padli

This probably won't add much to the debate, but I keep remembering one example where a japanese game company (Square, to be exact) put a perfectly fine black character into a game. Remember Parasite Eve? Daniel "Bo" Jackson? His role was that of a father figure to the blue-eyed, blonde protagonist. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anything racist about this example, which at the very least proves there's not some absolute racist rule that japanese developers would follow without exception.

Also, the "Light vs. Darkness" example is terrible and completely arbitrary. Not to mention that villains are often represented as having pale skin but *dressing* in dark clothing.

Another thing I wanted to address is the racial sterotyping in Warcraft in particular. Yes, the characters are definitely defined by their race and culture in these games, that much is undisputable. But it depends entirely on the player how these characteristics are perceived. If I think the Orcs, obviously being represented in a "racist" manner as the ugly, shamanistic humanoids, are the coolest race in the game, how can you reduce that to negative stereotyping?

The problem isn't that we have ethnic and cultural variety, it's how these are perceived by the individual. And that's the part where all this pointless theorizing applies in real life, the only place it really counts. Video game stereotyping only matters if it alters the perceptions of real life people. I think this can be prevented not by maniacally searching out stereotypes everywhere, but by educating people to the point where these stereotypes don't matter.

"This is a terrific endorsement, and it should really help to raise awareness of Gears of War through its association with relevant, edgy, pop culture.

Oh, wait, I'm sorry, it's not 1986 anymore? Scratch that last paragraph."

Why should it associate anything with anything? A game being promoted on a metal tour will stand out, and people will notice it. All it comes down to is how many people will be attending the concerts, and with the likes of Lamb of God headlining I can see no problem.

And a lot of the bands playing last year's Gigantour did not even *exist* in 1986, so there.

Exo, that depends on how you configure your console/TV set. I have no problems playing games in widescreen on my letterbox TV.

About the differences between the two versions... is anything known about the *visual* quality of the Wii game? Will there be any significant additions, or are they going to be the same?

I'm actually leaning towards buying the GC version, even though I'll be getting a Wii ASAP. I somehow feel that I need one final game to wrap up the GC era.

http://www.whiteninjacomics.com/comics/kindergarten.shtml

I'm 99% sure this refers to the Wii, and that there is great cosmic Truth hidden away in those six panels.

Wait... how does this have anything to do with racism? If he were to say, for exampla, "an asian man with a moustache", would that mean that he's racially stereotyping asians as having moustaches?

He enumerated two things - asian and small - with no indication whatsoever of them being intrinsically related in any way. People are freaking over-sensitive. Chill the hell out.

"Revolution is an awful name."

YES. I can understand perfectly why people don't like Wii (even though I'm pretty much indifferent about it myself), but saying that Nintendo should just market it as Revolution is just stupid. A name like Revolution would be totally meaningless to Nintendo's new non-gamer demographic.

@#18: You totally nailed the funny on that one, I lol'd in the most literal possible way. Kudos.

Anyway, as far as finishing up the "saga" goes, I'd really like to see a straight port (with positively nothing omitted/reduced) of the original 3 arcade MK's on a modern system someplace, somewhere... *cough* Live arcade *cough*