Noticing the Male Gaze in Gamin
Have you ever noticed that the depiction of gender is dependent on the gaming platform? Growing up with video games and the revolution of various gaming platforms has allowed me to see the evolution in gender portrayals in the gaming world. When the Game Boy and Super Nintendo Entertainment systems were on the scene most of the games depicted hyper-masculine central characters that generally needed to save the world and dominate the female characters. Now with the introduction of gaming systems such as the Wii and the Xbox Kinect, whose target audience is the family, games for these systems are less subservient towards the males gaze.
The Online Gamer
3:48 PM
Liz Says
Some gamers just don’t realize they can’t behave the same way with each platform they use, especially if that platform is real life.
Caution: contains vulgar language and adult situations. Then again, it is on youtube, so how bad can it be?Musings on Hidden Innuendo in Mario Kart 64
3:40 PM
Liz Says
Like Lauren, I have early memories of my brother and I playing N64 – Mario Kart to be exact. My brother always played Yoshi, the swallowing, jumping, stomping dino sidekick of Mario’s, whereas I would select the lone female character, Peach.
Peach is the quintessential female character. She gets kidnapped constantly. She wears pink. And unlike her dwarf fungi subjects in the Mushroom Kingdom, she is a babe. She is blonde and blue-eyed and tall –much taller than her saviour, Mario. She is used to represent the ideal beauty, an epitome of femininity. She is the answer in Mario Kart to eye candy and a character that appeals to female gamers. Her 'kart' was considered ‘light’ so she was faster than larger characters, unlike her wannabe suitor and frequent captor Bowser. Bowser towers over Peach, his size being one physical indicator of power. The other being that he is a super mutant turtle creature, and not of the crime-fighting teenage ninja variety.
I always wondered why Bowser was always kidnapping the Princess. Were there really 'magic' mushrooms being hoarded in the mushroom kingdom? Or were the inventors trying to subtly engage their fan boys with a nuance of bestiality? He was always trying to marry her; we can’t say if all he was really after was the wealth, resources and eroding the land boundaries of her kingdom.
….
I don’t think I will ever think about Mario games the same way again.
Saved game on a different platform? It's possible!
3:36 PM
Liz Says
Have you ever saved and quit a pc game and thought, wouldn’t it be awesome to pick up where I left off on my iPhone or Xbox? Well recent technology shifts have given us the answer. At Tech Ed Middle East, a Microsoft engineer demonstrated just that using a Windows computer, a Windows 7 Series phone, and an Xbox 360. Granted all the platforms were created by Microsoft, the idea of syncing systems isn’t revolutionary – it’s just common sense. The technology keeps your games saved on a server, so whenever you load your game on a different platform, it allows you to pull up your previously saved game and continue. Microsoft needs to gimmicks to keep up with the competition and keep itself ahead in the gaming department over Sony. Of course it also keeps consumers buying Microsoft products and systems.
It’s a mixed blessing. On one hand you have most popular operating system, a top gaming system, and a quality audio device, interaction between them was inevitable and desirable. On the other the Microsoft definition of cross-platform can be translated as “Runs on Microsoft, and runs on Microsoft, and runs on Microsoft."
There is also the consideration of do you really want to play COD on your phone? In public?! Pass.
Noticing the Male Gaze in Gaming
5:54 PM
Unknown
Have you ever noticed that the depiction of gender is dependent on the gaming platform?
Growing up with video games has allowed me to see the revolution of various gaming platforms. One noticeable evolution is the gender portrayals in the gaming world. When the Game Boy and Super Nintendo Entertainment systems were on the scene, most of the games depicted hyper-masculine central characters that generally needed to save the world and dominate the female characters. Now with the introduction of gaming systems like the Wii and the Xbox Kinect, whose target audience is the family, games for these systems are less subservient towards the males gaze.
Plataformed
3:16 PM
Vladlena Mitskaniouk
Welcome to Plataformed!
This blog aims to help bring an informed perspective to the topic of video game platforms.x
This blog aims to help bring an informed perspective to the topic of video game platforms.x