Tag Archives: criticism

Is Stormgate Postapocalyptic or Post-Postapocalyptic?

Posted on August 13, 2024 by | Leave a comment

Stormgate is, to use the developers’ own words, a “next-generation” RTS game that is currently in the Early Access stage of its release. For those who aren’t in the know, real-time strategy emphasizes building bases and commanding an army of various units, and Frost Giant Studios counts among its number some of those responsible for such hallmarks of the genre as StarCraft II and Warcraft III. While the “sci-fi and fantasy” setting clearly cribs ample inspiration from its predecessors, recent developments beg the question of when the Human Vanguard faction is supposed to exist in relation to the initial invasion by the demonic Infernal Host. To ask it plainly, is Stormgate set in a postapocalyptic world?

The most obvious place to find our answer would be the official site’s homepage, which I’ve already cited above (all following emphasis has been added): 

These resilient soldiers have harnessed futuristic technology to rebuild their civilization after surviving an Infernal Host invasion – a devastating near-extinction event.

The Vanguard’s own faction page:

The Vanguard was formed to serve as humanity’s last bastion of defense with Earth on the brink of extinction. Representing the greatest scientific minds, toughest soldiers, and most brilliant strategists from around the world, the Vanguard stands resolute against the invading Infernal Host.

And, finally, the Media Kit page, which explicitly presents the setting:

The story takes place hundreds of years in Earth’s future, in an all-new post-apocalyptic game setting where science fiction and fantasy collide.

So why the confusion? While much hay has been made about the game’s art style, many detractors have pointed specifically toward the Vanguard’s general aesthetic as being too shiny and polished in light of their position as “humanity’s last bastion of defense” after a “near-extinction event.” It would seem that the present visuals don’t actually match up with this postapocalyptic setting, but digging further into Frost Giant’s other posts it appears that fans are being told two distinct things.

A Vanguard army readies themselves for battle.

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Posted in art, internet, video games, writing

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Miley Cyrus Bashing Supergirl Justifies Exactly Why We Need It

Posted on October 15, 2016 by | Leave a comment

mileysupergirl

I’ll be the first to admit that I could broaden my scope regarding how I engage with current events. It’s much to my chagrin that my primary news sources are Facebook’s trending sidebar and whenever my grandfather changes the channel to CP24, in that order. That said, every now and then one of the comic book news sites I visit daily will offer me a glimpse of what’s happening outside that bubble.

In the case of this topic, I was informed not of what actually happened but of the response to it, days after the fact. The “event” in question took place during Miley Cyrus’s interview with Variety, which as the title would suggest was largely focused on her role on The Voice, Donald Trump, and coming out. To be more specific, it was the following question and answer [and yes, it is in fact related to comics]:

Why do you think inequality still exists for women in Hollywood?

A lot of it could be changed if we had a female president. That would give us a subconscious boost. I think people will have to realize they’re looking really dated. For example, there’s a show called “Supergirl.” I think having a show with a gender attached to it is weird. One, it’s a woman on that fucking billboard — it’s not a little girl. Two, what if you’re a little boy who wants to be a girl so bad that this makes you feel bad? I think having a title like “Supergirl” doesn’t give the power that people think it does.

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Posted in comics, feminism, gender, lgbt, media, television

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What Happened to Comic Book Resources?

Posted on August 26, 2016 by | 10 comments

“Change is good.” That’s a slogan I very vividly remember from a McDonald’s commercial around the turn of the century. A classroom full of kindergartners is shocked to find out that the Golden Arches are now serving white meat chicken nuggets, and are silent as one of their members takes the first tentative bite. Once she speaks those three words they break out into cheers, ecstatic that their beloved nuggets are just as delicious as before. Change is good. Or, more accurately, it can be.

This past Tuesday I was going through my handful of comic book news sites only to find that Comic Book Resources [also known as CBR], the fourth and last on the list, was borderline unrecognizable. Instead of seeing-

oldcbr2014

-like I was used to, I was greeted with-

newcbr2016

While I was taken aback by the seemingly sudden redesign, the truth is that if I’d been more observant I would have seen this coming from a long way off. Continue reading →

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Posted in comics, internet, news, Uncategorized, writing

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We Can’t Get No Satisfaction: Yet Another Millennial Throws His Peers Under the Bus

Posted on August 7, 2016 by | Leave a comment

I don’t think you need to subscribe to a Judeo-Christian worldview to come to the conclusion that people are generally horrible. To be more specific, I find that many of us [myself included] tend to believe we deserve more than we really do, that a good portion of our wants are in fact needs or rights. It was the crux of my post on leaks last year, and recent events have once again brought this issue to light.

