Ben-DutkaIn the first part of our interview with Playboy model and Gamer Next Door critic Jo Garcia , we learned about her early gaming days and her love of RPGs, RTS, and classic video games.
Oh, but there's more. We also asked her what she'd like to see from the next generation, and you might be surprised at her response. Firstly, she said we can basically ditch 3D gaming-
"I don't need 3D; just get rid of it. I bought a Nintendo 3DS and for the first week, I thought it was cool. And then after that, I never used the 3D part again; I just use it like a regular DS. And I can't see sitting there with those silly glasses and playing everything in 3D."
I mentioned it gave me a headache and she agreed. For the record, although I have a 3D HDTV and I've seen what this generation can produce in that other dimension, I've never really been impressed. That goes for 3D movies, too. I see it as little more than a neat-o gimmick and Jo obviously sees it the same way.
For the next generation, she doesn't care a fig about 3D. What does she want? Total immersion.
"Honestly, what I want to see is no screen or controllers; I just want to be in the game. Like that movie 'Gamer?' Like that. I want it be total virtual reality, I want to see and do everything like I was in the game, where everything seems real."
Side note- I wanted to tell her about that Battlefield 3 simulator but I forgot. We got sidetracked on yet another topic…
It was storytelling; we get onto the subject of Heavy Rain , which she will defend as ardently as any die-hard fan of Quantic Dream's masterpiece. She says anyone who dumps on the game "hasn't played it for longer than 20 minutes." This got us onto the subject of stories in games, and it's clear that she treasures a great plot and memorable characters.
"When you think back, you always remember the great stories. I can sit here right now and tell you all about the story in Final Fantasy X, about how Tidus is just a dream and he somehow traveled through time, and how Yuna is a summoner and all that. Games without stories, you just sort of play and go, 'yeah, I played it,' but that's it. Like with Heavy Rain; after the first twenty minutes, I was like, 'woah…this is amazing.'"
And if you have any lingering reservations about her hardcore gamer label, consider the following- she came on board with a certain publisher to help promote a certain game (which must remain nameless), and they wanted her to play it first, so she could speak intelligently about it at events. So she went to play it at the developer's HQ. She loved it so much, she went back every day for the next week to play the same demo over and over again…it was an hour and a half drive both ways.
Then you toss in waiting outside the store in the middle of the night for the PlayStation 3 launch, and various pieces of Final Fantasy knowledge that surprises one of the masters of the franchise (ME), and I don't think there's anything left to talk about.
We'd like to thank this beautiful gamer for taking the time to talk to us (cough and everything; hope that's gone now, Jo!) and sticking up for herself. She says she'll "keep playing until her thumbs stop working," and you should believe her. I do. For more, make sure to visit her website ; she just reviewed Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One .
P.S. I will assume everyone has gotten any inappropriate comments out of their system with the first installment of this interview. Yes?
She likes Final Fantasy X?!
Love it.
Last edited by OPHIDIAN on 12/8/2011 9:15:58 PM
It's always exciting to find another long time FF fan, because you know instantly that you have at least 2+ hours of discussion material.
Yes, but that was turning into a problem. We could've talked all night about FF…had to steer away eventually for the sake of the interview. 😉
Ben, I don't blame you. Personally i would have been interested to hear what she had to say.
So true Underdog. FFX is one of my favourite games of all time, alongside MGS and AC. I could go on forever about it.
Can't wait for FFX HD!
Me too. The FFX HD news is my most favorite news of 2011.
i bet she is one of the 3% to plat heavy rain. hope she played the taxidermist too, that was crazy wicked.
Oh the Taxidermist,hehehe reading this makes me want to play it again…okay gonna do it now xD
Gamer girls are becoming the norm these days. I love it. Games for everyone! Everyone should enjoy the industry that is gaming. Buuuut, once everyone plays games, what's the next special thing?
I for one will get a pet monkey and teach it how to play games. It'll be a cool monkey much like Drebin's from MGS4. People will be all like "omg monkeys don't play games that's weird", but then my monkey will say "oo oo ah ah! Phoenix Down kills undead oo oo ah ah!"…
And then I'll give it a banana and we'll high five.
Last edited by ZenChichiri on 12/8/2011 10:01:53 PM
The next logical stage of this development of course, is to have monkeys make a Shenmue 3.
😉
As long as they got the script from Yu Suzuki, I wouldn't mind! However, I'm afraid there might be some changes and we'll get some lines like:
"Hey Lan Di, quit monkeyin' around and let's fight!"
"Revenge begets more revenge. If you fling poo at me, then I'll fling poo at you. That's simply how this world works. To put it simply, if you seek out revenge, Ryo, then there will be one big mess of poo to clean up."
"Ryo, it's been such a long time. My feelings for you have never waned. Will you come to see me later? I want you to take…oh this is so embarassing…please come over and take my…my…take my bananas from me."
