Well, first of all, I guess, nice try, Adam. But why write the article when by your own admission you' re not even of average skill at the game?

Secondly, I' m getting sick of crap like this (and I' m used to it from a fair number of tankheaded users of this forum, but from someone who fancies himself a journalist?):

But some existing weapons have been enhanced since Halo 2; the Needler for example, while still looking gay, is more powerful and might actually kill people this time around.

Using a descriptive term of a segment of the population as a disparaging term is unprofessional at best. To use the term ' gay' as meaning ' lame,' ' stupid,' etc. isn' t something anyone should do, much less someone who writes for a living.

Naturally I realize I' ll get flamed for bringing this up, and the flaming generally will be comprised of bad grammar and misspelled words, as well as accusations of being gay (which I' m not but I' m confident enough in my own identity not to disparage someone else' s), but I' m not afraid to speak out against screw-ups and in this choice of words you damaged your credibility as a professional and Kikizo' s reputation as a legitimate news site.

Actually I appreciate far more an article written by someone who considers themselves to be of average skill - it is going to far more reflect the experience I get when I play it. Looking at most other web-sites " implied as exclusive" hands on time, Kikizo' s coverage appears to be not significantly different from anyone elses.

Maybe he was using the term gay to reflect that the needler was happy or cheerful-looking - which was the meaning of the word before it was usurped by the homosexual community. I' m not sure if either of your comparator words would work either as they could offend those with learning or ambulatory difficulties. I guess we either talk to each other in such wishy-washy PC ways, or we accept that people use words to certain effect without meaning to imply any prejudicial intent.

I' m not flaming Zoy, I understand your opinion and we probably should all check to see we are not going overboard with terms which some people might deem as derogatory.

The article is " weak" because he used the word " Gay" to describe something?

Um, it' s probably a cultural thing.

the word gay doesnt offend me, and i dont think it offends 99% of the gay community either! Since they are after all gay! Its look no its not right to call a black person black, they are africans something, you cant call a janitor a janitor they have to be called something fancy as well! Silly

Zoy, I agree with what you are saying, however it is endemic of today' " Yoof" culture that uses words out of context. The word " gay" means what? Anybody....No, it is another term for being " carefree" , " happy" , or " bright and showy" , well originally it was anyway, it is used in many old time musical songs, and I am sure they were not using it as a Homosexual reference.

The fact that Adam has freely admitted that he is of average skill in a game is refreshing in my view, purely becuase it doesn' t come across as an elitist' s opinion of the game, I wish more articles both electronic and printed were as honest.

The Needler wasn' t gay, it was retarded!

I only used it if there was nothing about at the time. Although it was almost as bad as the plasma pistol.

sometimes a pair of needlers were fun to hack around with, as you could get a huge number of needles onto even the best player.

OMG maybe those in the other thread were right?! Gays are taking over!!! 2 articles in 2 different forum sections in the same day...omg I used the word " same" thats a reference to gay isnt it now? And even a news article with gayness in it! Ahhhhg the rectal breach is upon us, repent repeeeent!!!!

" Gay" is the new " nigga" ya know? Tho used differently. Whereas as nigga was comradery(" Whaddup mah nigga" ), gay is used to explain somthing that is rather lame. Im quite sure the gay community hate it being used in such a way but hell it wasnt their word first anyways. But words will continue to evolve and meaning will change. Soon gays will be come banannas and white people will be termed as dixie cups and native americans will soon be phrased as " extinct" ...

I love being a mutt. I can be racist against everybody and when people say shutup Ill just say " Well if you cant laugh at yourself..."

Please kikizo,don' t use words such as " gay" its very offending,Im tired of cleaning up this site and remind people of using " properly" language.

We all know the entire Kikizo staff is gay so I think it' s okay for them to use that word.

Strike me down, Adam described a weapon in Halo as Gay

Strike me down, Adam described a weapon in Halo as Gay

Wow, so that puts it on an exclusive list of 2 things on Kikizo considered gay, the other one being you.

Anyway, now that I got the required flame out of the way....

Zoy, I understand what youre saying, but with todays culture, especially America, anything not liked is refered to as gay. Im not sure if youre American, as many of our forum members arent, so if you are I apologize for explaining something you already know.

But yes, gay is not a term that should be used by a site in a preview. It does come across as a bit childish.

Zoy is American.

But if you look, Adam, myself and f3 are all from the UK and we don' t see the problem.

Theres nothing wrong with this part of the article, Adam was just using the word gay as a reference of disliking... although many wouldnt expect a well liked journalist to awkwardly use the term gay in an article to express disliking. Perhaps something like the ugly/un-liked/quirky needler would have seemed a little bit more mature.

I' ve got no problem with using terms like gay or the like in discussions with friends but i wouldn' t use them in conversation with people I didn' t know, however I think we all understood Adam was using it to describe the needler as a bit useless rather than being offensive.

Perhaps we should all vote on (street/cultural mildly abusive) words we are happy to see so we know where we all stand?

Wow, so that puts it on an exclusive list of 2 things on Kikizo considered gay, the other one being you

That was ment to sound camp

Also, i love pussy Way too much for anyone to considering me as ' Gay' , maybe you fancy me?

But if you look, Adam, myself and f3 are all from the UK and we don' t see the problem.

Yeah, originally, in the english dictionary Gay ment ' Happy' .. Until it got twisted.. Abit like how you Americans class ' sociology' as a religion, where the english are having none of it and keep it' s proper term: A cult.

ORIGINAL: Virtua fighter 5

That was ment to sound camp

Also, i love pussy Way too much for anyone to considering me as ' Gay' , maybe you fancy me?

Well, my point is just that people have a right to choose what they call themselves, and also to not have other people use that name as an insult, because the association of the meanings does stem from disdain and, in extreme cases, hate. For people who say that one use of the word has nothing to do with the other, that' s a disconnected and disrespectful attitude that you choose to take.

I' m straight but I happen to have a lot of colleagues and friends who are gay and lesbian in the music and animation work I do and I know it bothers them, and it just makes people who say it that way sound really ignorant and childish. I' m sure all of you have friends, family members and acquaintances who are gay too, and if you think you don' t, it' s only because they don' t trust you or respect you enough for you to know. And don' t flatter yourself into thinking that every gay person would immediately want to hit on you, either.

So all in all, it' s not a matter of me trying to be " PC" but I think people should have a baseline of respect that we treat each other with and a big part of that is how we choose to use words. I appreciate you all discussing this even if we disagree. I' ve said all I' m going to say about it unless Adam steps up and responds to my complaint about his lack of professionalism in this instance.