• Home
  • News
    • All News
    • Movies
    • Comics
    • PlayStation 4
    • PlayStation 3
    • Xbox One
    • Xbox 360
    • PC
    • Indie
  • Reviews
    • All Reviews
    • Movies
    • PlayStation 4
    • PlayStation 3
    • Xbox One
    • Xbox 360
    • PC
    • Indie
  • Previews
  • Exclusives
    • All Exclusives
    • Columns
    • Opinions
    • Satire
    • Comics
    • Off-Topic
    • Guides
    • YouTube
  • Tech
By Marko on 3 Jul, 2012: published about 4 years ago
7 Comments

Musings Of A Mad Hatter: Pixelated Love

Musings Of A Mad Hatter: Pixelated Love

I’ve always labelled myself as a hopeless romantic. I love things about love and I get all warm and fuzzy inside when I read or watch a good love story. I hate the teenage love thing however and just wish that would die in a hole. All those girls that photoshop “OHHH I LOVE HIM <3” into random photos of a dude on Facebook can just go bungie jump into a shallow well. My love life is pretty much a load of steaming shit because I’m a shy, conservative type and don’t make moves on girls so for the better part of my teenage life I was single. It didn’t stop me from seeing love as a beautiful thing, however, and I enjoy indulging in the topic. Enough about that, let’s talk about games. This is a gaming website after all right? Right?

I’ve very recently finished Catherine and I pretty much loved the game from the word go. I’m a sucker for anime and I thoroughly enjoy a good story and Catherine got top marks for all of them. The puzzle sections were addictive for me, but that’s besides the point. I found myself immersed up to my neck because I was so infatuated with the love triangle that was taking place in the game because frankly I haven’t seen it done so well in a game before. The game also asked you questions about your own perceptions about relationships and it constantly encouraged you to answer honestly. It asked how I felt about children and I responded with: “I fucking hate them,” Okay not in those words, but you get my drift. It hurt my morality meter because I was going for the ‘good guy’ morality, but I didn’t even care. I don’t like kids and I felt morally conflicted with choosing an answer that I know is untrue. Isn’t that amazing?

  • Popular Articles
  • Recent Articles
    • You’ll Be Able To Play (Expensive) PS2 Games On Your PS4 Now | 2 months ago
    • Jessica Jones Disempowers Its Male Characters And The Effect Is Refreshing | 2 months ago
    • Hell Is 30 000 Deathclaws Tearing Through Boston And It’s Glorious | 2 months ago
    • Sony Santa Monica Is Teasing Something Truly Strange | 2 months ago
    • Goodbye | 2 weeks ago
    • EGMR Awards 2015: The Inevitable Wrap-Up | 1 month ago
    • EGMR Fun Awards 2015: Most MLG Moments | 1 month ago
    • EGMR Fun Awards 2015: Manliest Game | 1 month ago

    Love was the premise for Catherine and it felt so refreshing to me that a game wasn’t shy about delving into the rocky topic of relationships and faithfulness and I found myself wondering why games don’t toy with this idea more often. Relationships in games have an almost taboo-like status with the main character having a love interest, but never getting to do something about it. Games should give you the freedom to do stuff like that. Not bound you to the metaphorical ball and chain that comes with linear storytelling. We need more freedom when it comes to the topic of love.

    Mass Effect did this well with the addition where you can talk to your squadmates and potentially have them as a girlfriend / boyfriend. That was great for me. I enjoyed developing feelings for a certain squadmate and discovering their personality in a more intimate sense. That’s basically the very fabric of immersion. I didn’t do it because I wanted an achievement or I felt like I had to, I did it based on my own feelings and preference.

