Gaming in the Media Blog

http://www.joystiq.com/media/2007/11/animalcrossing.jpg

(via Joystiq)

I’ve been fairly disgusted with what has been going around the internet in reference to Jade Raymond, the Ubisoft game producer who has been the subject of yet another form of cyber rape. 

While I will probably expand on this a bit more in the media and gaming column this month, here’s a quick and dirty guide to the links on this.

Posts That I Liked

Feministe’s Take on The Situation - The Trouble With Jade

Actually, you know what pissed me off the most? Not the gratuitous sex-and-PR crap, but the portrayal of her as a ditzy idiot who can’t even pronounce “creative.” Raymond is a programmer as well as a producer; she helped start the first research & development group at Sony Online, was part of the team that built Jeopardy Online, and went on to be one of the producers for the Sims Online. Anyone following Assassin’s Creed has been able to listen to her blog about the development of the game and she obviously knows what she’s talking about. But apparently none of that matters next to the fact that she’s got a pretty face, that the media focuses on her looks, and that there are thousands of creepy dudes on the Internet drooling over her.

Game Girl Advance - Jade Raymond is for Real

But on the other hand, I’m eviscerated by the notion that we can’t celebrate women’s achievements in the game industry without encountering this sort of resistance, fueled also in part by a rabid fanbase that was as quick to idolize Jade’s image as it was to tear her apart. And naturally as someone working on something she believed in she would want to stand up and be proud of her accomplishments. The price of fame is a pound of flesh.

These…Not So Much

Kotaku - Ubisoft Threatens Something Awful Over Jade Comic

Lowtax responded in the expected Something Awful fashion, posting “I don’t know where this image is located, I do not know who drew it, and the only vague connection to this site is because somebody posted a link to it on these forums.” His full response to Ubisoft’s legal council is worth the read.As I said, the comic seems to have been removed from its previous hosts, but those expecting something worthwhile should look elsewhere.In the meantime, I’m deleting all known copies of my Patrice Desilets erotic fanfic comics, just in case. It’s a shame, as I really thought the beard turned out perfect.

Fascinating how Kotaku can stay with the ZOMG! Jade is hott! She broke my heart! Ohh Pretty! comments for every other post relating to Jade Raymond, but now that there is something serious on the table, they are silent.  The treatment of this post was almost clinical, a marked contrast from the fake pal persona they adopted before.

 There’s also a discussion of this in the forums.

  The New York Times just printed an interesting article pondering the future of print video game magazines:

Noel Goodman subscribes to three video game magazines, but he wants information faster than the magazines can reach his mailbox.

Alexandria Velez, 31, still reads magazines despite the proliferation of Web sites about games.

“I can find out on the Internet information that won’t be in magazines for another month,” said Mr. Goodman, a 30-year-old electrician in Newport News, Va., who took Halloween off to play video games. The magazines, he said, are “always going to lose when it comes down to content. I can get everything online.”

While video game magazine publishers beg to differ, that is precisely their challenge — retaining readers as the Internet grabs their audience and advertisers. Why wait for a monthly mailing when the Web has fresh game reviews, articles and tips on how to beat the games?

[Aside: How much do I love the fact that they featured older gamers in the article?  The people quoted were 30 and 31. Officially grown and gaming!]

I can’t say I’m surprised at this news, but I am not thrilled with the death knells for it.  As a person who likes to read magazines, I can relate to one of Alexdra’s quotes about magazines being the ultimate portable media.  No dead battery issues when reading, and I don’t have to worry so much about eyestrain.  Plus, there’s just something nice about the feel of a large paper glossy. 

Hearing the gaming mags are struggling bodes badly for many reasons.  First they came for my black girl mags, and now my gaming ones?  What the hell?  It’s going to be rough trying to transition a magazine from online to print, and it will be especially tough if there is not a proven subscriber base. (I, like some of you, would hope that Cerise would eventually incarnate into a print mag…now, I’m not so sure.)

Also, as a game writer cutting her teeth in electronic media, this blows on a whole OTHER level.  Despite the fact that digital content is seen as the wave of the future, the reality is that there is still a level of prestige associated with being print published.  Being published online does open some doors, but you are not seen on the level as a print journalist who also does online work.  So, it’s a wee bit scary to see print media struggling to hold on - it can take years for attitudes to change.

Still, as a gamer, I can kind of relate to the sentiments.  Why pay money for a mag subscription when I can get the info for free on a gaming/fan site? 

New York Times via Kotaku

BCC World News has reported that the PS3 is being used to understand what causes diseases:

 A project that harnesses the spare processing power of Sony’s PlayStation 3 (PS3) to help understand the cause of diseases has entered the record books.

Guinness World Records has recognised folding@home (FAH) as the world’s most powerful distributed computing network.

FAH has signed up nearly 700,000 PS3s to examine how the shape of proteins affect diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

The network has more than one petaflop of computing power - the equivalent of 1,000 trillion calculations per second.

“To have folding@home recognized by Guinness World Records as the most powerful distributed computing network ever is a reflection of the extraordinary worldwide participation by gamers and consumers around the world and for that we are very grateful,” said Professor Vijay Pande of Stanford University and a leader of the FAH project.

The article goes on to explain exactly how the PS3 got involved with the process:

Until March this year, FAH only ran on PCs.

The program had around 200,000 computers participating in the program, the equivalent of about 250 teraflops (trillion calculations per second).

The addition of 670,000 PS3s has taken the computing power of the network to more than one petaflop.

By comparison BlueGene L, which tops the list of most powerful supercomputers, has a top speed of just 280.6 teraflops.

The boost is in part because of the PS3’s powerful processor, known as the “cell”, which runs up to 10 times faster than current PC chips.

“It is clear that none of this would be even remotely possible without the power of PS3, it has increased our research capabilities by leaps and bounds,” said Prof Pande.

Of course, saving the world is kind of old hat to us gamers.

All in a days work. :-)