“Does it get any more cozy than Hogsmeade?” The first time you hear this refrain in Hogwarts Legacy, the new blockbuster open-world video game based on the Harry Potter franchise, you may find yourself agreeing with your character, who has just said it. The higgledy-piggledy Hogsmeade Village is indeed cozy, a market town filled with a plethora of shops to purchase various wizarding wares. Then, as you hear the phrase for the fifth, tenth, and 15th time, you may begin to feel as if the long-in-development video game is trying too hard to convince you of this fact. Its repetition sums up almost the entire emotional register of Hogwarts Legacy — the wish-fulfillment fantasy of inhabiting the Potterverse it seeks to offer and the lack of confidence with which it does so. This is an insecure game, one you can tell is buckling under the weight of everything that accompanies it: the discourse, fan expectations, and J.K. Rowling herself.
Does that mean Harry Potter fans won't enjoy it?
The actual gameplay, the parts that come closest to making you feel like you’re an actual Hogwarts student, are mildly successful. There’s an undeniably nostalgic charm to exploring the labyrinthine corridors of Hogwarts. The castle is full of mysteries: hidden doors, disappearing staircases, moving paintings, a string quartet of instruments that play themselves — many elements of visual and audio design coalescing into a genuinely wondrous interactive whole....
Sounds like they will.
This is a very long review, with much talk about what's so terrible about JK Rowling, but the last line is a review of the substance of the game:
The treacly nostalgia is laid on so thick it’s stupefying.
Who knows the extent of the Potter fan's taste for treacle?
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62 comments:
Good for her.
"the sales numbers a 'massive success'"
A fun game, and an FU to progs: win-win. Heterodoxy pays, sometimes.
Could JKR's TERFiness be a crafty PR stunt?
We can't know how the controversy affected sales (though if I were to guess, my guess would be it had no measurable effect at all).
But how about this? Let's come back in a year and see how many people are playing Harry Potter and how many people are playing Quadball (Quidditch for transbullies). Come back in 5 years and see how many versions there are of Hogwarts Legacy and compare it to how many Quadball leagues have folded.
The takeaway from this dustup, especially the part about gaming journalists refusing to review the game, is that Gamergate was 100% correct. They charged that gaming media outlets were fully compromised and that their goal was the imposition of a woke ideology and not a desire for better video games. Gamergate was always poorly covered by the media, but the battle over this game now leaves no doubt about the accuracy of the criticism aimed at the journalists.
Think twice before pushing gamer nerds to choose between Trans-rights and Harry Potter games - don't assume they will choose as you want them to.
If someone isn't a fan of the square-peg round-hole societal approach regarding trans folks does, but they don't consider themselves a feminist but rather a dude would that make them a TERD?
Always love when journalists pull the "some critics say" bullshit.
With any luck T activism will put a damper on LGBT activism and slow the cultural revolution.
Rowling? Hogwart's? Locker rooms? Bathrooms? Womens' sports? Kiddy mutilation?
Ridiculous and monstrous!
LOL....all the way to the bank.
Rowling laughing all the way to the bank. Good for her.
Trans/Homophobia. The problem originates in orthodox Progressive Liberal sects that adopted the Pro-Choice ethical religion (i.e. diversity, inequity, exclusion) and carried forward by the politically congruent ("="). They conflated sex and gender to reduce men and women to the sum of their sex-correlated attributes and privileged trans/homosexuals through cultural appropriation and colored apologies in order to socially distance -- deja vu -- them from others in the transgender spectrum. Their adoption of albinophobic symbolism under DIEversity only accelerated their progress. They think that they can abort the baby, cannibalize her profitable parts, sequester her carbon pollutants, and have her, too. But, Mengele mandates, or Levine's personal affirmation through surgical, medical, or psychiatric corruption is a double-edged scalpel, especially when practiced on underage boys and girls, and not at all "=" to couplets. They should have lost their religion and respected civil unions without discrimination for quality, quantity, color, and corporation.
Gadfly will be along shortly to explain how Rowling is going broke despite all the evidence to the contrary.
As for "anti-T" or "anti-LGBT", here's the basic sentiment, "I don't care how or what adults you screw or how you dress, but leave me, our sacraments and our children alone.
If that's "anti", so be it.
By all accounts she is worth about one billion dollars.
Not sure she really cares...
What is with this powerful authoritarian tendency of the Left? We saw that with the mask and vax mandates.
If - like me - you dissent from the liberal dogma, the Dems cry and whine and try to destroy you. In Nebraska, one Dem state Senator has threatened to "burn this session to the ground" because she lost a committee vote.
