gaymerx2
Latest
GaymerX conference to return as GX3: Everyone Games
GaymerX, the gaming convention that seeks to "create a safe space for all gamers, especially gamers who are queer, women, and people of color," will return, and the event's organizers could use your help in funding the show. Earlier this year, it was announced that GaymerX2, the second iteration of the conference, would mark the event's final appearance due to the costs of operating a show of that size in San Francisco. However, following that announcement, the organizers were inundated by support from developers who want to see GaymerX continue. "We are thrilled and humbled by the amount of support we've gotten since taking our financial difficulties public," said GaymerX CEO Matt Conn. "With amazing devs and publishers willing to put their money up to help save the concept of an awesome safe space for queer geeks and their friends, it means the world that we're able to potentially continue this convention." Now, the organizers are planning a third GaymerX convention, scheduled for August 11-13, 2015. In lieu of calling it GaymerX3, the event is now dubbed "GX3: Everyone Games" to reflect the shift in attendance from strictly members of the LGBTQ community to their supporters and any number of other marginalized groups in gaming. If you'd like to help the event go off without a hitch, the organizers are currently attempting to raise $80,000 - 60 percent of the show's operating costs - via Kickstarter. [Image: GaymerX]
Joystiq Weekly: EA Access, Divinity: Original Sin review, The Last Of Us revisited and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. EA announced EA Access this week, a monthly or yearly service that gives subscribers a digital library of games from the publisher's catalog. PlayStation Plus and Games With Gold are comfortable ideas at this point, but for such a substantial publisher to start their own service on a console without making any hardware themselves? That's pretty interesting. Hopefully we won't see a flood or other publishers launching competitors for PlayStation and Xbox's services, though. Paying one monthly fee for Netflix and maybe two monthly fees for video games is manageable, but if the console space starts feeling crowded with subscription services, we can imagine the sense of value will be continually reduced with each additional arrival. Then again, we could probably stomach one more if Nintendo cooked up something for the Virtual Console... There's way more to this week than pondering our breaking point for monthly subscription fees though. Capcom, Sony and Nintendo had earnings reports, Homefront: The Revolution got adopted by Deep Silver's parent company, and PlayStation Now entered its open beta. It's all waiting for you after the break!
NIS America to pay agreed pledge for GaymerX2 [Update]
Just yesterday, NIS America stepped away from its $3,000 pledge to cover costs for the GaymerX2 convention held in San Francisco on July 11 through July 13. According to the LGBTQ-focused event's founder Matt Conn, the situation between both parties is currently being resolved, and will result in NIS America agreeing to pay the full amount it promised to the event holders. "After talking with their team, [NIS America] have apologized for the misunderstanding and offered to make right and pay the full amount that they agreed upon," Conn told Joystiq via email. "We have apologized for escalating it to a public level so quickly and we are pleased with how quickly they offered to resolve the situation and make right on their promise, and we harbor no ill will towards them."
GaymerX in dire straits after NIS America pulls pledge [update]
An email sent late on Monday afternoon is incurring a dour situation for the organizers of GaymerX2, an LGBTQ-focused and inclusive convention held in San Francisco on July 11-13. The marketing coordinator for niche publisher and developer NIS America reached out to event founder, Matt Conn, to apologize and renege on a pledge of $3000.
