Ubisoft Raising the Bar with Unusual Difficultly Slider

The more I read about the changes Ubisoft has been making to South Park: The Fractured But Whole, the more I'm okay with them having pushed back the release date. At this point the game should have been in our hands in the first quarter of 2016. But given Ubisoft's tendency to push games out for cash grabs, this is a nice change of pace for the developer. So we've been patiently waiting for the game to come to life. Small video clips trickled out from time to time. It was at PAX West last year with another video, and everything looked great on screen.

In the recent months, Ubisoft has been steadily putting out more information about the game. The latest announcement yesterday is one of the most interesting, and very South Park-like, features we've ever seen.

Like most games on today's market, there is a difficultly slider. You can play the game on easy or hard mode, and variations in-between. But here's the kicker: the difficultly level changes your character's skin tone. Eurogamer was given an early copy of the game to review and show off the character customization. You've got the standard stuff. Facial hair. Make-up. But watch the video around the 5:40 mark. When you get to the difficulty screen you'll notice that the easy settings will turn your character Caucasian. As you move up on the scale, your skin will change to darker shades, eventually to Black/African American. During the process, Eric Cartman will explain the sliding scale of difficultly: "Don't worry, this doesn't affect combat. Just every other aspect of your whole life."

The difficulty level will also affect how a character receives money and how other PC's talk to him/her. 

Bold.

Later on when you select your gender, you'll go into a counseling session with Mr. Mackey. If you pick a non-male character (female, cisgender, or transgender), it'll update your Stick of Truth backstory and make your new character canon. The tone and approach of this is just as intriguing as the difficulty slider. I know this isn't the first game to introduce multi-gender characters, but from a big-box studio like Ubisoft, this is an amazing step forward.

So yes. The internet is flipping out about this newest feature. And most of the reactions have been positive. There will be the few naysayers who want to be a white character on the hardest setting, but the social commentary is appropriate for this game. It's part of the South Park ideology to tackle these type of issues head on and not give a flying flip about the response. It's also very much in line with the superhero/comic book saga, which The Fractured But Whole is focusing on. POC superheroes are few, and usually badly stereotyped. Being a POC hero in South Park could mirror the journey of a POC hero in a comic book - a difficult trek to reach the top, or even just to be noticed!

I'm anxious to see what else this game has in store for us. This feels like a game that I will be streaming a lot of, and holding discussions on.

Weekly Link Round Up

We're throwing it down early this week. Man...it's been a long one, hasn't it? Not Monday though. That flew by fast. But the past 2 days have dragged on. Let's lighten up the place with a round up: a collection of the best, worst, and silliest video game articles on the internet.

- The Guardian has created a list of the 27 Funniest Video Games of All Time. Unfortunately most of the games on this list were made in the last 10 years. There are a few exceptions such as Worms, but even Grand Theft Auto makes an appearance for reasons I can't comprehend. What about Curse of Monkey Island? That's a great game and it's funny! Some of the games listed are fine, but the writer needs to play more pre-1996 content.

- Jason Schreier of Kotaku notoriety has a new book out: 'Blood, Sweat, and Pixels.' A collection of stories on how some of today's biggest named games were released to the public - and how some E3 darlings faded into oblivion. I'm waiting on the publisher to send me a copy, but you can get a quick glimpse through this interview with GQ Magazine. In it, Schreier talks not only about his book but the issue of "crunch time."

- Jordan Vogt-Roberts, the director for the 'Metal Gear Solid' movie that may get off the ground (eventually), chatted with GameSpot on what Hollywood is overlooking with video games. Some of it, he sights, is the lack of investment in the product. He uses superhero movies as an example. There was a big gap of time after the original 'Superman' movies where heroes in capes and tights did not grace the screen. Comic book fans turned directors/producers helped create the current wave. Video games need that same level of dedication before we hit on a movie that people love. See 'Ace Attorney' as an example.

- GamerPros thinks that mainstream games are too easy. Um...have you changed the difficulty setting to Hard or Insanity? Give that a shot and you'll change your mind. Next article!

- WhatCulture! Good to have you back! The site that ranks EVERYTHING has a list the 9 Best Nintendo Spin-offs. Unfortunately Dr. Mario is only at number 8. There are also a lot of Pokémon games mentioned. Nothing wrong with the franchise, but I think it's not giving Mario enough credit. Super Mario RPG could be classified as one, Paper Mario and Mario Tennis have been widely received by fans and newcomers. So this list has to be rigged. We need to see the ballot box on this one.

- Finally, apparently there's talks of an 'Animal Farm' video game, with approval from the writer, George Orwell, estate. It's bad enough that there's a 'Lord of the Flies' remake potentially being floated around. But an 'Animal Farm' game? Do we really need this? Or maybe we do given today's volatile social and political climate. I don't know. I'll stick with 'Babe' for my fill on talking animals.

School-Based Games Do Exist - That's Not The Issue

The Guardian decided to tackle a very important question, that no one has asked: why don't more video games take place in a school setting?

