She was running the shop in one of those games… I think it was Budokai Tenkaichi 3… or maybe it was like, some equipment upgrade station… dang man, I dunno. But when you went in she was all WELL HELLO, and so, yeah. Cred points if any commenters can find a clip of that voice audio for me.

(UPDATE: Here is is! Thank you, OffalAl, for making this for us!)

So. Well, hello — sorry I’ve been MIA from SVGL a little bit, but I’ve taken on some longer-term articles (which, like fruit, will bear slowly, stay tuned!) and had my hands full, and when I’m not doing that, I’ve been traveling. I’m coming to you live from midnight on Cape Cod, where my parents live.

I was raised here in MA, where summer meant Atlantic Ocean, the cold salted stone that borders it, and all of the shellfish that were dashed on its shores. This time of year, I love to visit whenever I’ve got time; this weekend we visited the Edward Gorey House, swam on a private beach in Yarmouth, ate lobster (favorite food, if I had to pick) — working vacation, I suppose.

Personal junk aside, the last time we talked, I had been getting ready to stage the Bad Bitches exhibit’s opening at Babycastles’ Williamsburg locale, and I am happy to report it went lovely. Motherboard covered the proceedings here, and at Kotaku this month, I used my column to address some of the response to the exhibit and, loosely, the reasons I wanted to stage it.

Related to challenging norms, Brandon Sheffield talks to BioWare Montreal’s Manveer Heir (friend of mine; I’m sometimes called “Womanveer”) about diversity in game characters, I talk to Metanet’s brilliant Mare Sheppard about Toronto’s Difference Engine Initiative, and interview Starhawk‘s senior producer at Sony on inclusiveness.

Finally, my bro Kirk Hamilton (who works at Big K now, whoa) writes on the “Mass Effect beauty pageant” that took place to much controversy on Facebook. As a mixed race woman with pretty non-traditional features I can identify with folks who are tired of media ideals that don’t look like them, but how I feel about Blonde FemShep is two things: One, lovely blonde women have probably had enough of being told they can’t possibly be smart or admirable, so piss off; and two, please stop saying “FemShep.” It drives me crazy.

Or, like, I guess, go ahead. I’m pretty not-into Mass Effect, so you guys have fun. I presume most of you guys like Mass Effect for the same reasons I like Twilight: trope-heavy pair bonding in the environment of beloved fantasy cliches where it’s fun to laugh at yourself, or, at the very least, to laugh at yourself while secretly being kind of serious about it. Pair bonding is quintessential. I wrote about it here.

Preceding article has nothing to do with video games, bee-tee-dubs. You know how important I think it is that we enjoy things that have nothing to do with video games. Like music! So if you’re on Spotify, please add this 1990S MUSIC PLAYLIST, entitled “liquid television,” an enormous 11-hour trip back to an era when flannel wasn’t ironic. You’re welcome.