Really, Destructoid?

Really?

I'm glad you admit that you're "milking this for all it's worth" but REALLY? Okay, I love breasts as much as the next man (sometimes) but come on now. This isn't a post for a blog that serves gamers of all ages, genders, and the like. This is a post for 14 year old boys in middle school to guffaw about during gym.

First off, I don't want to motorboat anything, much less screenshots of teenage-looking anime girls. Secondly, I don't appreciate the obviously gaudy joke attempts. "Something about it just "pops", you know?" Oh, I know Mr. Tony Ponce, I know. I know what you're trying to say and I don't appreciate your humor one bit.  I'll tell you one thing though, this isn't "journalism" in any sense of the word. If this were for any other type of media than games people would probably be horribly ashamed to have this as a piece of work in their portfolio.

Was the whole point of the post to make boob and sex-related jokes? No, I guess this guy is trying really hard to promote this product. Really though, this doesn't seem like a game that is even going to come out here. So why post about it?

Here's your reason: BOOBS BOOBS BOOBS!

I really wish game blogs and developers would stop trying so outrageously hard to play to the audience of straight, immature boys.


PS: One of the tags for that post is #This has breasts. It sure is reassuring to know that tag even exists and in fact has hundreds of posts using it. Say, Destructoid, do you have a #This has penis tag too?

PPS: This is my second post about Destructoid. If you read Kotaku you're probably wondering why on Earth I've not yelled at them yet, since they are notorious for this kind of stuff. Well, I kept getting angrier and angrier at Kotaku... Enough so that one of my little resolutions of this year is to never visit their site again. If I did, I'd probably be able to write a post like this every day. However, that would be too much repetition so it's probably for the best.

Every Once in a While Destructoid Annoys Me

Destructoid is a pretty good alternative to Kotaku, and certainly has some distinct voices writing for it. Sometimes some pretty objectionable stuff is written in posts, but thankfully not nearly as often. Either way, today I saw a post that bothered me a bit. 

"Here is a new LA Noire trailer for you to fap over". Now, I understand that Destructoid and other sites seem to thrive off of potty humor and boys club jokes, but why do they? It's a very safe audience to play to but it sure doesn't help make video game "journalism" sound like a very serious prospect. Games are fun, and it is fun when writing about them reflects this. However, I'd personally like to see less scatalogical, misogynistic, and just plain 14 year old crude humor jokes plastered throughout blogs. 

It doesn't seem to be too much to ask either. It's up to the writer to choose if they'll take the high road or guffaw about things middle schoolers find funny. Actually, the idea that someone would be geeky enough to "fap" over a video game trailer is kind of amusing to me. Still, the implication is that gamers are male (if you take fap to only refer to male masturbation) and immature as all get out. 

Overall the article is tiny and doesn't make any other sex jokes so there's really nothing to object to in the piece. Just felt like pointing it out because it's one of the few times Destructiod has pushed out a crude joke in their titles for an article NOT published by Jim Sterling. I don't think that the precedent he sets is one that others should want or try to emulate. A few weeks ago he posted at least 5 articles in one week which had horribly sexual and awkward titles (that of course had nothing to do with the topic being written about). I feel like he was letting off steam about the whole feminist throwdown around that time - but that topic has already been discussed by people much more knowledgeable than I. 

Speaking of which, two nights ago I had a dream about Brian Crecente of Kotaku and we engaged in mortal combat. Yes, that is combat and not Kombat. Unfortunately, now I don't remember who emerged victorious from our battle.