THE INTERNET IS FOR SPORE:
Last geek I told you about the Spore creature creator, which had just made its debut. Since then, that sample of the highly anticipated evolution sim made quite a splash on the Internet. Sure, first it was the phallic creations that got plenty of attention, but those got boring quickly (even when EA threatened to ban users who uploaded naughty creatures). There were over a million creatures uploaded to the Sporepedia and plenty were interesting for other reasons.

Some gamers uploaded creatures that looked like video game controllers. Isn't that rather like having your sims play The Sims?

 

Those weren't the only inanimate objects to be turned into Spore creatures:

 

I found these creatures that resemble produce super kawaii (not that it stopped me from having a snack of steamed artichoke and a berry salad).

 

Does this mean I'll be able to create a world populated by vicious, carnivorous tomatoes in Spore? Can. Not. Wait.

 

GAYMERS ASSEMBLE!:
Hopefully this will be the amazing resource it promises to be: GayGamer.net net is looking to compile a list of all LGBT guilds and clans to be found. It's no fun signing on to a game where you don't know anyone and find yourself debating how honest you should be with any teams you may find, so hopefully this'll make it easier to find other LGBT gamers to connect with.

 

If you're a part of an LGBT clan or guild be sure to drop a line to the GayGamer.net guys and get your group added to the list.

 

After the break: Pride comes to Paragon City, Metal Gear Solid goes gay and more!

2007 was quite a year for gay geeks, with gay representation in comics books, on science fiction television and in video games being a frequent discussion topic. While these topics aren't entirely new, this year the discussion was at its most active.

On TV, we saw ourselves more often, especially on BBC America's Torchwood ... even though we had frustrating setbacks on shows like Heroes. Things looked incredibly bright for gamers, who found themselves expecting a good number of games with expected gay-inclusiveness and found it easier to find each other.

Additionally, gay geeks became more visible. Logo debuted its collection of animation, Alien Boot Camp,which included bumpers showing gay fans at comics and sci-fi conventions, as well as gay comic creators like Alison Bechtel. For a long time, this subset of queers weren't seen often, with gay geeks being happily surprised when they found each other, but that's changing as our visibility within the gay community increases.

Let's take a look back at the past year, shall we?

Here they come, the sound of drums

If we were to declare a king of the gay geeks, Russel T. Davies would be the candidate to beat. The Doctor Who producer did plenty to increase gay visibility on sci-fi television. The past season of Who regularly showed gay people as simply a part of the human tapestry. More importantly, 2007 was the year Torchwood made its USA debut. The series quickly became BBC America's biggest hit and, seeking to maintain the momentum from season one's success, the network announced that the second season will air only two weeks after it airs on BBC Three.

The success of Torchwood, as well as Doctor Who, is a significant development for gay sci-fi fans. On Torchwood, Captain Jack Harkness is a very different way of portraying queer men on television: as a dashing, heroic lead. Meanwhile, Captain Jack's return to Doctor Who this season continued to show his relationship with The Doctor as one having the kind of strained affection previously seen only with female companions like Sarah Jane Smith and Rose Tyler.

While Doctor Who is an obscure series for American fans, it's a major franchise in the UK and the series is the target of constant rumors and speculation regarding arrivals and departures both in front and behind the cameras. Those rumors included talk that Davies' may be cutting back on his Who duties with Steven Moffat taking over the series. Moffat wrote some of Who's most popular episodes and created the gay-inclusive Coupling and Jeckyll. If the speculation has any merit, Moffat sounds like a promising replacement.

We're still holding on for our hero on Heroes, Monday nights

For some media pundits, Heroes is a solid example of what diversity should look like on television,; but for people who actively advocate for increased diversity, the show is a mix of potential and problems. Last December, we noted that early promotion for the series had Zach as gay but that the show had suddenly turned away from the idea. Discussion into the character continued into the new year. Out producer Bryan Fuller confirmed that the character was written as gay, only to have those plans derailed by the management of Thomas Dekker, who played Zach. In its second season, Heroes was supposed to add a lesbian character but she, too, disappeared before becoming a major presence.

• Out of Outsiders:
  I haven't brought up the controversy over Batman and the Outsiders #1 so far because the situation has seemed a bit too complicated to fit after a bulletpoint. However, Lisa Fortuner does a good job putting it together. (As always when visiting Newsarama, I recommend avoiding the comment threads.) Basically, was DC deliberately trying to draw attention to the relaunched title (one of the few featuring gay characters) by handing it to a writer widely regarded as homophobic? Have they sunk to gay baiting as a way to get people talking about the title (one previously written by Judd Winick who has been honored by GLAAD multiple times) before its release?

