infoMania | June 11, 2010 | Comment on this video (50)

That's Gay: Video Games Are Gay

bryan_safi
The video game world hasn't always been gay-inclusive. In Nintendo games like "Contra," "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out," "Ring King" and "Streets of Rage 3," you'd have to rely on gay innuendo. But in this week's That's Gay, Bryan Safi finds that gaming has gotten much gayer. "The Sims," "Fable," "Dragon Age," "Bully," and "Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony" are all games that let you go gay for play.

That's Gay is a recurring segment on the weekly television show infoMania. In each episode of That's Gay, Bryan Safi explores gay issues and stereotypes as they are portrayed by the clueless media. For more Bryan visit http://current.com/groups/thats-gay/ and Current TV.

infoMania is a half-hour satirical news show that airs on Current TV. The show puts a comedic spin on the 24-hour chaos and information overload brought about by the constant bombardment of the media. Hosted by Conor Knighton and co-starring Brett Erlich, Erin Gibson, Ben Hoffman, Bryan Safi and Sergio Cilli, the show airs on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific Times and can be found online at http://current.com/infomania/ or on Current TV. And make sure to check out our facebook profile for special features at http://facebook.com/infomania.
  1. groups:
    Entertainment,   Comedy,   Gaming,   Upstream,   8 more
  2. tags:
    Gaming,  Video Games,  Nintendo,  That's Gay,  9 more
  3. credits:
    bryan_safi Starring, bryan_safi Writer, jplunkett Producer, more
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50 comments // That's Gay: Video Games Are Gay // Video

  • PatrickEdgar
  • CelesteM
    • 0
      CelesteM  
    • PatrickEdgar:

      Your whole philosophy is so backwards and full of false information that this hardly deserves a response.. but to answer your question, no, I would not want to be straight. I love being bi and nothing feels more natural to me. Sorry to burst your bubble.

    • 1 year ago
  • bike10
  • UtopianSky
    • +1
      UtopianSky  

    • I played Fable, I liked that your character could be gay, and even marry a male villager- but aspects of the main storyline required heterosexuality.

      There was a brothel and your character has to have sex with all of the whores to unlock a treasure room, and there is a female mayor you have to seduce and marry to become mayor of the main town.

      And there is no option to make your character female.

      I have not played the sequels though- perhaps they have more flexibility.

    • 1 year ago
  • wicaco
    • 0
      wicaco  

    • WHAT?!? A video about homosexuality in video games and no mention of Jolly Roger from "Banjo-Tooie"? His "Seamen's Brew", Grab-a-Sailor Night, his ambiguously transgender partner... Nothing like subliminal humor, with a twist of dry British wit.

    • 1 year ago
  • konkonsn
    • +1
      konkonsn  

    • I love your show, but could you have included some girl/girl clips in there? I know as a gay man, you're going to be more focused on gay man ideas as most of your shows tend to do. But something like this, which doesn't have to focus on certain celebs or shows and can be equal opportunity for men and women, could have more variety.

    • 1 year ago
  • MonsignorGabriel
    • 0
      MonsignorGabriel  

    • Well, what else is to be expected of all of those super-muscley steroid monkeys hanging out with each other all day long? And those rednecks on Xbox Live can't be real; rednecks are too dumb to even recognize what a video game is!

    • 1 year ago
  • Deonte_Edmond
    • +4
      Deonte_Edmond  

    • "Meet a guy, get a back rub, make out, get married, adopt a baby, and then put the baby down on the floor.....where it belongs"

      Funniest. Line. Ever.

    • 1 year ago
  • Almibry
  • HsIV
  • dtringas
  • Camille_Jackson
  • John808
    • 0
      John808  

    • I play Xbox I find it funny how Homophobic it is lol I just play a game and out of nowhere I hear "WTF dude thats so gay!"

    • 1 year ago
  • HsIV
    • 0
      HsIV  
    • John808:

      grow up1 you are expecting 17 YEAR OLD kids to give a shit about your sexuality? i think 360 is the most non anti gay thing out there they fuck with everyone equity.

    • 1 year ago
  • dtringas
    • 0
      dtringas  
    • HsIV:

      I see where you are coming from, 17 year olds, nor anyone else likes too see personal sexuality advertised. But I do find it rather hateful and homophobic when I am just trying to play a game with a non gay-oriented name and every little kid calls me a faggot, or queer or whatever. Solution : I don't even use a headset anymore.

    • 1 year ago
  • HsIV
    • 0
      HsIV  
    • dtringas:

      yha i cant stand that but thats how you know you are winning!rememner theyre calling you nigger cuz they cant say that word! call them on that shit they go silent about 99% of the time!

