Geek Woman's Gaming Guides

Obsolete, Old School or Retro?

2008-11-18T19:45:23Z

I just posted an editorial about video games and how time passes and effects the value of what we cherish, go check it out Obsolete, Old School or Retro?

Horror Reviews Continue

2008-11-11T00:12:06Z

I've done lots of reviews of horror theme games on me website Geek Woman Speaks so go see it! Bioshock, Silent Hill Homecoming Hells Kitchen and more.

Thank Heaven for Soul Calibur Girls

2008-08-11T20:56:36Z

I've been playing Soul Calibur 4 and it is pretty awesome. Read my review over on my website Geek Woman Speaks

Reviews and News

2008-07-07T22:35:07Z

Woo I hit 9000 views on my Myspace blog. Nice round number. It's pretty tiny next to the number of readers that I have at my website tho. Geek Woman Speaks I had a great 4th and I posted two reviews one of Harry Potter and the other is Burnout Paradise City. Did you know that th latest version of PS3 firmware was bricking consoles and got pulled? I need someone to Build Better Cat Toy and I wrote a tech blog about my cats. Yes I did. There is also a 3D steoscopic photo from Half Life 2, and stories about Ubisoft games for Macs and the latest word on the PS3 website being hacked, plenty to see today so enjoy!

Harry Potter, Burnout Paradise, Build a Better Cat Toy

2008-07-06T18:01:40Z

I've been really busy this week putting up news and reviews at my website I did Reviews of Harry Potter, and Burnout Paradise and an Ediorial called Make a Better Cat Toy about my cat and the iPod. Stop by over at Geek Woman Speaks

Virtua Fighter 5, Rainbow 6 Vegas 2

2008-06-27T13:10:57Z

I was so busy that I forgot to mention that I've been back to work all week. I put Reviews Up Virtua Fighter 5, Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 at my website Geek Woman Speaks

Heavenly Sword 2 Axed Spore Released

2008-06-17T16:35:51Z

You may be disappointed by what I found out about Heavenly Sword 2 Axed. but at least there is good news and a playable build of Spore Released so go visit my website for the latest news and reviews about women and video games. Geek Woman Speaks

Vacation / Back Injury

2008-06-11T16:36:13Z

I'm back from vacation / back injury after a few weeks off. Luckily this time of the summer is usually slow for games news. I've been playing games though - from a laying down position. So there is a back log of reviews to post. Oh and if you care, the back pain made it impossible to sit upright to type, or to walk, stand up or lie down. Kindof like what Ellen did earlier this year. Only worse. And none of the pills.
Without E3 being in May there was sort of a black hole this year in the games industry. Game websites and even XPlay were doing little features like. 'The top 5 things to find in GTA', or the '5 things that would make a better Assassins' Creed game'. Yep. I even did one - "What I Expect in Next Gen Games".
So back aches and bullshit aside, hopefully I will be back to work on the website soon. No applause, please. Just send money. (Buy My Book First Person Feminist)

"Thirty-Six flavors of Titties"

2008-05-03T01:22:22Z

I've been very busy playing games and writing up a storm. I've also posted these recently too. So head on over to my website and take a look. Thirty -six Flavors of Titties A GTA IV Review.
The Darkness PS3 Review
Devil May Cry 4 PS3 Review
Elder Scrolls : Oblivion PS3 Game of the Year Edition
Condemned 2 Bloodshed PS3 Review
Lair PS3 Review
Skate PS3 Review
Blacksite: Area 51 PS3 Review
Sega Bass Fishing Wii Review
Three Mobile Games from Long Tail Studios
Assassin's Creed PS3 Review

Review of Assassin's Creed

2008-03-24T19:39:02Z

I put up the review of Assassin's Creed today. It is a very interesting experience. I found that I had lots to say about the game. I actually had a good time playing it, and I am reluctant to send it back to GameFly. There have been about three games that I wish were in my collection for one reason or another and that one was one of them, I think. It is a weird sort of game it stays with you. Go read it over at my website Geek Woman Speaks