As far as Triple A titles and big-time developers, the only one that comes to mind immediately is Bully from Rockstar. That doesn't mean other games ignore schooling entirely. Persona 5, White Day: A Labyrinth Named School, even Star Trek: Starfleet Academy could be designated as a school simulator of sorts. And let's not forget the myriad of dating simulators that frequent the digital campuses of high schools and colleges.

So what's with this weird question that The Guardian asked that no one really has asked before? According to the writer, Keith Stuart, "[c]hildren have a need to place their lives in context, and to experience and experiment with the boundaries put in front of them[.]" And that's very true. Part of developing as a functioning adult is to understand and explore the world around us. Video games give us the opportunity to do this with fictional landscapes, but help improve our spatial awareness and problem solving skills. And in many ways it could be a great tool for building one's mental self: confidence, trust, responsibility, etc.

But would a game set in a school help promote this, or inhibit it?

The difference between a 30 minute after-school show ('Saved by the Bell') and a 30 hour game...well I just spelled it out for you. It's the time! I couldn't imagine going to school for 7-10 hours a day (depending on your activities, yes it can be a 10 hour day), coming home, having to handle another 5-7 hours of homework, and try to find time to relax by playing a video game that takes place in a school. Not with how intense today's schools are in the U.S. There's an increased pressure now then ever to get the best grades and fight for the slim pickings of scholarships that are available. School is stressful. It was bad enough when I went - and I was going through middle school and high school at the turning point of education: Columbine and 9/11. And no, that's not meant to be taken lightly. I remember what school was like before those events, and I remember how drastically it changed after. Today's academics are so much more intense and scrutinized that kids are under an immense amount of pressure to always be at their best.

So no. If I were a kid today I would certainly not play a video game that took place in a school. I'd be stressed out by school enough daily that I wouldn't want it to enter my gaming hobby as well. Somehow I get the feeling a number of kids, and adults, would agree with me.

And again, it's not like games are avoiding the subject entirely. There are plenty of games with a school setting if you're willing to think outside of the big developers like EA and Activision. There are choices.

What The Guardian article misses is that kids don't want to spend another 20-50 hours playing a game inside a school setting when 40-80 hours a week are already devoted to schooling. It'd be the same as a working adult going home to play a job simulator that replicates their day-to-day activities. It's not inspiring. It's much more beneficial to kids and adults to play games that help stoke the fires of imagination. We gain more out of these crazy fantasy settings then by restricting ourselves to school/job simulations.

Stephen King's Advice on the Perfect Desk

This cartoon by Zen Pencils is based on an excerpt from Stephen King's memoir/writer's guide, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

Stephen King the desk

What do you think of the perfect desk?

"My name is Timothy McGill, and I'm a time travel addict..." Time Junkie, only 99-cents for a limited time!

Game Writers Award Announced for Nebula

Video game writers! This year it's your year. After decades of hard work and dedication, the Nebula Awards is finally letting games have a place in their lexicon.

The Nebula Awards is one of the highest honors for science fiction and fantasy writers. Starting in 1966 through the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), nominations and winners are selected by those who belong to the guild. While initially a main-stain for written, published works, in the mid-70's it included film and television. It's surprising that it took this long for video games to be included, given how prevalent sci-fi and fantasy are in the gaming landscape. And of those who have accepted video games so openly, it's been the sci-fi/fantasy fans.

SFWA president Cat Rambo stated that the organization began accepting video game writers as members this year, and started a new category for Best Game Writing for the 2018 awards. Any game released in 2017 will be eligible.

But it's been a long process. Rambo stated that they've attempted three times prior over the past few years to get a gaming category into the Nebula Awards, but conflicts arose. Details were not provided, but it may have to do with conflicts of interest with the Writers Guild of America, which game writers can be a member of but their works may not be eligible for awards with published book groups. It's hard to say the reasons why, but that's the first one that comes to mind.

Best of luck to our gaming heroes next year with the awards!

"Handbook For Mortals" Shows the Trad Publishing Industry is Corrupt, Too

One of the persistent drumbeats that traditional publishers and authors like to sneer is that only getting published makes you a "real" author. Self-published books are crap, they say. Indie authors are bad writers who attempt to manipulate the system with shoddy work and lousy covers, taking away space from the long-suffering "real" authors. After all, they say, if they were any good, authors would be published through a traditional publishing house, which ensures that only quality material reaches the shelves and success. If only that were true, then books like Fifty Shades of Grey wouldn't be out there. Or the most recent example, Handbook for Mortals.


As a self-published author, I've been following the story of Handbook for Mortals by Lani Sarem with great interest, but have a different take than others have. If you haven't heard about it, you can read the full story in all its shocking detail at Punjaba, but the short version is that a new novel called Handbook for Mortals shot to the top of the New York Times Bestseller List in its first week. When people on Twitter started looking into it, they discovered several bookstores were called to place bulk orders, and great effort was made to make sure the bookstores reported to the NYT List. In other words, someone (at this point, clearly the publisher) just bought thousands of books to try to make the list. There's apparently also an attempt to post fake reviews on Goodreads and an alleged movie deal on IMDB with the author starring in the first film (yes, Lani Sarem, the author). Even the cover seems to be a rip-off of artwork by an Australian author named Gill del Mace who was not happy to see it.