• And to think that I'd never be disappointed in news about Fable or NiGHTS:
  Two notable news bites came in for gaymers this week. First, the gay-inclusive RPG Fable 2 is getting a release date ... kinda. The game is scheduled not to become available until "late 2008". Hm, I guess I have time to play catch up, then. (I still haven't finished my copy of Planescape: Torment myself.)
  
  Equally frustrating, it was announced that the Playstation 2 version of the campy classic NiGHTS into Dreams is currently planned as a Japan-only release.

• In this version, when you win we all lose... or maybe it's the other way around:
  Back in May, bloggers at Girl-Wonder introduced the Anti-Feminist Comics Bingo Card which put together every cliched argument that comes up whenever a discussion of female characters in Western comics comes up. It was a humorous way to note all the arguments that come up again and again -- usually from people who think they're the first ones to bring up such an idea. 
  
  The idea was one that resonated with a number of bloggers who created versions dealing with other areas of geekdom. Now, inspired by a post containing enough cliched anti-gay arguments that people weren't sure if it was serious Girl-Wonder's Kate Fiztsimons has created the Queer Comics Controversy BINGO card:
  
  
  
  
  
  I do think one common argument is missing from the BINGO card -- the one which tries to claim that LGBT people don't make up a big part of the population so there's actually a sufficient number of gay characters in comics. Sigh.

• After all, pretty elven men is the natural order of things:
  One arena where I still see homophobia in video game forums is the discussion of designing male and female avatars. I still encounter attitudes that believe that attractive female avatars should be normal and common but there's something wrong about a player who wants to have a good looking male avatar. After the brouhaha over same-sex marriage in the game, I was intrigued to hear that Lord of the Rings Online doesn't follow that trend. You can't make an elven male less pretty by giving him a macho scar and hobbit women have all the unglamorous hobbit features.

• Nomination summation:
  The Young Adult Library Services Association just announced its final list of nominations for Great Graphic Novels for Teens. I'm pretty pleased to see Dead High Yearbook (which is edited and includes a story by out creator Ivan Velez, Jr.) as well as Fumi Yoshinaga's very gay friendly YAOI title, The Moon and The Sandals on the list. (Pictured, a panel from Dead High.)

• Errors, regretted:
  Last week, I pointed to a New York Times profile of Gail Simone and repeated the Times' discussion of Simone as the first female writer to get an ongoing gig on Wonder Woman. That claim was the topic of debate at Comics Worth Reading, where CWR readers brought up runs by Mindy Newell and earlier writers. Simone makes an appearance in the comment thread to confirm that she doesn't see herself as breaking ground that way. For what it's worth, Simone is the first ongoing female Wonder Woman writer (Jodi Picoult did a fill-in run earlier in the year) since the Amazon was revamped in 1987.

• Link of the week:
  There's a new home for the LGBT (and LGBT-friendly) players of City of Heroes: City Folk offers a community where gay fans can plan events, recruit for supergroups and otherwise make connections. I can't really say if City of Heroes really is the most gay friendly MMO as Gay Gamer's Fruit Brute says, but the gay community of Paragon City is easily the best at getting the word out about their activity. If you sign up, tell 'em Lyle sent you!

• It's still too late for Wonder Woman, however:
  With all the grim news about the Writers' Strike, comic fans have a silver lining to hope for -- TV writers who dabbled in comics (only to leave their stories running late) might now have the time to return to those projects (reported in a variety of spots including Lying in the Gutters). Hey, if that means Allan Heinberg returns to Young Avengers (home to two of the coolest gay superheroes you haven't heard of), I could momentarily stop missing my Heroes.
  
  
• A new mayor in Paragon City:
  NC Soft buys out City of Heroes, taking most of the game's staff with it. (Jack "Statesman" Emmert isn't part of the transition. Judging from some of the comments he made on the game boards, I'm not sure if I'll miss him.) Considering how NC Soft has been incredibly supportive to the game's community of gaymers, I think CoH will hold onto its reputation as one of the most gay-friendly MMORPG games.
  
  
• Fighting evil by disco ball light, Winning love by disco ball light:
  The Absorbascon turns a snarky eye to Dazzler, one of the Marvel universe's most fabulous heroines. (That wimpy Jem wishes she were half as cool as Alison Blaire.) I loved Dazzler back in her day. I mean:

She fought supervillains wearing mirrored roller skates, with face paint make up while also carrying around a shiny little purse. Also:
She knew the secret to make-up that doesn't smudge easily. Too bad she didn't think of selling that secret... and don't get me started on how her bit of Marvel superhero family angst (™) was her search for her long-lost mother.

