Well, it has been quite some time since I last made a post here, but dealing with your final school quarter and being perpetually lazy will do that. In any case, this is but a continuation of the saga of the once mighty Entertainment Software Association and those that have abandoned it.

For anyone who hasn't been following these relatively recent matters, the ESA's grip on our lovely industry has been faltering, and while the uninformed tend to laud this turn of events, thanks to HarassmentPanda's Three reasons why gamers should care about the ESA post, the importance of the ESA to the image of the industry as a whole has been made far more readily apparent, casting a pall on the decisions made by the developers who have pulled out from the ESA's membership. The aforementioned developers being the heavy-hitters Activision, Vivendi, and to a lesser extent LucasArts.


Hi, I'm from EA and about to make a reasonable statement. Surprise?

So, following these prominent departures, it only makes sense that EA would follow suit, right? Apparently not, as EA's Vice President, Jeff Brown, has recently come out to criticize Activision and Vivendi for leaving the ESA and also on their withdrawal from E3. Brown feels that their decisions "Reflect an unfortunate lack of leadership," continuing to say how irresponsible it is given their status in the industry:

They're a big company and we feel that when you're a big company you've got a responsibility to consumers to work on policy issues which are very, very important to consumers. And the best way to do that is with an industry consensus. That's the way it's been done with the ESA in the US, and with the ELSPA in the UK.

He then stated the obvious by mentioning that the ESA's system is not perfect and that many developers that are still a part of it voice their disagreements with it. However, unlike the infantile responses made by Activision and co. Brown feels that it is far better than the alternative:

There's always tensions inside these organizations, but for the most part it works. So it was sad to see them step away from that responsibility. We hope that others don't do that, but I think that the onus is on the ESA to prove that membership in it is good for the company and good for consumers. And I think we're going to see the ESA redouble its efforts to prove that.

Wait a moment, did the VP of EA actually express his disagreements with his largest competitor in a reasonable, measured fashion, even conceding some ground to their decision through the use of logic? Where is the bile? The deep-seated revulsion of his enemy? The evil? What has happened to EA?



And it's not just his attitude towards the competition, but he makes a good point in that these events may even prove beneficial to the industry in the long run. With such big name developer/publishers withdrawing their support from the ESA it does seem likely that the ESA would do anything in its power to get them back, and the most effective way to accomplish that would be to increase its power and therefore its relevance to not just the industry but to the economic and political stage. We have all made the point of how much better things were with Lowenstein at the helm, such a champion for our cause; well, perhaps this tale will end with the birth of a new Lowenstein and a new ESA to spread our gospel.

It would certainly make me feel more at ease as someone who is hoping to start working in the industry in the next few months. In any case, Brown and Electronic Arts is committed to the ESA and still feels that this year's E3 will be a successful one:

EA is 100% committed. There's Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, THQ, Disney, a bunch of others - and I assume all the others are still locked into it.

For that matter, Activision Vivendi is going to be doing an event of some description in Los Angeles at the same time, so there's still critical mass. Everyone's going to be in Los Angeles this summer and it's hard to imagine it isn't going to be a successful event.

How strange to hear from someone at EA being optimistic not only for themselves, but for the industry at large, and to be campaigning for responsibility. And with games like Dead Space on the horizon, this most certainly isn't the EA that I used to know, and I'm just fine with that.



All quotes taken from QJ.net

Obviously the hot-button topic at the moment is the depiction of racism in the Resident Evil 5 trailers, and frankly, I'm glad that it is. We should be angry about this. But not about the supposed racism in Resident Evil 5, we need to be angry about the insistent belief that racism is the underlying agenda, intentionally or sub-consciously. After all, how much does it say about us as a people, and I am talking about the human race as a whole here, when in our ostensibly enlightened times we are not only still yet to be rid of racism, but that we should actively hunt it out not to quash its vile influence, but instead use it to promote our own celebrity exposure. Because, let's be honest, I'm not entirely certain just how offended these "racism watchdogs" actually are and whether or not they simply want to appear offended so as to garner some form of sympathetic acknowledgment from their peers. It's a dangerous to line to follow and one I am loathe to skirt.

