The Gay Geek (June 19, 2008)

Trilogy of game hype:
Three upcoming games highly anticipated by gay gamers – Spore (from Will Wright, who created the inclusive Sims series), Fallout 3 and Fable 2 – have been building the hype lately as their release date nears.

First off, the contents of the Fallout 3 Collectors Edition have been released. The package includes a Vault Boy Bobblehead, a Vault Tec lunch box, a ‘making of’ DVD as well as an art book.

I can’t help but be a little tickled at the big deal Fallout 3 is getting considering how, a few years back, the series looked like one that would be doomed to be one of those “Brilliant but underappreciated” game series that never seemed to sell as well as the game’s quality merited. Dare I hope Planescape sees a similar revival?

Meanwhile, the official site for Spore has launched and a small portion of the game -- the creature creator -- went on sale Tuesday.

You can show the world your creations or check out other Spore-heads' creations at the Sporepeida. Is it just me or is there something about those creatures that make me think of Dr. Seuss?

For those of you eagerly awaiting Fable 2, here are some more screenshots to drool over. The graphics certainly looks improved. I'm hoping a PC version is eventually released, but for now I'm left wondering whether my machine will be able to handle the graphics.

Streets of Stonewall:
Pride is coming to the world of webgames later this week when the website Burning Village releases a Streets of Rage-style side-scrolling fighter based on the Stonewall Riots, Stonewall Brawl. While the game is well-intentioned, hoping to teach younger queer gamers about the landmark moment in gay history, it’s also generating a bit of pre-release controversy.

The first comment at GayGamer.net wonders if the game will do more harm than good asking, “Who wants to bet Fox News gets a hold of this and uses it to show that gay people hate cops and want to beat them up?”

Meanwhile, over at the Bilerico Project, Waymond Hudson asks if the game will reflect the diversity of the people who were actually a part of the Stonewall Riots and wonders if making a game about the Stonewall Riots trivializes such a key event for the gay community.

While I think those are important concerns, I’ll wait until the game gets released on June 22 to make any judgments. As far as I can tell, all we have so far is a short description and a screen shot, so there could easily be more to the game. Still, it’s not to early to ask if creating a game about the Stonewall Riots automatically trivializes it.

What do you think: Is it okay to set a game in a cutlurally significant moment like the Stonewall Riots?