Halo 3 Schedule, Condemned 2 Bloodshot Preview, Blacksite Area 51 & Skate Reviews

2008-03-11T03:44:54Z

Condemned 2 Bloodshot is looking very gnarly! Go see the trailer at my website I did reviews of Blacksite Area 51, and Skate. The Skate review is pretty strong. Then I also did an editorial about the casual games craze and how shooters are trying to cash in on it. The Spring Holiday Events schedule for Halo 3 is up there too. Geek Woman Speaks

3D Interactive Woman

2008-03-07T14:49:49Z

I put up this amazing demo of the Motion Portrait software. There is this pretty 3D girl that is animated and it seems like she is looking right at you., her eyes follow you. It's very uncanny Go see her on my website. Geek Woman Speaks Motion Portrait

Racist Escapist

2008-02-27T16:14:05Z

If you believe that people who are not racists are color blind then you might not have found the “No Punctuation” review of Uncharted: Drakes Fortune on G4 last night, which was put out by the Escapist, to be funny. As a person of color I found the reviewers comments to be offensive. That type of divisive and racist review is not something that is needed in these difficult times. It isn’t right to be exploitive just to get a cheap laugh.

The review claimed that the game had many enemies that were people of color. I’ve played the game, and in fact I am working on my review right now. But I never noticed the race of the non player characters.

In the infamous episode of South Park titled “Chef Goes Nanners” when Chef insists that the South Park flag is racist the point is that ‘people who only see people’ are color blind. When the South Park Mayor requests that Chef point out what is racist about the flag you are shown that it depicts four white figures hanging a black one on a gallows. The obvious racial characteristics incite Chef’s indignation. At the end however Chef realizes that when the children looked at the flag and only saw five people he was touched. The ending is a unifying feel good moment.

The comic from the Escapist was not. Although the artwork in the comic did look a good deal like a rip - off of that particular South Park episode. Enough so that you might ask if it was a slam at South Park as well as the game developers of Uncharted. I found it hard to believe that the Editors at the Escapist paid for that particular cartoon because of its racial slant. Unfortunately publicity stunts like this lower whatever credibility that website had.

The review was in poor taste. On many levels by pointing to it, it revealed the darkness of spirit of the reviewer. The British sounding narrator of the animated comic probably should have looked at some of his own history. Unless the English sounding accent was fake, the reviewer should have known that it was England that originated the practice of enslaving and much later hiring indigenous people in their explorations and colonizations of America, India and a host of other undeveloped nations.

Uncharted : Drakes Fortune takes place in the jungles of fictitious tropical island where, in the imagination of these story tellers, white labor would be scarce. The mercenaries that were available to hire happened to be people of color, because that is where they reside. It’s unlikely that the greedy white pirate who was after Nathan Drake’s treasure would have imported a lot of Brits to do his dirty work on a remote island. Though someone with ready cash might be able to fund a band of mercenaries that could presumably found in any port.

I am curious if the reviewer would find fault with Sherpas who are travel guides and accuse them of not being equal opportunity employers. Or if in John Woo’s Stranglehold which takes place in the streets of Hong Kong he would find fault with the enemies having an Asian look, and suggest that there be equal numbers of blacks and whites to shoot up in that story as well. At that point it becomes too ridiculous to even mention.

The Escapist, a subsidiary of Themis Group, dropped their odd ball format and stopped trying to be a “Magazine” in 2007, and went to a once a week update. Originally they had a strange format that was a failed attempt to emulate a real paper printed magazine, which did not fit into a normal browser and cut back to once a week. After that predictably failed they went to a normal format like other websites. In an attempt to boost their waning readership they began to put on You Tube artist Zero Punctuation which does animated video reviews that are narrated and drawn by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw. According to Wikipedia Croshaw was hired in August of 2007 to produce video reviews for The Escapist. Apparently this stunt has led to an increase in the Escapist’s traffic. Like the mercenaries in Uncharted, you get what you pay for.