Last edited by ZenChichiri on 12/9/2011 12:26:59 AM
Ha, just teach your monkey Japanese so he can take over Square-Enix!
Im confused why somebody would want no screen and no controllers. As a "gamer" myself that's the point of it all. To get immersed in a story, and characters, while controlling the game. I thought she loved that part of gaming? Ah well. I guess that's a question for another day.
By the way this was a very good read, both parts of the interview. This only proves that there's a diverse group of people in the world that can be brought together with a simple hobby, or lifestyle, or job, or what have you! Great stuff!
One word: Holodeck. 🙂
@Beamboom
I've wanted a Holodeck my whole life.
I'll bid you all farewell when I get one installed. And then I'll bark at the moon and howl at the girls as much as I please! 😉
But really, that video clip Ben posted a while ago gave me hope. Also we got those googles from Sony that's just around the corner (I'll *soooo* get those!).
I think we are starting to see the contours of a holodeck in the horizon. The very thought makes my mind tingle.
Last edited by Beamboom on 12/10/2011 9:39:55 AM
Well Jo I don't think we will see virtual reality games at home for a very long time. That movie Gamer was awful too.
It was nice of her to talk with PSXE, unfortunate that we didn't get to interact with her (minds out of the gutter please) but I know that, like all gamers, she's probably busy.
I agree about 3D too, it just doesn't have a permanent place as anything substantial.
She say she doesn't get involved in Comments sections. Frankly, I don't blame her.
Guess I can't either, though it is an insult to PSXE's readership.
It's funny how different genders can be, which is why I can completely understand why she wouldn't want to come here. I know lots of us could maturely talk to her, but I bet she has had experiences in the past on predominantly male forums and such that left her frustrated.
I can't help it, but I kept on thinking of a role reversal. Imagine if I was a nude model for Playgirl known as that "Sexy Gaming Guy" and pretty much when everyone found out I was a gamer it was like coming out of the closet. Now a game website talks about my credibility as a gamer, and if it was just some marketing ploy or not. The website is run by women that are interested in my gaming habits.
"Would you like to talk on my forums to a bunch of women who like video games that are interested in you?"
"YESSSSSSSSSSS!"
Yup, genders definitely do not think alike.
One of the reasons I become a member here is because Ben is one of the few reviewers that actually give a damn about their readers and give us his time to interact with us.
I never thought she would be commenting here, maybe even on her own site she doesn't do it (I don't blame her a hot girl usually cause a chaos between gamers), the only girl that does something similar is on edge or eurogamer (I don't remember well xD)and damn I felt sorry for her, how immature some people acted, but at the same time I felt admiration because that didn't stop her.
So Jo Garcia you are cool and all BUT the best interview is with Joseph Gatt, because he was replying in the comment section too.
Last edited by Oxvial on 12/9/2011 1:51:57 AM
I can understand her not wanting to be a part of comments in general (this site excluded).
Most of my girl gamer friends won't make a PSN name that sounds like they're a girl, nor will they wear a mic. One girl even uses the voice changer the PS3 has built in…. Just so she doesn't get harassed by lonely dumbasses but still communicate with teammates.
9 times out of 10, though, they just mute everyone except those in their parties. (My friend's wife does this when playing CoD with us)
Unfortunately, even gamers, apparently, can't help but comment when they cross a girl gamer. Gonna be tough to get society to accept it when half the gamers out there aren't even used to it yet.
I'm not viewing Jo's policy as a slight against PSXE; I'm sure it has nothing to do with us. It's just based on history.
Gatt posted here because he doesn't have to worry about a slew of inappropriate and even offensive comments simply due to his presence.
I trust the readers at PSXE to treat Jo with respect, too, but I get where she's coming from.
Back in my mmo days our guild leader when I joined that guild were a girl. That fact made several other girl gamers join our guild, so as a consequence of that I got some experience with female gamers in mmos. They were not many – by all means – out of the around 250-300 members in our guild I guess maybe 8-9 of them were girls. Still, that was way more than most guilds who typically had… None. 🙂
And from hanging out with them I can say that the immature behaviour from other male gamers were usually very short lived, and always came from strangers, never guild mates. Usually it stopped soon after they got over the shock of being in the "virtual vicinity" of a girl gamer (with a very good looking avatar of course), and especially if they were teamed up and saw they were good gamers, keeping them alive or did a great job as tank etc.
As for our guild leader, she never made a secret out of it, she just never announced it. If someone asked she answered. She flirted with guys (she were a huge flirt, that's usually what made people ask, she even started a relationship with a "GM", someone who worked for the developers and had "special ingame powers". Damn that was an awesome marketing move for the guild :D). She had a great time, as she should, and so did the rest of us.
Oh man… Happy days.
