This Issue of Racial Diversity in Video Games

As an African-American gamer, the issue of race in video games has been a concern of mine since the around the middle of my adolescence. Much like in many forms of media consumed in America, it could be quite hard to find people of color within them, especially in leading roles and in video games it's even harder. Why is that? The simple answer to that in my opinion is because we don't have many people of color in the game industry. The game industry is dominated by Western whites and the Japanese. Those people will typically make characters that look more like them, but the odd issue with that is that despite Japan being a Japanese company, they make plenty of games with white protagonists such as these following franchises: Super Mario, Metroid, Contra, Castlevania, Metal Gear, Resident Evil, and Dragon Quest. Japan might be contributing to white population in games video games considerably because a large part of their market is the Western market, but the thing is there are plenty of people of color in Western nations. It doesn't make sense even if you apply that they are taking in popular media from America, Europe, and Canada. All of our popular media isn't just full of white leads and icons. They aren't oblivious to those otherwise we wouldn't get characters like Lucky in King of Fighters, Balrog from Street Fighter, or the many Bruce Lee tributes out there.

I honestly can't put a finger to why, but mentioning those last three things brings a good subject in here. In fighting games we typically see a more diverse cast than in any other genre. Tekken and Street Fighter are probably the two with the largest diverse when it comes to representing races and cultures, but both this brings us to another point in regards to race in video games. We often end up with stereotypes.

For a while a lot of black characters in fighting games were either boxers (Balrog, TJ Combo, Dudley) or basketball players (Lucky, Sean). If there was a Latino character he would likely be Mexican and a Luchador (El Fuerte, El Blaze, King, Armor King). If the character was Native American than you had feathers, wore warpaint, and likely fought with Tomahawks (Nightwolf, T. Hawk, and Thunder). Stereotypes proceeded into other genres as well such as the famous NPC from Deus Ex, and the jive talking Cole from Gears of War. Results of these kind of characters are probably stemmed from there being a bunch of developers who have little experience with black people and there aren't many or any on their team to call them out on it. Things start to seem to be getting just slightly better however. We are getting a few more characters of color in lead roles in games, but we still have quite a ways to go.

There are some characters I like of color within video games despite the stereotypes out there. I've only played the first episode of The Walking Dead, but Lee and Clementine are two black characters that I enjoy quite a lot. They aren't stereotypical and have some depth to them. Alyx Vance from Half-Life 2 appealed to me. Her more cheerful disposition among the horrors of the world she lived in resonated with me and not to mention she has an incredible pet robot named Dog. She is also notably one of the few if the only video game character of black and Asian descent. Barret Wallace of Final Fantasy VII does have some stereotypical traits about him; he throws out profanity a lot and has a gun for an arm, but in terms of his character, he is admirable. He works for a cause to save the planet and he also is taking care of his deceased friend's daughter. The events in the game that reveal his background is one of the highlights in the Final Fantasy series.

As for characters of people of color that aren't black I can't name much that I find compelling from beyond a gameplay perspective because they are even rarer than black characters. Some examples of Native Americans outside of fighting games I can think of are the main characters from Prey, Turok, Assassin's Creed III, and I'm not sure if the character of Mark of Kri is, but if so him as well. That is relatively short and for other races and ethnic groups its about as small or even smaller. Having more diverse characters within video games will provide us with more diverse settings and stories. With an industry that often makes claim about how they are different from the competition, they often end up doing the same thing in regards to characters across most video games. For the industry to improve in this area the Western part of the industry needs to break away from the idea that games with female leads aren't profitable. Fans themselves need to break away from similar and ridiculous mindsets such as mythical creatures such as werewolves and dragons are more realistic than a black person in a game.

Depictions of race in media can have a detriment on a person's self image which is another reason why we need diversity. There is long road ahead of us, but I am certain that we will reach our destination.

M: No Sleeep (Feat. J. Cole)

Janet Jackson dropped the visuals to her song "No Sleeep" today. This is the first single coming to Janet's album this year which the title of hasn't been revealed yet and the release date is still non-specifically this fall. The music video is pleasant. It does its job of catching my attention, but not much else. The lighting is on point as it should be and I like the projected images of Janet from her childhood on the walls. There doesn't appear to be anything under the surface in this video. That's not a negative towards it, but I can't quite express it, but it just didn't instill much emotion in me of any kind.

The song itself I'm still trying to decide if I like it or if it's just okay. It's more in the style of her older work, but it isn't as catchy or memorable like a lot of her other singles such as "Got Til It's Gone", "That's the Way Love Goes", or "Go Deep". The chorus and the verses are okay and J. Cole in this version doesn't really add anything to me. The production also feels a bit bare bones to me. It honestly sounds like a song an album that's not a single and one of those that you don't necessarily skip, but don't pay much attention to it either when it's on. It's an okay video and song.