However, one thing needs to be said, because sometimes those who truly don't consider race a problem in their life can take that sentiment just one step too far and not pay heed to any issues of race whatsoever. Anyone who follows Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report should be well familiar with his character's stance on race, that being that he "doesn't see colour". Now, of course I am well aware that these aren't his actual sentiments and that his character is a parody of many of the more corrupt aspects of our world, but this one is particularly effective in that it exposes a very real problem about our PC society.



Racism exists, but far more important than that, race exists. I am a firm believer in the human spirit and our need to accept people as members of the human race as opposed to being accepted as a member of the black race or the white race or any other colour in the rainbow. However, to simply deny the importance of race is self-defeating. People of different race share different qualities from one another, and as such, people of different race should be treated differently. However, this is no simple matter of segregating one race from another; no, this is a process of acknowledgment and acceptance.

You can't ignore the fact that a person is black or white, and you cannot ignore what this does to affect that particular individual's physical makeup, cultural distinctions, and even their personality traits. You do have to understand that they may be different from yourself and that this simply makes life on this planet just that much more interesting. After all, we're all human so why can't we all just get along?



This does bring up a point about gamers, however. Especially those who delve into robust fantasy or science fiction. In fact, this isn't directed just towards gamers but all people who attempt to escape to other worlds in order to leave behind the ignorance of this one. We expose ourselves to such a diverse array of possibilities through our chosen form of entertainment, from worlds that are composed not only of human beings of all colours but also of sentient species so unlike our own, yet still able to co-exist with humanity (sometimes more violently than we would like but still, its all for the game play), to actually putting ourselves in the shoes of person of diverse descent, giving us a chance to look at matters from a brand new perspective. It is because of these diverse perspectives that we all share that, for the most part, the responses towards the posts regarding N'Gai Croal (and others) were made in measured, respectful, and above all, reasoned form. It truly made myself proud to be a Dtoider, but more than that, a gamer.

We, as gamers, are able to explore race issues without exposing potentially inflammatory contexts and through this we are able to gain further understanding of our human brothers (and sisters) so we can strive to make a difference in our world where it all really counts. And even if we do have the option of traveling to a foreign world to take in a cursory look at race relations, we do have the option of taking it all to a game set in our world, in our time, in a realistic (at least as far as race goes) manner that won't always be politically correct.

Because let's face it, political correctness is one of the greatest conceits of our time, an attempt to sweep everything under the carpet so we don't have to face the grim reality. As most of you pointed out, it simply isn't worth being PC if we have to sacrifice creativity that has the potential to further the discussion (or even if it doesn't further anything. Sometimes we simply want to have fun, all underlying messages aside, and so long as the context does not intentionally attempt to worsen the state of affairs there is nothing wrong with it). After all, we are all human (deep down in some cases) and the greatest testament to humanity and the human spirit is our creativity.So as a message to all of the watchdogs out there, "Please, PLEASE don't try to bring down that which makes us human just because you cannot see beyond your own ill-founded prejudice."

We should all be well aware of how moronic, ill-informed, and just plain awkward the political spectra are when it comes to games, America and England in particular. They can hardly be blamed for this, however; after all, simply following along with the travesties they lead their respective countries into that have no bearing on games whatsoever provides generous insight as to their levels of competence. However, I simply cannot forgive the travesty I bore witness to mere minutes before, on the tail end of the Daily Show.

During tonight's airing, Jon Stewart took us through a hearing that Congress held regarding the virtual world Second Life, and its supposed infiltration by terrorist cells. This isn't news, and the fact that they are so unfeasibly feeble that they would waste time on such a thing rather than tackling important issues for Americans like health care or gun control isn't what took me 'round the bend tonight.

No. I have come to expect these things.

What I wasn't expecting is what happened as they transitioned over to the Colbert Report during the Moment of Zen. The Moment of Zen consisted of one of the Congresswomen present at the hearing as she attempted, wait for it, humour!! Following is the foul ichor that spewed forth from her mouth, as paraphrased by myself:

"Now, I don't know exactly why you have called this, though I have a feeling that you want pointers on getting past level seven in the World of Warcrafts. Well, I'm sorry to tell you that this will only be worth two experience points..."

.....

Seriously?

I mean, f***ing SERIOUSLY?! Goddammit, just kill yourself now please!! I realize that you don't understand gaming and never will, but don't make jokes! Not because the joke itself is insulting towards gaming, but because you suck at making them!