Seriously, read the article. It's crazy, and it's a complete crapstorm that is still ongoing as I type this. It seems like the only reason this book exists in the first place is the author originally wrote it as a screenplay and is trying to get a movie made on the condition that it's based off a "best-selling" novel. Wait'll you get to the part about the connection to Blues Traveler.

This isn't the first time it's happened and it won't be the last, but I'm always reminded of the sanctimonious tone traditional authors like to have when looking down their noses at self-published authors. Yeah, some indie books are crap and some self-published authors do some pretty rotten things to try to be a success. But traditional publishers aren't exactly paragons of virtue, either.

Oh, and in case you're wondering if the book itself is actually any good, it's not. Here's an excerpt courtesy of HuffPo where the main character Zade describes herself, that classic narrative device everyone hates:

I’m slender, but I do not believe most would say skinny. Not ‘hot-girl skinny,’ at least. I have long legs that are toned but I think my thighs are too large and I do not have a thigh gap. My arms are kind of flabby and while I do have an hourglass figure I have always felt my butt is a little too big and my face is a bit too round.

There's also a bit about "the chunky pieces on the lower half of my long hair, which I had dyed to be a multitude of fun colors" which (by a shocking coincidence) perfectly describes the author herself. If you still think people are piling on, check out the sample and reviews (legitimate reviews) on Amazon.

Yeah, this just keeps getting better and better. Keep bringing such quality material to bookstores everywhere.

Related: 6 Reasons Why Indie Authors Are NOT Destroying Literature

UPDATE: Just wanted to add, whenever this sort of thing happens, I wonder what would have happened if a group of dedicated sleuths on Twitter hadn't decided to investigate. How many times have authors gotten away with all of this and went on to success?


"My name is Timothy McGill, and I'm a time travel addict..." Time Junkie, now available in paperback and ebook formats!

How Important are Female Protagonists in Video Games?

Quantic Foundry, a consulting practices that focuses on analyzing games and gamers, created a survey to find out the not-so-direct answer.

Over the past few years, there has been a significant push-back from gamers to create more dynamic protagonists that are beyond the "single white male" trope that we've become accustomed to. We now have an annual review of E3 presentations, and their lack of inclusion of multiple character types in their "hero" wheel. The demographic for gamers has always been diverse. The average age for a gamer is around 35, not 18. But it's also been stuck with the notion that only young-adults, white men make up the majority of the audience. As such, games tend to skew their content to that demographic.

With more diverse individuals getting into gaming, how important is the protagonist when it comes to shaping the experience of the content? Do gamers respond differently to who is the hero based on their gender?

Quantic Foundry used survey data from 1,266 gamers ranging from casual to hardcore, and found that most men still don't care about female leading ladies. Across the board for women, casual, core, and hardcore all found that a female protagonist is extremely important. And as a hardcore female gamer, I agree. It's difficult to project ones-self into the world of the game when your only option is male. It also becomes a challenge to feel involved in the environment and the game discussions when your gender is not represented to some degree. Much like race or religion, when you see it absent or grossly misinterpreted in a game, you feel less compelled to be active in the narrative.

It also makes the story kind of dull when it's the same ol "hero" over and over again. The white middle-aged, single man with a scruff beard of 5 o'clock shadow, has been done. We've seen it so many times we don't find that story unique in any way. Because it's been done!

The games that have stood out this year have been because of their leading heroes and anti-heroes. Nier: Automata, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Gravity Rush 2, Little Nightmares are some of the leading games of 2017, for a banner year of stellar content. And none feature a white straight middle-aged male protagonist. They are women, people of color, and non-gendered creatures. This isn't to say that the stories in these games are more interesting due to gender and skin-tone. Rather, it opens up a wealth of opportunities to tell NEW stories.

Sadly, the survey also shows that the men who participated, in large, don't think that a female protagonist option is important at all. Casual gamers rank it at a 38% on the non-importance, which is the highest for that category. Hardcore gamers rank it at 32%, which ties with the "somewhat important" category - which is an interesting twist that I wasn't expecting. Core gamers also rank "somewhat important" as their highest at 28%. While the survey doesn't state race, I wonder if that plays a role in how some of these stats work out. I was expecting to see more hardcore male gamers rank "female protagonist options" in the not important at all. Instead it's an even split between not important and somewhat important.

Without the extra data, it's all speculation. But it'd be interesting to dive into and see if there's correlation between POC males and inclusion of more female characters in games.

I'm still arguing that we need more diversity in video games. Not as a woman, but as someone who gives a crap about the future of games. It's getting dull seeing the same stories told again and again. Let's add something new to the mix!