Activision: female game heroines don't sell

I wouldn't really call them sexist. Their logic seems to be: game heroines= no $$$. It's a same too because game girls are often praised by critics and fans if done right (aka: not a sex symbol).

And since we're on this topic, has there ever been any females at all in a COD game?? In the few that I've rented, I don't recall ever seeing one.
 
wow activision never ceases to amaze me. That black lotus game sounds way more interesting than true crime 3 aswell. Its sad to see that new ip can be churned into another franchise so easily :(
 
AHA-Lambda said:
wow activision never ceases to amaze me. That black lotus game sounds way more interesting than true crime 3 aswell. Its sad to see that new ip can be churned into another franchise so easily :(
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I worked on Black Lotus, and I'm working on True Crime 3. You'll like it.
 
I hate Activision more every day.
 
I think is the oposite

why you think lara croft is such a famous character?
 
Faith (Mirror's Edge) kicks ass. Too bad Activision is going down the shitter.
 
But they don't. Like, statistically.

Yay another alarmist OMGACTIVISIONSOEVUL thread

P.S. FishBulbasaurausrex I Like this status more than Combine Soldier, thanks for it. as for the avatar--us Anti-citizens just don't need 'em, we're the best. Raynor's Raiders: HUURAH.
 
A super grizzly Ex Marine shooting bitches is much more profitable than A chick roaming caves with 2 pistols.

Fact.
 
DEATHMASTER said:
Faith (Mirror's Edge) kicks ass. Too bad Activision is going down the shitter.
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Faith is a boring main character. Probably one of the most boring heroine there is. But the shitty character development was saved by fun, innovative gameplay.
 
There are only two types of game heroines anyways-

1. You've got your shamelessly badass and shamelessly sexy heroin. (Lara Croft, etc)

3. You've got your modestly badass and modestly attractive heroin. (Jade, Alyx Vance, etc)

It's not so varied in female game roles to be entirely honest. However I play female characters in most RPG's.
 
Perhaps this is because the games that feature a female player character... are shitty games?

I know that many, many people prefer the female Shepherd in Mass Effect.
 
Krynn72 said:
Perhaps this is because the games that feature a female player character... are shitty games?

I know that many, many people prefer the female Shepherd in Mass Effect.
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Erm, hell yes? She could, you know, emote.
 
Activision are getting worse & worse.

Alyx Vance for the win.
 
DEATHMASTER said:
Faith (Mirror's Edge) kicks ass.
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This, and Chell (Portal) and obviously Alyx. My instinctive reaction when I read the title was to think of the Tomb Raider series, but in all honesty, I only ever played/bought one. Sure, there's a majority of male gamers at the moment, but that doesn't mean the only way is sex-appeal.

I think the attitude of 'women don't sell' isn't particularly thought through. If you chicken out every time you're about to create something because it 'may not sell', there's no way that you're going to find out how to do it right.
 
Master Chief is widely accepted as being a male. But come on. Who the **** really knows?
 
Seeing as 90% of games seem to feature a male protagonist of course they sell better. There's more of them! And big publishers won't want to risk female main characters (other than keeping old ones like Lara and Samus on) because it's an untested area so no female protagonists leads to no one wanting to have a female protagonist leading to no female protagonists.
 
So, on the one hand, this is kind of dumb and shows a lack of foresight or willingness to experiment on the part of Activision, if accurate.

On the other, this article was written by Leigh Alexander. So, yeah.

AJ Rimmer said:
Erm, hell yes? She could, you know, emote.
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Heh, yep. I might play male Shepard if the voice actor didn't sound like he was half asleep. :p
 
only reason guys play games with girls in them is cuz there perverted and wanna checkout a video game chick.
 
