Olympics Gymnastics Controversy

There are a lot of heated opinions about this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, China. I happen to know people who are “boycotting” the games and refuse to even watch because of politics. I am not one of those people. I don’t blame the politics going on in China on the Chinese athletes or people any more than I would accept blame for the outrageous actions of a President I did not vote for. And more importantly, the Olympics are not about politics, and politics have no place in them. So I’ve been watching and enjoying them, with the exception of one major problem.

There is a huge controversy surrounding the Chinese gymnasts. There are questions surrounding the ages of some of the girls on the team – the team that won the gold medals for the all around team competition for women this week. This article describes the problem in more detail:

http://www.nbcolympics.com/gymnastics/news/newsid=213588.html?_source=rss&cid

Bela Karolyi, world renowned gymnastics coach and commentator for NBC spoke of the Chinese womens’ team win by saying it’s too bad they are too young to be competing, making his opinion clear. And having watched ALL of the gymnastics coverage on my LCD HDTV I have my own opinion. There is NO WAY this girl is 16. And I would say the same about at least one other member of the team. NO WAY. She doesn’t look a day older than 12. Nice try, them trying to pass her off as 16, but I guess they forget in this day and age a lot of people have HDTVs. I even asked a 10 year old girl what she thinks. She said that girl looks like she could definitely be in her class at school. Who do they think they’re fooling?

I’m really disgusted about this, especially the fact that nothing is being done about it. The team ought to be disqualified and stripped of their medals. And this isn’t even the only gymnastics controversy – a lot of the men on the U.S. team were seriously underscored during their performances. There has been talk of favoritism by many commentators, as well, and having watched all of it I tend to agree.

A lot of people are cheering on China in these Olympics because they are the “host country” but I cannot condone this kind of cheating by giving such support. In my opinion, this is even worse than drug use by athletes, because it is state sanctioned.

The people who are boycotting the Olympics should be boycotting it for these reasons, not for political reasons. The Olympics were not founded as a political stage, and they have no place there. But cheating has no place there, either. I still won’t be boycotting the Olympics though – because during this controversy the American athletes need our support more than ever. They need to know the world is watching, and that we know who the real champions are.

I’m not just some crazed American who wants the U.S. to win all the medals. In fact, I also like to see “underdog” countries that don’t win many medals get to win. But the results should be FAIR, and cheaters should be disqualified, and the rightful champions receive the medals.

I have some thoughts about the Olympic Games based video games for next time.

E3 Wrap-Up: The Future of E3

I’ve seen a lot of editorials floating around about the format of E3, how it’s transformation since the open-to-the-public days has changed it, and the future of E3. Some people were even speculating E3 was dead. Of course, E3 has already been confirmed for 2009 so that is absolutely not the case. But I wanted to give my 2 cents about it. In particular, I want to respond to an editorial on IGN.com:

http://games.ign.com/articles/892/892415p1.html

First I want to address their contention that the “giddy excitement” was gone. I beg to differ. The “giddy excitement” is about the GAMES, and frankly the games are better than ever. I feel that this writer could not see the forest through the trees, and forgot “the true meaning of E3″ (kind of like the Peanuts gang forgot “the true meaning of Christmas” in the famous cartoon). It’s not about the signage, the booth babes, the crowds, or the chaos. It’s about the GAMES. And I, for one, was VERY excited about the games shown, and E3 week was, and still is, one of the highlights of my entire year as someone who loves games. I’m really looking forward to the games that were announced, and I’m even looking forward to what’s to come next year.

The editorial goes on to respond to people like myself who will remind them it’s all about the games. The editorial says that “approximately one tenth of the companies” were there compared to 2006. For one thing, “companies” doesn’t have to mean game software publishers let alone high profile software publishers that put out games we’re likely to see on the shelf in stores. However, there were some big game developers that were noticeably absent due to the expense, and I agree that’s a shame. But I do NOT think the answer is to cancel E3 and have publishers hold their own press conferences or forgo the announcements completely and just have all the clips and trailers sent to the media and leave it at that. I think the answer is that these other publishers rent a small convention room in a hotel or the like, off the E3 premises but nearby, and show their games at much lower cost to them than renting space at E3. Frankly, without doing them, their games are not going to get the attention they deserve. And if they were on someone’s radar, they probably would have been buried under the avalanche of amazing E3 titles. Ask any serious gamer (serious enough to have followed E3) what games they’re looking forward to this holiday, and I guarantee 98 out of 100 will rattle of a list of games that were all featured at E3.

I want to respond to IGN’s question “Who exactly is the show for, then?” The show is for the GAMERS. Not for the publishers, the media, or the other people this editor claims hated the show. It’s not for the few lucky who can afford to travel and attend. It’s for the GAMERS, all over the country, all over the world, watching the coverage on the internet or G4tv eagerly anticipating these exciting new games. And frankly, it’s BETTER for gamers at large when those who are showing us the games don’t have to fight a crowd of “general public” or booth babes to give us the demos. I’m glad the focus is on the games now, not the chaos. E3 is better than ever for the people that matter: the people who are going to be buying these games.

I just want to say one more thing in response to some of the articles I’ve seen saying the publishers should just hold their own press conferences on their own schedules and wherever they want. The sheer avalanche of amazing games is what makes E3 so compelling. It’s like Christmas… would it be the same if you got one small gift several times a year as getting a huge one, or lots of them, on the holiday? Wouldn’t be nearly as exciting, would it? (Forgive the religious reference I don’t mean to offend anyone but it’s the best example I could think of for comparison. I respect all religions).

I wouldn’t mind seeing E3 move to a smaller venue next time. And I’d love to see some of the publishers who can’t afford E3 space to hold their own press conference “off-campus” so to speak (during E3 week, not some other time!). But I do not think bringing the general public back is the way to go, and I definitely do not think cancelling it is the way to go. For a hardcore gamer like myself who eagerly anticipates E3 every year, that would be tragic.

One thing’s for sure: thank goodness E3 will be back next year!