funké

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[funkewordz]

I Can Finally Be Me In Animal Crossing, But I'm Exhausted

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has added more inclusive character-creation options, but it's a small step forward for representation.

(GameSpot, May 11, 2020)

Self-expression is the core element of ACNL; it's a feature embedded into every aspect of the game. You choose the colour and style of your clothes and the location and architecture of your dream house, and since there are no pressing time constraints like other social simulators, you even choose what you do all day, every day. It's a game about freedom. I was so incredibly excited when I picked it up, but that feeling dwindled fast. There were no options to have black skin colour or any black hairstyles. A game all about freedom and customization refused to let me be me. It was beyond alienating; out of all the things that could have been excluded, why those things?

[funkewordz]

Treachery In Beatdown City Review

Treachery in Beatdown City makes sure to punch up and stay fresh with its tactical street fights.

(GameSpot, April 27, 2020)

Treachery in Beatdown City uses humor skillfully as a tool to deal with contemporary issues with the gig economy, insidious tech company ploys, and obnoxious bigots. It has some lulls and a bit of an abrupt conclusion, but that’s overshadowed by how especially fun the conversations and combat are. The mechanics stand out and push against the standards of the brawler genre, injecting a strong tactics twist that lets you make some freestyle combos in the blink of an eye. In the end it was a short, satisfying playthrough that maintained its action movie aura the entire time. Treachery in Beatdown City is all about fighting, but it shines because at its core it’s about fighting back.

[funkewordz]

9 Awesome Black Video Game Characters

In honor of Black History Month, we celebrate some of the best black characters in video games.

(IGN, February 28, 2020)

Change is good, and slowly but surely over the past few years, it feels like the gaming industry has finally started to realize the value of trying to inject projects with new perspectives based around diverse characters, casts, and crews. Seeing blackness in-game is finally becoming normal, which is a stark contrast from when I was a kid and only able to make my Animal Crossing villager look like me by having him tan every day. It was a Jersey Shore nightmare cycle. 

Now kids get to bop their friends in Smash Ultimate as dark-skinned villagers who sport fly haircuts and don’t over-tan. We’re getting somewhere.To celebrate Black History Month, we want to highlight a few of our favorite Black characters in games, and how they all bring something special to their respective series’.

[funkewordz]

The Super Smash Bros. Series Will Never Die, Thanks To Fans

The future of Smash is uncertain, but the future of its community certainly isn’t.

(IGN, December 3, 2018)

There’s only one series in the world where you can punch Mario in the jaw while playing as Kirby, and that’s Super Smash Bros. A beautiful anomaly of games with orchestral banger versions of classic Nintendo tunes, walls of collectibles from each franchise’s history that make it feel like a weird gaming museum, and an overflowing list of unsuspecting, wacky crossover characters that even eclipses Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War.

It’s a series with something special, and it’s powered by a community of people who really care about it. Super-fans that continue to pump life into a game for over 17 years; analyzing characters, utilizing glitches, creating competitive rulesets, and organizing communal tournaments around the world for players of all skill levels, simply because they love the games so much.

[funkewordz]

The Complications of Liking 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' as a Black Man

Television shows about good cops are hard to enjoy when you are used to negative experiences with the justice system.

(VICE, March 5, 2019) 

“A crime show not analyzing the broken systems in place or the potential for abuse of power and corruption within the police force is ridiculously irresponsible. When a modern-day show about crime doesn’t talk about relevant social issues, it fails as a crime show. 

They need to talk about things that are drastically affecting people, like the unfair targeted arrests of black and Indigenous peoples for cannabis possession, how black and brown Americans are almost three times more likely to get murdered by cops than white Americans, or the fact that black people in Toronto are 20 times more likely than white people to be killed by the police. Subjects like these are significant and deserve dialogue and plot lines, shying away from even acknowledging them is straight up cowardly.”

[funkewordz]

Meet the Taylor Swift Stan Who Went to Jail for Refusing to Join the IDF

The slammer could not hold back the power of the @LegitTayUpdates fan Twitter account.

(Noisey/VICE, April 9, 2019)

I had the chance to talk with the 19-year-old Israeli person who runs @LegitTayUpdates to get a vivid picture of everything they’ve experienced over the past few months. Our conversation deals with what it’s like to transition from a fan to a stan, how to be funny on Twitter, and the Israel-Palestine conflict. To assure their safety, we have made the decision not to include their name or specifics about their legal process in this article.

