Another Kotaku WC article...

Any talk about Wing Commander is good because people keep the franchise in mind, so yeah, why not.
...although it feels like every third article that mentions WC3 is like "There also was a porn star in it!!!!!!!". For me it isn't that big of a deal. I don't know why people are so obsessed with it.
 
The worst part is that there really could be an interesting article about THIS EXACT POINT if they'd bothered to do anything other than "hey, I sort of remember that this happened." Including:

- An article about how Wing Commander III actually was conceived as a more adult title and that that was scaled back because of the then-new ESRB rating system. Heck, we had an update just a few days ago that mentioned how the shooting script was full of stronger language... but imagine how much this article would have benefited from just tying her name into our archive and finding the original concept art for the character: https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Rachel.PNG (So was that for the best? Did the ESRB system stifle art, or did it properly make games more accessible?)

- Actually looking into WHY she was cast instead of just their own assumption about how serious Chris Roberts was about directing. I can find you a dozen xOrigin guys who will tell you far more prurient stories about his thought processes. :) (And what's the real truth? Well, that's why there should be gaming JOURNALISTS instead of bloggers.) Similarly, you can get a dozen great stories about how Ginger actually ended up being the sweetest, most professional member of that cast (and was the only one who came to visit Origin in Austin! I think Billy has a good story about how he ended up having to be her escort to Richard Garriott's haunted house that year.)

- The 'kiss' shooting controversy. This is a well documented story that hits a whole bunch of hot button issues (and Ginger is readily available to tell it.) Here's an interview where she runs through it: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/5657

- The whole thing as a metaphor for for the rise and fall of full motion video in the first place. Because 1994 is pretty much when you tear games and porn apart, isn't it? Back then you used to go to COMDEX to pitch new titles and you'd share convention space with an adult film expo! And remember how the back of every CGW was full of ads for VIRTUAL VALERIE? But games went mainstream and Wing Commander's full motion video was an enormous part of that... and Ginger's story mirrors that awfully well (as does her return to the adult industry, after full motion video winks out...)

- Commentary on the sexual mores of the era. We all go "snicker snicker snicker a PORN STAR HOW COOL" today, but the reaction was VERY DIFFERENT in 1994. There were people who refused to play the game for this reason! (I remember a guy being totally obnoxious to Andrew Keith because he'd chosen Rachel instead of Flint for the novelization and /didn't he know/.)
 
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