The first has to do with Overwatch, a game I informed you has been eating up all of my free time. On August 2nd, after a few mistimed reveals over various platforms, game studio Blizzard officially announced their first seasonal event, the totally-not-the-Olympics Summer Games.

summergames

As a playerbase no one really expected this. Yes, there was the expectation of new skins coming down the pipeline, but not new skins and a slew of other cosmetic items, as well as a wholly unique brawl [that, let’s face it, is just Rocket League]. However much of the initial excitement over the upcoming content turned to ashes in players’ mouths when they realized that they would not be able to purchase any of it.

To elaborate, Overwatch is not an F2P (free-to-play) game, which don’t require your purchase and instead support themselves through various optional microtransactions. Blizzard was upfront that Overwatch, after being bought, would be releasing new heroes and maps for free, promising to support the game moving forward. In other words, everything that is essential to playing would cost nothing.

With that in mind, all Summer Games items are exclusively unlocked, from August 2nd to the 22nd,  through loot boxes that you can earn by simply playing the game. In contrast, all standard items can also be purchased with in-game currency, which is earned in the same way. Loot boxes can also be bought with cold hard cash. Upon finding out that their means of acquiring these Summer Games items were thusly limited people flipped out. Continue reading →

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Posted in business, comics, film, money, morality, video games

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For Your Consideration: Adam Prosser Interviews Warcraft Director Duncan Jones

Posted on June 17, 2016 by | 1 comment

Similar to the last time I did this in March, this feature is meant to provide a brief look at what’s been happening on the internet this week [but without the typical commentary and criticism you’ll find around here].

A few short days ago BBC journalist Adam Rosser interviewed director Duncan Jones about his film Warcraft, which premiered in North America one week ago today. The interview was for Rosser’s show Let’s Talk About Tech for BBC 5Live, and given that he works as a freelancer he uploaded it to his personal YouTube account. A copy of the video can be seen below:

The original version has since been taken down due to it being shared on the Battle.net forums for the game the film is based on. That forum post has in turn also been removed as the negative reaction to the interview unsurprisingly, and it’s depressing that it’s an expected response, spawned death threats. Rosser himself comments that:

While many fans [which I’ll remind you is short for “fanatic”] will always react viscerally to the criticism of that which they hold dear, there’s also something to be said for the way in which Rosser actually conducted the interview. Continue reading →

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Posted in bizarreness, film, internet, interview, video games

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“Kimmy Goes to a Play” as a Conversation Between Tina Fey and Asian American Activists

Posted on April 22, 2016 by | 2 comments

The culture war is a conversation.

While it is ultimately a conflict, more often than not this takes the form of ideas and criticism being slung back and forth across the trenches. To be heard is a minor success, but to be actually understood is victory.

Within this conversation it’s undoubtedly artists, especially those who have garnered celebrity status, who have the most powerful voices.

In 2014 the eponymous host of The Colbert Report featured a segment on his show about “The Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever”. Given his popularity it reached far and wide, and was eventually viewed by a Twitter activist who created the hashtag #CancelColbert in response.

chingchongcolbert

As it was meant to call attention to and ridicule the outrageous fact that a national sports team is named after an ethnic slur the response was out of line. It was a classic case of [obvious] satire being taken the wrong way, but by inadvertently contributing to what has been dubbed “a fake year of outrage’ this person’s misstep resulted in others who campaign for better representation and the like being worse than silenced, which is to say, ignored.

Despite calling out from what is ostensibly the same side, the misstep of a single loud voice meant that others were unheard.

The exchange between artist and critic is rarely ever an even one, and only becomes more difficult given the sensitivity surrounding such personal creative endeavours.

Lena Dunham is the star and creator of HBO’s Girls, and received enough disapproval about the lack of diversity in a show set in New York City that she was asked about it by NPR. She responded that “[she takes] that criticism very seriously,” and that very same year had Donald Glover playing Hannah’s Black boyfriend on the show.

While the presence of Sandy on the dramedy was a beneficial one, with arguments between the two capturing the tension that can be present in interracial relationships [including such exchanges as: “I never thought about the fact that you were black once.” / “That’s insane. You should, because that’s what I am.”], Glover’s character faltered in that he was very much a response to criticism. Continue reading →

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Posted in art, celebrity, Comedy, communication, race, television, writing

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