WoW Gamers Being Investigated by the US Dept of Intelligence

2008-02-25T20:55:45Z

In a very disturbing story I found out that WoW MMO Gamers Are Being Investigated by the US Dept of Intelligence. This is no joke or rumor, It is true. I have the full story on my website and the refrences are from Wired. Their source checks out. Tell everyone you know and make sure that every gamer you know hears about this. The best thing to do would be to flood Blizzard Entertainment with letters, and calls. If you have any Democratic senators in your state you better email them about this too. This is a very bad thing. Go read the story, seriously. Geek Woman Speaks

In other better news today I put up a trailer of Lego Indiana Jones, took a look at new screen shots of PS3 Home and did my review of Unreal Tournament 3 PS3 which I love, love love. It's an awesome FPS. I'm so into that right now. So go see Geek Woman Speaks

really?

2008-02-15T16:16:30Z

take the WHAT BAD BOOK ARE YOU test.

and go to mewing.net. not as good as reading a good book, but way better than a bad one.

Heavenly Sword, Pirates of the Carribean Reviews, New Chat Room

2008-02-13T02:01:19Z

I've just put a chat room into my website. come over and speak to me, Geek Woman live online in the newly created chat room I'm online all day and practically all night gamaing and writing so why not stop by to ask questions about upcoming games, or to mention what a cutting edge writer I am, and to tell me how much you are enjoying reading First Person Feminist! Come over and help me test it out!
I've just put up the review of Heavenly Sword and Pirates of the Carribean.

Romancing the Sony

2008-02-10T20:31:00Z

I've been playing the hell out of the new PS3 and I woke up this morning with an editorial article in my head. I've also put up an extensive article about the success of the anime/manga Bleach at my website Geek Woman Speaks

Tomb Raider Underworld First Look, Rub a Dub, Go Go Gourmet

2008-02-07T17:06:05Z

I've been working hard this week to get lots of reviews done. It is promising to be a banner year in the games industry. It's great to have the means to keep up. I scouped Go Go Gourmet, I think I'm the first critic to review that new cooking game. I also reviewed the Rub a Dub a puzzle game on PS3 and I put up several game play trailers and videos. There is also a first look at the new Lara Croft game Tomb Raider Underworld video and my reviews from the weekend. Including a video review of the DS game Drawn to Life. So if you want to see me, I'm there.
Guess what, Dungeons and Dragons has invited me back to review the game for as long as I want. It's been at least a year, and I've heard nothing but good things about how the game has improved. So it will be time to clear all those Pirates off my hard drive and get back to hard core sword and sorcery as it should be! Tons of reviews and videos at my website go see. Geek Woman Speaks

Pirates of the Burning Sea, Stranglehold, Heavenly Sword, Female Avatars

2008-02-04T17:32:25Z

I just did an editorial about up coming games that have female avatars. A few of them are out there and there are a few more to come this year. Well I'm off to dig up the latest news. Go see that article Female Avatars '08 and lots of other reviews too like Pirates of the Burning Sea for PC, Stranglehold for PS3, and Drawn to Life on DS

CGS Chooses Massively Misogynistic Exec Team

2008-01-16T17:37:13Z

CGS Chooses Massively Misogynistic Exec Team

Championship Gaming SeriesTM (CGS) has chosen an all male executive team. Once again proliferating the sexist practices that have become so routine in the games industry that they didn't give a thought to making the six person leadership all guys. It has been mentioned by the top female game website repeatedly that the persistent stereo types in the technology industries continue to promote only men to the top positions. This has unfortunately been the case especially when it regards contests.

Beginning with the well known boycott in june of '06 of contests by the world's top female game clans the Frag Dolls and the PMS Clan. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6152922.html?print=1 Did no good to raise consciousness among men in the video game industry. Recently outrage from women was focused on the sexist contest held by IGN, Eidos and Myspace. http://www.womengamers.com/articles/exploit.php How this latest announcement of corporate exclusion of women at the top paying levels will effect current female participants in the game challenge, remains to be seen.

Apparently the new spin doctors hired by CGS, Fleishman-Hillard, didn't advise them about the backlash they would get after putting out press releases touting the big hire. Only one of the men on the corporate executive type team have any actual experience in the video game industry.