    I’d also want to tackle another issue in gaming that has popped up. Gamers are going on and on about the subject of rape in videogames these days and I get the argument, but what of just normal consensual love? The Witcher 2 brought this to my attention because it didn’t censor its ‘love’ scenes at all and I started thinking, why don’t other games also do that? Why is it always a black screen or a hinted reference to sex by ways of moving the camera up and down outside a house. It’s stupid to me. We have games that let you cut other people’s heads off and throw their mangled corpses into spikes, but it’s suddenly a very taboo subject when you want a man and a woman to have sex that isn’t forced at all and done because they love each other (or both were just insanely horny).

    We need to leave this mindset that sex is a bad thing and embrace it. Catherine would have been way more immersive if it had some sort of sex scene in it and not just some ecchi (please don’t Google that if your mom is around) scenes and pictures. The game is rated Mature already so why not just go all out? The game might have done that on purpose and I will understand if it did.

    This may all sound like the ravings of a horny teenager, but that’s really not it. I swear. No seriously it isn’t. The general public generally say that games are not mature or ‘grown up’ enough and that pains me. We need to stop sheltering the idea and just go with it. If a game comes along that isn’t censored or held back because the subject is too taboo then I will commend it. Still, I wouldn’t want to see rape in a game. That shit’s just fucked up.

    Look at all these pretty icons you can click:

    • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

    Click Here, Read More. It's Easy.

    • 30 Nov, 2015
      Life, The Universe And Gaming: A Survivor’s Guide To Fallout 4 With A Partner
    • 14 Dec, 2015
      Life, The Universe And Gaming: 2015: Muh Oppressions, And Other Things
    • 10 Dec, 2015
      EGMR Awards 2015: Best Story
    • 2 Nov, 2015
      Life, The Universe And Gaming: Playing Hero Is Boring

    Name: Marko Swanepoel
    Location: Vereeniging
    Position: Author, Features & Columns

    Marko has published 526 posts. Read all of Marko's posts.
    • Email Me
    • My RSS Feed
    • Follow Me On Twitter
    ZergNet
    • Trebzz

      Sex in a game would be weird imagine being told to move analogue stick and press X for speed lol I’m sorry that kind of thought has eben going on in my mind for years now lol. And yeah i was pretty much single during my teen years as well o.O

      • CataclysmicDawn

        Right analog stick controls angle >_<

        I'm pretty much still single during my teen years, there was a few months at one point, but that ended. 

      • http://twitter.com/Weeman360 Weeman360

        There is a game close to that… but that is pretty much the purpose of the game. Get as many girls as you can, buuuutttt it’s on PC.
        I am sad to announce that I know the name, but only because one of my friends showed me ( I swear, the game is reaaallly bad ).
        It’s called bonetown

      • http://twitter.com/MGTHABO Marko Swanepoel

        Of course it wouldn’t have you doing the sex yourself, that would just be weird 0_o Cutscenes will be more than enough. 

    • Phil Smith

      This game sounds interesting. Where can I buy it in cape town? Don’t have enough cap to download. Takealot’s price of R529 seems outlandish

      • http://twitter.com/MGTHABO Marko Swanepoel

        You talking about Catherine? If so, it’s an imported game and is pretty rare to find in shops. You might get lucky and wait for it to pop up on a special somewhere. 

    • reV

      “I’m Only Interested In 2D Girls!”

    FANS
    FOLLOWERS
    1262
    SUBS
    636
    Daily News. Sign Up Now.
    Offensive #23: Paragon Interrupt

    Hot Right Now

    • You’ll Be Able To Play (Expensive) PS2 Games On Your PS4 Now
      You’ll Be Able To Play (Expensive) PS2 Games On Your PS4 Now

    • Jessica Jones Disempowers Its Male Characters And The Effect Is Refreshing
      Jessica Jones Disempowers Its Male Characters And The Effect...

    • Hell Is 30 000 Deathclaws Tearing Through Boston And It’s Glorious
      Hell Is 30 000 Deathclaws Tearing Through Boston And It̵...