The Left can't debate on the merits. They have to cancel and censor. That's UnAmerican.
"...grew particularly heated in the gaming community, where members tend to be deeply invested in online controversies and harassment can run rampant"
Isn't that the bigger problem? The real disease? It's not about transgender anymore, it's about free speech.
These delicate victims spend their time self-confined to an insular obsessive life in front of computer screens. A life spent living in their heads in the world of make-believe. They create this world of boo hoo victimhood, and it's an all out war to protect their kingdom of victimhood.
People have a right to their opinions - even wealthy successful authors.
I pre-ordered it, never did that before. My two kids and me currently playing it. Really good game. The negative critiques seem to be ways to seem objective while really just reflecting their hope it doesn't sell.
One of the better RPG games I've played. Great world, great and interesting story, lots to do. I think in terms of story and world consistency it's the best Harry Potter contribution besides the books and some movies. Infinitely better than the horrid play The Cursed Child and much better than the forgettable Fantastic Beast movies.
Admittedly our whole family are Harry Potter fans so the great faithful world of Legacy probably influences our liking it.
Blue Fascist America is everywhere.
The contrast between the bile directed at JK Rowling by the game review publishers over Hogswort’s and the silence over Ezra Miller’s starring role in the upcoming Flash movie could not be a better look at the work view of the woke. Rowling merely stood up for biological women’s privacy and safety and was cast into the pit by the Enlightened. Miller has a long rap sheet including theft, assault and potentially serious accusations about underage child issues ( with 2!) and gets the Omertà because he’s flavor of the month with the in crowd.
The hypocrisy of “safe” here boggles the mind.
I haven't played the game, but 12 million units sold tells me that people who do play video games must like it a lot. $825 million in revenue, with lots more on the way. We're talking additional video games, TV series, and movies. The vast majority of people think that this trans nonsense is just that, nonsense. Putting on a dress and announcing you are a woman does not make a man a woman. Giving children hormones and mutilating them is not "medical care" it is right up there with Mengele injecting blue dye into kids' eyes.
Banned in Boston. That's how you used to know a movie was worth seeing or a book had some good parts....I certainly hope that this game doesn't feature Hermoine in a scanty outfit. That would doom any possible chance of its success among its target audience of young, adolescent males.
And what she said was sooo anodyne.
During Gamergate, it became apparent that (a) the gamer press was colluding, much like the MSM does, by coordinating narratives, and (b) they generally held gamers, their erstwhile audience, in contempt such that it was unclear who they thought their audience was. This complemented the age old problem of gaming sites that they were almost completely reliant on the game companies, both to get advanced access to the games (for free!) and to get paid advertising, so they were corrupted from the start. Gaming web sites are the lowest form of journalism in a world where journalism is at an all-time low. The fact that only some sites refused to review the game only shows how weakened they have become. Some gaming web sites are doing something? Yeah, don't stop the presses.
I do enjoy stories that manage to find a few people who are refusing to support X or are enthusiastically supporting Y and then try to make a narrative out of it. You can always find someone, even if it is a tiny minority, to support or oppose something, so it basically means nothing. It is almost as nice as "sources say" for media BS.
Harry Potter is Too Big To Cancel
As others have said before, 'F*ck'em.... F*ck'em and make'm eat fish heads.'
The game streaming community is doing a lot of reaction style videos on this very subject.
The fascist shitheads that own the NYT's and are funding these "activists" are not particularly popular out there.
I find it particularly fascinating to watch Althouse link to these NYT articles without mentioning that the NYT and the "activists" attacking streamers and gamers are on the same side.
The NYT's is a fascist completely amoral institution fomenting violence and harassment and anyone who supports them with traffic and money should look in the mirror
The trannies keep providing more evidence that it is a mental health matter.
New York Magazine is the mainstream press so I'm not surprised they published a poor review to virtue signal (or maybe they really didn't like it, hard to say), but the gaming press has been pretty laudatory. Depending on platform (Xbox, PlayStation, PC), the professional review aggregate scores on Metacritic are quite good, ranging from mid-80s ("Generally Favorable") to 90 ("Universal Acclaim"). A few outlets have refused to review it. Others have put their harrumphing in a side-bar and then reviewed it straight. And sales are through the roof. So it's a well reviewed best seller no matter how you slice it. The terminally online are beside themselves, but when aren't they.
Just to read JK Rowling or to play her game is resisting. It's understanding what is happening.
But only unified social action will actually stop CANCEL's digital bully brats from grinding up individuals. Why are university departments, even in red states, 99% Democrats or socialists? Because thousands upon thousands of conservative individuals have had their academic careers ruined by university department search committees and tenure committees who accepted only Democrats or socialists. Members of those committees should be forced to testify before state legislatures on their criteria and on how it is that they are excluding as unworthy the children of the tax-payers supporting them. What has been their secret agenda?
