The Week in Gay Geek: "Star Trek Online" has gay potential, "Hard Heroes" and more!

THE FINAL MMO FRONTIER:
City of Heroes gets a lot of coverage here, and that's partly because the superhero MMO has an active gay community, one that's really good at getting the word out about their activities. I'm starting to wonder if the upcoming Star Trek Online will be the next MMO to have a major gay presence. The game isn't even out yet and there's an online community for gay players, the Stonewall Fleet. This shouldn't be surprising, considering the loyal gay following Star Trek has held.

Star Trek Online

It'll be interesting to see if Star Trek Online can capture the appeal of the classic sci-fi franchise. The game is being developed by Cryptic Studios, who gave us City of Heroes (and is also working on the Champions MMO), which has gamers hopeful. On the other hand, Star Trek Online is heading into new(ish) territory when it comes to being the Captain of your own ship; that aspect of Pirates of the Burning Sea didn't work for me and I can't think of an MMO that's become a hit with ship-based gameplay. It'll be interesting to see setting the MMO decades after The Next Generation will help or hurt the immersive feeling of the game. Still, undoubtedly there will be missions in the Mirror Universe (which was even able to give us a good Enterprise episode) which should be pretty cool.

Anyone excited about Star Trek Online? What are you hoping for in a Trek MMO?

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE POCKET-SIZED?
The gamers at LesbianGamers.com asked an interesting question recently, wondering if the iPhone opens up games to more gay content:

"Given the ease with which programming and distribution – via the Apps Store – has been made by Apple, one would imagine it is only a matter of time before some smart gay programmers are out there releasing gay themed RPG's, utilities and other software on the device. Apple are only charging a bare minimum set up cost for the ADK ($100 at time of writing) and they take care of all distribution and credit card transactions (though they take a 30% cut – which is more than fair) linked to the software developed (or you can put it up as a free application)."

Could gay-inclusive games like The Hook Up find their way on the iPhone?

"Technically the iPhone also has additional features your other gaming handhelds lack. Features like the GPS and camera could add additional functionality to games. These aside though the accessibility of the iPhone for developers is where it's way ahead of the pack and with this accessibility should – hopefully – come an array of games which throw old conventions out the window."

Basically, the gay gaming potential of the iPhone lies in open-source development, low barriers to distribution and the creative culture that Apples encourages among its customers. The website for The N (home to queer-inclusive series like Degrassi and South of Nowhere) has a lesbian-inclusive dating sim, The Hook Up, which, from what I've seen, is very popular and is about the right size for a mobile platform. Could the iPhone open the potential for these kinds of games to finally become available?

AFTER THE BREAK: Gratuitous beefcake, do you really need more?

THIS. GETS MORE RIDICULOUS THE MORE WE THINK OF IT:
Northstar has been a pretty hot topic in the past couple months, especially with his recent death in Ultimate X-Men, which restarted plenty of debates. The latest bit of fuel comes as Brian Cronin notes that Northstar has been kissed in the comics -- by Rogue, a carny lady and a nun.

Northstar's kissed a lot more women than men

While I see gay characters making a few, small steps forward in the current Ultimate X-Men, I do get frustrated with these reminders of how slowly the character has progressed.

NOT A WONDER, WONDER WOMAN?
Well, this might generate a bit of discussion: Last week, the LA Weekly's Topless Robot blog offered 10 Reasons No on Cares About Wonder Woman, which tries to explain why people care about "all the things that Wonder Woman could be" but don't get to attached to the comics. With a few exceptions, most of the problems come down to different ways of how William Moulton Marston was a bad writer who left the character with too much baggage. And, honestly, panels like this do offer support to that point:

William Moulton Marston works out his issues on the pages of Wonder Woman

What strikes me, however, is that Wonder Woman hasn't been put in the hand of many writers known for strong female characters, something that's rare in the first place among superhero comics. What's a bigger problem for Wonder Woman, a bad history that goes all the way back to Sensation Comics or just the matter of superhero comics' problems with heroines?

WE'VE GOT BEEFCAKE SIGN!
Oh, I can't resist an opportunity to link to some gratuitous beefcake and this one mixes it with a good cause. Hard Heroes is a benefit for Being Alive LA, an organization that helps HIV-positive people. There's plenty of spandex worn (as well as bodypainted hotties) and Aman Chaundhary has plenty of pictures from the event.

Venom and Midnighter at the Hard Heroes benefit

I do like that the Venom costume gives an excuse for the exposed skin. That's just a taste,  so be sure to head over to Aman's site for more.