Join Joystiq at GaymerX2 this weekend
What are you doing this weekend? If you have some spare time and live around San Francisco, you're invited to hang out with Joystiq Editor-in-chief Ludwig Kietzmann and Managing Editor Susan Arendt at GaymerX2! Our dashing managerial duo is hosting and speaking on a panel called "Yes, and? An improvised approach to inclusion," which introduces a classic improv technique as a way to better communicate about difficult subjects within our existing social structures. As comedy writer and actress Tina Fey breaks down in Bossypants, saying "yes, and" is a trick to make sure an improv scene doesn't fall flat. First, you have to accept the given situation – say "yes" – and second, you have to add to it, or the conversation stalls out. For our purposes, if someone says an aspect of a game or story makes them uncomfortable, we don't need to debate that feeling – we can say yes, and then add our own perspectives to the conversation. GaymerX2 takes over the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco from July 11 - 13 – this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. GaymerX2 has a host of guests and panels lined up, including appearances by WWE star Darren Young, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and BioWare writer David Gaider (who'll be joining Ludwig and Susan). This is the final installment of the GaymerX conference series, but as President Toni Rocca told us earlier this year, GaymerX isn't dead. [Image: GaymerX]
Dragon Age gets Dorian, a gay guy with a 'stache of magic
BioWare writer David Gaider believes his personally penned Dragon Age character, Dorian, may be "controversial in some corners," but "a fully realized character to fans in the end." Dorian, a gay mage from Tevinter, joins the cast of Dragon Age: Inquisition having rejected the ruling hierarchy of his homeland.
GaymerX president on LGBT convention closing: 'We're still here'
LGBT-focused gaming convention GaymerX will be no more after this year's GaymerX2, being held July 11-13 at the InterContinental San Francisco hotel. But Toni Rocca, president of GaymerX and organizer of the con, isn't sad. Rocca told Joystiq she and the GaymerX organization did something new, something no one was doing two years ago, when the con was first announced. She's proud of what the GaymerX convention accomplished, and what's more, GaymerX as an organization will continue forward. This isn't the end of GaymerX, but a new beginning.
GaymerX2 will be final year for LGBTQ-focused con
A tweet from the official GaymerX Twitter account has announced that this year's GaymerX2, scheduled to take place in July of this year, will be the final year for the convention. The convention, which began just last year, was an event primarily focused on LGBTQ issues in gaming. "Based on feedback that we've gotten, the new focus towards diversity in the industry and budget, GaymerX2 will be the final year for the con," the GaymerX account posted. It appears that the latter of those may be one of the biggest contributing factors; the account also tweeted that, "the size of our event and the amount of money we were losing to put it on became too much of a burden to keep at this pace." Not all is dead and gone, however. The GaymerX account wrote, "we may one day do other, smaller events and we don't want to say gaymerX is forever gone." Joystiq has reached out to the GaymerX organizers for further comment and clarification. We will update if we hear back. [Image: GaymerX]
GaymerX2 funded, upcoming event to feature WWE guest Darren Young
All-inclusive gaming convention GaymerX2 met its funding goal in the first 48 hours of its recently launched Kickstarter campaign, securing July weekend dates for the upcoming San Francisco event. Launched last year, GaymerX is an LGBTQ-friendly expo celebrating diversity and inclusivity in gaming. Along with a series of panel discussions, this year's convention will feature a gaming space curated by IndieCade, a multi-musician concert, and a guest appearance by Fred Rosser (WWE Superstar Darren Young). The event will also host a public wedding, following up on a proposal accepted during last year's GaymerX. Organizers note that tickets will likely sell out prior to the event, making the Kickstarter project a reliable way to reserve entrance badges. Though the convention's initial funding goal has been met, continued backer support will fund additional bands, celebrity appearances, and game tournament prizes, among other announced stretch goals. [Image/Video: GaymerX]
GaymerX2 scheduled for July 2014
Queer geek culture convention GaymerX returns to San Francisco for "GaymerX2" from July 11-13, 2014. The convention has been expanded to three and a half days, with triple the capacity of this year's inaugural event, which included panels on gay and lesbian inclusion in games such as The Sims and BioWare's oeuvre. "For games to be taken seriously as the pieces of art that they are they can't live in a culture that is afraid to tackle and discuss issues like gender, sexuality, race, and identity," said GaymerX co-founder Matt Conn. "The amount of support that we've gotten for GaymerX shows that the gaming community is coming around to the idea of having serious debates on how to improve the medium." Tickets are available now at the GaymerX site. Cards Against Humanity is a sponsor of this year's event, which gives that team 10 months to come up with a special bonus deck just for the event. No, we're not being passive aggressive at all. Nope.