Last edited by Beamboom on 12/10/2011 10:08:41 AM
Considering her comments and views on story heavy games, I wonder what she thought of the Xenosaga games, if she played them. They still generate discussion with my wife and I because there is so much in the story, so many angles.
The creator and writer of the Xenosaga games (same guy that created Xenogears) is a brilliant story teller. I'm convinced of that.
P.s. I -still- can't believe you've played neither Xenogears nor DQ8. I'm gonna bug you about that for the rest of your life. :p
I have Xenogears on my PSP ready to play when I have the time, and DQ8 I will find a way to play. I have a serious backlog of games to play (including Xenogears) once I platinum and finish with WKC2.
Oh I know. And I'm glad! I'll just make sure you never forget. :p I know our discussions on those games will be awesome, is mostly why.
Wait, wait, wait…Mr. KOS-MOS Shion and other RPG girls hasn't played Xenogears!? Oh man, you'll be in for a nice surprise. While they couldn't directly link the series because of legal issues, they sure do hint at a lot of connections. You need to play through Xenogears then go through Xenosaga immediately after and you'll be wowed. Trust me 😉
Last edited by ZenChichiri on 12/9/2011 5:37:15 PM
i loved dragon quest 8. it was my first dragon quest game and i bought it for final fantasy 12 demo. i thought dq8 was just the icing but it turned out to be the other way around. now the main character is decked out in dragon armor and turns into a super saiyan.
lol @ inappropriate comments. she enjoys gaming allot, thats kool. i agree with yal on 3d, its not a need but its a kool feature if done right. about being immersed with no controller im not with that movement. coming home 1am in the morning from work or etc & im the controller for the game…. naw ill leave gaming if thats the only option left in the future to play games.
I'm glad you got the interview, but I was hoping it would've had more of a Q&A feel to it.
It seems like none of the questions that were posted for her response, were really answered much.
It just wasn't possible. The conversation sort of took off and didn't stop. Fault two gamers for talking games 'cuz they love it. 😉
Can't fault you there. Interviews that are enjoyable are more likely for a future repeat, anyways!
Ben,
Fair enough, I understand completely, been there, done that more than a few times myself, with other motorcycle clubs.
Anyways, my prior post wasn't meant in any way as a slight or dig towards you, Jo, or the interview itself.
I know you didn't mean anything by that. It was just a little different, because we usually do standard Q&A interviews.
Simply love it! Girl gamers should know that is a place for them to express their opinions about gaming too. Love it.
Well, we already have 4 women here that I know of, Gamergirl, Mell, and there's at least 2 others(who's sig's allude me ATM), that also pop in a few times a year to post.
in regards to 3D i at do take on board that its kinda a gimick at the moment but its still needs time to involve and it's not going away anytime soon. I recently upgraded to a 3Dtv and playing uncharted 3 in 3d is nothing short of amazing and thats just on the games front. Give it time to evolve as realistically 3d is the next step before we get holographic displays etc which are still about 5-10 years off. As for the VR full experience i'm not sure it appeals to me on the grounds that while the technology would be mega cool the psycological effects from using it would be a real worry.
Last edited by dante_zero on 12/9/2011 1:54:05 AM
Thanks Jo for doing the interview. Rock On!!!
She is the Best Playmate Ever!
Nice interview, Ben.
Oh damnit, I forgot to add that she will take BF3 over MW3 any day…thought that would resonate with this particular community. 😉
Nice interview, but it would have been great to have at least a couple of questions from PSXE members answered.
Hmm…I wonder what game she drove hours for to go play.
Nice to see her talk about FFX. It remains near the top of my list of all time favorite games. FFX's story was quite memorable. The scene at the end of FFX when Yuna whistles for Tidus nearly choked me up.
They were answered, but they took a discussion form. I asked what her first game was, what her favorite games were, etc. They just happened to turn into stories about her playing Mario for the first time, and loving Final Fantasy.
The 2nd pic is hot, the background, everything.
I don't think any of us likes the third pic much though… What's that white thing doing there? 😉
Last edited by Beamboom on 12/10/2011 9:59:55 AM
Women in gaming has never been a shock to me. I grew up with at least a dozen girl gamers many of which were not only hot but excelled at games. The industry as a whole would not be where it is today without women. For those of you that don't know more than %80 of Ataris sold before 1982 were bought by women. And if for some reason you don't believe me go over to the site that Ben himself brought to our attention Bafta Guru and watch Nolan Bushnells 30 minute video.
Women have always had a place in gaming it is just that men have such big egos that we like to convince ourselves that they either don't or have never existed in gaming and we are all dead wrong. It is that kind of thought and our own egos that brings out the stupidity and immaturity in most of us. Luckily this site is one of the more mature ones that exist, mainly because of the people running it and the people who tend to follow it.
At first glance, she looks like another candidate for perfect woman 😛