The Game Overthinker! - Kirby 5-Star

johnny139 · May 8, 2009

RE: The Game Overthinker!

Destiny Guy · I think I have a girl in my avatar about 95% of the time.

Finally watched. Damn, I'm starting to love this guy, this series is fantastic.
So, the obvious solution is, as he said, more racially diverse main characters in games other than GTA. Call me crazy, but I'd like to see some respectable female main characters too. I mean, come on, why does every game have to have steel f*cking bikinis in it now?

-- Edited by DestinyGuy on Friday 8th of May 2009 09:25:04 PM

johnny139 · May 8, 2009

The problem there is that... gamers are MEN. They used to be sweaty, lame men that objectified women. Now they're sweaty, lame men that objectify women and sweaty, annoying, jackassish men that objectify women.

In the male state of mind, it is impossible to disconnect "woman" and "sex." It's instinct, as driven into the masculine core like beards and mountains and watching explosions. As long as men are the target audience, game makers will assume - and correctly assume - that the bouncy chick in the bikini will attract more customers than the clever, heroic, "average-looking" heroines.

I am a man. My immediate though when Mr. Speaker showed off what's-her-name in a war paint/bikini combo wasn't "holy CRAP, has ANYONE at Capcom ever been to Africa," but "sweet, hot chick in a bikini." The first one came later, I admit, but, come on, bikini. Samus is an awesome, independent woman and I very much enjoy looking at her sexy sexy skintight spacesuit.

Women HAVE become a large chunk of the gaming audience now - but Nintendo is the one snatching them up with their cutesy, androgynous characters. Until Microsoft, Sony, and all the other companies start getting new users outside of their comfort zone - a subject one of his earlier videos tackles, by the way - women will be the window dressing in virtually every "hard" game.

Destiny Guy · I think I have a girl in my avatar about 95% of the time.

I totally disagree. First of all, should say "straight, male state of mind". Second, anyone with vocal chords and the capacity for thought can think beyond the sexiness of a scantly clad polygon. To be perfectly honest, most of the time when I see characters like this it isn't sexy at all because of the extremely poor taste involved. For example a leopard print bikini top is more tacky/racist than sexy.

P.S. She looks f*cking white in-game. Maybe with a slight tan, but definitely white.

johnny139 · May 9, 2009

That's because you're weird. The traditional, heterosexual mindset is "yay boobs sexy." I mean, jeez, Tomb Raider's graphics were Mario 64 quality, but she had titties so people enjoyed playing it.

toadster101 · The one and only Uncle Toadstie.

Boobs.

johnny139 · May 12, 2009

Exact-a-mundo!

toadster101 · The one and only Uncle Toadstie.

I can't argue.

johnny139 · Jun 8, 2009

He's back with a quickie this time - the Overthinker gives his thoughts on E3. Pretty much my reaction to a T... except I'm more hesitant about Metroid: Other M... but still, good to see he's still alive and all that.

Destiny Guy · I think I have a girl in my avatar about 95% of the time.

My thoughts exactly, although I hadn't thought of that Samus thing. It's bad enough that you can see Samus's face all the frickin time now, but no sexy zero zuit. And no f*cking space bikinis. Every time they try that, its just fugly.

And the toads. One toad is a character. Two toads is filler. Wario FTW.

pikaby · Welco Metot Henex Tlevel

Huh, what he said about E3 reminded me of the fanboyism back at Gamespot. All of them close-minded in their 'hardcore' gameing world. Nintendo is reaching out to all sorts of people to play games(mostly to expand their business and therefore their profits, but still), while the fanboys want the opposite to occur. So what if there are games meant for girls, women and grandmas. It's like they don't have the right to play games. That's not healthy for the industry. I was really impressed at Nintendo's 'Everyone's Game' tagline this year. If we all think gaming is great, surely we would want to introduce this great hobby to as many people as possible, not keep it to ourselves. If the fanboys run the gaming industry, it will surely implode on itself and die off.

Destiny Guy · I think I have a girl in my avatar about 95% of the time.

