Virtual Love: Video Game Romance

ADD A LITTLE ROMANCE TO YOUR (VIDEO GAME) LIFE
By Sandi Moser

Growing up, I was one of the first kids in the neighbourhood to get an Atari, and would spend hours pretending I was piloting the Millennium Falcon through an asteroid field. 

 As a teenager, I came to accept that my hand-eye coordination completely sucks. I don’t attribute this to being a girl; my strengths just lie elsewhere. Unlike our editor Jordan, I am not good at first-person shooter games, racing games, or any game that requires a character to walk in a straight line. I once had someone complete a task in a game for me because I could not, for the life of me, cross a bridge without falling off. 

About ten years ago, I was in one of those now non-existent stores where you could actually rent video games. I picked up a game that would change my gaming experience forever – Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR). That was before I had kids, when it was perfectly acceptable to sit in front of the TV for an entire rainy weekend playing video games- which I did.

Because of my inability to accurately shoot, storytelling is extremely important to my satisfaction with a game. There were two things that sucked me in to KOTOR: I could choose to play as either a girl or a boy, and there was a decent storyline. That’s not to say that there weren’t other games with these options at the time, but it was my first, and you always remember your first. 

What sealed the deal in my enjoyment of KOTOR was the integration of a romance option. While it’s not the main component of a story, I’ve discovered that romance options provide increased depth to both the story and the character. I feel more like I’m participating, and not just watching a story unfold. Ever since, if a romance option is not available, such as in the Elder Scrolls series, I feel slightly unsatisfied upon finishing the game.

All of my favourite romance storylines come from games developed by the same company that brought us KOTOR: Bioware. I always find that Bioware puts an emphasis on good storytelling, but what I’m most impressed with is the increased variety of romance options.  In KOTOR, players had one choice of a specific character of the opposite sex to romance. In Jade Empire, they added a same-sex romance option for both male and female characters. I’m currently in the middle of Mass Effect 2, with a number of romance options with various sexes and alien races, ranging from serious relationships to one-night stands. With all the choices available, Bioware opens their games up for everyone’s enjoyment, regardless of personality preferences and sexual orientation. 

Life is too hectic for me to play games very often, but I’m always looking for new games with a rich storyline. Feel free to make recommendations in the comments below.

By the way, I still have that Atari… Maybe I’ll put the virtual romance aside tonight for a bit of Frogger.

Sandi is a 30-something environmental engineer and mother of two from the metropolis of Stittsville, Ontario. Writing for Capital Geek Girls is a new adventure for her, with previous writing experience limited to technical documents, briefing notes and Facebook updates. In her spare time, Sandi enjoys playing board games and video games, reading books, watching movies, and crocheting. She looks forward to sharing her geeky endeavours with you, as well as reporting on the next generation’s response to those endeavours. 

The Rebirth of a Female Gamer

by Jordan Danger

THE REBIRTH OF A FEMALE GAMER

GROWING UP WITH, AND OUT OF, VIDEOGAMES

When I was seven years old or so, I bought a Nintendo. My brother and I saved up our allowances and before we knew it, we had Super Mario (the first one) and Duck Hunt (fun purely because of its ridiculousness). We played those two games for hours and hours; later, we got a Sega Genesis and I played my favourite game, VectorMan, until I knew every secret on every level. I could beat any boy on Mortal Kombat with my eyes closed. I mean, literally.

Then my brother got RPG’s, and I didn’t understand them. Before I knew it, I was pretty much banned from touching the game systems in the house. My brother and his friends would play, and on the odd occasion that my demands actually got me control of a controller, I had no idea what to do. The boys’ frustrations with my repeated deaths made me quietly hand the whole thing over and never look back.

Until now.

GETTING MY FEET WET

I started to try out a bit of Xbox back around New Years. Injustice reminded me of Mortal Kombat, so I had no problem playing that one. Eventually I tried Halo and found it way too scary, but I liked the shooting aspect. Someone handed me Call of Duty: World at War, and I never ever looked back.

