#femhype

'The Arcana' Developers Cast a Spell Over Fans & We're So Here for It

When it comes to mainstream gaming, being late to the party is not usually considered a badge of pride. Although attitudes are thankfully shifting, it can sometimes feel as though the flurry of initial engagement has waned for players who discovered an older title too late. Reviews, livestreams, Easter eggs, entire walkthroughs of each and every ending — they’re published with such immediacy that the impact of all this content can bleed into the expectations for a game way before the player has even reached for a controller.

By contrast, The Arcana welcomes latecomers with a gripping episodic storyline, enchanting setting, and gloriously enthusiastic community of fans. And that fandom is still going strong for one very important reason.

The development company is Nix Hydra, which is based in L.A. and founded by women. They are committed to “making magical, colorful, bold products for young women and anyone else traditionally ignored by the gaming industry,” as per their Kickstarter. One of the team’s latest ventures is The Arcana, which is an otome-inspired visual novel for iOS and Android that flirts with a sinister mystery beneath its rich illustrations.

Feminist blogs:

http://bikiniarmorbattledamage.tumblr.com/ - critiques horrible costumes of video game female characters and the rhetoric defending them

http://eschergirls.tumblr.com/ - user-submitted gallery of ridiculous depictions of women in the media, focusing on anatomy

http://yayfeminism.com/ - general feminist blog

Feminist news sites:

https://femhype.com/- video game news site specifically for women and non-binary people

https://www.themarysue.com/- geek culture news site focused on diversity

Positive female-led blogs and comics:

http://fuckyeahwomeninarmor.tumblr.com/, http://babesinarmor.tumblr.com/, http://fuckyeahwarriorwomen.tumblr.com/- posts amazing art of women in practical armor

http://www.rejectedprincesses.com/- shares the stories of women throughout history in a Disney-esque style; stories are organized with a movie rating scale

http://strongfemaleprotagonist.com- follows the story of a famous ex-super heroine as she tries to help the world without using her powers

http://rockandriotcomic.com/- follows the story of LGBTQ+ teen gangs learning about themselves in the 1950′s

Researchers Talk the Exciting Rise of Queer Representation in Games

Hey, folks! This is Jess Zammit and Alayna Cole (who has written for FemHype before) from @queerlyrepme, and we’re excited to share some new projects with you!

If you haven’t heard about Queerly Represent Me, we’re a research organization focused on exploring representations of sexuality and gender in games, and supporting queer folks who love to play games or who work in the games industry. We create resources and speak at conferences about queer representation, and provide links to all sorts of wider reading that cover a wide range of topics.

We also maintain a database of games that feature queer characters and themes. It currently includes over 800 games, and we’re adding more all the time (with the help of our readers who provide tips about what games we’re missing).

Researching awesome queer content has inspired us to create more ways of connecting with our wonderful community — people like you! If you’d indulge us, we’d love to share some of the games we’ve had the joy of researching, the ways they inspire us, and the new projects we’re working on.

Achievement Unlocked: Homecoming

Three years ago today, I opened a little space on the internet. It would take me on a wild ride across the country, meeting people who I’ve come to hold very close to my heart, and fighting for visibility in an industry that too often ignored and outright harassed entire swaths of fans and developers alike. We’ve accomplished so much since then. 

I say we because none of FemHype’s success would have been possible without you, the crew that came together — stayed together — and formed an absolutely incredible community that I’m deeply humbled to have been part of. You taught me so much, and for that, I can’t begin to thank you enough. Each and every one of you is so important to me. Thank you for existing. Thank you for fighting. And thank you for being you.

I know this sounds like a goodbye, and it is — sort of.

Planting the Seed: Patience & Nurture in Virtual Gardening

I love gardening in video games. Planting the seeds, watering them, watching out for that first little sprout and then seeing it grow. The themes and ideas behind gardening can add so much more depth to a narrative or, in the case of video games, meaning within the player. In the book Gardening – Philosophy for Everyone: Cultivating Wisdom, Dan O’Brien explains:

“Gardening is not just a pleasant thing to do on a Saturday afternoon, or a way to reduce one’s supermarket bill — gardening is a human activity that engages with core philosophical questions concerning, among other things, human well-being, wisdom, the nature of time, political power and ideals, home, aesthetic experience, metaphysics, and religion.”