Tony said:
And since we're on this topic, has there ever been any females at all in a COD game?? In the few that I've rented, I don't recall ever seeing one.
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There are some ladies in the MW2 airport scene :p Considering the quality of the Call of Duty story and it's general balls-out machismo, I'm actually quite glad they're leaving the plot holes and rubbish motivations to the men.
Krynn72 said:
I know that many, many people prefer the female Shepherd in Mass Effect.
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I've played as both, and Jennifer Hale's (possibly too regularly used) superior talents aside, I just find Fem-Shep just that tiny bit more of a motivated character. I don't want to say that it's because 'oh, she's got more to prove because she's a lady in a man's galaxy', but it kind of is that. Women in a position of power are kind of what make humanity unique in Mass Effect (since the Asari are what... quasi-hermaphrodites?)
 
Madison in Heavy Rain was awesome and sold quite well, but she was not the ONLY main character I guess, so maybe that doesn't count. Nariko and Kai were AWESOME in Heavenly Sword as well which sold ok. I, too, play as a female Shepard in Mass Effect. I also play a female in Syberia, The Longest Journey, Secret Files: Tunguska, So Blonde, and LOADS of other adventure titles. Sure, they may not sell 9 million units but each of them has more art and style and thoughtfulness than MW2. :E

I think what this boils down to is that Activision is focused solely on making money above everything else like creativity, growing the market, respect for indie devs, respect for women, respect for Russians, etc. Who's fault is it that they can't put together a compelling narrative starring a female? They suck and we all know it and this is just more fuel for the fire.
 
Druckles said:
A library of polygonal women...

I have seen the future.
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No, I just think its stupid how there's naked skins for alyx or for fallout 3 prostitution mod. I mean give me a break, there are real girls out there you know.

About playing as a girl character, I guess I just have a difference in opinion. I would never wanna play a game as a girl character. If you had to play half-life 2 as alyx and your companion was freeman I wouldn't play it. I hate tv shows were skinny anorexic women are beating guys asses. It is completely unrealistic just like a skinny anorexic video game girl killing everyone and beating guys asses.
 
Sorry, I don't quite understand your point. You don't like the degradation of women in society, which is understandable, but you're not willing to play a game from a woman's perspective at all?

There seem to be two issues you may have confused. The use of women as a sex-appeal in games and the use of women at all in games.
 
ramsfan said:
About playing as a girl character, I guess I just have a difference in opinion. I would never wanna play a game as a girl character. If you had to play half-life 2 as alyx and your companion was freeman I wouldn't play it. I hate tv shows were skinny anorexic women are beating guys asses. It is completely unrealistic just like a skinny anorexic video game girl killing everyone and beating guys asses.
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That's a pet peeve of mine, and a big reason why I never play with female characters in games either. That and they usually have the personality of a paper bag. I really like practical and well-planned character designs, and females are usually a gigantic letdown. That's probably why I hate animu so much, too.

The frustrating part is, I don't think it needs to be this way, and there's tons of people who would prefer to see stick figure chicks carrying weapons that would break their spines. There's just been so little exploration of how to make proper, likeable females in the game industry in general, and testing like this does little to help the situation.

But lol, King's Quest VII is still badass.
 
Kaptain H said:
But lol, King's Quest VII is still badass.
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Nice! I totally agree, but then the adventure genre (as I mentioned above) is SO much more open to interesting women and narratives, even if the character models are still idealized versions of the female form.
 
VictimOfScience said:
Nice! I totally agree, but then the adventure genre (as I mentioned above) is SO much more open to interesting women and narratives, even if the character models are still idealized versions of the female form.
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Yeah, true that. Though I found it hilarious that I was playing as a middle-aged woman in that game. Valanice is like, the only such playable character I can think of.
 
ramsfan said:
It is completely unrealistic just like a skinny anorexic video game girl killing everyone and beating guys asses.
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NPC game girls often do that... and I don't see how your objection to playing as Alyx has much to do with this. It's not a simple choice between "Mecha-suited geek-man" and "skinny-jeaned geek-girl". All it takes is for the visual design department to decide that robotic suits don't need boob crevices for female wear and you're laughing.
 
hmm i may need to replay mass effect as female shepard after hearing this cos i thought male shepards vo was pretty crap :|
 
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