by Melinda Snodgrass | Mar 11, 2015 | Game/Writing
I want to start jotting down my thoughts about Dragon Age: Inquisition, but let me first put up a warning. I can’t really talk about this game without spoilers so if you haven’t finished, or haven’t started the game — maybe don’t read my musings about the game. *********************************************************************************************************** Okay, now that the disclaimer is out of the way…. I really loved this game. I...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Nov 14, 2014 | Game/Writing
I started a new Dragon Age campaign here in CA on the new XBox 360. For the first time I played the human origin story where you are the child of the Tyrn of Highever. I chose to play a son because I didn’t really want to try romancing Alistair, and I thought I would try to get through the sappy romance with Liliana this time. Anyway, I’m up to the point where you deal with the civil war and I’m finding myself actually giving serious considerations to the upcoming choices....
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 17, 2014 | Game/Writing
So the gamergate spat has finally gone mainstream, and a good thing too since there are now two women in the gaming industry who have been driven from their homes over virulent on-line threats, and the posting of their personal information including their addresses. And Anita Sarkeesian had to cancel her talk in Utah. What is infuriating me is how gamers keep making excuses for this inexcusable behavior, and how many of those excuses are just flat out lies. Let’s start with Zoe Quinn...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 12, 2014 | Game/Writing
So a third prominent woman in the gaming industry has been threatened with rape and death. Now Brianna Wu has been forced to flee her home. You can find one of the many articles here Polygon. This is starting to send me into a headache inducing rage. Yeah, boys, we are entitled in to come into the treehouse. I love video games, but this is starting to make me embarrassed to admit the passion. And what really amazes me is the inability of these boys (I won’t dignify them by calling...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 22, 2013 | Game/Writing
Those of you who follow me on Facebook know I’ve been struggling with trying to obtain a DLC (downloadable content) for an older video game called Knights of the Old Republic hereinafter referred to as KOTOR. This game was released in 2003 and won Game of the Year — deservedly so, it’s a terrific game, and in researching for this post I discovered why. My friend Drew Karpyshyn wrote the game, and it’s bloody brilliant. An absolutely great story. It’s a pity Lucas didn’t hire Drew for...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Oct 1, 2013 | Game/Writing
I can’t bear to think about the disfunction in Washington and the nihilism and lack of empathy of the Republicans so instead I’ll go back to game world, and bring up a point that occurred to me about the jarring tone set by Citadel when it has to fall in the middle of this life and death battle for the galaxy. There is a brief interaction with Zaeed (one of my favorite characters) where he is cursing a blue streak as he tries to win a stuffed toy for a little boy who is crying....