Even though gardening is used very rarely as a game mechanic, I’ve found it to be a relaxing and reflective process. Video games have the potential to conjure up vast and unique emotions within a player, and I think the ambient and thoughtful process of gardening makes its own contribution toward this. Some might consider relaxing activities mundane, but there is much to learn from these slow, meaningful styles of play. So, what influence does the act of virtual gardening have on the player?​

An Open Letter to Nintendo From a Lifelong Fan

Dear Nintendo, Another E3 has come and gone. You unveiled a plethora of games that your fans, myself included, are eager to pick up and play. However, despite my excitement for what you have planned for the near and distant future, I still can’t help but feel disappointed in your continued stance on the subject of “politics” in video games. Remember what happened on June 15th? A brief interview surfaced involving Reggie Fils-Aimé, Nintendo of America’s president. He spoke to a reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and during the interview, Reggie had this to say:

“Making political statements are for other people to do. We want people to smile and have fun when they play our games.”

This statement continues your long history of claiming that video games are apolitical; that gamers from all walks of life can simply play your games and have fun, similar to the Walt Disney Company’s marketing strategy of a “family-friendly” experience. However, this claim is widely inaccurate, as all video games — no matter who developed them — are political in the same way that all forms of media are. While you’ve certainly developed a number of games that make players “smile and have fun,” this is not a phrase that many of your fans would agree with.

You've Got the Love: 6 Upcoming Games From #EGX2017

Last week, I spent Friday and Saturday at EGX. It's the biggest games event of the year in the UK with blockbuster publishers such as Ubisoft, Square Enix, SEGA, and more set up alongside the varied and exciting indie contenders. Live national eSports tournaments are broadcast and talented cosplayers enjoy the spotlight all crammed into Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre (NEC). I came, I saw, and I played some really excellent games from odd gems to triple-A giants. Here are six of my favorite upcoming releases from the festival. I hope you find something that catches your eye, too!

Etherborn

What’s it like? A mind and gravity bending puzzle platformer that offers challenging and rewarding gameplay, supplemented by a meditative soundtrack.

Etherborn is not only gorgeous to play, but watching it over someone’s shoulder is similarly captivating as the glowing figure traverses low-poly ethereal environments. At the beginning, there is a bit of trial and error to understand where gravity lies, but as the puzzles become increasingly intricate, it’s a quietly gratifying experience. It’s never punishing – in fact, I really appreciated the beam of light underneath the character, as it shows where you’ll land and enables you to quickly rectify a mistake. Spinning the cubic levels around really showcases every angle of Altered Matter’s achievements, and it’s like the player enjoys an integrated photo mode as a tourist to these dreamy worlds.

Fans of Monument Valley, Proteus, and Portal will feel absolutely at home in Etherborn.

Robots Don't Interact: Why Humans & AI Will Never Understand Each Other

Lindsey is the co-founder of F-BOM.com, a science fiction, fantasy, and feminist book club. Every quarter, F-BOM hand-picks a talented, self-published author and distributes a special edition of her book to club members. F-BOM is more than just a book club — for as little as $5 a month, members will be actively investing in the future of women in science fiction and fantasy.

Artificial Intelligence has long been a mainstay fixture in the science fiction genre. Indeed, AI as a plot device can carry an entire movie or television show and keep us riveted to the screen. The cultural significance of AI in entertainment increases as we grow ever more tantalizingly close to achieving human-like artificial intelligence in real life. As early as a month ago, Snopes investigated the slightly exaggerated claim that Facebook would be shutting down their AI. This was allegedly due to the fact that AI were creating their own incoherent language to more efficiently talk to one another.

It makes sense that human language (especially English) would not be efficient enough for a robot’s taste. Let’s look at some examples of AI that struggle with human communication — and vice versa.