Jesus Christ using tits and ass to sell your fucking games

[Roderick]

Oh wow, that got out of hand FAST. As soon as they start using real life models it seems as if it's a porn game. And really, there's no reason not to assume that, since they talk about 'discreetly' playing? Are they on crack? I'm not even offended, I'm baffled and impressed.

[Marek]

BTW if you're new to the evony ads you also need to see these:

http://www.destructoid.com/elephant/photo-m.phtml?post_key=141977

[Roderick]

Haha, nice.

[brkl]

Oh god, that page had the most intrusive internet ad I've ever come across, an ad for the Legion movie that took up 90% of screen real estate, you couldn't scroll past it and the X to close it only appeared after about 30 seconds.

[Patters]

BTW if you're new to the evony ads you also need to see these:

http://www.destructoid.com/elephant/photo-m.phtml?post_key=141977

Best one I have seen was this:

The light pulses green and blue.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Nope. They've "progressed" since then.

One woman has declared war...

[Nicholololas]

BTW if you're new to the evony ads you also need to see these:

http://www.destructoid.com/elephant/photo-m.phtml?post_key=141977

Haha, yes, came here hoping these had been posted. Best ads ever.

[James]

I, too, am often disappointed by purportedly serious or adult* games having a thoroughly adolescent attitude to women. What respect I have for Mass Effect 2's storytelling is quite badly undermined when the camera cuts mid-conversation to a shot from directly behind Miranda's arse. Of course, it's a problem in all media (it sometimes seems like it's impossible to do anything significant in fictional worlds unless you're beautiful), but it's particularly barefaced in games, and if you ask me, games that want to be taken seriously should be making extra effort not to fall into those traps, as they're already carrying the baggage of the years of immature silliness that have preceded them.

I shouldn't give the impression that I'm especially hard-line about this. If anything, I probably care about these issues less than I should. I don't have much of a problem with some games being gratuitous nonsense if I don't particularly respect them on that level in the first place (which is something I probably should care about in the interests of a fair society and all that, but it's easier to just compartmentalize, I suppose). But it's when a developer is making an effort to move things forward that I get frustrated. Don't they see how it must look to an outsider? It just reinforces the stereotype that gamers are all perverted teenage boys, mentally if not physically. I'm OK with there being games which actually are directed at that market (gaming, after all, is a medium rather than a unified movement; any sufficiently developed medium will cater to all manner of people of varying degrees of respectability), but if it's all like that it kind of demeans all gamers.

I don't know, maybe I'm talking rubbish, or maybe none of this needed saying.

* I mean emotionally mature, not "adult audiences only"

[Wesley Thomas]

Everyone saw these, right?

[Quanta]

Here you can find over 200 pictures of female characters in video games: Pick your chick!

Some highlights:

This top is hot!!! This and no underwear.

Another winner. (I know you will like it, Yufster)

I like, how the shield artfully reveals her cleavage and crotch.

No, these are not menstruation speckles on her negligé. It's nazi blood!

Her YKK is jammed.

(But to be fair: there are also plenty examples with comparatively normal looking women.)

[James]

Her YKK is jammed.

Although this isn't the most outrageous costume by a long shot, it seems particularly weird that she's posing with a child. Who would do that with their zip down that low? How would people feel if it were a man with his shirt off? Not that kids can't be around shirtless men, but, you know, context. Appropriateness. All that stuff.

[ThunderPeel2001]

That Soul Calibre change really annoyed me. It was so unnecessary.

I like, how the shield artfully reveals her cleavage and crotch.

Lol.

[syntheticgerbil]

I feel silly for automatically knowing you were referring to a zipper by saying "YKK."

[Chuckpebble]

I feel silly for automatically knowing you were referring to a zipper by saying "YKK."

Don't, I knew what it was in reference to also. I clicked the article and I think I finally understand the etymology of a certain racial slur.

(not gonna type it)

I'm not particularly fond of what happened to Dr. Naomi between No More Heroes 1 and 2. She went from pretty awesome to "look we've got boob physics". OK, its not like I was going to play that game in front of my family anyway, but jeeze, thats ridiculous. The NMH games have the unique ability to make reviewers say, "oh its commentary", and maybe it is, but that doesn't make it any less embarrassing.

[miffy495]

I, too, am often disappointed by purportedly serious or adult* games having a thoroughly adolescent attitude to women. What respect I have for Mass Effect 2's storytelling is quite badly undermined when the camera cuts mid-conversation to a shot from directly behind Miranda's arse. Of course, it's a problem in all media (it sometimes seems like it's impossible to do anything significant in fictional worlds unless you're beautiful), but it's particularly barefaced in games, and if you ask me, games that want to be taken seriously should be making extra effort not to fall into those traps, as they're already carrying the baggage of the years of immature silliness that have preceded them.

I shouldn't give the impression that I'm especially hard-line about this. If anything, I probably care about these issues less than I should. I don't have much of a problem with some games being gratuitous nonsense if I don't particularly respect them on that level in the first place (which is something I probably should care about in the interests of a fair society and all that, but it's easier to just compartmentalize, I suppose). But it's when a developer is making an effort to move things forward that I get frustrated. Don't they see how it must look to an outsider? It just reinforces the stereotype that gamers are all perverted teenage boys, mentally if not physically. I'm OK with there being games which actually are directed at that market (gaming, after all, is a medium rather than a unified movement; any sufficiently developed medium will cater to all manner of people of varying degrees of respectability), but if it's all like that it kind of demeans all gamers.

