I wish there were more diversity in the creation side of the game industry (which is probably 95% white men) but I think it's possible to pick nits and that's what is happening here.
When Tomb Raider was released, some women complained that they were taking a strong gaming heroine and making her weak and vulnerable. I guess they wouldn't be satisfied unless the prequel showed Lara Croft emerging from the womb dual-wielding pistols.
Other women complained that the character was only made interesting later in the game when she adopted masculine tendencies. They had to subordinate her femininity in order to make her a good lead character.
It sounds like Crystal Dynamics was damned no matter what they did.
In my local game store, I recently had two conversations with two people on two separate days that were so similar that it blew my mind that it could happen twice. In both conversations, adult men were explaining why they refused to play games where they played as female characters. It was mind-boggling to me that anyone felt that way in 2013 about something as trivial as a videogame. As a result, they were missing out on great games like Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite, and The Last of Us.
So I guess there may be a problem for some people with female characters in games. They're either too hard or too soft. I'm not sure what a developer can do about it. But I hope that more devs will continue to take risks with female leads so that those of us whose attitudes aren't stuck in 1953 won't have to suffer.
@leviathanwing @COPMAN221ISBACK Sheesh, you kids get so offended like I insulted your mom or slapped your girlfriend.
Since you two are all hurt because I denigrated the PS3, let me add the disclaimer:
If Microsoft does similar bad things, then that's bad too. But the article was talking exclusively about capturing video, so I was speaking about that from a DRM perspective. So far MS hasn't done anything to restrict video playback on their console.
Really? We're behaving as if 720p30 video isn't adequate anymore?
These videos are meant for *sharing*. I'm glad that the videos aren't 1080p; they'd take too long to upload. Frankly I'd like an option to just upload it at 480p. It would save me time and bandwidth.
Your killing spree isn't going to be any less impressive at a lower resolution. If you really want to appreciate the texture definition and bump mapping, buy your own console.
I think he's off base here. My smaller screens are just substitutes to tide me over until I can get back to my main screen. As @daabulls23 says below, I want my experience on the biggest screen I have, and for the foreseeable future that means the living room. And while I'm there, I want the best experience that I can get at a reasonable cost, which rules out mobile/portable technology.
I love mobile gaming, but for me it's a complement to console/PC gaming, not a substitute.
As long as gamers don't represent a coordinated, involved voting bloc, then videogames will be an easy foil for politicians looking to score easy wins while appearing to do something toward solving problems. As a medium mostly favored by young men (many of whom are not voters) gaming is right up there with rap music and poor people for easy political targets.
@Frostbite24 If we acknowledge that there will be numerous people with "mental health issues" that will go undiagnosed, then why is it unreasonable to want it to be harder for such people to get guns?
theKSMM's comments