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Friday, February 22, 2008

Turok's Gay Agenda

The simply-named Turok, released at the end of January, is the latest in the first person shooter series of the same name. The game itself has nothing to do with the plot of any of the past Turok games (or the comic book, for that matter) except for the protagonist's name, Joseph Turok, but nevertheless has been seen as a worthy addition to the series. That, and the whole shooting dinosaurs thing.

Looking at the cover of this game, one thing comes to mind: macho man shoot 'em up. Turok's standing in the shadows of a dark jungle, packing some major heat, ready to take down whatever's going to come at him next. The typical targeted demographic for Turok games is thus fairly obvious--guys who wanna shoot shit. Like dinosaurs, as I've previously mentioned.

Imagine my surprise when I got a load of this via Gay Gamer:

Yes, that would be Turok laying one on his man partner before racing off to battle.

What could this mean? It's an official story board from the game, after all, of a scene that didn't quite make it to the final product. Several theories are running rampant online:

First, some believe this was a legitimate story plot that was taken out of the game last minute. If this is true, it was either included simply for shock value or as another facet of Turok's character. The more cynical of us consider this a joke the creators put in the story board for shits and giggles--a sort of "Wouldn't it be hilarious if he did THIS" kind of deal. They refer to the "Panel omitted from game" comment below the panel in question as evidence.

My thoughts go two ways. First, I would like to believe this was considered a legitimate side story in the game. Turok is the perfect candidate to help dispel the stereotype that all gay men are fruity and femme-y, which is still a common misconception. I think it'd be awesome for this super-tough shoot 'em up manly man to love the cock, too. I don't think the comment below the panel is sufficient evidence against this because to me, it looks like someone else could have added it in, although I can't say for sure. However, I can't deny that using Turok's potential homosexuality as a joke wouldn't be below some game developers of macho FPSs such as this. And if it was put in as a joke, it's not in very good taste to imply the thought of Turok being gay is so far-fetched that it's funny.

I suppose all we can do is play the game and imagine what could have been. Sure, the man love didn't make it in this game, but perhaps this is one step closer to macho gay FPSs in the near future. Yes, one can dream.

Labels: FPS, LGBT, PlasmaRit, Turok