Tracer stirred up some emotions // rip Carrie Fisher

While i was writing this post i read that Carrie Fisher died from what it looks like right now complications as result of a earlier hearth attack, So let me pay my respects to the first lady of Star Wars. While i have no personal connection to Carrie Fisher, her work both as an actor and outside have been a inspiration to me and many others. She will be missed but it is in a way fitting that she ended her career working on the same franchise that catapulted her in to the spotlight and in the long run gave her a platform (and that maybe in it´s own way claimed her life in the end) Rest In Peace. 

Now back to your regular scheduled programming

I held off on making this post because i wanted to get a better image of any impact it might have. You see in it´s latest free comic for Overwatch Blizzard presented us with Tracers girlfriend. This in it self should not raise many eyebrows, after all characters are presented as having partner all the time in the entertainment medium. But you see, Tracer is ofc a girl. So this is political in many ways. Not only is it a pretty much unseen example of representation, a character that is not only well established and given a rich backstory but that is also the face of the brand. Tracer is the de facto poster girl for Overwatch, having been not only in the initial marketing material but also on the standard box art. Now i am a very cynical human being that honestly do not trust humanity at large to handle anything more dangerous then a sponge without trying to hurt them self or someone else. So i walked in to the Blizzards and other forums expecting to see a full and utter shitstorm... And to my delight and surprise i found very little of that (if one does a signal/noise analysis) sure you had some trolls trying to fan the flames and some people who seemed outright sad. But for the most of it people where either indifferent or positive. Most felt that the introduction by the way of a comic with family as the theme was fitting and not forced. Many like me also felt that the act it self carry a lot of weight but that it does not really change the character. Tracer is still Tracer. 

So Blizzard have issued a challenge of sort, proving that you can make someones sexuality a non-issue even if it breaks the typical mold. Tracer is not defined by her sexuality, she is defined by her personality (and that she is sort of unglued from time... As one tends to be. ). Who she dates is at the same time not important but also very important from the perspective of representation. Because the more exposure something gets, the more "normal" it becomes. This is an aspect i feel some people miss when they say thing like "we do not need the Pride movement" or "why can´t we just keep things like that in our homes." 

Rocking the boat is always going to create people who want to get back to status quo. Even if they are part of the community doing the rocking. But if nobody ever rock the boat, people in general will never know they are actually on the boat. 

So thank you Blizzard for doing this and... well... Cheers luv, the cavalry is here. 

So 2016... People seem to be upset with you.

This year the tune in my social feed pretty much went like this "Hey 2016.. Why did you do X" with the implication that it has been a shit year. This i think says more about my age than it does anything else. You see the way i look at it is that my generation have been getting its first real taste of A: mortality and B: reality.

You see everything is cyclic, and much like the sweet summers children that we are we have been riding one such cycle that we now see coming to a close. All the "greats" are dying and the world is hitting "the shitter". Only that if we compare this to many other years in western society's long and storied past, 2016 have been a fairly good year. But that is of course  besides the point, after all compared to the black plague this year have been one of blissful bathing in milk and honey.

But the sheer naked fear that have been the reaction to the world (and by world i am talking about the US and north + central Europe... you know.. the world) changing. That is what has sort of taken me aback. Now i saw my fair share of bullying back in school and i am no real stranger to people being irrationally cruel or spiteful. But Jesus fucking Christ in a playpen.... The unstable nutjobs that usually occupy the sort of fringe where people have relatives who in the 50´s moved from Germany to Argentina or enjoy dressing up in white sheets and pointy hats, these people have not moved in to center stage and they look like a mix between a smug Garfield and Jimmy Cricket after a week on acid... Worst of course is that they infect the general population with their own brand of paranoia. This in turn makes things look a lot more shit than it really is. This in turn leads to things like the Swedish Democrats or Trump in politics and violence in the society.

Personally i used to give these fringe elements and the people they inspire a bit of slack, understanding that for many it is just a matter of society changing to fast for them... And in all honesty most people do not have the flexibility to constantly re-evaluate their morals and values. But i have had fucking enough. 2017 will be a year of me leveraging all my education, ability to do research and.. well... intelligence to grind people like that in to paste. I´l take every last shred of foul play and suppression techniques i know to run them in to the ground. They have had about 5 years to get their shit in order and if they refuse to do that... Why should i be the nice and polite one trying to cushion their emotional fallout as i deconstruct their arguments.

Not so much any more. I have spent 5+ years at a university learning how to look at the world from outside my little box, i do not demand that you do that.... But using Google and some common sense is not to much to ask.

Anyway... Next week we will be looking at my top picks from the entertainment media for 2016.

cheers

Random rants and musings

So the year is coming to a close and while i am not going to post my retrospect yet, saving that for the holiday. But i am starting to feel like this year has worn out its welcome. Not only have it been a utter shit show in the politics... domestic as well as abroad (thanks USA) but it has also been a fairly hit and miss in the cinemas and on TV. At least the gaming scene have had some good offers. More than a few "better than expected". But i´l get back to that later in the month. 

Now the thing that have made the most impact in my consumption of entertainment media came about this black Friday, i finally upgraded my computer... Or more correctly.. Replaced seeing as most components were 6+ years old, Any way this new machine is a monster compared to the old machine and for all intents does the job it need to do. It is sort of VR ready and play almost anything i need it to play without missing a single pace. Sure it will not do 4K anytime soon but i have no real need to go there at this point. But i can say this, it is pretty funny to see how much better one does when one does not have to fight the computer and the framerate. Overwatch is a dream right now and PvP in the Crew finally works.

I had a theory before in regards to PvP in the Crew. I did not notice it until Wild Run brought in the Summit PvP. In that everyone get the same car at the same level with the same parts. In short.. it is all about the driving (in theory) but i kept falling behind in every race. Not skipping or rubber-banding, just going slowly. I had my suspicions about why but now it is confirmed. I´l actually start recording some nice PvP action to show of my not so stellar driving skills.

Beyond that i have just had a blast going back through the old library and see what this new rig does to the games i have. Also making plans to pick up a few new ones like Watchdogs 2 and Titanfall 2. But for now i am just enjoying buttery smooth gameplay.

Anyway... That will be it i think. Apart from the upcoming quick look at Rogue One  sometime after Christmas i have no solid plans on content right now. Will do a top ten and retrospect around new years and sort of looking forward. 

As always, be kind and stay safe. 

/T

It felt fittingly random. Hetty for president. 

Some small changes

Going forward updates will happen Tuesdays due to real life getting in the way... And with that PSA.. On to the news... or well.... you know.



So while there have been a lot of news for games that i play and enjoy, i feel i need a bit more time to digest and reflect on these news.

One thing i do not need to reflect over is the news of a new Mechwarrior game, now i have been playing MechWarrior Online for a good long time and i am eagerly awaiting the strategy-ish game from HBS. But my first and most enduring encounter with the Battletech universe was Mechwarrior 2 back in ye olden days. Since then i have played most of the iterations of the Mechwarrior franchise, only missing out on some expansions here and there... Also Mechassault... Missed out on that... not very sad.

But now comes a brand new single player story driven MW game. But to add frosting to my delicious mech cake, it is Piranha Studios that are developing it, the same people who brought about MW:O. So MW5 will be sharing models with  MW:O, and this is good because no matter what one feel about how MW:O plays. They have done a great job turning the often fuggly line art of the old tabletop rulebooks in the awesome 3D models.

Anyway.. if you at this point is feeling a bit confused as to what i am talking about... Have a teaser trailer.

Updates as they will happen in the coming years.