David Gaider, Dragon Age series writer:

Dorian is gay—he is, in fact, the first fully gay character I’ve had the opportunity to write. It added an interesting dimension to his back story, considering he comes from a place where “perfection” is the face that every mage puts on and anything that smacks of deviancy is shameful and meant to be hidden.

…

I suppose this aspect of Dorian will make him controversial in some corners, but I was glad to include it. It made writing Dorian a very personal experience for me, and I’m hopeful that will make him seem like a fully realized character to fans in the end.

I spent last weekend attending a same-sex wedding. Amongst the 150 or so attendees, not a soul spoke ill will or against the act of love. If anything, there was a palpable aura of support for the newly weds. Those I had assumed would turn their nose up to the ceremony watched with vivacious smiles, tears and cheering. The attendees soaked in the ceremony with deep admiration for a couple who had spent 7+ years braving potential criticism, backlash and rejection from their own bloodlines for challenging tradition.

While I was out of town for the wedding, San Francisco was holding its Pride Celebration. While I could not attend, I was very proud to be part of an attending organization who actively (and prominently!) showed their support for those who continue to live in fear, are ignored and cast aside by the mainstream.

Be it two people in marriage; hundreds at work; thousands in school; or millions participating in sports, games and global events; communal bonding is a wonder. To feel included, acknowledged and represented in a community is even more special.

Björn Jeffery, Toca Boca:

Making apps for children: it’s not a perfect science, it’s more like art. This is sort of shaping kids’ memories of them growing up. That’s a big responsibility. That’s something we should be taking very seriously.

A big responsibility indeed.

‘App: The Human Story’ looks to be an extremely compelling, promising and well crafted documentary about the history and future of apps. The roster isn’t half bad either.

Excerpt from “Console Wars” by Blake J. Harris:

Uemura’s Super Famicom dazzled on numerous fronts. The new console could generate 32,768 unique colors (the Genesis had 512) and eight channels of audio (the Genesis had six), and it could retail for 25,000 yen (about $250). Yet despite his best efforts, Uemura was unable to incorporate backward compatibility without greatly increasing the price (by about $75). Yamauchi discussed this issue with his son-in-law, Minoru Arakawa, who harbored plans to soon release a U.S. version of the system. Arakawa pointed out that compact discs had recently begun to replace cassette tapes and vinyl records without causing much of a stir. Perhaps modern consumers were becoming savvy enough to realize that new technology tended to make previous iterations obsolete. They concluded that Nintendo was strong enough to deal with the possible backlash and couldn’t afford to hold off on a 16-bit system any longer.

I’m having too much fun with this book. An entertaining David and Goliath story for the modern era, chock-full of video game nostalgia and fantastic trivia that went right over the heads of my generation. Not to mention plenty of “history repeats itself” moments.

Fast Company:

A platform that changes the input to a simulation or video game based on the user’s physiological state.

Alan Pope, NASA Scientist, as quoted by Fast Company:

In terms of applications, we’re looking for places where this can be deployed as a form of entertainment and also training. There are a number of situations where someone could be trained using a video game-like task. It could be sharpshooters in the military, surgeons who would need to control their attention and anxiety—any kind of task that puts pressure on someone while they’re performing the task with their hands or manually.

While I struggle with my internal “simulation” v. “video game” terminology debate, I thought I’d share this neat interactive mechanic.

Polygon:

Summer Games Done Quick, the mid-year fund raiser of Speed Demos Archive, nearly tripled the amount it raised in 2013, hauling in $713,000 over a week long stretch, the proceeds of which go to Doctors Without Borders.