Job one guys, fire at least three of yourselves and hire some of the highly qualified women who are very much involved in the video games industry.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAMING SERIES ANNOUNCES ALL-STAR EXECUTIVE TEAM

January 16, 2008 - Los Angeles, CA - Championship Gaming SeriesTM (CGS), the only worldwide professional video gaming league, today formally rounded out its executive team. Drawing top talent from all corners of the sports, entertainment, new media and gaming industries, the team includes Geoff Stevens as Chief Operating Officer, Michael Burks as Executive Producer, Kieve Huffman as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Sales, Michael Widman as General Counsel. Scott Valencia as Senior Vice President of Operations and Jason Katz as Vice President of Global Marketing.

N'Gai - N'No?

2008-01-15T03:19:52Z

I don't know if you read this article by the games writer at Newsweek today, since Kotaku was quoting it. Game Publishers Have Contempt for Press
And yeah to some extent it's true. But gees did ya have to put out all that dirty laundry? Now everyone knows. Gees. It's like having someone tell the world that we were all sexually abused.

I feel like a certain ammount of trust and respect has to interplay between Journalists and PR departments. I use the word Journalist for a reason. I don't mean the thousands of idiots that can't spell or write a coherent thought that attempt to be "game reviewers". There needs to be a level of professionalism, and yeah I'll say it - maturity, in order to be objective, and to do the job with some integrity. I find myself typing that word often lately.

Far be it for me to disagree because for the most part what he says is true. But I think that the reason is that PR people are on point, and have to make distinctions between legitimate writers and bloggers and the asshats that are just pretending. They usually look for numbers, and that is the default language of the corporate world.

In my experience almost every PR person that I have ever dealt with has been very nice, including Sony, that I can remember ... (ok except for Lord of the Rings Online). PR people are usually so super nice that it makes me think that these must be what "people persons" are, those mysterious alter egos to us reclusive geeks.
I'm sure no one wants to hear that their game has flaws, but they do, and that is what testers like myself are here for. I think that if PR is having a problem with what you say, you don't get into a thing over it, because they are always going to make another game down the road that will be fantastic. Sure it's harder to give a harsh review to a game where you know and like alot of the people involved, but you ultimately have to reflect on the reason we do it. It's FOR THE READERS. That is where your loyalty has to be, both for the writer and the game publisher.

Since CES I've been working lots with gadgets and cutting edge new tech on the website. Geek Woman Speaks
My hits continue to make me stare, I am so grateful to have so many readers, worldwide.

Poirot Game Unexpectly Fun

2008-01-08T01:00:26Z

Today I did a review of Agatha Christie's Peril at End House It is aactually alot more fun than you'd think from the title. It's a top shelf puzzle game. Really quaint. I also noticed a couple new gadgets. ATI has a new graphics card coming out, and there's a Japanese investor working with a company in new Mexico to make lenses from liquids.

Gamers Movie Goes Bigtime

2008-01-05T15:02:19Z

So guess what, remember that funny movie that came out on indie last year - they got a deal finally. And the head honcho was nice enough to remember to thank me. Yep shmooze the press, we love it. the story is as always over here at my website Geek Woman Speaks

Right now I am playing a few casual games Agathat Christies Peril at Endhouse which is alot of fun, review soon, and Dream Day Wedding First Home. They are both good if you like puzzles.

Gees Tabula Rasa is sooo frigging hard I am having a hell of a time getting into it and getting past any missions. It is tough going, and writing the review is going to be a nightmare. I loves my NCSoft, but this game just isn't my cup of tea. Next up are full reviews on Lineage 2, Dungeon Runners, and Pirate of the Carribean. Then after that hopefully will be time to get my whole PS3 segment happening.

Xbox Live Downtime Caused by Hackers

2008-01-04T04:39:42Z

Wow, this is a scoup... I was just doing the news and I found out that the Xbox Live Downtime was Caused by Hackers read the full story on my website Geek Woman Speaks