• Who wants to be a Fable?:
  Lionhead Studio is conducting a charity auction to become a supporting character in their upcoming game Fable 2. Will that make you one of the many characters your protagonist will be able to romance and marry?
  
  

• Link of the week:
  There's a new gay geek blog in town: enter DoorQ.com, which is chock full of reviews, news and previews. Now if I could get the webmasters to give me an RSS feed for Christmas, everything would be peachy.
  
  

Ask and you shall receive! While you can find plenty of talk about sexy video game women, you don't often find discussions about the guys, who are frequently easy on the eyes, too (though, not as frequently as with female characters). There are plenty of sexy video game guys and I could probably compose several different lists, each limited to just games from a few certain genres or a few companies' output. Of course, I'm sure I missed some of your favorites (since there are so many) so feel free to make your additions in the comments.

Don Lothario
From: The Sims 2

The Sims games have an incredibly loyal following, an audience that has a large gay segment. That loyalty is driven by the ability to create reality as you want it to be. You can determine your characters' sexual orientations and an active modding community means that the sims' world is only limited by other players' limitations. The Sims 2 also comes with a few storylines out-of-the-box, like that of Don Lothario, the new arrival to Pleasantville who's been romancing both Calliente sisters and heiress Cassandra Goth. Of course, in my version of Pleasantville, it turned out that Don was also having an affair with Cassandra's other suitor, Darren Dreamer...

El Blaze
From: Virtua Fighter 5

Sega's groundbreaking 3-D fighting game has long had stunning graphics (though it feels odd to look back at the first edition and try to remember when that was once innovative) but the latest editions have been stunning in the level of realism achieved. The third Virtua Fighter introduced detailed body motion and clothing that flowed realistically. (Watching Aoi's kimono sleeves move with her jabs was always a treat to watch and there was something titillating about seeing an underwear waistband exposed every time the shirtless Wolf reached forward.) The newest edition introduces a masked wrestler, El Blaze, who helps make sure there's no gender imbalance of sexiness in the Virtua Fighter series.

Samanosuke
From: The Onimusha series

As a young samurai fighting the evil of legendary historical villain Nobunaga Oda (who, in this case, gained much of his power from demonic help), Samanosuke has a steady resolve and strength that makes it possible to battle on as he discovers more and more of the horrors behind Oda's rise to power.

Darius
From: Mortal Kombat

So. I was getting nostalgic the old Mortal Kombat games (remember when that FMV was so impressive?), looking at the characters for the latest Armageddon game and then I found this guy with the sexy devil-may-care, calm demeanor of a young Samuel Jackson. Now I've really got to get a copy, as I'm curious to see this guy in motion. (The MK franchise certainly added plenty of characters since I last played it -- I don't recognize most of these fighters! Am I the only one unsurprised to see that Johnny Cage hasn't aged well, even with digital graphics on his side?)

• AKA Johnny Everythinghands
  GayGamer first brought my attention to Eternity's Child, a game that initially reminds me of Okami done with Western art, which will have a gay character. Now they've got more information on the game's gay character, who can replace his hands with various devices. He definitely has the potential to be very interesting (or, if not done just right, offensive). More reason for me to be wishing for a Wii. Check out the graphics below...
  

• Show your pride, Paragon City!
  Hey City of Heroes players! Celebrate your pride with City of Gaymers' "Out and Proud '07" dance on the Victory server on Thursday. The event celebrates National Coming Out Day and will meet under the statue of Atlas in Atlas Park at 6PM PDT. How come no one ever parties at the base of Galaxy Girl's statue? (Thanks to Knightengale for the tip!) Now, to figure out which of my various Victory alts to bring...
  
  
• The post-apocalyptic barren wasteland needs you!
  Speaking of gay friendly games, Fallout is having a tenth anniversary contest, asking for players to design a perk to be included in the upcoming Fallout 3.
  
  
• Street fair comic con
  If any Bay Area residents are planning to attend this weekend's Castro Street Fair, stop by the new Castro Street comic shop (how long has it been since I've walked past the Tully's?) Whatever... where Bay Area comic creators will be signing comics all day. Finding gay creators whose work you enjoy and supporting them is one positive way to help gay representation in comics.
  
  
• Gay site of the Week!
  If you can't wait until Sunday to get your hands on some positive gay superheroes, check out Boy Meets Hero, a webcomic that combines classic superhero action with a steamy same-sex romance.
  
  I love creator Chayne Avery's visual style, which mixes so nicely with Russell Garcia's coloring.