Dante’s Inferno: What the hell is the problem?

There’s a lot of complaining and arguing going around — oh yes, on the internet — about Dante’s Inferno, the upcoming EA game loosely based on Dante Alighieri’s epic poem, The Divine Comedy. Many of the complaints revolve around the basic idea of EA turning a classic piece of literature into a third-person hack-em-up. To an extent, this is understandable.

However, I can’t help but wonder if everyone is getting up-in-arms over nothing. I can sympathize with not wanting to see a favorite work of literature massacred in the name of entertainment and sales. I really can. But when I watched the trailer, all I saw was a concept for a game that looked really damned fun (no pun intended). Am I wrong? Is there a place for taking a revered work of art and reimagining it as a hilariously violent video game?

I’ll continue after the jump, since I may get long-winded.

Filed under: Opinion, PC, PS3, Xbox 360

The Gentleman Gamer cometh

Greetings, sir or madam.

My name is Matt. I write things. I started this blog because I was becoming a bit disillusioned after my first job as a video games blogger. I wanted to write about things on my own terms, in my own way, and see where it gets me, instead of grinding out lifeless stories that I didn’t care about.

Okay. So.

What makes The Gentleman Gamer different? Uh, not much. It’s written by me, for one. And it’s not really a “proper” video game blog, such as Kotaku. That’s about it. I try to be completely honest and direct, so brace yourself, chippy — but don’t be a dick. There will be news posts, but this isn’t really about the news; it’s about the industry itself and the hobby I love.

Why “The Gentleman Gamer,” you pretentious upstart? There are three reasons for this: 1. I was inspired by Destructoid.com’s Podtoid podcast, which created a hypothetical video game character named “Gentleman Dinosaur.” This is awesome. 2. I’m fed up with fanboys, trolls, elitists, and the idiots that patrol Xbox Live, and would like to see a return to civility. 3. I really freakin’ love the Team Fortress 2 “Gentlemen” meme.

So, uh, are you a “gentleman,” or what? Er, sometimes. Sort of. Not really. If you get to know me on a personal level, I think you’ll find that I generally fit the “gentleman” title, but when it comes to talking about teh vidya gaymz, I can be a brash little prick. The title is more to set the tone of the blog, and to challenge myself (and other gamers) to be more civil.

So, the gist is this: I talk about games, sometimes report the news, and we all try not to be dicks to each other. Just imagine Negative Gamer, only with slightly less “Negative” and slightly more “Gentleman.”

Join us. The End.

Filed under: Miscellaneous