M: Time? Astonishing!

 Time? Astonishing!

L'Orange and Kool Keith dropped the anticipated Time? Astonishing! today and it's as good as I hoped. For those unfamiliar L'Orange is a producer from the Mellow Music Group label and Kool Keith is an underground rapper dating back to the 90's. I'm not sure if this pair could be any better. L'Orange's jazz and old film noir vibe instrumentals seem to be the perfect pairing for Kool Keith's laid back flow and his taste for the bizarre. On the touch of the production, this is among L'Orange's best. The beats are filled with saxophones, drums, and kicks. A lot of them remind me of performances in jazz night clubs. There also a couple of tracks that are boom bap. The instrumentals on"The Green Ray" seems to evoke a story on its own. All of them are served for easy listening as usual for the producer and as previously said, a good match for Kool Keith.


As far as Kool Keith goes, this album reminds me a lot of Dr. Octagonecologyst. Kool Keith's flow is remarkably similar, but it doesn't get old, Keith also has alter egos in this one as well, playing as a time traveler and a doctor with dual identities. As far as lyrics go there is quite a bit of wordplay. I am still quite unsure what to make of Keith's lyrics. I'm listening to every word, but I'm not sure exactly what he's saying. The words are clear, but they don't seem to connect to one another for the most part. "Dr. Bipolar" is one of the few tracks where I get lyrics and how they connect. It basically tells the story of a man living a dual identity. Regardless of that, it just sounds dope. His voice and his flow are so in synch with the beats that is sort of over-exceeds that.

This album also has quite a few features on it, which also make this album great. You the oh familiar Blu, Open Mike Eagle, and Mr. Lif who all do fantastic jobs on their tracks. Mr. Lif and Open Mike Eagle's verses are my two favorites on the album and the others I'm unfamiliar with like J-Live and Montage One also do a fair job.

This album is great. The chemistry is great between the producer and the rapper and the featured artists all add something unique to the album. This is a recommendation of the highest degree.

Evo 2015

Evo (Evolution) Tournament is the world's largest tournament for fighting games.  I've been a spectator since 2009 and have seen a lot of great competition over the years. This Evo was definitely one of the best.

The games that headlined the stages were Ultra Street Fighter IV, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat X, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Killer Instinct, Tekken 7, Guilty Gear Xrd, and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. 

Though I was there to watch the fighting games, I found myself most enjoying the side tournament of Catherine, the puzzle game from Atlus. Catherine had a bit of a competitive scene some years ago mainly in northern California, but due to some recent interest it managed to get a side tournament at Evo this year. I always had a massive interest in this game when I tried a demo of it near its release back in 2011. The tower climbing gameplay really caught me and I was very interested to see competitive play of it since my main exposure to competitive scenes are primarily fighting games. The tournament started off a bit slowly but quickly gained some traction when some experienced players got on the pads. Marvel and Skullgirls player Dacidbro was a surprise entry and he played excellently. The glitched crumples were insane and the constantly fighting between players when they should've been climbing. I didn't catch all of the tournament, but it was a fun watch.

 I wasn't interested in Marvel, Melee, or Guilty Gear, watched a little bit of Persona 4, Mortal Kombat X, Killer Instinct, and about half of the Skullgirls tournament. The majority of my attention were on Smash 4, Catherine, Tekken 7, and Ultra Street Fighter IV.

Smash 4 had some all around ok gameplay. Dabuz's Rosalina held it down like usual. I'm mad I missed the Pacman hydrant KO on Pikachu. The strict rules on stages and items still bugs me. I wonder if it will ever go away. It was refreshing to watch Killer Instinct as I have watched very little of it after the game's release and apparently the game got a lot of DLC characters. Riptor, Maya, Cinder, Fulgore, Spinal, and a mummy character were the new ones I saw.

Tekken 7 was the game I was looking forward to most. Tekken is my number one fighting game and with this being 7's first appearance at Evo, I made sure to watch. Instantly I started to long for the days when I used to spend countless hours playing Tekkens 5 and 6. I had even competed competitively in 6 for a couple years and took third place in a state tournament. Back to the tournament at hand, the competition was good. There were some fierce players and I was more critical to the players actions in this game and no match-ups were unappealing to me. The grand finals had came down to two Japanese players. I can't recall the names of the players, but one was a Dragunov player and the other was an Alisa player, who was my secondary in Tekken 6. The Alisa demonstrated great footsies and maximum damage output for the most part, but his downfall came to using the rage arts. Alisa's rage art appears to hit high and at an odd angle and his opponent was a Dragunov player and Dragunov's tend to duck a lot. Every time he activated Dragunov would crouch allowing for a free combo. He should've just not used the rage art period and he might have taken the trophy home. It also seemed a little embarrassing when he was on stage and it looked like he was crying. Overall, that was a fantastic tournament.