[funkewordz]

The Hero Might Be Smash Ultimate's Most Polarizing Character Yet

Examining one of the most refreshing (and frustrating) additions to Smash Bros.

(IGN, August 14, 2019)

The debate around Hero can be largely attributed to the RNG (random number generator) elements that are infused into his playstyle. His Command Selection ability brings up a menu of four randomized spells - a couple of which have the ability to instantly K.O. an opponent - one of which has the chance to fire a random effect from a pool of 21+ options (which includes buffs like invincibility and invisibility). He’s also the only character that can randomly score critical strikes on enemies with basic smash attacks - he’s a very lucky guy.

[funkewordz]

Erica Review

(GameSpot, September 10, 2019)

The whole time, the game marinates you in a constant anxious energy that fuels a curiosity for the dodgy, mysterious world that you're influencing. Some scenes you're just holding a book or a photo and staring at it for details, but since it's paired with an insidious sting it transforms what would be a normal occasion into bitter dread. 

There are flashbacks, dreams, and abnormal things happening frequently; oftentimes you're forced to decide on the one secret you want to uncover the most and drop the others. Should you pick up the phone that's been ringing in the lobby or check out that weird ghost thing in the hallway? There are some decisions that are straight-up difficult--high-stakes ones where, in the bottom of your heart, you don't know what the right thing to do is, but you know you have to do something. Those times will have you wishing that this game was just a movie, but Erica is more than that.

[funkewordz]

The Best Droids in Star Wars Games, Ranked

(IGN, November 21, 2019)

From series heroes R2-D2 and C-3P0 to the toaster-sized MSE repair units buzzing around the Death Star, droids are some of the most recognizable creatures in the Star Wars universe. They can be companions, assassins, security guards, builders, co-pilots, librarians, fill a host of other roles or just busted piles of junk. It’s only natural that developers would find clever and unique ways to bring these characters to life in games, regardless of if they’re friends or foes.

[funkewordz]

Wattam Review

(GameSpot, January 8, 2020)

“It isn't often that you play something that is so pure and unapologetically itself, but that's Wattam. I don't know if I'll ever play another game that makes me turn all of my friends into fruit so I can progress. It oozes passion, and it has an infectious enthusiasm that's present in each and every aspect of it. Wattam never takes itself too seriously, and that makes it easy to buy into its world and suspend your disbelief. While the gameplay is all over the place, Wattam is held together by themes of friendship and a cohesive soundtrack that actually leave you grinning long after you're done.”

[funkewordz]

Nine Years Since ‘Friday’: A Look Back On Rebecca Black

(MUCH, February 19, 2020)

“’It’s Friday, Friday. Gotta get down on Friday. Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend’

Those words are the closest thing we have to a time machine back to the year 2011, an era littered with planking, photobombing and sliding QWERTY phones. Something happened during that time period that nobody was ready for. On a cold day in the middle of February, a young girl named Rebecca Black dropped a sonic earworm called “Friday.” It wasn’t a good track (and a lot of the hype around it came from a real mean spirited place), but it was kinda fun. It had raw enthusiasm, and it was so damn catchy.”

[funkewordz]

Why a Forgotten, Now-Unplayable MOBA Still Has a Small, Thriving Community

Master X Master only lived for 7 months. Its fans have spent years documenting its existence.

(Waypoint/Vice Games. March 30, 2020)

Today, over two years since the game closed, there is still an active community of Master X Master fans out there. To them, the game never really died. They’ve been posted up in a couple of discord servers and a subreddit with over 2000 members reminiscing about an amazing MOBA that isn’t available. Their community serves as a place to grieve and gush over MXM. NCSOFT tried to obliterate the game, but it lives on through the strong community that these players forged. It’s a place of permanent nostalgia fueled entirely on memories, and the hope that they’ll get another chance at playing the game.

[funkewordz]

Red Dead Redemption 2's Black Cowboys Are Important

Cowboys weren't all just gruff, white dudes.

(IGN, September 27, 2018)

“Like the countless times in the building of America, black contributions during the age of cowboys weren’t properly documented. It’s disheartening that many of the stories about the black cowboy have been lost in time due to ignorance, bigotry, and racism. It’s even more depressing that the stories that are available are still barely ever told. Can you think of a black cowboy in pop culture that isn’t Django from Django Unchained or that guy from Holes? It’s hard! Historically, we’ve preferred to tell the same old gritty, white stories, starring the same old Clint Eastwood-looking dudes, sprinkled with the same old tasteless stereotypes. It’s outdated and boring, and we desperately need something original...”