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GOG adds 'Hotline Miami' and other Steam games to your library
GOG is extending its efforts to liberate your games from Steam's copyright protection. Alongside a back-to-school sale, the online game store is expanding its GOG Connect effort to cover 17 more games, including Hotline Miami, the 2013 Shadow Warrior remake and the space exploration title X Rebirth. It's the same drill as before: connect your Steam account and you can grab DRM-free copies of those games at no charge, helping you back them up or move them without hassles. The focus remains on indie games, but it's still good news if you're worried that you've put too many eggs in Steam's basket.
'Shadow Warrior 2' hits PC, PS4, Xbox One in 2016
The cult classic PC shooter/slasher Shadow Warrior got an over-the-top revamp not long ago and now a sequel is en route from the fine folks at Flying Wild Hog and Devolver Digital. Protagonist Lo Wang isn't alone again in Shadow Warrior 2 -- he's bringing four-player co-op with him to PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One next year. Over on the PlayStation Blog, Devolver CFO Fork Parker says that the game's environments are procedurally generated (think Minecraft or No Man's Sky) and that five years after the first game's events, humans and demons are living side-by-side. That's a bit crazier than dogs and cats cohabitating, if you ask me.
Researcher slams games for "blatant racism"
An interesting article on Next Generation details the findings of one Robert Purangao, a researcher from the University of British Columbia, who just recently completed a report on racism in video games. The conclusion is that, unlike the gratuitous violence and sex, the "blatant racism" in games has gone largely unnoticed. Luckily, Mr. Purangao endeavored to locate it for us and subjected himself to a sweeping total of four games. After playing Kung Fu, Shadow Warrior, Warcraft III and Grand Theft Auto 3 for hours on end, Purangao ceased pushing buttons and instead relegated his fingers to decisive pointing.Surprisingly, he blames GTA for featuring non-white gangsters being blown up by a white protagonist, the former being "stock characters" serving only as "narrative obstacles to be overcome." He's certainly stumbled onto something here -- evil gangsters are definitely stock characters and stereotypical video game villains (see also: aliens, nazis, alien nazis), but it has nothing to do with their skin color. If that were the case, we'd be especially excited about the table-turning report on San Andreas.Despite being obviously driven by parody, Shadow Warrior doesn't escape reprimand either -- it features a Chinese villain hero who screams "just like Hiroshima!" when he fires off a rocket. Purangao accuses game designers of using "a mix and match grab bag of Asian stereotypes that are often nonsensical," though he fails to specify whether or not all game designers do that. Another discovery he must have made here is that designers often make terrible games.Sadly, the article is bereft of any details regarding the other two games under investigation. It seems likely that Purangao came across Warcraft III's shocking portrayal of orcs as slobbering and brutal beasts obsessed with burning, ransacking and smashing skulls.
Gaming in West Africa: Only 7 years behind
To cut a long story short and to create a forced feeling of mystery and intrigue, I'll simply point out that, on my way back home from E3 last week, I was stranded for 24 hours in Senegal, a quaint little country situated in Western Africa. And by "quaint little country", I really mean a place that technology actively flees from in blind terror. When my laptop attempted to find an active Wi-Fi hotspot, canned laughter could be heard emanating from somewhere in the universe. And so, with Guitar Hero controller strapped to my back (simultaneously a piece of carry-on luggage and a bold image), I began to explore the vast and largely undeveloped wasteland that was the country's...airport building. Leave it to a gaming nerd to find a store selling games in such an obscure place. Judging by the veritable cornucopia of new releases lining the shelves, the country's gaming scene is sure to take off. Some of the games burning up the Senegalese sales charts include: Fifa '99 (don't worry, it plays the same as this year's version) Shadow Warrior Star Wars: Behind the Magic (which isn't even a game) Pong I would have taken the time to pre-order a Sega Saturn at the counter, but the French language barrier proved to be insurmountable. I'll be better prepared next time I get stranded here.
