• 10:59 Home sick with fever. Sadly, son home as well, which means more Sesame Street, less Dragon Age. #

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• 19:54 I don't see what's so geeky about knowing how someone becomes a Red Lantern. #

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• 17:45 Son still sick. Had hoped he was over it. #

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• 23:15 Got my old Mass Effect saves on memory card, bringing to work to import on #masseffect2 test run. Wish me luck! #

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• 09:35 Boys got H1N1 shots last night. Gavs has small fever today as aftereffect, so Damsel and I are trading off home shifts. #
• 00:08 <20 bugs! May still log some hours this weekend, as one of them is kind of a "Patrick breaks the game, please fix" one. #

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• 09:30 Maine, this was your chance to look good. In < 10 years, it'll be done with the National Guard outside the courthouses. #

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So, in non-Dragon-Age news, Maine.

Okay. I am the stereotypical straight-married guy who has gay friends. I know that a lot of people are hurting right now, and holy god, seeing rights stripped away like that is terrifying. It breaks my heart to see my friends shake their heads and realize that one more state doesn't think that their love matters or doesn't believe that they are really people and citizens. So to all of you, please accept my sympathy and my good wishes.

Now, with that out of the way... Maine. Hi. Hello. Maine, I'm talking to you.

You contemptible bunch of buffoons.

I'm sure somewhere people are talking about the majority speaking. I agree with them. The majority has spoken. The majority of the tiny fraction of people in Maine who voted want to strip away the rights of gay people to marry. The majority was also not hugely in favor of desegregation, either. The plural of voter was often "lynch mob" back in the good ol' days. Segregation wasn't ended with a series of friendly votes in which people realized that they were being lied to by rich bastards and old churches and hate-filled bigots. It was ended when the National Guard showed up on the front steps.

Did you actually think that this was your chance to make gay marriage not happen? Did you look at the whole of human history and actually think that, you ignorant bigots?

This was your chance to accept progress with pride. To show history that you were moving forward.

And you blew it.

I don't think it'll be Obama -- he seems more concerned with healthcare, and I sense that he doesn't want to fight a battle of public opinion on multiple fronts. I don't know who it'll be. But it'll be someone. Someone in power is finally going to state the obvious truth that gay marriage is absolutely necessary, and they're not going to put it up for a vote, because that's not what you do with basic human rights. You don't let six wolves and four sheep vote on what to have for dinner (or in this case, what, fifty-two wolves and forty-eight sheep?).

The National Guard will stand outside the courthouses and force you to grow the hell up, and you will be remembered in history like those sad ugly white people yelling at the black kids coming to class.

And this isn't the fifties. This is the twenty-first century. Your bisexual grandkids will still be able to Google your sorry ass and see that you were a spiteful hateful closeminded bigot. They'll have your lying ads, annotated with footnotes showing how you knew you were lying at the time. They'll have your ugly homophobic comments and your hate-filled fake news reports captured in crystal clarity on whatever magical Internet++ they're using decades from now. And they're going to be ashamed of you.

All you've done -- all you've accomplished with your lies and hate and fearmongering -- is to delay the inevitable. In the next few years, every widow who loses her home because she "wasn't really married" to her life partner, and the life partner's kids have a good lawyer? Every man who dies scared and alone because the man who should have been his husband wasn't allowed to be at his bedside? Every not-spouse who dies because of not-health-coverage, coverage they would have gotten were they married? Every one of those things that happens between now and whenever the National Guard puts a little learnin' on you? That's on you. That's your legacy.

(And unlike a lot of liberals, I'm still a believer. I believe in an afterlife just as much as you do, you Bible-thumping snake-oil salesmen. And I don't envy you when you step up to St. Peter for whatever metaphorical accounting for one's life you have to do.)

Hell and the National Guard. That's what you've got coming. That's all you've got coming.

You pathetic irrelevant throwbacks.