Ultra Street Fighter IV the main event, had some great players as well. Filipino Champ, NuckleDu, Tokido, and Infiltration all put in work, but the grand finals came down to Momochi and Gamerbee. While I like the game, I decided not to watch the grand finals as Momochi plays Ken and Gamerbee mains Adon. I don't have a particular interest in either character and despite Gamerbee also using Elena, I didn't deem it worth it to stay up even longer to watch it. Before the finals Capcom presented the trailer for the newest addition to Street Fighter V named Necalli. He appears to be Aztec influenced and a rushdown character. I found nothing appealing in his visual design or in what we saw of his moveset. There will be three more original characters to look forward to, so I'm not all that disappointed.

This Evo all in all was a great experience and I look forward to next years and my eventual attendance to the event.

M: The Wanderer

"The Wanderer" is the first single off of L'Orange and Kool Keith's collaboration album Time? Astonishing!. This video directed by Jon Webb is a bit of a bizarre one. It follows a man in a silver outfit and mask with a traffic vest around a city. He goes through various streets, a park, and a tunnel. I've only viewed this video a couple of times and with these first two impressions it just seems kind of random. I don't see a correlation to the lyrics or any story trying to be told by just the visuals. It is well shot however. The lighting is perfect and the transitional shots are steady. The editing also isn't choppy and flows together fine. There's just not much for me to say within context of the video itself.

The song is a strong one. L'Orange and Kool Keith make for a fine duo. L'Orange's solemn jazzy production goes with Kool Keith's calm, yet otherworldly flow. The veteran emcee Kool Keith has always had lyrics you really had to pay attention to as his subjects are very different from the majority of rappers in the game. In this melodic poem I am not sure exactly what Keith is trying to say. On the surface it appears to be a lot of random words thrown together with a bit of scientific imagery, but as with Kool Keith things aren't exactly as they appear. Despite not knowing exactly what he's saying his delivery is so good that it assuages that concern. This will be a track that I will have to listen to a lot to really get the message behind.

Overall this video is hard for me to judge. I don't find it great, nor bad, and I can't say it's mediocre. It's just weird and I'll leave it at that.

Satoru Iwata Passes Away

Yesterday, it was reported that President and CEO of Nintendo Satoru Iwata passed away. Iwata had missed last year's E3 due to surgery for removal of a bile duct growth and two nights ago he had passed away at the age of fifty-five due to the same bile duct growth. Iwata became president of the game industry giant back in 2002 succeeding Hiroshi Yamauchi. I am most familiar with his appearances at the Electronic Entertain Expo conferences and the Nintendo Directs. Though I didn't know him personally, I am certainly aware of his impact on the company and the game industry as a whole. Iwata created the vision behind the successful Wii and DS hardware, saved Earthbound from cancellation, was the decision maker to put Kanto in Pokemon Gold and Silver, co-created the Kirby series, and was the one who made certain that Super Smash Bros. Melee shipped on time.

Now with his passing, there has been a lot of speculation on who will fill the presidential role of the company. Places such as the Wall Street Journal have said that Shigeru Miyamoto and Takeda are rumored to be approached to succeed Iwata. Whoever the next CEO and president might be will have some large shoes to fill.

Final Fantasy IX's 15th Anniversary: A Reflection

Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of Final Fantasy IX and as this game has a very special place in my heart I would like to talk about in analysis and personal impact.

Reflection

For those that aren't aware of this game Final Fantasy IX is the ninth installment of the JRPG franchise created by company Square (now Square-Enix) and Hironobu Sakaguchi. It was the last game Sakaguchi worked on as a writer and is his personal favorite.

I played Final Fantasy IX for the first time when I was ten or eleven years old. My little brother's father had bought a set of games out of the trunk of someone's car which included Breath of Fire III, Threads of Fate, NBA Live 2001, and the mentioned Final Fantasy IX. While I had some enjoyment with the others, Final Fantasy IX was the game that pulled me in and kept me there. Upon the opening FMV, I knew I was about to play something special. When I had beat the game it had become an obsession of mine. I wrote the outline and design of a sequel and then decided that I wanted to make video games like it for a living.

Final Fantasy IX was the game that would ultimately result in the path I took in life and the one I'm currently striding to this day. My decision to make video games for a living became more specific. I wanted to run my own video game studio and publishing company. I hope that the games I produce will inspire others to do great things whether it is to make video games too, become a musician, or just to be a better person. Final Fantasy IX means a lot to me and as it became my favorite game, I always made sure to play it at least twice a year, but there a pit stop with my replays somewhere from 2010 to 2012. I recall all four of my copies of Final Fantasy IX having at least one disc scratched and I think my replays stopped because I was unable to continue my playthrough because of multiple scratched discs. The game was on PSN, but I didn't have money for quite a while and when I finally managed to get some I decided to use it to save up for a vehicle and to buy things I would need when I moved away to a four year university.

While I was at the university I had little time to play video games and when I did they were in short bursts or prearranged with friends. As Final Fantasy IX is a forty hour rpg, it was too time consuming for me to play while in school and I had other distractions as well. After I graduated I finally had the time to play it, but I had some worries as I knew some of my discs were scratched. I decided to pursue it through emulation with PSX, but I could never figure out how to get the emulator working even with online help. I called a friend for help, but he said he couldn't remember how he got it working and suggested I just play my physical copies. I told him that I know at least 1 disc is scratched of each copy I own and I even couldn't find all four copies, but he insisted I did it anyway.

This was the first time I played the game in years and all the emotions I had 15 years ago came rushing back. Even with my few year absence I still remembered the location of about every hidden item and gil in the game. Unfortunately, at disc 4 is when my playthrough came to a halt. I couldn't get past the first AMV on disc 4 and it looked like my playthrough came to an end. Not long after, a friend lent me the money to purchase the PSN version so I could beat the game. I did and it was a wonderful feeling. Playing this game is a perfect anecdote for sadness or anger.

Critique
Now even though Final Fantasy IX is my favorite game and a major inspiration to me it is not without its faults. Final Fantasy IX has a great story, characters, world, and music, but the few faults it has reside in its gameplay.

The battle system in IX is fairly standard in the series. It uses the ATB system that's been a staple in the series since IV which is fine, but the game's battles can be a bit slow which is major complaint by some fans out there. I never had an issue with it however, probably because I am a very patient gamer, which is probably also why I don't have an issue with the loading times in the PS1 version of Chrono Trigger either.
The game also has a trance mechanic in the game which basically gives a temporary stat boost to a character and may give them new moves or different properties to their move list. Trance's usefulness per character varies, but it's the way that trance is triggered is a concern. Sometimes it's triggered during specific battles, but most of the time it's triggered by a meter that gets filled up when a character takes damage. When the bar fills it activates immediately which can seem to be a waste if it activates against a weak random enemy. The game also has a few abilities that are useless in the game. Almost all of Steiner's sword art is useless and Thunder Slash is literally useless. Due to a glitch, the attack will always do 0 damage.

There's also the game of Tetra Master. While I do like the concept of being able to play cards with almost any NPC in the world and enjoy the card art, the rules of the game aren't explained well. That's it as far as flaws go and none of those are that major in the grand scheme of things.

The sidequests in this game are fulfilling and quite enjoyable. They either add exploration or backstory to the characters. Chocobo Hot & Cold is still my favorite mini game out of the whole series.

I have to point out how great Final Fantasy IX's soundtrack is. The soundtrack does a wonderful job in creating atmosphere and emotion. You have melancholic pieces like Crossing Those Hills, intense pieces like Breaking Through the South Gate Border and Run, you have uplifting music like Zidane's theme, and everything in between. Nobuo Uematsu has even said that this is his best work.

Story Analysis

Final Fantasy IX's strongest point to me is within its writing. This is one of the best written games out there and the best story told in a video game. Final Fantasy IX has you in the reins of Zidane Tribal, a thief/actor from the Lindblum group Tantalus. Tantalus is performing a play at Alexandria on Princess Garnet's birthday and their mission is to kidnap the princess. From this attempt, a world phenomenon unfolds.

Joy, turmoil, and rage are present throughout this journey, but the theme of this story centers around life. There are spoilers from this point on.

Kuja, the main protagonist of Final Fantasy IX, was given life for the purpose to end it. He used the dregs of souls to create a new form of life with the purpose to end it like himself. Kuja ended up finding out that his life had a limit much like the black mages he created. Zidane was also created for a similar purpose, but decided that he would rather preserve the life of others. Garnet's life was altered by Garland and Kuja. Garland destroyed her home and killed her mother which lead to her ending up in Alexandria and being raised as a princess. She had lived two separate lives and the first she forgot about until she returned to Madain Sari. Kuja pushed Garnet's new mother and supplied her with weapons, which ultimately lead to war and her mother's death. She was a soul that struggled with controlling her own life. She thought that she was the only one who could stop the war her mother created, she blamed her own actions for her mother's death, and she blamed herself for not being able to protect her country. Vivi found out that he was created with the intent to end lives just like Kuja and that his own life had a limit. He questioned his own mortality, but ended up realizing that there is a point to life regardless of the fact that it will have to end. During the course of the game Steiner came to terms with how he wanted to live his life. He was previously naive just like Garnet and was blindly devoted to Queen Brahne until he saw that Garnet's life was in danger, this goes true for Beatrix as well, though she started to show signs a little earlier than Steiner. When she found out that Brahne did not appreciate her retrieving the stone from Cleyra her loyalty started to sway. Freya represents the despair in life. Her love left one day to travel the world and she never heard from him again until he springs up on the day of Cleyra's destruction and discovers that he doesn't remember her. She also witnesses the destruction of her home and her race almost being wiped out. Quina is representative of the joy in life. Quina never gets sad or truly angry and always makes way by the simplest things in life. She is never bothered by the troubles of the world. Eiko is also someone who had a lot taken away from her and she makes a very important realization early about making life choices for yourself and not for what other people want. Amarant's case is a little funny to me. He ties into seeing the importance of company and accepting help. He is the only one of the main cast that seems to break away thematically.

All in all Final Fantasy IX is a heavily layered game when it comes to storytelling and is one of the prime examples of video games as art. Happy fifteenth anniversary Final Fantasy IX. Here's to more replays.

M: Shine

Shine

Blitz the Ambassador dropped his newest single for upcoming album DIASPORADICAL and with some visuals to go with it. "Shine" is a song about being comfortable with yourself and not letting adversity getting to you. Blitz is great at stimulating energy in his songs. As soon as the lyrics start I'm feeling pumped. His flow is on point as always and changes with the pace when appropriate. Lyrically, it is straight, but not obstinately low by any means. His message is clear and not hidden behind depth, but lacking depth isn't a knock on this by any means. Variety is good. The traditional African instrumentals from Afropolitan Dreams return here with a bit of trumpets thrown in. It's very pleasant on the ears and contributes to the feel good vibe of the lyrics.

As for the video itself it's vaguely a storytelling music video. It starts with a man handing Blitz  a package. There seems to have been a deal between the two, possibly for witness protection or something else entirely. The man asks about his daughter and gets a reply about both of them could get deported, the man enter's Blitz's car and drives off. The remainder of the video follows the man's daughter as she roams about and dances around the city with a man in a straw costume. The choreography is cute and the video is well shot for the most part, the bridge scene seems to be a little blurry, probably due to over exposure from the direct sunlight. The video concludes with the daughter falling to the ground and the father picking her up and carrying her off. It's odd and I don't see what this story had to do with the song, but overall this video was pretty good and the song is even better. Two good songs from the ambassador so far. DIASPORADICAL is looking like it's going to be pretty good.

7/10

G: Alice Mare

Alice Mare was a nice little game that came way and I thought the artistic design looked cute, so I decided to download it and play it. The first thing I noticed was the incredible music in this game. The soundtrack is wonderfully atmospheric and melodic. Most of the tunes are classical in nature with piano compositions present throughout. The music is also quite effective in setting the tone scene by scene. Before I go to much into the music and how it sets tone, I should address the game's setting, mechanics, and story.

Well, Alice Mare places you into the shoes of a child named Allen in a boarding school. Everything seems to be quite okay and maybe even cheerful at first, but things go quite dark. You'll eventually find yourself in a dream world that is gothic and macabre. The game looks like a JRPG at first sight, but once you go into the dream world, you find out what this game is truly about. It is an adventure game in the veins of The Walking Dead and Indiana Jones and The Lost City of Atlantis, but this game is not point and click and not entirely functional in the same way that The Walking Dead is. Imagine the game design of those two, but within the structure of a 16-bit JRPG.

As it being an adventure game, the gameplay isn't the focus, but the story is. Not to give too much away for this game, but it definitely takes inspiration from a certain classic piece of literature. The game stays foreboding and grim throughout. You'll unlock journal entries that compliment the overall story throughout the game. The game also has multiple endings that encourages replays and the ending I got I felt some weight to. I think I'll end up playing it again, because I felt I didn't grasp the entire story during this playthrough. The game is relatively short. I completed it in just a little over three hours, but that's not a negative at all. The only negative I have with this game is that the walking mechanic felt a bit too loose and I would've preferred if the character walked at a bit slower pace that controlled more fluidly. It was actually nice to play a short game again for a change. The game is free as well so there's nothing to complain about. I'd recommend it for those who don't mind the genre.

6/10