Friday, September 12, 2008

EPISODE TWELVE: "Sir Mix-A-Lot Would Approve"

See? Technically, it's a whole day LESS than a month since the last update :)

This one is, chiefly, about "Fat Princess"... or, rather, my likely-to-be-in-vain hope that the inevitable (mutually) embarassing dust-up between Gamers and Feminists over "Fat Princess."



Since "Fat Princess" is still yet to be released even for full reviews, this is probably the EARLIEST I've ever been to the party in terms of current-affairs commentary in game journalism. As you'll see in the video, there's a good reason for that: The earlier you hit a subject, the less usable visual material there is to work with.

As such, I'm not even going to pretend that this is one of the more visually-compelling episodes by any means; though I would perhaps beg a small amount of credit for doing ten minutes of commentary largely about anger amongst womenfolk and not doing a single Sarah Palin joke (saving for later, don't worry.)

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice post, as always. I hadn't heard of Fat Princess until now. You're right in that it does look like a fun game, but it'll be interesting to see if there is any fallout. Maybe instead they should have centred the game around finding and smacking the new Bionic Commando and called it "Dreadlocked Douchebag".

AnIslandOfPooInAnOceanOfPiss said...

It seems like the Fat Princess people could've avoided all this if they just slapped a pony tail on a few of the play sprites.

Twilight said...

The fact that people are making a big deal about this shows that people take things WAY too seriously -_-.

Also: Super Mario RPG came out on virtual console!? I need to get some Wii points and buy that.

Unknown said...

Yeah, we as gamers (I do not identify myself with the morons that crossed this line, though we both happen to be 'gamers') have already shot ourselves in the foot. Anyone remember the double-fallout of this game's mere announcement?

(warning: the following link has about 3,000 comments, and locks up my P4 every time)
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/07/fat-princess-update.html

Feminists freaked out, and gamers went nuclear. Name calling, e-threats, comments on intelligence/lack thereof, and while the girls were a bit extreme on not accepting logical arguments, gamers didnt deserve for them to. I'm surprised the "shakers" (from the above link) were not mentioned in this episode.

TheChippa said...

Dino Riders image @ 0:51!!!!!!

You made me want to break out the old box of those in the basement!

Anyway, I'll save you the little brother geeking out over bad-ass childhood toys, great video once again Bob!

Anonymous said...

You know, last time you did a Gameoverthinker, you and I didn't see eye to eye. I know you don't care, but still, I thought it was interesting that you and I had such different opinions.

This time? I'm just smiling to much to care. You made a great point, and there is no way to deny that there is clearly some unintenionable sterotyping going on, but honestly, your right, gamers need to chill and not go Nuklear when the unavoidable Feminist bullshit shows up.

Great work, also, I'm with you about SMRPG. One of the best Rpgs of all time next to Chrono trigger?

Fuck yeah!

Unknown said...

As everyone else, i haven't played this game, but maybe they can have a game mechanic (just to avoid "rushing") that would make the princess way to fragile to carry over to your castle, so she would actually have to be at least properly fed to be able to move around. (forgive me for any grammar mistakes, English is my second language)

Blake said...

Well done piece!

A very interesting issue. I certainly hope that gamers don't take this to the degree of RE5 and can be a little more mature about the issue, no matter which side they are on.

And I agree with Jacob... couldn't they have made some of the capturers girls? Wouldn't that have made it more OK (for whatever reason)?

Unknown said...

Great video yet again. I do think both sides are blowing things out of proportion. But focusing on minor issues and details seems to be human-nature.

I would laugh my ass off however if in the final game you can either have a princes or a prince to capture/feed. That would pretty much make the entire debate null and void.

garion333 said...

You are essentially arguing that the gaming community act more mature. While I agree, I don't really know if telling people that will change anything. *sigh*

You used Katamari as an adjective. That's awesome.

counterpoint said...

great video, as usual. You make a good point... My question is, *why* did the developers choose to do it this way? Are they seeking controversy to boost sales, or are they just sort of ignorant. Maybe it would have been smarter to have made it "Fat Donkey" or something like that. One of my professors is married to one of the designers... I should probably ask her...

MovieBob said...

I think they just figured it was clever and funny - which happens to be correct. It's just ALSO, y'know... everything else ;)

Seolyk said...

I think people are going to make big deals out of anything they can get their hands on (I mean look at the anti-spore guy). People on the defending side are always going to overreact and people on the outside who don't understand either are gonna see both as idiots (although most likely get behind the one they understand more). I agree with you though, it does have objectification in there, but it does look fun :D.

I need to get some wii points very soon though... Super MArio RPG was too good and i sold my SNES to my neice X_X

William Miles said...

Oi that wasn't as good as usual gameoverthinker. You completely avoided the whole Dadaism aspect of it. The southpark, Ricky Gervais, Sarah Silverman, Family guy and Borat ultra biggotry comedy side of things that plays upon our insecurities, makes us laugh and generally entertains and educates everyone. Surely this is a really important issue. Since sometimes these shows arguably serve the prejudiced still and make their views more extreme, there's a
surely a debate up about wether they are really a force of good.

I mean, i'm all up for free speech and some nice real ambiguity that let's us genuinely explore the ideas ourselves- instead of having the shows maker's opinion forced down our throat like unquestioning modern idiots that would reside comfortably in a dictatorship- but there's something iffy about this comedy more than their capability to just make us more conscious of our insecurities. I mean, the natural assumptions humans make when faced with ambiguous have cropped up to be prejudiced and wrong without education over the years, so these things are kind of messy. And leave the bigots... still biggots.

So the ambiguity isn't neccassarily educational, and it may only sharpen the views of extremists who don't get the irony... If people start really understanding prejudice and the complex truth, instead of just lusting to be on the good side of political correctness, (our insecurities about this being what make it funny) then it will all be worth it.

I'm not sure where minstrel shows fall in all of this, since they were kind of doing the same thing, but to a crowd of racists. Did they actually help challenge people's beliefs and the way the world was back then? Do we just think they are evil now, when in fact they just exemplify what it was like back then? Lol I whish you'd disgussed all this. It would have been much better. Does the fat princess not make you laugh for these reasons or what? And were the developers trying to do this extreme biggotry humour (specifically around manga ideals), but it was too subtle and strange for us to catch on, yet still achieving it's original purpose? So many questions. Answer me! Let us broach this scary new subject!

W.M.D. said...

Let's switch it around.

Buff Prince is the same game, but you make your Prince eat steroids or make him work out to get comically sized muscles [being super-buff] thus making him heavier.

I bet no one would say a fucking thing.

Unknown said...

i gotta say as a female, this doesn't really offend me. the whole aspect of a historical "princess" is to basically do nothing and be fought over, i dont really consider it to have any modern context. as for the weight, you don't want the fat chick because she's unattractive, its because she's heavy, and its a matter of gameplay. and... yeah its funny, and im not a size 2 either. now some rated r games i could bitch about

but i will say that my passive reaction to many things feminists bitch about may not always be brcause they're not serious issues (though a lot are not) but because im just used to general media portrayal of women. maybe that's not a good thing.

Anonymous said...

You left out the fact that base cruelty is also funny.


This is ALSO funny because, unintentionally or not, it's mean.

Pickster said...

I know this is an old video. I also want to dodge the feminist bit (for now).

Even though this is an old game I have not played it. But I do like the look and the style of it.

It reminds me of older games where things such as feminism, racism, sexism.. or any other ism was as an issue.... or even copyright for that matter.

I grew up with the Atari 2600 and an Acorn BBC Master. A (mostly) care free time of game making and while there was some truly awful stuff kicking about then, there were certainly some titles that would not have been green lit with todays social worries bearing down on them.