Hello again,

I know that I expressed extreme depression, regret, and hatred towards myself for being born an American citizen. That's not a sentiment that's going to go away easy, if ever. It's something that's forever going to plague my being, something I'll always have hanging in the back of my mind like the sword of Damocles. Something I'm always going to feel guilty for.

But one thing that will always bug me, for some weird reason I can only speculate on, is when people pull the nationality card on me, especially when it comes to video games. Like when people say that one nationality of games will always be better than the other, such as when people say that Japanese or European games will always be better than American-developed ones (such as what an EA executive saidabout European developers recently).

Now, I know that in the American games market there's fewer publishers that are willing to take chances with lesser-known game development studios or new, risky game concepts. I know the commercial games market over here is, well, commercial. And I know there's a lot of reasons to be angry at the American games market recently, such as the Spike TV Video Game Awards and all the wrong images about gaming that it promotes.

But to say that American games/game developers will never be as good as their European or Japanese counterparts? Well, a statement like that hurts my feelings. I know I'm not a game developer, but a statement like that I still take quite personally. It's essentially saying that because I'm an American, that I can never rise above my station or amount to anything, or overcome my status as an evil being. That I'd forever be doomed to be another un-creative dullard who can't think of an original idea to save my life. That's what such a statement says to me.

Maybe it's not what you mean, but I still have a tendency to take it in such a way.

Also, in regards to that statement, not all American developers are un-creative dullards who bow to commercial whims and have their developers be boisterous, obnoxious, loud-mouthed rock stars. There are developers worthy of our respect here, such as Warren Spector (Deus Ex), Tim Schafer (Psychonauts), Jonathan Mak (Everyday Shooter), and some others I can't think of off the top of my head right now. American-based studios worthy of our respect? Well, there's Insomniac, Valve, Ninja Bee (Cloning Clyde, Band of Bugs), and Harmonix. And Bioshock really is quite awesome, despite what the Spike TV Video Game Awards say about it.

So in short, game creativity and design talent isn't as black-and-white as what country it comes from. At least, that's how I see it.