Yup, it's here again, The Steam Winter sale.... Time to stock up on all those games that you ignored during the Summer and Autumn sales.....and the flash sales....and pretty much every other sale. At least complete a few game queues and get the free trading cards so you can finally get a badge on your profile! You can vote on your favorite game in half a dozen different categories and be sure that it will likely go on sale during the event. So go get yours....or not....I don't care... :p Sale goes till January 3rd which means it's OVER January 3rd. Seems Valve has issues with making end dates inclusive...
Some major stuff has been going on in my life lately and that took me away from doing anything game related for the past 2 weeks.
Before that, I was spending a lot of time with Battlefield 1 and of all things Poker Night 2. To see what I've been up to just visit my YouTube Channel ( link is at the top of the left column )
So when I got back into it I started feeling nostalgic. I tried out Fortnite and my opinion of Battle Royale games hasn't changed. Hint: It' wasn't good to start with. Battle Royale glorifies the worst cutthroat, petty stat whoring attributes of multiplayer gaming.
So don't expect too many videos on that kind of stuff. Even if YouTube Gaming is in love with the trend right now.
So like I said, I've gone nostalgic and to that end started playing Battlefield 3 again and surprisingly there's lots of active servers and players out there and it's still fun. Not bad for a 7 year old game.
To that end I've dropped a few vids for your enjoyment. I won't bother with the Fortnite live stream I did last weekend. That was a disaster in every conceivable way...lol
It seems there's no shortage of drama triggers these days.
Gaming isn't immune to this and what starts out as a minor
inconvenience can quickly blossom into a full blown meltdown.
Thing is, most of the ranting and raving is little more than
hollow click-bait. Faux outrage followed
up by faux activism.
So it is with Battlefield 5.
A game that I've spent a few hours with albeit in BETA form.
The initial "outrage" against the game was sparked
by a less than informative trailer whereby the protagonist just so happened to
be female. To some this was too far a
stretch for artistic license. Most of
what we know about World War 2 these days comes from movies like Dunkirk and Saving Private Ryan. Films
that maintain a firm hold on historical accuracy and traditional roles even if
offensive to a modern audience.
Movies that are fictionalized representations of historical
events. Movies that have colored our
expectations of anything regarding that war.
These have created an expectation when viewing anything with a explicit
historical claim. Expectations are
unspoken demands. Run counter to them
and don't be surprised to come out with a few bruises.
Nobody really knows if there were any women in
"official" combat roles in World War 2. As far back as World War 1 there were women
that posed as men to serve in the military.
It seems unlikely, however, given that it's a fairly recent and limited development to have
women in such roles and if so that there were many. That's not to demean or minimize women in
military service it's just simple history.
We often forget that gender roles have only recently become more
fluid. As such it's an untenable
position to portray such fluidity from a society 2 generations past.
But Battlefield 5 is not about history, it's about a video
game in a historical context. As such
there is an expectation that traditional roles of the time should prevail in the
depiction of World War 2.
But it seems that there's a strong desire in these times of
"Fake News" and "Social Justice" to rewrite history
according to whatever agenda is being pushed.
That women served in World War 2 is not in question. What is goes directly to the motivation of an
company like EA.
In a purely fictional entertainment product, gender should
have no relevance. You can be a badass
regardless of what box was ticked on the character's birth certificate ( or
pod, test tube, whatever.)
But in EA's case, it seems they've yielded to a social
justice agenda that seeks to quietly rewrite history for its own ends using
popular media.
This is a problem two-fold.
First, it ignores the societal norms, good or bad of the time
period. As such the very foundation of
gender equality is eroded by denying that a problem existed. Second, it clouds historical fact. Considering that many glean their historical
knowledge from popular media historical accuracy is often sacrificed for
entertainment.
If all you knew about the Vietnam War came from Rambo Movies you would have a very
limited and skewed understanding of the conflict. In the times we live at this moment we are
constantly in danger of fiction being given the same weight of fact and that's
dangerous.
I've long said that video games are the rival if not the
superior medium to motion pictures. Many
of which have become cinema franchises in and of themselves. Not to mention comic book characters from the
likes of Marvel and DC that find their fortunes with them.
But...
Do we accept Captain America as a historical figure?
Of course not. He's nothing more than a larger than life
fictionalized character and propaganda device created in the early days of
World War 2 as a kind of flag waving Superman competitor.
This is the real issue with Battlefield 5. To overtly admit to a social justice agenda
even if it distorts history can have serious repercussions. Given an intellectually lazy consumer with
accompanying short attention span we could conceivably find the next generation
ignorant and disinterested in actual history or anything for that matter that
doesn't fit somebody's populist agenda.
A society based on shiny objects and dull minds.
Hey, it's just a video game, who cares right?
You should whether you're Alt-Right or SJW, to deny REAL
history and push a political agenda to rewrite it via popular media is to deny
the foundations of your own cause.
That's the problem here.
Not conservatism, misogyny or any of the other convenient barbs thrown.
Some things take time, some things take effort and some things... Are just an endless beating of one's head against the wall! But now, it is done and the battles all but won save...this one. I present without further ado Borderlands The Pre-Sequel's EndGame. (Completion of The "Beginning of the End" mission) I've included the credit rolls and the special surprise cutscene at the end. Enjoy!
There Comes a time when you just have to call it quits. A time when you realize that you probably should have hung it up long ago but you just kept going.
So it is with Path of Exile. Recently I completed the game with my most popular ( according to YouTube ) character and got a nasty surprise. A huge penalty for doing nothing but WINNING THE GAME!
I posted a video warning other players and shared it on Steam. Not long after I got a rash of nastiness and character assassination that bordered on the insane.
Imagine getting that dream job that you worked so hard for and on your first day you find that your pay has been cut by 60%.
How would that make yo feel? Cheated, misled, angry?
Life can be that way, that's why we play games. It's not real but at least we can work toward something and feel good about ourselves for doing it. We expect to be able to win eventually. For some it's the only reward a sad existence can offer. That existence is made even sadder when you accept a kind of Stockholm syndrome that abuses some players. So much so that they will defend bad decisions, bad gameplay and punitive design.
The afflicted came out and vocalized their affliction as they have for years. I finally had enough of it and responded with a video made just for them.
If the only voices heard are that of the insane then don't expect the resulting game to be any better.
