JelloPudding

Sangome makes a really great point on this one. 4Kids played an undeniably vital role in giving anime a sustainable audience and paving the way for other series. Now if we could only figure out and agree on what the perfect localization looks like....

I recently wrote a blog post on IGN.com and I'm curious to hear feedback from an Otaku community on my thoughts. Please be respectful and thoughtful in your answer. You can see the original posting here: [url="http://www.ign.com/blogs/b.f.baumer/2011/05/31/everyone-games"]Otakus should come out![/url] And It's also posted below. Thanks! "More gamers, more diversity, and more appreciation is a great thing; and even the diehard nerds who are feeling increasingly isolated by the gaming invasion shouldn't think otherwise. We all know the story, but we don't often analyze it: in the latter half of 2000's, Video games have made a tremendous leap toward achieving things they've long desired: mainstream audiences, diverse audiences, sustainable niche audiences, and perhaps most importantly legitimacy as an industry. While statistics about sales and international revenue have longed placed the gaming industry amongst the top performers, gaming and game culture have struggled with breaking out of a tired societal archetype: "Video games are just for kids, and the adults who play them are all [i]losers"[/i] (or substitute [i]geeks, unemployed couch potatoes, men, nerds[/i], the list goes on and on.) Then something happened. [b]Something Totally Radical.[/b] There was a shift in cultural values and thinking: nerds and dorks became capable of achieving hip and fashionable status, while ignorant bullies became largely repugnant among the young people's cool. Sexy young actresses admit to loving comic books, while jock characters on television enjoy Asian cinema, anime, and martial arts. Simultaneously, Nintendo's marketing team shows the world that Video games are for our grandparents. The 80's and 90's era nerds are seemingly evanescent; gone is the awkwardness, gone are the typical problems with grooming, body odor, acne, and obesity, gone are the late nights with Mountain Dews and 20-sided dice that end in heated verbal shout-fights about the technicalities of spell casting, gone are the virgins. Instead these [i]nerds[/i] have been replaced with millennial [i]Dorks[/i]; sexy, urban outfitters wearing, tattooed and PBR drinking, humble and socially competent professionals in graphic design and I.T. They communicate with empathy and have a wide variety of interests. They go to parties with a group of friends wearing classic game t-shirts or maybe even an [i]Ironic [/i]threadless which features that very same 20-sided artifact of their once proud isolationism. They reference Cowboy Bebop for its incredible music without batting a single nervous eye, make endearing jokes about the one nightstand to RULE THEM ALL, before drunkenly singing mario tunes accapella with the girl (or guy) they are about to take home and bed. Indeed we have reached the brink of a massive new subculture of acceptance and quirky sexiness. An era of Wii and lady gaga and black presidents and best gay friends and men who really like to cook and women who just want to get laid. An era of video games about everything that everyone can safely and fashionably be out of the closet in appreciating. But is this really the case? What about all the people who didn't make the cut in transforming from [i]Nerd [/i]to [i]Dork[/i]? Where are the gamers who still really LOVE to scream and rage about not untapping your mana cards during your untap phase? Perhaps most importantly, where are the gamers who are still struggling with loneliness at the harsh reality of poor self image? Are they not still in hiding? For many die-hard Nerds, being a loner is a self-affirming choice, a reflection of the tenacious pride of the true Otaku. Yet some others admit that they still hide their passions for MMORPG or Trading Cards out of the fear of being judged. I would urge all sides of this spectrum to bridge the gap. Main-streamers who just love to Mario Kart (Game-streamers?), straddling-the-divide Dorks who recently sold their WOW account to pay for a puppy, and diehard nerds who can sing the entire Japanese intro to Chobits in the shower owe it to each other to become more visible in an effort to dispel the myths we are still holding on to. We'll all be better for it. A bit about myself... I'm representing Chicago, working in Research for Healthcare industry clients, and I like doing fun things while I'm not saving the world. One of them is an addiction I've lovingly harbored since unwrapping sega Genesis with my older brother on Christmas morning as a five year old. Other things can be found here: about.me/benbaumer. As for Gamestreamer/Dork/Nerd spectrum, You could probably put me into the dork category, but as I am advocating, I've got friends in all three."