bingojubes

August 08, 2010 at 11:33am

I think that players should have a choice whether to play male or female. I think female leads kick much ass, also. Activision might be shooting themselves in the foot with this game. If the game is as good as they hope it will be, it should include maybe unlockable content so that (maybe?) we can start a new game with a female character. That will want me to play the game at least one more time.

Or users could just mod the heck out of it to include a female lead, but if True Crime: Hong Kong wants to be way better than the first one (i have played the first one, but athe GTA knockoff, with bland GFX kinda killed it), then maybe it might be a good change of pace for the studio. Activision's looking more like EPIC games - very testosterone-filled machoness that even their powersuits (or combative aliens) can't contain. Next they will probably want to have half-nekkid dudes walking around with cheesy tattoos on, because EVERYONE MANLY enough walks around with their shirt off, good or bad.

Vladislav_Draculva

August 08, 2010 at 7:28am

Metroid...LOL...all depends on what the context is in my opinion...if they had gun toting, grenade throwing, cursing, female avatars in COD:World At War then sales would stay the same me thinks...I don't think it is a gender thing...I think it is a genre thing...

Mighty BOB!

August 07, 2010 at 4:04am

I have to say that in my entire gaming career I've only played 3 games where I was given the choice to play a female character.  Two of those were Mass Effect 1 and 2 ( <3 Femshep ) and the other was an MMO, Star Trek Online.  I wish there were more strong female character leads.

smashingpumpin

August 06, 2010 at 10:55pm

My female Shepard shakes her head and says: "Nuh-uh! This geek's been playing as me more than twice as much as head huncho John!"

joepullin

August 06, 2010 at 9:08pm

Many months ago I was at my friends' playing Mario cart Wii. I of course chose the Princess. They laughed and laughed. Until I asked them if they liked staring at Mario's ass.

someuid

August 06, 2010 at 2:18pm

If Activision wants to snub female main characters, let them.  It only gives all the other video game companies a way to differentiate themselves from Activision and hopefully outsell them.

Watch out Activision.  You're getting too big to be nimble enough to meet consumer demands.  This could be the beginning of the end for you.

My captcha reads "shepley hairy-rumped".  Who is thinking this stuff up?

someuid

August 06, 2010 at 2:14pm

I enjoy playing a female character (I'm a male).

Funny story:

My wife and I were both playing WoW as female night elves.  Some guy starts following us around, killing spiders and such with us.  We ignored him.  When the area was clear, he turned to us, did some funny wiggle emote and said "So, what are we going to do next?"

I quickly typed out "Sorry, we're on a date.  It's a 'no guys' night."

He said "O..." and ran off, never to bother us again.  Our toons stood there for 5 minutes until my wife stopped laughing.

That made playing a female character worth it in my book.

Besides, if I'm going to play a game for hours and hours, the last thing I want to look at is a male butt swinging from side to side all night long.

aviaggio

August 06, 2010 at 1:48pm

I think Lara Croft, Cate Archer, and those chicks from Mirror's Edge, Resident Evil, Bayonetta, and Heavenly Sword would disagree with Activision. So would all the female Blood and Night Elves in WoW. And all the female superheroes in City of Heroes and Champions Online.

Do I need to go on Activision?? Retards.

Bucket_Monster

August 06, 2010 at 1:35pm

Video games are a business, and all businesses exist for one reason: to make money. If selling games with a female lead to a vastly male audience results in lower sales, call it sexist all you want, but it's smart marketing and business sense. You have to be aware of your target audience.

What can they do to target the female audience? Well not exactly sure, but most likely you'd have to target casual gaming. Activision doesn't really make any casual games, unless you count Guitar Hero, or World of Warcraft. Tons of women play WoW. But that is more an exception because tons of people period play WoW, a lot more people than your average game.

I have no problems with female leads. The Metroid series is one of my all time favorite games. And I want to purchase Bayonetta,  but don't have the funds to at the moment.

The only real complaint I have about Activision's decision on this, is where did they pull this market research from? Did they actually do some sort of analysis, or was it some corporate big wigs in a meeting room talking about how Gears and Halo sold a bazillion copies, so obviously games with females don't sell as well. IF they have the market research to back up their claims, I see absolutely no problem with their decision, whether it might be tasteful or not. If it's just something they pulled out of the air though, then that's wrong.

Jelson

August 06, 2010 at 12:50pm

And i'm NOT talking about those who play the siims or some facebook game.

FPS

RTS

RPG

for starters.

Secondly, how many guy actually like playing a female character over a male one?

freedivehi

August 06, 2010 at 12:27pm

Who's to say assasins creed would have not done well if the main character were female? Also martial arts action movie . . . hello has ANYONE not seen Kill Bill and enjoyed it? A tough Female lead character can be even more impressive than a tough male if she is made human.

jaygen1

August 06, 2010 at 12:20pm

a factor in games like halo and assassin's creed, is that theyre doing what society calls "manly" things, blowing stuff up, and cutting people to pieces. guys who really get into their characters, want to identify with them while doing these cool things, and playing a male character helps them do that more than playing a female lead. last game i played that had a female lead was Mirror's Edge, which was a great game, but to be honest, i didnt connect with her quite as much as i do in other games, because of her gender. plus, when theres a special forces game (of which i would call Master Chief special forces), having a female being the lead of that is just not practical. i bet you can count all the female SEALs in the Navy with the fingers on one hand, if youve lost all the fingers on that hand. if activision really did advise to lose a female lead for game, i'm not one to judge them for trying to make a game that would be more successful. the bottom line is, if more people connect with them, because they share the same gender as the character, and there is a larger playerbase of males, then more power to them. the trend upwards in female gamers is awesome, but hating companies for being companies is kind of ridiculous.

Ulrich

August 06, 2010 at 12:16pm

FF13, Tomb Raider, Bayonetta... say hi.... just to name a few. Activision is too busy regurgitating the same game over and over to even know how to create a good game with a female lead.

Biceps

August 06, 2010 at 12:05pm

If I am playing a 3rd person game - like Dragon Age, or Mass Effect, or Fallout 3... I ALWAYS choose a female character... my rationale being that if I have to watch some person's tushy wave in my face for 40-60 hours, it might as well be a nicely-shaped female tushy.

And you wonder why guys are addicted to gaming!

Blues22475

August 06, 2010 at 11:13am

Part of the problem is that there's the stereotype that women and games don't mix (whether it be characters or actual female gamers). This is a bunch of nonsense seeing as today I've hear more and more female gamers, and that I've heard more and more people seem to not care which gender they're playing. I personally don't care which gender I play as so long as the game is good. I have a friend who will make female characters if he can help it.

Another problem I see or could be an issue is that the stereotypical gender roles. Although in society that's still less an issue, it still exists. The reasons why those game cited sold so well was because the game itself not because you're playing as a dude.