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The Week in Gay Geek: what we owe Gary Gygax, another look at Watchmen and more!

Posted by
Lyle Masaki
 on March 7, 2008

  • By now all the 2d6 jokes have been used up:
    It speaks to his influence that a wide variety of sites were saddened to hear of the death of Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax this week. It's difficult to imagine what video games, comics, television or film would be like without the influence of D&D. Where would video games be now if Gygax's prototypical role playing game weren't around to inspire series like Ultima or The Bard's Tale -- or innovative games that mixed the RPG with elements of other types of games like the Grand Theft Auto series? What would our media be like if Gygax's game hadn't inspired an entire generation of nerds to become storytellers? It's hard to imagine what the pop culture landscape would be like today if not for the influence of D&D, a game that's colored the experiences of people who've never been in the same room as a Dungeon Master's Guide.
  • The postman's a person in you Simberhood, in your Simberhood:
    This week, EA Games put up a teaser site for The Sims 3 and some details about the game have already begun leaking out. How do you top a sequel that added genetics and realistic life spans to Will Wright's dollhouse game? This time Sims will live in a fully seamless neighborhood. Even more interestingly, the need meters have been thrown out, breaking the hunger/bladder/sleep cycle of the game.
  • Oh, I'll be watching:
    The upcoming Watchmen movie is probably the most scrutinized comic book movie projects, considering how the original comic is so challenging and respected. We got a visual idea of what to expect when pictures of the cast in costume came out this week. Check out a side-by-side comparison with the comic book versions. The Comedian is looking spot-on and I can easily see Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the role, but I wonder if Night Owl looks right in a different side-by-side:

    I'm can't tell if they dropped Night Owl's paunchiness or if that picture comes from a deceptive angle. (Not that photographing a dark costume against a dark background is helpful.) Admittedly, taking Patrick Wilson and giving him a costume with a paunch is rather like buying fillet mignon and making hamburgers but that paunch does go far in defining the character. My optimism is holding up, so far.
  • Solo UNIT:
    I'm usually pretty cynical about rumors concerning the Doctor Who franchise -- there's so much unfounded gossip going around that most of what you encounter turns out to be, well, rubbush. Still, sometimes you've gotta make an exception for rumors you'd like to see happen, like this one saying that Martha Jones' run on Torchwood might be setting up a spin-off focused on Dr. Jones and UNIT. I like the idea of this one as much as I liked the idea of Rose getting a spin-off -- very, very much. I hope this one happens.
  • A game that's mostly the shower scene:
    I told you previously about the... uhm, unusual, guy-objectifying Nintendo DS game Duel Love where a bunch of fight clubbing bishounen need someone to wipe their sweat off their bare torsos. Well, more details about the game came out at the Tokyo Game Show and suddenly this game was all over the video game blogs. The new information includes a trailer and a few more promo pix. Apparently the goal in this segment is to clear away the steam.

    I'd probably interested by this game simply for its cheesiness if the art didn't look so bland when you see it all put together. I think I'll keep my hopes up for a translation of Hunks' Workshop instead.
  • A Darkly Dreamt Game:
    And while we're on the topic of odd ideas for video games, this week brought the news that a game based on Dexter, the violent Showtime series starring Six Feet Under's Michael C. Hall. While I can see the various ways the show could be turned into a game, it'll be tricky and I can't imagine making a show like Dexter interactive will go unnoticed by the cultural watchdogs who are usually seen demonizing video games.
  • Suffering Sappho! No, wait, that's another comic:
    Here's another development that traveled quickly around the internets, have you heard about Buffy's latest love interest? (I'll keep if vague in case you haven't been spoiled.) So far, I've been doing the "wait for the trade tango" with Buffy's eight season, but the context for the moment makes it all sound rather well handled and not at all played for sensationalism. Anyone out there following the series, does the pairing come off nicely for you? More importantly, is Buffy season eight turning out to be more like season three or season six?
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer
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Week in Gay Geek
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