When I heard those words a part of my soul shriveled and died. Bear in mind that reading them is a completely different experience than actually hearing them and watching the painful expression on the face of the speaker.

I know I'm overreacting, but I don't care, because it bit me to the bone, and while I can deal with slings and arrows directed towards my favorite past time, I will NOT stand for the denigration of the most noble art of comedy and wanton use of unsharpened wit!

All joking aside though, I would definitely like to hear any bad, jokey references to games from politicians you have heard that have resulted in a significant loss in brain cells. At the very least, there's plenty of ammunition available to sample, politicians loving to make terrible, terrible jokes so much.

Hello everyone! As this is my first post here I toyed with the idea of conjuring up some attempt at expressing to the community at large how much I have enjoyed lurking in your midst for the past year or so, wiling away precious time that should have been spent being "productive" in some way. I also considered going over my until-recently negative attitude towards the very idea of internet communities and how Destructoid completely revamped those notions and encouraged me to listen to my first podcast and subsequently become hooked on them. Of course, there was always the tried and true fallback of telling everyone a little bit about my experiences of being a gamer and what a positive influence it has been on my life.

But then I thought, screw that! I'm going to introduce myself as the blatant consumer whore that I am by entering into this Turning Point gaming rig contest that I don't rightly need or even want to win outside of being the afore-mentioned whore for all things material. And so, without further adieu, I present to you what is not my Turning Point gaming rig...



I'm actually quite fond of my current setup despite some of its space limitations. This used to be my closet before I demolished it to make way for a place to do some "work" in. Everything is built right into the structure of my room, which kind of sucks, but it works for the moment. At the very least, I designed it to be able to fit not only a nice computer system and tv, but also 3 consoles + a gamecube in its little cubby-hole. Anyways, on to the computer...



This is my current rig, outfitted for gaming. Its important specs are as follows:

- 2.66 GHz Intel Core2Duo Processor
- 2 GB RAM
- nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX
- 2 LiteOn DVD-RW Drives
- Creative SB X-Fi Sound Card
- 500 GB HDD

Its case is freaking massive, and it definitely has an odd front-piece. I've been thinking about switching out the led on the front with a red one so it can be an Eye of Sauron. Being a complete fantasy nerd I affectionately refer to my computer as Gandminstlin which is a combination of Gandalf, Elminster, and Raistlin.

Here is a shot of Gandminstlin with his front gates open...



And here is a shot of his side door...



This is a shot of my desktop space...



Now, as a budding game developer / general programmer I cannot overstate how awesome it is to have dual monitors. It just makes so many tasks that would consist of tedious flipping about of windows a breeze to work through. Multi-tasking kicks ass. Oh yeah, in this pic you can just see Gandminstlin hiding under the desktop in the lower right. Hiding on the opposite side is my...



Sub-woofer! Seriously, the only reason I'm including this shot is because it just looks so damn lonely in that corner and I kind of feel sorry for it because, well, I have no girlfriend and must therefore direct my feelings towards inanimate objects to take away the pain of my own loneliness. I think I've said too much...



I know it's kind of unnecessary to show this seeing as I've already got two other shots showing very much the same thing, only more stuff besides. Thing of it is though, I just love the G15 Gaming keyboard. It is simply the best keyboard I have ever had the pleasure to use and anyone considering a new keyboard who doesn't mind shelling out a bit more than usual should seriously consider this buy. It is pure sex.

Oh yeah, and I was in the middle of setting up a Hackmaster session for tomorrow when I got bored and decided to take these shots, which explains the dice, in case you were wondering.

Well, that is my gaming rig, although I suppose I could show my laptop, even though I don't really use it for gaming. Yeah, might as well, wouldn't him to feel left out either...



Yeah, just a basic Dell Inspiron. It's got pretty good specs, though obviously not as good as my main rig. Still, it can play a lot of new games seeing as it had to be powerful enough to code games on in the first place.

All right then. That obviously wasn't my Turning Point rig, but I'm pretty sure it was my greeting to everyone here at Destructoid. Hope you enjoyed the read; I know I can get really wordy and that won't be stopping anytime soon. At least, I hope not.