The Xbox has since left my house with my former housemate, but last month I treated myself and got a PlayStation 3. I like the controller much better, and my bestie, MJ Baker (contributor to this site) has one, so we could play against each other. Of course, I bought a copy of World at War immediately. And if you ever want a good laugh, come sit on the couch while I play a game: the creative mishmashed curse words I invent would make a nun faint.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED

I’ve learned, so far, that I am not a natural at shooting games; I’m probably not a natural at any of them. But I was spurred on to give it a good try when Capital Geek Girls had our blogazine launch party in January: we had a dozen game systems set up around the party but so many women seemed to hesitate, hanging about ten feet back from the actual reach of the game consoles. When did playing videogames scare girls in the same way I remember being afraid of math class? This shouldn’t be so frightening. It’s not for grades nor praise, it’s purely for fun, right?

Yet I’ve learned that there are boys on the games who, when they discover that you’re a woman, will pick on you or swear at you or tell you to go away. I’ve learned that it’s hard to get advice from gamers—I suspect because of my gender, and I suspect because there seems to be this cultural expectation that you should have to meddle through without guidance. I’ve also learned that there are jerkface hackers who will do things like put bugs in games that screw with your rank, and sometimes these things cannot be undone. (Thus, if you see me on World at War, you’ll notice I’m at level 65. I assure you, I was not at level 65 before, and because it’s a bug, I only have the rank but none of the accompanying weapons. Be gentle when you see me.)

VIDEOGAMES: AS MASCULINE AS UNDERPANTS?

I’ll admit that for me, videogames had become a ‘boy thing’ since about the time I hit puberty. And I admit, I was pretty intimidated by the idea of buying my own system. I remember one time in my teens, I bought a pair of men’s boxers just to see if I found them less annoying than girl underwear, and I remember how red-faced I was at the cash, convinced the clerk would know that I was buying them for myself. I remember feeling like I was doing something very unacceptable. That same feeling came over me when I went to buy my PS3. How messed up is that?!

SUPPORT FOR MY NEW HABIT

Me with my PS3!

Luckily, I’ve got the most awesome geeks around me. My roommate Bruce is an uber geek, and he helped me understand what I needed to buy. My bestie MJ came with me to make sure I didn’t feel overwhelmed by all the options. My other awesome geek friend Bradley tagged along, kept me excited, and even bought me a Batman game to add to my collection. I love it almost as much as Call of Duty—of which I now own two: World at War and Black Ops II.

It’s funny to think, after founding the Capital Geek Girls and fighting for gender equality in geekdom, that I still had something I considered ‘taboo’. I’m so glad we had that videogame launch party at Futureshop, so I could realize my own internalized sexism. Because if I hadn’t realized what was keeping me away from videogames, I would never have discovered my deep and heartfelt love of shooting things and tossing batarangs.

Join me in the world of gaming, girls. It’s fun. And you can find me on PS3’s network as Kitsune_Coyote !

Jordan Danger is a veteran blogger, writer, and marketing consultant based in Ottawa, Ontario. She is also President and Editor of CapitalGeekGirls.com. Jordan blogs at GirlCrafted.com, a lifestyle blog about crafting life both literally and figuratively. She loves DIY projects, her dog, and Oxford commas.

E3 News Roundup

BEST OF E3

By Marla Desat

The annual video game extravaganza that is E3 has come and gone. Let's get right to my favourite announcements and reveals!

LARA CROFT RETURNS

Lara Croft is back in Rise of the Tomb Raider, doing what anyone would after downright traumatic events of Tomb Raider - speaking to a therapist. It so rare to see a positive portrayal of therapy in a trailer for a video game, and I like that the developers are giving Croft more of a personality by acknowledging the effect of her experiences and exploring how she deals with trauma. 

NINTENDO IS MAKING A SQUID-BASED, FAMILY-FRIENDLY THIRD PERSON SHOOTER

Photo Credit: Nintendo

Splatoon!  is a shooter where two teams of four compete to cover the level in their own colour of ink. Oh, and the players can turn into squids that can swim through the ink. I can't get enough of this ridiculous, cartoony shooter for the Wii U.  

MAGICKA 2 ANNOUNCED WITH LIVE-ACTION TRAILER

Photo Credit: Paradox Interactive

Magicka is one of my favourite co-op games of all time. Up to four people can play together, learning keyboard combinations to cast an increasing arsenal of spells and frantically hoping to avoid friendly fire from the other wizards. The announcement trailer made me laugh out loud, and I can't wait to pelt my friends with healing rocks again in Magicka 2. 