Doesn't she have FU money? Isn't that the POINT of having FU money - to be able to do/say whatever you want and not care about the ramifications?
Good for her.
(And anyway, I believe the future will prove her right. In a short period of time.)
Here is a video streamer reviewing another streamer's discussion about this subject.
As Asmongold says: "Don't waste your time talking to these people... laugh at them, ignore them, and blown them off."
Youtube/Twitch streamers are way more informative and entertaining than the New York Times.
Giving children hormones and mutilating them is not "medical care" it is right up there with Mengele injecting blue dye into kids' eyes.
Yeah... Mengele mandates, NOW Levine's personal affirmation.
That said, the politically congruent had a dream that magic would conflate sex and gender where a woman could become a man could become a woman through Choice.... uh, choice. The sorceress dashed their hopes and they revolted in a hullabaloo of indignation.
The irony is how forward this game pushes modern progressive social ideas. Every other character is a progressive trope.
And even better video that shows you what you are dealing with here.
This is the way feral animals behave on twitter.
He is responding to another video by another youtube streamer that was reduced to tears by these "activists."
"The only way these ideas exist is if they create their own little echo chamber."
It is not really going well for the fascist shitheads.
Transgression is right. I’d wager a substantial portion of the people of a certain age bitching about JK are also buying the game…
…to the annoyance of the oldsters bitching about JK…
My understanding of how these deals work is that Rowling got her money when she (well, more likely her agent) sold the licensing rights for the game company to use as a 1-time lump sum. She's already laughed her way to the bank. She doesn't receive additional royalties or anything like that from the game sales, so all these calls for boycotts of the game would never have affected her, only the people who work for the software company that made the game -- like 2 of my cousins. You know.... the "little people" who these leftists always claim to be fighting for.
I remember the TEA Party rallys in the early years. The left, of course, labeled them Nazis. A sign appeared at a later rally,"That's not a Nazi, that's my grandma".
At some point the horror reaction to smaller and smaller "aggression" will cause people to reflect on, let's say, reality. As in, that's no murderer of transgenders, that's the author of my favorite childhood books.
May we be near a turning point.
Fetishes in collision.
It would be nice if someone could get "some critics" to explain which of JKR's are transphobic. And no Just So stories please.
“Although Hogwarts Legacy quickly broke one million concurrent viewers on the streaming site Twitch, some streamers refused to play it”
Most people have never watched Twitch. If a streamer doesn’t want to play a game, unless they have some type of contract, they don’t play it. Nobody cares. Like YouTube, streamers generally stream for view counts and the revenue it brings in. If someone in live chat irritates them, the trolls get blocked. No arguments. Easy as that. There’s no “refusing to play”, lots more money to be made for those Twitch streamers who want to play it. FYI Amazon owns Twitch.
Remember Memories Pizza? A little family pizzeria in a small Indiana town.
Big national ruckus because a presstitute got them to say they wouldn't cater a gay wedding
$800m or so raised in a go fund me.
Chick Fil A was always successful. Then the alphabet people decided they had sinned.
In 21 they did more than $6mm per store. Nobody else, not even McDonald's came close
People are upset because Rowling is one of those people who "believe the science"
This game is massively successful.
Are these examples of doing well in spite of or because of getting the alphabet people upset?
John Henry
gaming journalism, (well that's a charitable way of putting it) is more prog than sports media, thats where milo had his 'awareness' which transferred to anti islamism, which is a life and death issue in the uk
Rowling may not be anti-trans but she's not a team player. A team player does what she's told. Rowling doesn't. That's enough for the fans to boo.
I've seen on reddit that the popularity of the game is de-facto evidence that a great number of people - specifically the right - are homophobic. Can't see it gaining much traction beyond those who want to be persecuted.
Everything quoted is of almost zero importance to gamers. How fun are the fight mechanics? When I ride the broom does it fly well? How engaging is the crafting and upgrading system? How much latitude do I have in character creation? Does the engine run smoothly and how beautiful does the world look?
As of this very moment Hogwarts Legacy has 240,000 current players on Steam, ranking at number 6. Every youtube gamer I follow is making playthrough guides for this. Articles like this are written for the people least likely to buy this game.
Don't discount the Streisand Effect. I don't play games much, but I'm tempted to play this one just because the Trans Bully Lobby is telling me I shouldn't.
And yet: China allows minors to play video games only on public holidays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays between 8 pm to 9 pm. Meaning, a maximum of 3 to 4 hours of gaming per week.
