-If this week has taught me anything, it’s that cosplay can be both a beautiful thing (two blonds dressed as Four Swords Links: not only is it sexy in all the weirdest, most wonderful ways, but I told you that boy had effeminate features) and the creepiest thing in the world (a giant, pink, pleather Birdo, complete with “naughty” maid’s costume). Grin, shudder, grin, shudder. My body is so confused.
-In more gaming news that makes me want to bang my head against a wall, a British MP went to parliament this week to warn England about “virtual rape” in online worlds. Jesus, haven’t we been here before? From the brilliant Brit himself:
People who are watching a film at the cinema cannot participate in what is happening on the screen… However, someone sitting at a computer playing a video game, or someone with one of those small devices that young people have these days, the name of which I forget… PlayStations or PSPs, something of that kind… Well, whatever they are called, when people play these things, they can interact. They can shoot people; they can kill people. They can rape women.
As a woman, I really want to know: how exactly do you rape someone with a PSP?
-On a happier note, there’s the cool (if a bit confusing) fact that Johnny Lee’s Wii-mote head-tracking is getting included in a level of Steven Spielberg’s Boom Blox. Wow, it’s like the blocks are really moving, man. At least somebody’s using it…
Happy weekend!
Bonnie Ruberg is a sex, technology, and video games journalist who contributes regularly to publications like The Economist, Forbes, and The Village Voice. By day she's also a comparative literature PhD student at UC Berkeley, where she studies French, English, gender, sexuality, surrealism and perversion. You can reach her at [her first name and last name, all one big word] AT gmail DOT com.
March 7th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Clearly, the man’s played his share of “Rapelay” and “Virgin Roster” on PC, and is a hardcore PC-only, anti-console gamer.
Either that, or he has some mad PSP emulating skills that he refuses to share with the rest of the world.
March 8th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Did you ever see that Japanese rape simulation game? As far as I could tell it was a stealth game like Metal Gear solid, except instead of infiltrating a base to destroy nuclear weapons you stalked and raped random girls around town.
The whole “do bad things to imaginary people” aspect of gaming is pretty interesting in its own right, and its prevalence probably bespeaks something about human nature, but for me the more interesting subject is doing bad things to the avatars of other players in multiplayer games — griefing and such.
March 9th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
On the one hand, an actual rape game (even if it’s raping imaginary people) sounds pretty horrifying. Still, it makes you wonder, how is it any different than a game where you go around killing imaginary people? What makes “living out” one any more or less unsettling than the other?
March 10th, 2008 at 10:53 am
This comment re: sexy Links came from Destructoid writer Tron Knotts. I think it sums up the wonderful weirdness nicely:
“[It's hot.] I think that’s what creeps me out about it. I like it more than I should, at least according to my self-enforced identity construct as a ‘straight male’.”
It’s lesbian, gay male, and video game cosplay eroticism all at the same time!
Triple threat to my sense of being ‘normal’!”
March 10th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Yeah, nobody can deny the hotness of that image.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Ah, but does it make you question your masculinity? Personally, it’s a bit strange how many a-ok levels it hits for me. On the one hand, girls making out: good. On the other, boys making out: also good. On the third hand (yes, there are three) revenge for Four Swords being a pain in my ass by transforming into into some sort of Link on Link fantasy: very good :).
March 10th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
These were at Animagic 2006 in Bonn if it’s the same girls as here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dshave/201253663/in/set-72057594111610461/
March 10th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
See, Flickr viewers agree: strangely hot :).
May 19th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Brits are weird and cosplay is weird in a wonderfully amazing beautiful way!