EDIT: After getting a brave anonymous comment from someone who thought using the term "lynch mob" to describe an angry post on the Internet reacting to a situation in which actual literal lynch mobs are a possibility was a good idea and in no way self-Godwinizing, I've disabled anonymous comments. Anyone who wants to come rant at my intolerance for people stripping others of their basic human rights can do so with a username, and years from now, their kids will be able to Google them and see what they said.

I arrived at BioWare in March of 2005 with my wife and a four-month-old baby. A game called Jade Empire was a couple months away, and the team was deep in last-minute crunch. A game codenamed SFX, later to be named Mass Effect, was in very early development.

And I was living the dream working on Dragon Age (later to become Dragon Age: Origins).

I was only on for about five months. I wrote a training module about a search for a kidnapped war hound that Dave Gaider said he thought he could imagine seeing in the game, and then I wrote a pair of origin stories. Both were cut after I left -- one that wasn't very good, and one that everyone liked but which no longer connected with the rest of the overall world.

In July or August, I got moved to another project that needed a newb, and while I've been transferred up and down the length of the studio, I never got back to Dragon Age. When the Damsel joined BioWare, she came onto Dragon Age as well and did a bunch of editing for about a year before, like me, getting moved to someplace she was needed more.

The game came out today. Above 90 on Metacritic, great sales if the pre-orders are anything to judge by, and a whole lot of really excited fans. It was a game made with love, a deliberately old-school CRPG with cutting-edge technology. It's got a ton of content, from humorous Easter Eggs to epic magic to all-too-human intrigue. It's unapologetically hard, even on Normal. People are already comparing notes and realizing just how different their stories are based on decisions they made.

I'm going to play the hell out of this game, and I'm going to marvel at the amazing game the team put together and be grateful for getting the chance to have been a tiny part of it, even for a few months.

• 16:03 @DoktorZee I went back to replay the endgame for one of those not-counting achievements! #
• 17:48 @matthewdyer I test on a console devkit, but I'm not an official tester. The official testers use both. #
• 19:45 @DoktorZee Are you going solo or joining the BioWare team? I figure the Bio-Bros have to stick together. #
• 19:46 Signed on for Movember. Growing 'stache to raise money for prostate cancer research. Donate at: tinyurl.com/ygmbtf6 #

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So my terrifying Halloween costume was part of an overall larger scheme. I've decided to join Movember Canada. As of today, minus the majority of the rub-on tats and body paint, I am now clean-shaven and very pasty.

Movember Canada is raising awareness and funds for prostate cancer by having people sponsor men who are willing to shave themselves and look like idiots and then attempt to grow facial hair during the month of November. On one hand, it's a fun way to finally lose the crunch beard, which had gone totally out of control. On the other hand, I have family members who have had prostate cancer, and if me looking like an idiot (because really, shaving has really confirmed that I do not have a face that begs to be clean-shaven) can get some people to donate money to a good cause, then I am down with that.

BioWare set this up, so it's a bunch of Bio-geeks in on it together. I figure that most people reading this blog know somebody who has died of cancer. If you'd like to donate, here's one way to help make that less likely to happen again. You can make donations at my page.

Thanks.

(And I think I'm going for Wyatt-Earp-style handlebars, but if somebody wants to drop a hundred bucks and suggest something more embarrassing, I am down with that.)

• 15:41 Taking weekend off, then fixing #masseffect2 bugs and starting my Vanguard run. This time, maximum face-punching. #
• 21:08 RT: @jesswynne: RT @Metafrantic: The LGBTQ issue of @crossedgenres (#12) has been released! crossedgenres.com Please RT! #

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So, for reference, Subject Zero is a character revealed for Mass Effect 2. She stirred up a great deal of controversy, and I thought that she deserved a little bit of the Patrick Treatment.

Ergo, my Halloween costume, already tweet-spoiled:

So, in case you were thinking that I was just dressed up as a Thunderdome reject, take heart: I was actually dressing up as a Thunderdome reject in drag.

Much thanks to the Damsel, who applied most of the body paint (with my son applying the rest, including the nose for the smiley face on my tummy) and all of the back tats, especially my multitudinous tramp stamps, and also pretty much made the nipple-halter thing herself out of a belt and whatever else we had lying around.

