack of legal protection for preserving older games.

Samantha Blackmon talks about the importance of preservation. Ciarán Ó Muirthile proposes backwards compatibility as a way of preserving games. However, Heather Alexandra has a slightly different idea.

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