    • 1 year ago
  • Rockfanatic1016
  • kulahptik
  • HsIV
  • unclecharlie
  • NDLSCW
    • -1
      NDLSCW  

    • I know the comments section may be an odd area to try to ask a question for Bryan Safi but I will anyway. Do the people you know in the LGBT community tend to find more value in the romantic components of their video games, anime, and movies then those people who you don't consider to be a part of the LGBT community? How do you think these romantic components compare to great soundtracks, graphics/CGI/Animation, or other story components of these media?

      I know I can't speak for anyone but myself, but for me I never found the romantic components of these things important. For me what I now look forward to most in this type of media are things like the extraordinary soundtracks by the likes of Akira Yamaoka, Kenji Yamamoto, and Toshihiko Sahashi. Can fake NPC romance really compare to work like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYaEMf_4qwY&feature=related, this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Ky2BMVWfs or even this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URo-PeTZVG8

    • 1 year ago
  • UtopianSky
    • +1
      UtopianSky  
    • NDLSCW:

      Well, since you included anime and movies, yes, I find romance important.

      As far as games, it's more of an issue about identifying with the character you are playing. If you are a straight man, you want the character who represents you to be a straight man, and view and interact with the world in that way.

      Same goes for gay men, straight women, and lesbian women.

      Of course, if a character and storyline does not have gender or sexuality as a component, it's irrelevant. I think the Tetris "L" shaped bricks are gay. Not the "I" bricks though- they are completely straight. :)

      I'm the opposite of you about the soundtracks- I often turn the background music off, and even turn the sound effects down to a minimum.

    • 1 year ago
  • NDLSCW
  • ocanada
    • +2
      ocanada  

    • Mass Effect lets you have interspecies lesbian sex and Dragon Age interspecies male sex....wow. But before anyone gets foaming at the mouth like a fox news anchor, you have to work at these relationships for more than thirty hours and are only rewarded for good choices, not for being a jerk and the most you see is nothing more explicit than was shown. You can see more on Fox in any prime time show in it's lineup than in a bioware game. It's inclusion makes the whole world seem more real and even handed and despite being mature ensures that when games are for adults there is no shame in adults being treated like adults with content like this.

    • 1 year ago
  • JessexJoysticks
  • MizPiz
    • -1
      MizPiz  

    • I'm sorry to say this, but I really can't feel bad for you for you if your gamertag is xxxGayBoyxxx and you get homophobic remarks, especially if you're playing Halo 3.

    • 1 year ago
  • NiceN
    • 0
      NiceN  

    • HAHAHA, Xbox comments are ridiculous. The Ballad of Gay Tony did recognize the efficiency of gay men in mobs, and got it quite right.

    • 1 year ago
  • CelesteM
    • +2
      CelesteM  

    • Technically that's dwarf/elf sex. =) Also, worth noting that Dragon Age and Fable (and probably Sims but I haven't played that) allow your character to be bisexual as well as straight or gay.

    • 1 year ago
  • UtopianSky
  • atomiclegion
  • Essence_Brown
    • 0
      Essence_Brown  

    • This show is amazing to the nth degree!

      For sure Sims 2 and 3 have marriage-able gay couples. That's one of the reasons why I love that game. I don't think the first one did though. I haven't played the first one in years.

    • 1 year ago
  • versasrev
  • Einsam_Data_Old
  • QuestionGeek
  • SlackerDave
  • Drach
  • SamTyler
  • SamTyler
  • Stever_B
    • +1
      Stever_B  

    • I was trying to get The Sims to be gay back in the 90s and they just weren't having it. It's nice to see the developers have progressed a bit!

      And yes, Bryan SHOULD have a thirty minute spin-off show!!!

    • 1 year ago
  • SavvyKlutz
  • greggyg
  • UtopianSky
  • HsIV
    • +2
      HsIV  

    • dude you need a 30 min spin off show. i face book them to my gay friends and this will take the cake (all gamers)

    • 1 year ago
  • Turner_Arrington
  • CalPal
  • VSiskos
  • LozRiva
  • wrongheaded
    • +15
      wrongheaded  

    • Good on you for including the audio comments in that last section. Unfortunately the gamer community is not as progressive as the developers. And it's not just about LGBT folks either; a lot of people use that anonymity as an excuse to get on their soapbox about "the Mexicans" (read: Hispanics), blacks, women, et al. It's always obnoxious when people feel entitled to spew a bunch of hate speech in a public venue, but I find it even more annoying when they're doing it in the space that's designed for players to talk to each other ABOUT THE GAME. We're here to play, not listen to your brain droppings!

    • 1 year ago
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