Lesbian Gamers

My Lesbian Radio and Lesbian Lounge

The ladies over at The Lesbian Lounge were celebrating a birthday on their last podcast and they had a number of special guests including Sarah Warn from AfterEllen. Sarah spoke candidly about AfterEllen’s beginnings, where it is going and even gave a shout out to us here at LesbianGamers and LesbianGeek (for which we’re eternally grateful!).

The Lesbian Lounge is a show hosted by the rather lively pair of Donna and Denise and is part of MyLesbianRadio. We wanted to highlight the site for those that may not have heard of it (as we hadn’t! For shame!). Head over and take a listen.

           

Porny St Fighter statues

I like action figures, I like resin statues. As a gaming geek I have quite a few dotted around the place. Despite my lady loving ways these aforementioned statues need not have their ass hanging out and their breasts so large they need helium implants to keep them from touching knees.

If you're a lady that likes the idea of frak me pumps and large breasted games characters, look no further than the sexist twaddle you can get HERE. They're Z list Street Fighter 'babes'. Personally I think the brown statue (at the link) would have been pretty cool, if she'd been dressed in non prostitution wear and had regular sized breasts, but maybe I'm too much the dyke realist.

Morgan Gray & Racial Stereotyping in Games

There’s an interesting interview over at MTV Multiplayer with Morgan Gray, a Senior Producer at Crystal Dynamics. What makes this interview so interesting to me as a lesbian gamer are the obvious similarities between how Gray feels about racial stereotyping and diversity in games;  when contrasted to the lesbian dilemma-they’re very analogous. Gray is “half-black and half-Caucasian” and a seasoned gamer sick of what he’s seeing in games.

We kind of covered one of Gray’s points in an article awhile ago titled Alternate Realities – The Queer Question. Gray brings into question the Gears of War character of Cole Train by stating “Cole Train is basically like every other effin’ black character in a video game. Like here comes the urban stereotype. Where is this 1990’s — not even 2000 — black slang, where does this fit in this futuristic world that doesn’t even take place on Earth?”

Girlfriends & Companion Cubes

I feel blessed with my life, despite the stresses which ensue, one thing stands out - I have an amazing girlfriend. Yes this is a gushy post, but why not, it's nice to share a nice love story now and again and gamers are no exception.

Yesterday I was having a fairly lousy day, feeling out of sorts, without direction and unappreciated in my work, then the DHL man arrived with a small, square, light box addressed to my girlfriend. I messaged her at work to let her know and she said "open it". Inside was a plush Companion Cube for me. This small gesture turned my day around and I wanted to share it. I'm sure some of you have similar stories of gaming love?

If Mario were real...

...he would be one freaky looking dude. A clever artist known as pixeloo has done a couple of characters in 'real' form and one of them is Nintendo's Mario. We were so creeped out impressed by pixeloo we thought we'd share his work here, but be sure and visit the blog for the full story, including a creepy real Homer Simpson, who is actually more creepy than our little plumber Mario.

Hopefully pixeloo will do a few more famous gaming characters as real people, I'd love to see Jade from Beyond Good and Evil, I bet she wouldn't be nearly the cute babydyke if she had the Pixeloo treatment. Larger real Mario image after the jump, for those that dare.

Weighted Companion Cube Plush

Oh good grief Valve why why why. Like I don't spend enough money on gaming already, you have to go and announce that those cute, nay, gorgeous plushie companion cubes are back in stock! Damn you Vital Apparatus Vent for delivering more damn youuuuuu.

Ahem... Well seriously, who hasn't played Portal and thought they wanted, nay, NEEDED their very own companion cube. Well now you can. The 6 inch by 6 inch cuddly cube will cost you thirty bucks USD and will no doubt sell out faster than GLaDOS will lie to your face, so be quick. Check them out HERE.

Pontiac G8 GT Spy Hunter advert - cool

Remember Spy Hunter, the cool arcade game released by Bally Midway back in 1983, then ported to all and sundry in the following years? It was an awesome game in which you drove a car vertically up the screen, blew baddies up, protected civilian vehicles and now and again turned into a boat.

It seems someone at the Pontiac advertising firm really has a soft spot for Spy Hunter, given the new advert for the Pontiac G8 GT. If you like cars, watch this ad, if you enjoyed Spy Hunter watch this ad, actually you know what.. just watch the damn ad, it's cool.

Ellen Page goes lesbian

Okay so we’re not outing Ellen Page, we LOVE Ellen Page, she’s seriously good, so good we want to hug her with our legs in friendship. Anyway, there is a gaming link to the SNL skit Page recently did about the whole lesbian zeitgeist surrounding her at present. Her boyfriend (Andy Samberg) in the following clip is playing the Xbox 360 as Page raves incessantly about the Melissa Etheridge concert she just returned from. Yeah, so it is gaming related, lesbian related and if you missed it, it’s sure to make you smile.

Enjoy.

The Last Starfighter 2?

Stop your grinin and drop your linen, we've got some huge sci-fi geek and gaming related news (yes this will be a crossover post between LesbianGeek and LesbianGamers .com). Any geek worth their salt has seen or knows of The Last Starfighter, a film released in 1984 that follows the story of a young guy named Alex recruited to fight a galactic war via a videogame. If you are a geek and missed this one, go get it, rent it, buy it, whatever, it's a great film.

For newcomers to the story, you might be getting a brand new version. Rumor has it original director Nick Castle and writer Jonathan Betuel are both involved, as well as Lance Guest who played the protagonist Alex Rogan. Now, should we start bombarding them with mail suggesting the hero this time be female (perhaps Alex's daughter?)? Hell, how about a lesbian? Wouldn't that be cool. Sure we know chance would be a fine thing, but it doesn't hurt to dream.

Now who else had a crush on Catherine Mary Stewart in that movie? No.. just me then.

Ms. Pac-Man feminist icon

I saw this little film clip and thought it was amusing, so here it is, despite having little to do with lesbians. Ms. Pac-Man, feminist, female game protagonist and all 'round' (haw haw) cool gal.

There's really not much more to say here other than watch it and see what you think.

Motion capture the Mova way

The Contour Reality Capture System by Mova sounds flashy just to say, but you have to see this to believe it. Unlike traditional motion capture techniques that are usually based around a number of reflective balls stuck to key facial feature points, the Contour Reality Capture System works with an array of cameras.

Mova founder Steve Perlman states the system “pushes Unreal Engine 3 to its very limit ... it's about as photo-real as you can get in real time."

Check out the video and see what you think and hit us up with comments.

Mova CRC in Unreal Engine 3 from Joy Stiq on Vimeo.

Mova CRC - Gangster Demo (not real-time) from Joy Stiq on Vimeo.

Guitar Hero handheld – riff anywhere

Want to get down with your inner Etheridge whilst you’re on the subway, or lunch break? Well it seems Basic Fun and Activision / Red Octane is making your dreams come true. What we have here is the handheld version of Guitar Hero called Guitar Hero Carabiner and it has some class songs on it from Guitar Hero I & II.

There’s nothing overly flashy about it since it is essentially an LCD game, but you can fold the neck down so it will fit in your pocket, backpack etc. The pocket Guitar Hero Carabiner is due to release early next month and will be available in stores such as Target, Toys ‘R’ Us and KB Toys. It’s expected RRP is set around $15.