It may be the most unsurprising announcement ever, but I can’t tell you how much joy it brings me. You see, I’m a Star Wars geek. Not a Lucas is god and I care about the Star Wars history and universe geek, but more of a in spite of George’s inability to make good movies without others help I still love light sabers and force powers and that sound that lightsabers make when they clash geek. So with that in mind, I know Bioware is probably going screw it all up, but at least they aren’t Verant and they don’t have the idiot creator of The Vision™, so they are already steps above the last Star Wars game.

At they aren’t doing it in the current Star Wars lore. Doing a game in the past is by far the best way. Or even the future, assuming Jedi’s exist in the future of SW lore. Something where you can break the Jedi universe as we know it in the name of fun…

I’d love to see everyone be able to be Jedi AND since they are having other classes, those other classes be fun to play. I know that’s asking a lot, but hey, I’m like that. Also, I’d like the MMO to be fun in general. That’s asking even more from a first time MMO developer.

What Would Matt Do: I’d make a game where everyone can be a Jedi and let the NPCs be the other classes. That’s really where most Star Wars games fall down, requiring that some people are this or that or whatever. Or even better, I’d make it so everyone can wield the force if they so choose, so maybe if you aren’t a Jedi, you’re still awesome. Break the Star Wars lore in the name of fun. Also, this is pretty funny.

That’s the part that really hooked me on speech.

Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land – enough!  This moment – this election – is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive.  Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third.  And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight.  On November 4th, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough."

This speech didn’t shy away from anything. Barack stood his ground on every single issue, made the issues that separate us seem silly and things we shouldn’t be arguing about and absolutely destroy Bush and McCain. This may be the best political speech I’ve seen in my lifetime and maybe the best in generations.

May this speech convince people that paying attention is needed, that we don’t need more Bush bullshit and that not only can Obama lead this country, he may be able to do it with diginity. Scary fucking thought.

What Would Matt Do: I’m hearing all across the internet how people just stood and watched his speech at bars and resturants and other places and how people hadn’t seen anything like it before. Maybe this will be the changing point America needs. Maybe this will be the president we need. Maybe.

That’s an absolutely horrible statement to make in justifying anything. I know it is, and yet, this guy makes me want to hold him down and write it on his forehead:

But goddamit, am I the only one who think it’s morally disturbing to make a game that celebrates COLONIZATION? It’s ironic, actually, because just a few months ago a friend sent me a link to some information about the original "Colonization" game from 1994 (pictured left) that this one updates. At first, I thought it had to be a joke, but sure enough, it was real. However, I dismissed it as a relic from a time when neither developers nor players took videogames seriously as media with moral implications.

But the idea that 2K and Firaxis and Sid Meier himself would make and release a game in the year 2008 that is not only about colonization, but celebrates it by having the player control the people doing the colonizing is truly mind boggling.

There are more than a few ways to refute this argument.

You could go with, I didn’t hear you say anything as you played WWII games where you celebrated the killing of other human beings over and over in a very grotesque manner (some call it war). I didn’t hear you complaining when you played Civilization where you potentially do almost the same thing you’re going to be doing Colonization, but it’s called a different name. I didn’t hear you complaining as you played evil races doing evil things in numerous games. I didn’t hear you complaining when you played any of the Age of Empires games.

Or you could go with, it’s just a game. No matter the subject matter, it is what you make of it. If you find it personally offensive, don’t play it. It’s not actually real you don’t actually have to do any raping and pillaging. You don’t have spread diseases to wipe out whole nations and you don’t have to get your PC panties all in a bunch about it.

What I’d really say though, don’t be dumb. Just like FPS games aren’t murder simulators, this isn’t a genocide simulator. If you really can’t see that, the least you can do is stop posting your trollish type posts on the internet where I’m subjected to reading them. I mean, I know the 1st amendment protects your freedom of speech, but if you had any morals, you wouldn’t post things like this:

And yes, before anyone brings it up, I believe in the First Amendment. Of course 2K has the right to release it. Nobody should stop them from doing so. But I think personally think they shouldn’t release it, if it’s at all what it appears to be based on the early marketing.

What Would Matt Do: Your forehead, my marker, bitchlips.

This is amazing stuff. Maybe it won’t be as wicked awesome (this is for you, sweets) as it appears on the videos, but damn me if I’m not excited. I don’t remember the last time I was as interested in a remake of a childhood game as I am for this one.

And even if you haven’t played Bionic Commando in the past (and if you haven’t, you probably shouldn’t call yourself a gamer), this game bring multiple multiplayer modes (there was no multiplayer in the original) to the table along with what looks like a particulary tight single player game. I’m in lust without ever having touched the controller’s colorful buttons to use my mechanical arm of doom.

What Would Matt Do: I’d utter something like, "Daddy likes!"

I really would love it if I had a president I could at least attempt to believe in, and believe in general. If Obama makes it past the primary, I could actually vote for a president I liked, instead of the lesser of two evils.