    • Sony Santa Monica Is Teasing Something Truly Strange
      Sony Santa Monica Is Teasing Something Truly Strange

    • Corsair Katar Review: A Splendid Dagger To The Heart
      Corsair Katar Review: A Splendid Dagger To The Heart

    • Life, The Universe And Gaming: A Survivor’s Guide To Fallout 4 With A Partner
      Life, The Universe And Gaming: A Survivor’s Guide To F...

    • Review: Fallout 4 Is Fantastic But Far From Flawless
      Review: Fallout 4 Is Fantastic But Far From Flawless

    Reviews

    • Review: Bulb Boy Is A Charming Exploration Of The Macabre Review: Bulb Boy Is A Charming Explorati...
      Marko | 50 Views | 85/100
    • Review: Star Wars Battlefront Is A Brief Ode To The Classics Review: Star Wars Battlefront Is A Brief...
      Bracken | 90 Views | 75/100
    • Review: Guitar Hero Live Evolves The Rhythm Game Genre And Will Halt Productivity Review: Guitar Hero Live Evolves The Rhy...
      Marko | 42 Views | 80/100
    • Review: Fallout 4 Is Fantastic But Far From Flawless Review: Fallout 4 Is Fantastic But Far F...
      Caveshen | 238 Views | 70/100
    • Review: Viscera Cleanup Detail – Unsatisfying Menial Labour Review: Viscera Cleanup Detail – U...
      A-G | 97 Views | 60/100

    Previews

    • Preview: It’s Attack On Wallet This Steam Holiday Sale Preview: It’s Attack On Wallet...
      Paul | Regret | 342 Views
    • Need For Speed Wants To Make You Do Sweet Drifts, Bro Need For Speed Wants To Make You Do ...
      Marko | Vin Diesel | 160 Views
    • The Siege Of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six The Siege Of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
      Paul | Counter-Strike | 100 Views
    • Everything We Can Tell You To Expect In Halo 5: Guardians Everything We Can Tell You To Expect...
      Caveshen | Guilty Spark | 243 Views
    • Hands-On: Star Wars: Battlefront Has Potential, But Needs Serious Work Hands-On: Star Wars: Battlefront Has...
      Azhar | Spaaaaaaaace! | 598 Views

    Columns

    • Life, The Universe And Gaming: 2015: Muh Oppressions, And Other Things
      Life, The Universe And Gaming: 2015: Muh Oppressions, And Other Things

    • Abyssal Pixels: Role-Playing – The Absurd Versus The Faithful
      Abyssal Pixels: Role-Playing – The Absurd Versus The Faithful

    • Life, The Universe And Gaming: A Survivor’s Guide To Fallout 4 With A Partner
      Life, The Universe And Gaming: A Survivor’s Guide To Fallout 4 With A Partner

    Indie

    • Gone Home Officially Coming To Peasants
      Gone Home Officially Coming To Peasants

    • Review: Bulb Boy Is A Charming Exploration Of The Macabre
      Review: Bulb Boy Is A Charming Explorati...

    • RWBY: Grimm Eclipse Emerges From Shadows On To Steam Early Access
      RWBY: Grimm Eclipse Emerges From Shadows...

    • Latest Mighty No. 9 Trailer Shows Off Some Shiny New Gameplay
      Latest Mighty No. 9 Trailer Shows Off So...

    • Review: Viscera Cleanup Detail – Unsatisfying Menial Labour
      Review: Viscera Cleanup Detail – U...

      Interact

    • Submit a Tip
    • Suggest a Feature
    • The Team
    • Review System
    • Archives
    • Competitions

      support

    • Contact
    • Site or Article Error
    • Advertising
    • Competition T&C
      Creative Commons License

      stay connected

    • RSS Feed
    • Twitter
    • Twitter - Full Feed
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Email Newsletter

      newsletter

      Enter your email address to receive our newsletter for news, articles and updates.
    Copyright © 2016 — #egmr. All Rights Reserved.
    A member of the Blotch Network with Clutchd Automotive.
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.