CLASSIC ADVENTURE GAME GRIM FANDANGO TO BE REMASTERED

Grim Fandango is one of those computer games that give me a huge spike of nostalgia. The adventure game is a humorous noir inspired by Aztec mythology and set in the Land of the Dead.Grim Fandango Remastered is going to get a new life, so to speak, on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, and may come to other platforms. 

JOURNEY ART DIRECTOR ANNOUNCED NEW UNDERSEA GAME

Photo Credit: Giant Squid Studios

Abzû is an gorgeous underwater exploration game for PlayStation 4 from Matt Nava, the art director for the beautiful adventure game Journey that won several Game of the Year awards in 2012. Abzû is the first game from Nava's new studio, Giant Squid. Austin Wintory, who was nominated for a Grammy Award for Journey's soundtrack, will compose the soundtrack for Abzû. 

BIOWARE TEASES NEW MASS EFFECT IN DEVELOPMENT

The teaser trailer for a fourth entry in the Mass Effect series of games from BioWare isn't much more than a tease. We see a destroyed world, and hear the roar of Krogan, but at this point in development, EA is staying tight-lipped. All we know right now is that the next Mass Effect will happen in a new region of space, with new planets and new characters.

Marla Desat is a recent University of Waterloo grad living and working in Ottawa. When she isn't playing the latest video games, she's geeking out over comic books, board games, tabletop roleplaying games and science. Marla also writes for The Escapist as a freelance news writer. You can follow her on Twitter @mrdesat. 

PAX East 2014: Great finds from the Indie MEGABOOTH

PAX EAST 2014 – FIVE INDIE MEGABOOTH GAMES THAT CHARMED ME

by Marla Desat

The Indie MEGABOOTH is my favourite place at PAX East. The MEGABOOTH is a collection of independent game developers packed into a unified presence on the show floor. Sixteen developers pooled their resources to create the first MEGABOOTH at PAX East 2012, and it has been growing steadily since. Now with over 90 indie studio members, the MEGABOOTH is a dazzling display of indie talent. Here's five games that really caught my eye this year! 

EXTRASOLAR BY LAZY 8 STUDIO

Extrasolar puts you in control of a rover on a mysterious alien planet. The free, browser-based game lets you take photographs of the alien landscape, rooted in scientific plausibility and brought to life in the beautiful still images your rover captures. By analyzing the photographs, you begin to uncover more about the planet, and about the secretive corporation funding the mission. Extrasolar combines email and its browser-based gameplay to unfold its story slowly over many play sessions. 

ACTUAL SUNLIGHT BY WILL O'NEILL

Most booths have something bright and flashy to draw you in – a bright banner, a poster showing off the stoic main character, a gigantic plushie hamster – but the Actual Sunlight booth had only text. It was fitting advertisement for a linear, interactive story that tackles mature themes, including suicide. Thought provoking and exhausting, Actual Sunlight isn't fun, but it is a powerful experience. Actual Sunlight is currently available for PC for $5.00. 

DUET BY KUMOBIUS

This ethereal and hypnotic puzzle game filled me with that joyful frustration that all great puzzle games supply. In Duet, you avoid falling obstacles by spinning a pair of small spheres locked in a circular orbit, carried forward by the music of Tim Shiel, composer and instrumentalist in Gotye's live band. Duet is currently available for iPhone and iPad for $2.99. 

GODS WILL BE WATCHING BY DECONSTUCTEAM

Despair and desperation is the core of Gods Will Be Watching, a point-and-click thriller. The game expands on an entry for the Ludum Dare 26 game jam, a bleak survival story developed in less than 72 hours. The original game had you lead Sgt. Burden and his crew as struggle to survive until rescue arrives on unforgiving planet. The full game, which follows Sgt. Burden through six harrowing chapters, is planned for June 2014. You can pre-order the full game for PC for $8.99, or play the original browser-based game jam entry fee for free.  

DARKEST DUNGEON BY RED HOOK STUDIOS

Darkest Dungeon is a side scrolling RPG that combines my love for games like XCOM and Final Fantasy Tactics with an affliction system that requires you to manage both hit points and mental stress, lest your heroes be driven mad. The tactical depth of managing my heroes' stress, health, marching order, equipment and class abilities had me grinning all the way through the demo. The full release is planned for January 2015, and you can pre-order the game for PC, Mac, or Linux for $15.00. 