The best part of the day was people completely failing to recognize me, which was kind of fun, as I am not usually a master of disguise. Evidently losing my crunch beard, which I'd had for about a month, had something to do with it.

Me: Okay, I'm wearing body paint and a nipple harness, and you think the disturbing thing is the fact that I shaved?

My Wife: Yes.

So there we go.

• 10:22 #masseffect2 twitpic.com/nj33s and tweetphoto.com/5wfvacap -- my Halloween costume for work. :) #

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• 17:37 Stood outside in snow with no coat shaving beard for costume. #

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OH RPG GAMING SITES NO!

Quote of note, in regards to Dragon Age: Origins having homosexual romance options:

"David Gaider must really get a kick out of writing homosexual relationships.

In any case, I'm not going to buy this game. I don't consider being flirted or stalked by fags as entertainment in the slightest sense. "

-- Surlent, a totally heterosexual dude who is not even a little curious about why it felt good when he played center in football and the quarterback didn't go in shotgun formation and cupped his taint, the quarterback's muscular fingers lightly brushing the tight surface of Surlent's uniform around the ass, just before shouting, "Hike!", and now he pays women to put on football helmets so he can achieve an erection.

Fortunately, others responded appropriately. I added a brief, "Methinks the homophobe doth protest too much," and the mods noted that the user had received a warning. Sounds like your basic "One asshole who gets kicked in the shins by the rest of the group" situation.

And then we got this in response (emphasis mine):

"Why would you warn Surlent? He just stated an opinion. Unless you warned all of the gay approvers too. That would be okay, I guess. I mean if you're going to warn everyone who is heterosexual and dislikes homosexuality, you'll be warning half the male population of this website. To me, calling someone a homophobe is as demeaning as calling someone a faggot. Since you allowed homophobe then faggot/fags should be allowed as well. You can't pick which group to be intolerant to. Please let me know if RPGWatch is going to take a stance against people who dislike homosexuals, because I would have to leave too."

-- crpgnut, who puts a smiley after correcting "homophobe" by saying "homonauseated would be closer" to show that he's just joshing around, lol, I hate gay people, roflqueers.

To me, calling someone violent is as demeaning as punching someone in the face! To me, charging someone with manslaughter is as demeaning as committing a murder! To me, being called a racist is as demeaning as using the n-wo... Oh, wait, stupid straight white people whine about that, too.

Every time I wonder why it's so damn hard to get a gay-friendly plot or character into a game, I just have to look to the Internets for an answer.

• 22:34 #masseffect2 It IS possible to survive the endgame and save your team! Unless you are dumb like me. #

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I finished another Mass Effect 2 playthrough over the weekend. Every time I play this game, it's looking better. The endgame had me on the edge of my seat, which is absurd, since I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS.

I think that people are going to be really impressed by the combat. The overall balance has moved from wars of attrition (whittle an enemy down and hope that if you're on Hardcore, they don't spam Immunity) to fast nasty firefights. Even popcorn encounters can turn deadly if you're an idiot who doesn't use cover or pick the right tool for the job... but on the upside, you can really take down enemies fast and hard when you know what you're doing. Everybody, you and your enemies, is more dangerous.

Of course, half of the official forums are filled with people concerned that because our combat is better, we're less of an RPG. In Mass Effect 1, you were an impoverished vagabond pawing through crates for your next meal or a good set of Incendiary ammo mods until about level 20, at which point the balance of power shifted, ammo mods started rolling in, you ended up with more money than stores willing to accept it, and you got to purchase the Spectre Weapons and Auto-Win the Game.

I've been really impressed with how far we've come in Mass Effect 2. We haven't said much about it yet, and this post will not be the post that breaks out all kinds of exciting news on the subject, because, you know, not my system. I'll spoil journals instead. We still have them. An awesome person figured out a way to make them auto-pop on screen so that even those of you who never ever ever ever look at your journals (I'm looking at you; seriously, I had to write a lot of entries, but do I get a thank-you?) will see the occasional helpful hint pop up. It's a massive improvement (unless it turns out to break the game memorywise or something, in which case it will be cut and I will weep sad designer tears and then move on). On the upgrades and mods front, I dumped a bunch of money into it and really liked the results. And due to the awesome balance of our money system, I could not just buy everything and Auto-Win the Game. I had to, you know, think about the way that I played and what I wanted to emphasize.

