Well, here's my take-

We all have to admit, somewhere deep down, that this industry is run by geeks...or former geeks. The vast majority of us grew up, which is why the average age of a game player is now 33 years old, but our roots lie in "geekdom." We're all adulst now, so we really shouldn't be denying that. It's far more of a mainstream entertainment venue now, and a lot of those archaic stereotypes no longer ring true, but they did at one point. It's kinda how stereotypes get started; they're typically based in some truth. Furthermore, it was mostly a male-dominated hobby (and it still is, for the most part). Considering all this, my theory is simple-

The geeks who made - and still make - the games have free reign to develop the woman of the their dreams...or, more specifically, the woman they could never get. The woman none of us could ever get. It's the only entertainment area where the creators can actually mold the characters to their own visions, and based on the creators themselves and their target audience, it's no real surprise to see impossibly formed females. And just for a minute, I'm going to bring a little of my training into this: from a psychological standpoint, there's something significant behind a socially awkward individual having full control of a super vixen whose skills and body defy both physics and reality in general. Isn't there? Think about it.

So we have the Lara Crofts and the girls of DoA. But the outcry generated by these oversexed heroines does appear to have had some impact: look at one of the most recent female main characters; Nariko, from Heavenly Sword. Yes, she's abnormally beautiful, but her chest - while still larger than average - is never emphasized by the design team at Ninja Theory, and it's never made to be a focus. Yes, she wears typically skimpy clothing, which certainly appeals to their target audience and is highly unrealistic (it's not exactly tactical for a warrior, male or female, to dress like that), but it's still different than Lara Croft. The character is drawn differently and the personality is different; it's more down-to-earth and sympathetic, yet strong and willful. It's more human, which I think is a good direction for the industry.

But as to why games have a lot of top-heavy women...well, I've always thought that was relatively obvious.

We'll just have to agree to disagree, and only time will tell who's right in the end...I def respect you as poster on here Fathoms, so I'll take your opinion in mind, but here is where I've been reading most of my analyst info along with the stuff GS posts.

HiResDes

It's not really my opinion, though. I'm just telling you what I've read in terms of analyst notes, updates, and predictions...I can't really misinterpret them, you know?

I'm just wondering why you think analysts have no idea what they're talking about, when - for the most part - a lot of their expectations do come true, at least to some extent. I doubt you read anything that was very far outside the box of the normal analyst prediction, which is (basically): "it will be a very close race." I think we all expect that. Don't you?

[QUOTE="fathoms_basic"]

"The PS3 does better in Europe and USA then in Japan,but in Europe and USA the 360 has a much bigger hardware basis and higher sales overall.If you produce a game you want to make money with and can´t be shure you sell it to every single gamer,so you use the biggest hardware basis,which are the Wii and the 360 without question.Look at Sony´s former exclusives list and how much of them are still exclusiveor even coming to PS3 (Katamari for example,Ace Combat will eventually come)"

Any particular reason you think the userbase will stay the same as it is now for the next 6-8 years? Most every analyst on the planet either has the PS3 coming out on top, or a very, very close race between all three platforms in the U.S. Do you even have a point to this?

HiResDes

Uhh, yeah because we should really listen to analysts who as overall had the wii and the ds both pegged as failures from the start, they change their predictions like every other week it seems as the NPD comes out or right before a big blockbuster comes out. It seems they thought the PS3 would dominate because of how the PS1 & PS2 fared but even though it is clear that Nintendo is back on top, they feel as if they must stick to their predictions so they won't look bad, in all honesty I think they are idiots, and the folks over at neogaf do a better job at predicting changes in the gaming industry then any of these fools out there...Listen to anaylsts lol, thats funny. Sony is gonna come out on top cuz teh gots teh Blue-Ray, it gots teh space, look at its specs. Oh BTW I don't understand why you said 6-8 years, by that time Sony will have out another console, I don't care what they say.

I have no idea what analysts you've been reading, but they never pegged the Wii and DS as "failures." Furthermore, I keep very close track of all research and investor notes because it's what I do, and I can tell you for a fact that throughout 2007, the general analyst consensus regarding the "Big 3" hasn't changed. As early as January, when the GAMERS - who you seem to trust far more than analysts - were predicting nothing but doom and gloom for the PS3, the analysts predicted a very close race (which it has become, and will get even closer as time goes on). As of E3, they predicted a very close race. Now, they're predicting a very close race. Some may give the slight edge to one company or another (example- DFC Intelligence recently released their latest report, and said the Wii would continue its lead through 2008, the PS3 would come into its own towards the end of 08, and the 360 would end up in 3rd place, but not by much), but the general consensus has remained quite stable. Not much has changed in any prediction I've seen iin 2007; certainly nothing that says one company or another would run away with a victory. Just about everyone agrees it will be very close throughout.

Again, your slamming of industry analysts is entirely unfounded, you apparently never read a single one, and you're trying to lecture someone who quite literally reads several per week. I read them, and they're paid to do what they do for a reason, whether you like it or not. And so am I. So knock it off. I hate the elitist "I play games so I know more about this industry than everyone else" mentality.

just to interject a bit here, dont any of you think FFVI deserves a remake way before VII? id love to see VII remade, but come on, how many people have not played VI? alot of new age gamers are probably just not feeling even the DS port because it is very aged. i wish they would have remade VI on the DS instead of III. :(OneWingedAngeI

FF VII is far more popular. I believe it sold like three times as many copies worldwide. Gaming simply wasn't anywhere near as big in the 16-bit days.

I have dealt with Thompson, and I can tell you all, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that the man is clinically insane. I'm not even kidding.

DualShock 3 seems likely. The 80 GB PS3 might get a price drop, but I have my doubts.

Microsoft will probably... do something... to try to get Japan's attention. And it probably won't work.

Capcom's "three huge announcements" thing was erroneous? Can you give me a link?

LordAndrew

http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/1865.html

Guess that Australian site wasn't really correct.

Oh, and Microsoft already did their press conference, so whatever they had to say has been said.