Marla Desat is a recent University of Waterloo grad living and working in Ottawa. When she isn't playing the latest video games, she's geeking out over comic books, board games, tabletop roleplaying games and science. Marla also writes for The Escapist as a freelance news writer. You can follow her on Twitter @mrdesat. 

4 Japanese RPG's for New Players

FOUR JRPG'S FOR NOOBS

If you're looking for a list of short,  shoot-em-ups, and square-jawed, rugged protagonists you've come to the wrong place.

Japanese Roll Playing Game's are known for their playtime (usually forty hours or more), turn based combat, and for being full of beautifully coiffed teenagers in complicated outfits with equally complicated back stories. These are games that get you invested.

So what games should a little nooblet start with? The pond of the JRPG is vast and deep, and it can be hard to decide where to get your toes wet.

Do you want to go more Anime?
Do you prefer games that are a bit on the dark side?
Do you like adorable sidekicks?

In no particular order, here's four games to help you (or your confused friends) learn the ins and outs of
JRPG's

FINAL FANTASY IX

Turn based game play breaks up an epic drama set against a beautifully realized steam punk-style fantasy backdrop. Final Fantasy IX was released in 2000, but the cut scenes still manage to stand the test of time, as well as the per-rendered backgrounds that make everything seem like it's being played out on a stage, even if the real time models have suffered a bit at the hands of 14 years of engine development.  The game spans a whopping 70 hours (or more, if you're playing it right).
The characters are charming versions of old-final fantasy classes, and have a real weight to them as the story progresses. And the game boasts one of the absolute best villains in the series.

Final Fantasy IX was originally released for the Play Station, but can also be purchased on PSN.

TALES OF SYMPHONIA

You follow a group of surprisingly well-armed teenagers (well, mostly) playing middle-man to a crisis of religion that is taking place on a global scale. For a T rated game, Symphonia can feel a little heavy handed.

You spend this entire game not quite knowing who's your ally or not. Tales of Symphonia is one of the few RPG's that I  can excuse for its use of cheesy anime character tropes because the story itself is so amazingly set up to make them matter to you.

The battle system, while not turn based, is actually incredibly well put together. You can easily manage your party during battle, or pass a controller to a friend to help you handle the fray. Instead of random encounters, you can see visual representations of your enemies on the over world map, which you can avoid if your running low on health.

Tales of Symphonia was originally released for Game Cube and PS2, and was re-released as a special edition for PS3.

NI NO KUNI: WRATH OF THE WHITE WITCH 

This game is an outlier for more reasons than it's release year.

Ni No Kuni is the youngest game on this list, released in 2013 by Level 5 studios, with the help of Studio Ghibli.

Thats right. THAT studio Ghibli. The same one that gave us movies like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and My Neighbor Totoro.

The graphics are gorgeous, the story is simple and charming, and the characters are well thought out. It doesn't feel like a forty hour game
.
Ni No Kuni was released in 2013 for the PS3, and was a platform exclusive.

CHRONO TRIGGER

Time travel, world-spanning catastrophes, and spiky haired teenagers are the central figures of what is widely considered one of the best RPGs of all time.

Your choices actually matter at the end of the game (I'm looking at you, Mass Effect Franchise!) and Chrono Trigger offers you a massive amount of re-playability. You play through with different characters, make different choices, get to experience different endings, and the game doesn't make you suffer for it. You keep your experience points and power-ups.

Original SNES copies are few and far between these days, but it was ported to the PS1 and the Nintendo DS, and is also available on Virtual Console.

Honourable Mentions:
Suikoden II
Final Fantasy VI
Illusion of Gaia
Persona 4
Xenogears
Super Mario RPG
Final Fantasy Tactics

So if you're a fan of Anime style storytelling, or just want to try something a bit different from your standard (stubble wearing, gruff voiced,) gaming fare I highly recommend you try any or all of those four games. I still count them among my favourites, even if the JRPG hay-day was almost 20 years ago.

Baz is a chronic doodler and has a habit of subjecting her friends to long rants about feminism, video games, and whether or not Thorin is the hottest Dwarf. She's using Capital Geek Girls to channel some of that energy. You can also find her at facebook.com/bazcave