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I've been thinking a lot about the sexism and bigotry in video games that has been popping up in the news, lately.

You can't swing a dead cat nowadays without hitting some kind of cookie-cutter war-based first-person shooter. Whether they're space marines, colonial marines or United States Marines, the armed forces are very popular in video games today, and it doesn't take rocket science to explain why: They bring in tons of money. If they didn't, we wouldn't be inundated with a new Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Halo or Battlefield nearly every single year.

But, if my word isn’t enough to convince you, the ESA recently released their 2012 report of the video game industry, and of the 20 most popular console games of 2011, four of them (that's 20 percent) were war-based shooters -- all of which were in the top 10 for the year. With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sitting pretty in first, Battlefield 3 in fifth, Black Ops in sixth and Gears of War 3 in eighth, that genre commands the top of the list with sports, dance, and adventure games sprinkled in between.

Now, numbers are never set in stone, and even developers realize that sales can change in an instant. But, when you consider the demographics of gaming, there's a comfort zone for the makers of these games. The ESA report says that 53 percent of gamers out there last year were male, whereas 47 percent were female. I worry that the developers out there rely too much on that (barely) larger majority for easy mass appeal.

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It’s every fighting-game player’s worst nightmare. Online hecklers trash those who suffer it. People don’t enter tournaments for fear of it: getting mauled in a tournament stream with thousands of your peers watching you online. It’s the virtual version of being tarred and feathered. And I felt the pain firsthand.

In 2011, I stood outside of a crowd of people in a now-defunct arcade in Orlando, Florida, waiting to hear who my first opponent would be in the Super Street Fighter IV: Suffix-Less Edition competition.

Matches would be streamed live on a raised platform with the event’s largest TV. One guy wearing a replica of demon karate man Akuma’s beaded necklace told me how exciting it would be to play on that platform. I told him that that environment creates more pressure.

The organizer announced matchup after matchup until he called my name ... and that my match would be on the stream.

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Here at Bitmob, we like to write. We know you do, too. In fact, you guys pump out so much great content that some of it gets lost in the abyssal depths of the Mobfeed. And it's scary down there. (Seriously, I think I saw a sasquatch in there once.)

So to save you the trouble and from a possible horrific death, we bring these valuable articles to you in a feature called Hidden Gems. Similar to our weekly Spotlights, these are unedited stories that didn't quite make the front page but are worth highlighting...but perhaps these have fallen between the cracks after some time.

In this edition of Hidden Gems, since Assassin's Creed 3 is about to drop later this month, we're featuring older articles about Altair, Ezio, and the fight against Abstergo. Check 'em out below. Or take your chances with the sasquatch.

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What bothers me about the Assassin's Creed franchise
By Thomas Isbell

Thomas likes the AC series, but he argues that yearly installments are causing the gameplay to get stale. "The release of Revelations," he writes, "dampened my hopes for a top-tier masterpiece ever coming to light in the AC universe." I wonder if Thomas feels differently now that a new, main entry in the series is nigh.

Blood is thicker than water: An Assassin's Creed: Revelations prologue
By Matt Polen

Matt scripts out a fictional preview to Revelations, the most recent entry in the series. He really captures the tone of the story and characters, especially protagonist Ezio. I'd read a whole book in this vein, Matt.

A few florins short -- Assassin's Creed 2 review
By Michael Wenzel

If you've been on the fence about jumping into the Assassin's Creed series, Michael's thorough review might help. He's pretty tough on the game, though -- do you agree with his criticisms?

What I hate about Assassin's Creed
By Toby Highfill

Toby is less ambivalent in his thoughts on the original Assassin's Creed. His biggest beef? He can't get past the science-fictional Animus machine, which connects present-day Desmond to the memories of his ancestors. "DNA is an owner's manual for your body, not a written family history," Toby says. "Since AC does not take place in a fantasy setting, this should not be possible." What do you think?

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Two years ago, I wrote an article entitled "What Borderlands 2 needs to do to keep me satisfied." I adored the first Borderlands, but it also built up a few expectations in my mind for what developer Gearbox had to do for the then-theoretical follow-up.

Now I’ve put over 100 hours into that very-real sequel. So did Gearbox come through on everything -- or anything --  I asked for? Here's a point-for-point comparison of 2010 suggestions to 2012 realities.

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PlayStation Vita should be a phone. After all, we now have the ability to provide the same visual quality on a device meant primarily for calling people, and the Sony Xperia Play smartphone and PSP Go have both given good blueprints of how buttons could be added to a device without compromising its other functions.