Same deal with character advancement. It's less about "Hey, make sure not to take First Aid or the Persuade skills, since you get those for free! Max out everything else!", as the official walkthroughs would say, and much more about figuring out what you want your Shepard to be. It's been a long time since I agonized over spending my points quite this much... or grinned in triumph as a new or upgraded power completely changed the field of battle.

And all of that makes us good competition for Borderlands, except that we're single-player, which means we're toast unless there's a compelling story.

I will preface this by saying that I'm a wuss who tears up at least once per Pixar movie (yes, even Cars, why does everybody sneer at Cars, did you not all see the part where McQueen goes back to push the King through the finish line, what the hell, people?), and accept that this is just going to sound like another dev shilling his game, because... well... I'm a dev, shilling my game... but it's pretty awesome.

Key moments, key choices. Written, then looked at critically, then rewritten and edited to be stronger and better and sharper and then stripped down to do just what they need. Give that to VO teams who do the impossible on every project (imagine doing 10 to 20 CG movies in terms of length, and also, by the way, branching dialog that makes it much harder for an actor or director to intuitively get the sense of how the scene is playing, and oh, the main character was written by seven different writers with a pair of editors pulling hard to keep the voice consistent). To directors who have to know the game inside and out to provide crucial context, to actors who are willing to throw themselves into a role and trust that we're going to do them justice. To audio folks who do a great number of things I don't understand, the audio equivalent of Photoshopping, to make things perfect. Bring that back to the Cinematic Animators and Cinematic Designers who turn it into movie-quality scenes, again with the added player-control factor. And the art teams that make the characters, the levels, the audio folks who actually make the lines have consistent volume and the background music fire correctly and... and all of it.

And yeah, rah rah team, I know, but damn. I walked through the beginning of a romance with a character, and watching Shepard and the character banter back and forth, the body language, the lighting, the dialog, the acting... it was the first time I think I've looked at one of our dialogs and thought, "Wow, that's sexy." Not boobs-and-pistols Bayonetta sexy, but "two characters obviously interested in each other and testing the waters" sexy. (Caveat: not written by me. Written with significantly more skill than I'd have had.)

I saw a squad member drop to their knees crying, and it worked. I felt bad and wanted to help. At some point -- and it ain't writing, or at least it ain't just writing, it's the VO team and the voice actors and the artists and the cinematics folks all pulling together with programming support that gives us more animations and higher quality than we've ever had before -- at some point, we passed through pixel-town and made characters that people are going to feel an investment in.

Also, one time I biotically knocked an explosive crate into a bunch of husks, at which point it exploded and blew them off a ledge, and that was pretty cool, too.

In summary, I am very happy and feeling really good about going back to the >100 bugs I have waiting for me, because I know that this game is worth fixing at least 60 of those and dumping the rest on my wife, the editor. (Love you, sweetie!) And also, when your biggest regret in terms of cut content is that you had to remove something the generic krogan shouted during combat because it violated German laws regarding mistreatment of corpses, you know the game is in pretty good shape.

• 08:05 Dude has fever. People at work and his school have H1N1. Trying to remain calm. #
• 16:57 Dude seems to be doing better. Not doing great myself, but no fever on my end, at least. #

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• 16:40 Tried to teach my son how to throw a baseball today. Not sure whether that is actually the right definition of irony. #
• 19:38 @ruzkin The Couchening: "Remember, Ruzkinlander, if your ass hits the cushion, it's over." #
• 19:38 @Klace A Dragon Age module would be an EXCELLENT way to apply, yes. :) #

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• 12:29 @megmccarron Glad you made it to Austin! Crit well! #
• 00:23 Up with acid reflux. And oddly, Beastmaster is no longer on. #
• 07:20 Now up with boys. Backyardigans not quite Beastmaster. #

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