Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Live-Action Trailer

He's back...

As if Comic-Con wasn’t exciting enough, Microsoft and 343 Industries released the official trailer for their upcoming digital web series, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.  It.  Is.  Epic.

View the trailer and read my reaction here!

Female Gamers are People, Too.

Yeah, a lot of us react like this.

I don't know if you know this, but female gamers are kind of a big deal.

To be more precise, female gamers are a big deal because they have recently been the center of attention for many large news stories in the video game and popular culture industries. Why? Because they are being sexually bullied and harassed by people who apparently find fulfillment in such mean-spirited actions. Do you remember when you got pushed off the swing in elementary school, and then called names in high school, and then betrayed by your boy/girlfriend in college? The harassment against female gamers is like all of these situations rolled into one, except female gamers tend to never see their bullies face-to-face.

For recent examples of harassment and what we can do about it, read the rest of my article over at Grizzly Bomb.

Xbox 720: Yay or Nay?

Concept only; Microsoft doesn't like green anymore.

What’s double the number 360?  That’s right, it’s 720.  If you couldn’t get that, you should probably review your multiplication tables.  Why is 720 so important here?  Because that’s the newest version of Xbox that the Internet is buzzing about since last week’s E3.

Read the rest of my 720 thoughts on my article over at GrizzlyBomb.com!

My Geeked Up Life: Felicia Wins at Music... Again.

Felicia Day has come out with a new music video.  It's country.  And somehow, I love it.

Let me explain what I mean about "it's country... somehow, I love it."  Most of you know who Felicia Day is, and if you don't you should probably stop reading right now and go repent before her fans shun you for eternity.  Here's a quick run-down for the nerdily inept: Felicia gained attention as the writer, producer, and star of the web series The Guild and has rapidly grown to be geekdom's go-to girl, with her quirky comedy and creative talents that span everything from old-school Nintendo systems to taking a crack at ice sculpture for her show The Flog (a production of her YouTube channel, Geek&Sundry).  Many of you probably think what I do when I see a new project of hers: "This girl just doesn't stop!"

This is the song and music video Felicia just released three days ago with Jason Charles Miller; it's called "Gamer Girl, Country Boy."  Felicia and Jason wrote the song together and, in Felicia's words from The Flog, "went to town; there is unnecessary cosplay all over the place."

According to Bonnie Burton's Facebook page, Felicia was apparently receiving lots of negative feedback about this video (i.e. flaming, spiteful, trolling, just-plain-MEAN garbage).  Within three days the video's hit 142,000 views, but has roughly 2000 negative likes despite there being around 9400 positive likes.  That's approximately 1 negative like for every 4 positives.  (You see all my clarifying, vague words there, such as around and approximately?  That's right, I'm totally not a math teacher.)

Despite the fact that there is a general lack of civil interaction online, I am honestly surprised more people didn't like this video.  I think this video displays yet another singing and writing talent of Felicia's; honestly, how many geeks care to delve into writing or performing country music?  She's already done a dance song, a Bollywood-inspired song, and a rock song for The Guild.  Country just seems like a logical next step in this plethora of genres.

I will say I for one avoid country in such a way that if it were embodied in the last living human male on earth, I would die a slow and painful death instead of marrying him, procreating, and saving the human race.  Growing up in Arizona means you have country all around because many Arizonans readily accept the cowboy lifestyle the rest of the nation assumes we lead.  Then I moved to the Midwest, where the farmers also tend to listen to lots of country.  That much country music drove me completely away, much like how over-zealous or shallow Christians tend to drive people to any other religion but that one.

However, Felicia and Jason's video has opened my mind to the fact that maybe country and geekdom can co-exist.  After all, Firefly continues to be a fan favorite (then again, it's really difficult to not accept Nathan Fillion's portrayal of a kick-ass space cowboy).  Country and geekdom -- it's an odd mash-up, but like Felicia and Jason sing, "Couldn't let you go, even though/We come from different lives.  So when you're lookin' for love, open your eyes/It might be outta regular sight."

I suppose from hereonout I must take their advice when I'm unsure that something will "mix" properly with the geek world.  Gamer girls have always been all right, so perhaps country boys are, too.

Obsess Much?

Why, yes, I am trying to save the universe.

No matter how hard we try, many of us will never be able to forget our “firsts” – our first crush, our first day of school, our first crush, our first pet, etc.  And that is just in the childhood years.  There’s also our first dates, our first loves, our first house, our first kid.  Subaru’s current ad campaign is even about sharing the story of your first car.  How many of us remember our first gaming obsessions?

In high school in the '90s, I became a favorite among the guys as soon as I showed a propensity for Halo: Combat Evolved.  I had already played SNES when I was younger, and had owned a Nintendo 64 in junior high, but I had consistently played Mario Kart or Star Wars: Rogue Squadron more than anything else.  I rarely delved into FPSs (besides GoldenEye 007, which was wickedly fun in its own right but probably now wishes it could be Halo or Call of Duty).

However, Halo addicts all know that you just need a chance for a first play, and after that you must satiate your desire with continual fixes.  As it happens, I got my first play at a friend's house and went home depressed that I could not continue shooting Grunts and marveling at this odd, new ringworld.  After a few months' of life without Halo, I realized there was only one way to fill the void: I bought myself an XBox solely so I could play the game.  Now I'm not saying I wasn't obsessed with my N64 games; at the time, I thought I was.  Then Master Chief made me realize that my N64 friends were like those friends you hang out with in high school whom you vaguely keep in touch after graduation, whereas he was able to live the moments of my life along with me, for the rest of my life.  Kind of like a spouse, except not really, because of obvious reasons.

No amount of rehab can cure me of my addiction to this series, but I don’t consider this a limiting, or even a negative, situation.  If anything, Halo opened up the glorious gaming world for me in ways I never thought possible.  I was thrust into the personal stories the game creators had slaved hours on end to write, and suddenly I realized that games could be so much more than mere entertainment, more than some pew-pew-pews at the bad guys.  Many reach the level of art.  And thus my desire to explore the world of video games expanded.

So thank you, Bungie, for introducing me to one of the loves of my life, and I'm not just talking about Halo.

How about you?  What was your first gaming obsession?  I would love to hear them, and I will collect some of the best and write them up in a future "Obsess Much?" post!