So why didn’t the Vita phone happen? I believe Sony still plans to make it happen. It simply makes too much sense. The realities of the video game industry led to the Vita serving as a necessary steppingstone on the path toward a phone/portable console, however. Let me explain. 

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The other night, a friend and colleague, a game writer I admire and follow, considered giving up.

Like Batman turning to Robin saying, "I don't feel like fighting crime tonight."

Ouch, that's my soul you're stepping on.

I labor in obscurity, looking to the horizon as my hero lists respected video game website after respected video game website he's written for, and then says, "What's the point?"

"What's the point??"

I would kill (not actually) to have written the thoughtful pieces you've written! I'd lie, cheat, and steal (probably not) to be as well-known and highly thought of as this guy, and he considers giving up.

If he doesn't see the point, what chance do I have?

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I'm glad that High Moon Studios is making a Deadpool game if only because it gives me an excuse to post this hilarious video of the Merc with a Mouth dancing, posing, and just generally acting silly at the recent New York Comic Con.

You'll also see some lovely gaming-themed cosplay, including attendees costumed as Punch-Out's King Hippo and some sort of bizarre Assassin's Creed/Halo/Portal hybrid. See it all after the jump.

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Part of what makes a video game great is how it teaches the player. Even difficult games like La-Mulana and Dark Souls teach you how to overcome deadly challenges. Both are equally hard and rewarding to explore, yet Dark Souls is more punishing in death while La-Mulana retains the fun of exploring after death.

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Last month, I asked the community to examine the controls of their games and their effectiveness for the Total Control Bitmob Writing Challenge. Four writers submitted their takes on both classic and modern titles, and all of these pieces made the front page of the website. This is the final prompt I'm hosting for now, so put down your gamepads and check out these great entries.

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The perfect controls of Assassins Creed
By Jonathon Oyama

I can’t think of anyone other than myself who has participated in more writing challenges than Jonathon, so it makes sense to start this farewell off with him. While modern action games like Bayonetta feel like you need a cheat sheet to remember all the combos, Assassins Creed’s simple scheme felt just right.   

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Once again, it's time to get the spin from our unelected representatives!

Obama vs. Romney -- Fight! Now that almost all of us can watch the presidential debates live on Xbox live, it's our duty as carbon-based lifeforms to do so. Unless you're poor and don't have a Gold membership. Or an internet connection. Or an Xbox. Those people aren't supposed to vote, anyway.

Never mind that their first presidential debate turned out to be a snoozer. We live in a world where Vice President Joe Biden and Vice-Presidential candidate Paul Ryan spent 90 minutes beating each other with rakes. That put us one-all in terms of debates wins so far (Romney: 1, Biden: 1), and that makes tonight's town-hall-format match the official tiebreaker!

So, panel of experts ... what can we expect from tonight's slugfest?

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"Like Caesar presiding over the gladiators, I don't care who wins. I'm just there for the blood and glistening man-flesh."

- Isaac Clarke, Dead Space 3

 

 

 

 

 

"The Americans would save so much time and money if Obama just imposed tyranny on the land and ruthlessly crushed the faintest whisper of opposition to his iron rule. Then I could go back to watching Dancing with the Stars."

- M. Bison, Street Fighter X Tekken

 

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I like blood and guts. Part of that, I have no shame in admitting, comes from my gib-tastic experiences playing Quake and Half-Life as a kid. Another part of me isn't quite as juvenile, however. It yearns for maturity in video games and to see them taken more seriously as an artistic medium, but it still wants more pixilated viscera.

For example, games like Half-Life 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV reward you with a humorous display of ragdoll physics after you shoot a baddie with a rocket launcher. The recently deceased goes flying across the terrain, but where’s the meat? A guy who’s just been hit square in the chest with a rocket launcher should have his entrails strewn all over the place, an arm here and a leg there, and a severed head in the gutter.

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It’s tough to get motivated to exercise sometimes. If I’m honest with myself, I’d really rather get in one more League of Legends match than go outside and punish my body by jogging.

Exercise is healthy, though, and an hour or so of intense physical activity each week isn’t such a huge sacrifice. I may grumble and groan about it when I’m putting on my gym shoes, but I feel better mentally and physically when I run.

Unlike hobbies like soccer or skiing, video gaming doesn’t have an inherent active component, but there is a way we can bring a piece of our pastime with us while we’re exercising. I’m a huge fan of video game music, and I’ve recently discovered that a lot of it makes for great running fodder.

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