Weird. Most critics panned it, the players give it good ratings.
IGN rated it highly, but still had a blurb in the middle about Rowling. "As critics, our job is to answer the question of whether or not we find Hogwarts Legacy to be fun to play and why; whether it’s ethical to play is a separate but still very important question." They had links to Rowling's tweets, comments by a couple of people who may have never found fame if it weren't for Harry Potter movies, the view of some fans, and comments by the game developer. It's like they want people to make up their own minds about it.
Eh. Who has the energy, anymore??
I listened to the 1st chapter of the Witch Trials- vulnerability and honesty was the tenor of the talk.
Very moving. Judging someone w/out actually listening to them is so 2020+.
I’m tired of the theatrics &butthurt. Love and let live. I meant: live and let live- Freud autocorrected me. Or my one-off blindness in my eye did ;0)
There are way more serious things to worry about.
The world needs to chill over all this angsty drivel- yes?
Geezum crow.
Everyone needs to understand this is not just a bunch of losers on the internet trying to play their little shaming games.
The is fully funded and driven by the WEF Globalist Regime. These kids are organized, paid, and sent out with orders who to destroy.
The Universities and educational establishment have been weaponized to turn out an army of little red shirts.
There are not that many of these shitheads out there. This is 100% top down movement that is driven by the people that own the New York Times.
Mary Beth said...
Weird. Most critics panned it, the players give it good ratings.
It isn't weird. It is expected. The people that own IGN tell their writers what they are expected to write.
JK Rowling is not toeing the globalist line and fighting back against their stray voltage attempts to tear societies apart.
So they are sending their paid shills after her.
It is just like movie reviews.
Sounds like "some critics" are suffering from trans fragility.
The exquisite bigotry of being woke without a paddle. That said, play with a double-edged scalpel, get scalped.
Harry Potter is Too Big To Cancel
========
Voldemort tried and failed >> so it needs to be somebody bigger and stronger to achieve
"I stumbled into the New York Magazine review ..."
I am enjoying the mental image of our hostess blowing through the swinging doors of the New York Magazine Saloon, a stagger in her gait and a wild look in her eye. "Whoosa-sayin-a bad things about Hogwart' Legacy in here, Huh?!"
"Some critics who have called Rowling’s positions anti-transgender
"Some claim the moon is made of green cheese. Story at 11!"
"called for a boycott of Hogwarts Legacy...."
Why aren't they naming names here? "Called for a boycott" is a public act. The people doing it should love the free publicity.
interesting that the wierdos writing this article can't name their "some".
"The back-and-forth over Rowling’s positions grew particularly heated in the gaming community, where members tend to be deeply invested in online controversies and harassment can run rampant
Says the people celebrating the harassment of anyone who Streams playing Hogwarts Legacy
Although Hogwarts Legacy quickly broke one million concurrent viewers on the streaming site Twitch, some streamers refused to play it
So what?
Does every single person on Twitch play every single game out there? No?
So for every game "some" dont' play & stream it. Story at 11!
and a few websites devoted to gaming coverage decided not to review it.... On forums dedicated to Hogwarts Legacy, the topic was front and center, with moderators seeking to tamp down talk about Rowling in favor of the game itself.... "
Except for the ones pushing the boycotts, who demanded that everyone talk about Rawlings, instead of the game
From "Hogwarts Legacy Sells 12 Million Copies During Dispute Over Rowling/The video game generated $850 million in sales in two weeks. Online discussion before its release was largely about the “Harry Potter” creator J.K. Rowling’s comments on transgender issues" (NYT).
Only among the lunatics of the Left.
The actual gamers were talking about the game, and what it would be like
Jupiter: "I am enjoying the mental image of our hostess blowing through the swinging doors of the New York Magazine Saloon, a stagger in her gait and a wild look in her eye. "Whoosa-sayin-a bad things about Hogwart' Legacy in here, Huh?!"
"Whoa, Ma'am, seems like you've had a few!"
"Nonsense! I happen to have been at "The Library," sir!"
Only 12 million copies, $850,000,000.
Gee whiz, imagine how well it would have done without the substantial boycott.
Probably over a hundred gamers refuse to play it in support of the rainbows
Writing fictional witchcraft stories for so many years, she probably at last wanted to hang onto the reality that she knew. The trans mafia’s deadly attack on gay women is so untrue in every way that I expect she just wanted to speak truth to insanity. Unlike most she can afford to challenge the evil Cancel Culture high priests.
LOL @ Jupiter
Another white pill.
Wired gave it 1/10 and was roundly thrashed on Twitter.
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