Edgy Edgertron

Two things today:

1.) Tim Langdell made a career out of trolling people with copyrights if they used the word "Edge" in their games or product's titles. At least one indie developer spent months and thousands of dollars making a video game on his own time, only for this cockbag to muscle him out of the profits to avoid a lengthy and costly legal battle. Then he tried to take on Edge Magazine.

I think just about anywhere you go, the justice system is going to be a little fucked. But I don't think there is a word in the English language to describe the reaming Tim Langdell got in court recently. This man and his dubious practice were not merely defeated; they were pulverized, down to the molecular level. Maybe it's wrong to be celebrating the public downfall of a complete jackass(see: Anthony Wiener), but if anyone deserved to be bent over the judicial barrel for all to see, it's this butthole. No one can say he doesn't deserve this, or that games in general won't be better off for it now that he knows he can't get away with that shit anymore.

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And 2.) Bioware is finally going to include the Female Shepard in their marketing for Mass Effect 3. In addition to the male variety.

Good. This is the right way to go about it, I think. Not one or the other, but both the male and female versions of Commander Shepard in the advertisements. To show that you have the option. And it'll be nice to see something other than BALD SCOWLING SPACE MARINE on the cover of a game where he doesn't really fit in(at least on the Collector's Edition).

Yes, this matters. There is a different, underlying context depending on the gender you play as in these games(and certainly everyone who plays the Mass Effect game has their preference for who is voicing this character, be it Jennifer Hale or the robot they got the play the dudebro version). Some squad-members are simply... there, if you're playing as a man or a woman. Just occupying space and not really advancing the story in any meaningful way. A switch of the gender of your main star can make those same characters integral to the interpersonal dynamic of your team. Representing both options here is only going to do this company good.

I wonder if they'll go with the default look for FemmeShep(as they went with the default male version for the marketing in the last two games), or if they'll get a little more creative with it. While my version of Shepard doesn't stray too far from the default settings, I'm kind of hoping Bioware goes with a dark-skinned take on her. Probably won't happen, but it'd be a nice gesture at least.

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~A.H.