You could see Sony and Microsoft trying to attract non-gamers too. If you think about it, this can be a good thing for those hardcore gamers because it may make games a more respected art. Even though soo many people buy and play games, they still aren't mainstream in that the media still seems to completely misunderstand them. Maybe this is changing?

Edit: Nya?

-- Edited by DestinyGuy on Tuesday 9th of June 2009 02:22:00 PM

pikaby · Welco Metot Henex Tlevel

Microsoft and Sony trying to appeal to non-gamers? If they did that before the Wii was announced, I would've believed them. Now it just seems like a blatant ripoff. When it's this late in the game, they'd best off waiting till the next generation of hardware.

Destiny Guy · I think I have a girl in my avatar about 95% of the time.

DG thinks the next gen is still a long way off though.

johnny139 · Jun 10, 2009

I would say so, too. The PS3 and 360 were designed for longetivity, and the Wii seems to be following in the DS's footsteps in that it's goddamn near UNKILLABLE.

We probably have AT LEAST five years left, by my guess.

Destiny Guy · I think I have a girl in my avatar about 95% of the time.

If you think about it, its really odd that these consoles feel like they'll last so damn long. Very unusual compared to past generations, no?

pikaby · Welco Metot Henex Tlevel

Well you know how long the PS2 lasted, right?

johnny139 · Jun 12, 2009

Yup; it's still goin' strong. I doubt the PS3 will have THAT much staying power, though, lasting so long into the next generation.

Destiny Guy · I think I have a girl in my avatar about 95% of the time.

People STILL make PS2 games. It's insane.

Edit: It's similar to the GBA in that way. The GBA is really the quintessential handheld!

-- Edited by DestinyGuy on Friday 12th of June 2009 04:49:04 AM

johnny139 · Jun 12, 2009

And Episode 24 is now up at ScrewAttack!

You can see it HERE.

Destiny Guy · I think I have a girl in my avatar about 95% of the time.

I practically always agree with him. Realism is almost always negative for the same reasons he mentioned but also because so much effort was spent on graphical realism instead of style or things not in graphics.
I don't buy the argument that graphics don't matter. It's true that graphics don't make the game and a game can be great without intense graphics, but graphics are extremely important.

But I digress, realism is almost as boring as the World War II games that use it.

toadster101 · The one and only Uncle Toadstie.

*yawns*

johnny139 · Jun 13, 2009

I like realism - in small doses. I generally prefer more outlandish styles; The Wind Waker and Okami come to mind, as do a lot of Mario's adventures. But some games ARE at their best with realism. But I agree that this is best coupled with something outlandish. Fallout 3 looks great with realism, but that's because it's so outlandish.

Destiny Guy · I think I have a girl in my avatar about 95% of the time.

Yeah. There still needs to be creativity and stylization, or what's the point to the game??

pikaby · Welco Metot Henex Tlevel

Ah, an interesting topic. Realism in games. I don't have time to watch the video yet, but I already have quite strong feelings about realism.

Realism makes games dull. Really dull. For example, when you have a million shooter games aiming to be the most realistic of the lot, what happens is you get main characters who you can never relate to because they're just some random normal guy without any standout characteristics you would expect from game characters. They don't have superpowers or anything, why? Because they have to be realistic! Forgettable main characters aside, weapons are also forgettable because they are restricted to realism as well. I mean, even before one of these games are released, you already know they're gonna feature...hmm...a pistol, shotgun, rocket launcher, AK47 blah blah blah.... Environments don't fare any better. That's why I stay away from games like The Getaway, The Godfather, Hitman, Uncharted, and any and all realistic sports and racing games.

You play games to GET AWAY from reality. Games need FANTASY worlds and fantasy style graphics. I can tolerate realistic games too, don't get me wrong, I'm not against realistic graphics. Just as long as the game has something, as johnny said 'outlandish', or just something that doesn't occur in real life, I'm fine with it. Fallout 3, Halo, inFamous, Prototype, Bioshock, these are the games I might play if I had a system other than a Wii, while I will NEVER buy the Tom Clancy games, Grand Theft Auto, Madden and Call of Duty.