comingoutjournal:

Electronic Arts comes out against Defense of Marriage Act

Game publisher joins coalition urging an appeals court to find unconstitutional the 1996 federal law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

EA states:

Electronic Arts has joined with dozens of leading US employers in signing an amicus brief that opposes the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and urges the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to find portions of the Act unconstitutional.

DOMA presents a number of problems for businesses like EA, as it creates regulatory, tax, and discrimination complications for employers, and that’s why we’re standing against it. The underlying lawsuit impacts all employers no matter how big or small, and no matter the industry, and we encourage other business to join these efforts.

EA has been an advocate for same-sex relationships, featuring same-sex couples/relationships in their video games and contributing to It Gets Better project, but it is great to see they are doing much more.

Click on the picture to go to EA’s post for more.

Check out the post below to see screenshot from the video ad ‘The Sims 3 Essence’ where a same-sex couple is featured:

http://comingoutjournal.tumblr.com/post/20787484967/screenshot-from-the-commercial-for-popular-video 

Note: Thanks to cooljoe224 for letting me now about this.

+1 for you EA, but -10000 from you for over-charging me for almost everything. Bioware is okay though, free multiplayer DLCs. :D

Hey everyone please help sign this petition to support EA and prevent anti-gay hate groups from taking out LGBT-friendly games!

There are very little LGBT-friendly games where LGBT gamers can be themselves and also keeping only heterosexual romance or storyline in a diverse game is a form of censorship.

Sign and reblog please!

April 6, 2012 

Electronic Arts (EA) — one of the largest video game makers in the world - is the target of a hateful boycott campaign. Why? Because they approved a gay romance story in one of their partner BioWare’s most popular games: Star Wars: The Old Republic. 

Anti-gay letters are flooding Electronic Arts headquarters, calling for a boycott. Without our help the company, its staff and more than 100 million registered players could be pushed to the dark side if the forces of hate get the last word. 

Master Yoda wants to make sure Electronic Arts knows anti-gay haters don’t win the game. Add your name to Yoda’s letter urging the company to stay away from the dark side. Yoda himself will deliver the message directly to the headquarters of Electronics Arts in Redwood City, California.

comingoutjournal:

By Stephen Gray, PinkNews.co.uk

Following the introduction of gay characters in recent game series, video game manufacturer EA says it has been inundated with anti-gay letters.

Bioware, a division of EA, included gay relationships in its Mass Effect 3 game and in its Star Wars: The Old Republic multi-player game.

EA told Gamesindustry.biz it has received “thousands” of letters complaining about the inclusion of gay characters, with many threatening to boycott the developer, but defended the decision to represent gay players.

The vice president of corporate communications Jeff Brown said given the descriptors on the games it was “hard to believe” anyone was surprised by the availability of gay relationships.

He added: “This isn’t about protecting children, it’s about political harassment.”

A scanned letter published by GamesIndustry.biz says: “The overwhelming number of players on Star Wars games is children who do not need to be forced as a captured audience to participate in homosexual content.

“We ask that you please adhere to your long term policy of omitting and steering clear of this type of advocacy representation in your games.

“Please do not include LGBT content in Star Wars video games that will impact so many children.

“Thank you.”

Handwritten on the typed letter are the words “Remember Sodom”.

Mr Brown said: “EA has not been pressured by any groups to include LGBT characters in our games. However, we have met with LBGT groups and sponsored industry forums to discuss content and harassment of players in online forums. In short, we do put options for same-sex relationships in our games; we don’t tolerate hate speech on our forums.”

Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, said gamers had gone “to the dark side”.

He wrote: “Since the announcement, homosexuals have been celebrating the news, but parents sure aren’t. On the game’s website, there are more than 300 pages of comments – a lot of them expressing anger that their kids will be exposed to this Star Warped way of thinking. You can join them by logging on and speaking up. It’s time to show companies who the Force is really with!”

Matt Kane, Associate Director of Entertainment Media at GLAAD drew attention to recent backfires by anti-gay groups, including theNational Organization for Marriage’s Dump Starbucks campaign and One Million Moms’ bid to have Ellen DeGeneres sacked for being gay, saying: “Trying to rally Americans around messages rooted in hate is a losing proposition.”

For an organisation that is “pro-family”, Family Research Council is nothing but a extremist hate group. What about families with LGBT children, or children with gay, lesbian or transgender parents? 

Even though I am pretty sour with EA for their greedy business model, I respect them because the understand minority and is willing to do something about it by having LGBT characters (represented respectfully) in their games.

gamefreaksnz:

Katy Perry teams up with The Sims

EA revealed today that they’ve entered an “extensive and extensive creative collaboration” with pop princess Katy Perry.

I would have preferred Lady Gaga but Katy Perry is fine, though I think I would be quite embarrassed when buying the totally pink and glittery collector’s edition of the game. lol 

arjunkoonerrandomshiz:

PS3 + Fifa12 = Best Game Ever!

Dragon Age: Origins, Awakening, and Dragon Age II

I love my iPad. I know most people would just dismiss iPad is just an iPod Touch with a bigger screen. Well, it is. But sometimes what makes something great can be as simple as just a bigger screen.

I won’t read PDF, eBooks, or magazines on my iPhone, but I would on my iPad, because it is easier on the eyes. Not only that, certain games play better on iPad because of the extra screen asset. 

Of course, bigger is not always better. Because of the bigger screen, mistakes are easier to spot. Print designers would be able to relate when they have an A4 artwork that needs to be converted to A3.

Gameloft games are big offenders in here, especially using single plane for environments such as trees or fence, etc. The environment looks out of place and down right ugly (even character such as Gangstar looks awful because there is no proper hands and blown up on iPad).

Certain iPhone games such as MapleStory are more difficult to play on the iPad since the image is blown up, the buttons are more far apart and difficult to press.

Because of RAM differences in iPad 1 and 2, games often crash in iPad 1. EA is infamous for releasing games that doesn’t work (the most infamous being Red Alert). It disgust me that publishers would release games that have bugs and doesn’t work out for the public.

But overall, when iPad games are done right, you would never want to play the iPhone counterpart (if there is), but you would not want to buy an iPad just for gaming because gaming on the iPad is still young. I bought it firstly as an eBook reader, and secondly for games.