This.

The NMH games have the unique ability to make reviewers say, "oh its commentary", and maybe it is, but that doesn't make it any less embarrassing.

That's pretty much why I didn't play Bayonetta. A bunch of people were saying that the fact that it was so crazy made it commentary and thus more justified, but it made me feel just as sketchy and embarrassed as I would have if it were serious. Makes me sad NMH may have gone this route, because I was really looking forward to it.

[brkl]

Somehow Bayonetta doesn't disappoint me in the same way as Mass Effect 2 making me stare at Miranda's bum. Bayonetta is like a female Schwarzenegger -- only just human, an empowerment fantasy. Miranda is written to be a proper, multifaceted character, so doing that with her seems a lot worse.

I hope I don't come across another entertainment with fucking happy space whores who are, like, super respected. I love Firefly but not that part of it.

[syntheticgerbil]

Somehow Bayonetta doesn't disappoint me in the same way as Mass Effect 2 making me stare at Miranda's bum. Bayonetta is like a female Schwarzenegger -- only just human, an empowerment fantasy. Miranda is written to be a proper, multifaceted character, so doing that with her seems a lot worse.

I can understand this and I can understand how portraying someone (male or female) as hypersexual the whole game.

I'm not going to lie, sometimes I find gratuitous nudity, sex scenes, or sexy characters to be nice or artistic in media, and I don't think any of it should be off limits. But I think it should be within context and probably not made as a selling point.

I guess it's like, I'm sure most guys aren't thinking of their girlfriends sexually all times of the day and find certain times when bedroom pandering and naughty stuff is fun, but it's demeaning to become the essence of the latter at all times. At least that's my understanding.

So when games have women walking around in ridiculous outfits, I get confused and wonder if they had to do that, why couldn't they contain it somewhere in the game?

Ah I lost my train of thought... I'm horrible at this topic. I'm caught between my own hormones, the importance of being able to depict human sexuality in art, and why it's bad when someone's sleazy or crass about it.

[Chuckpebble]

This.

That's pretty much why I didn't play Bayonetta. A bunch of people were saying that the fact that it was so crazy made it commentary and thus more justified, but it made me feel just as sketchy and embarrassed as I would have if it were serious. Makes me sad NMH may have gone this route, because I was really looking forward to it.

Ah, I wouldn't write NMH2 off because of that. Naomi is a very small part of the game.

like seriously, only two items to buy from her in the whole game. Virtually pointless.

Man I love that game, have I said that? (he he )

[ThunderPeel2001]

Ah I lost my train of thought... I'm horrible at this topic. I'm caught between my own hormones, the importance of being able to depict human sexuality in art, and why it's bad when someone's sleazy or crass about it.

Human sexuality in art is necessary, using big tits to try and get horny men to play your games is just base.

[syntheticgerbil]

Sounds good to me.

[OssK]

Human sexuality in art is necessary, using big tits to try and get horny men to play your games is just base.

You should ask, as was pointed out at GDC, any kid what they prefer on a cake. They'll say the icing and you'll make them an cake made fully of icing. Then you will realize that the human race just stepped backwards.

So

Human sexuality in art is possible, using big tits to try and get horny men to play your games is just the easy way.

Fixed

I might have missed the whole "sarcasm" point here, if so I'll just delete.

[DanJW]

Not necessarily the same topic exactly, but B0b linked me to this earlier:

Would You Pay a Girl to Play Halo With You? (GameCrush)

[elmuerte]

I would so beat the shit out of those whores.

Oh wait...

[Xeneth]

It makes us look sort of dense as an industry at times...

I think mature adults of both genders understand that the kind of physical attractiveness that has MEANING requires that not EVERYTHING be revealed. Imagination is a powerful thing, and if I can see a HINT of the actual shapeliness, my brain will automatically fill in the rest, usually with more fidelity and sex appeal than the actual "painted on" revealing outfits generate.

It's a waste, now that I think of it, because it deadens the impact of anything sexy a character COULD do later on. If a female warrior spends the entire game properly armored, imagine the how titillating it'll seem by comparison when she shows up at the ball wearing the low cut dress! Game art needs to imitate life more in this regard; In the real world, which types of girls show TONS of cleavage ALL THE TIME?

Mmm hmm.

Real women know how and when to apply eye candy strategically, so why don't most games?

I almost feel like marketing has no idea how my brain actually works, but then again, perhaps mine is a strange brain that represents a small enough demographic to explain the denseness. *shrug*

Here's one for ya:

I love how the complete reliance on the sex to sell it even applies to the COPY. Really? A guy who plays the game and the SomethingAwful forums are the least biased and trustworthy sources you could find, eh? Also, the copy implies that they released a class-based Online RPG with abilities, but prior to a recent patch, all classes had the SAME abilities?

The title of the game itself is gibberish that I forget if I look away from the image for more than two seconds...

And the icing on the cake is the flash animation- There's snow falling on her for some reason, and you see that weird grey streak across her leg? That's a SHINE ANIMATION. The kind you'd see on a bejeweled game piece or the title of the game in other flash ads. Yes, her left leg, and ONLY her left leg... is bling bling shiny. WTF.

[elmuerte]

Sega was way ahead of those guys: