Malaki-LEGEND.sys

No, but EVERYONE will tell you that it's enough of a start for making a testable hypothesis from which you can build with more evidence. I for one would rather trust the answers from a random girl in a restaurant than a blogger with an agenda on a subject that ostensibly affects the majority of a given population, as said girl would more than likely represent the everyman, or in this case everywoman I guess. And you can't say that it is, which is why you ask instead of making blind assumptions.

And our point is dispelling the idea that women don't play videogames because they find the over sexualization of female characters degrading, which while is just ONE element in the whole picture, is one that's been hammered constantly by several posters. If asking structured questions to a random sample group of girls(IE the affected population) in a natural setting counts as "anecdotal" evidence, then ladies and gentlemen, social sciences are indeed a sham. Admittedly though, it IS a small sample, but what if Darangen came back with the responses from 50 girls? 100? What would it take to convince you? And why can't girls just not like videogames without us making any potentially false assumptions about it?

No, the assumption that A) games tend to oversexualize women, a lot of girls don't seem to like video games, therefore C) oversexualized women keeps women from playing videogames(which is the spiel going on here) is an example of assuming correlation is causation. What Darangen is doing is trying to establish whether or not there IS causation by ASKING WOMEN how they feel on that parameter specifically, and is getting answers that point to no relationship.

So if we're playing the assumption game, is it safe to assume that many of you believe that most of, if not all of the aspirations of any woman on this planet is the result of blatant sexism that is conditioned into their very core since childhood?

Because girls don't play Call of Duty. They DO however play Final Fantasy, and whoo boy are those gentlemen FABULOUS! In other news, I agree with GeckoYamori and Zircon.

But I didn't say that. I didn't even imply that. I said .

Sexism is denying something or degrading someone based on their sex. Finding, desiring, or designing something sexually or aesthetically attractive is not. One is about equality and controlling one's own destiny regardless of gender, while the other is about what turns you on.

Everything!

Exactly this, and I think this is the point that a lot of people "fighting the good fight" don't want to admit or accept.

The question then should be "Why does sex sell?", which could then lead to "Is this really a problem?" among other questions and hypothesis. Either way, I'm thoroughly convinced that blaming the media is more than a bit naive.

I said Stop trying to read shit that isn't there, Bleck.

Maybe I've just been living in a place where girls wearing tight-fitting clothes is normal for too long or maybe I'm just weird, but I really don't see anything degrading or overtly sexual with a lot of attractive looking girls in games. Sure, characters like Ivy are a bit exaggerated(especially in 4 maybe), but I feel that even then it adds to the persona of a powerful, provocative character that has no quarrel with maiming you in all sorts of nasty ways. I'm more than likely going to be the odd one out, but since I don't mind the type of storytelling used in Metroid Other M, I was able to appreciate what they were doing with Samus as a character, like actually giving her one for starters. "Powerful" characters aren't those that are essentially stoic robots a la Master Chief in Halo. In fact, if it weren't for The Fall of Reach, I probably wouldn't give a shit about him. In Metroid Other M, we see Samus, who by all accounts is still a veritable badass, come to terms with a lot of crazy shit that happened in her past. Sure the way certain scenes worked was off, but that was the general idea. And for anyone saying that her following Adam's orders, which was probably more out of respect for his position as leader of his squad and not him, is degrading, then I'd hate to see how you handle interactions with your superiors at your place of work. Other games with compelling female leads that I can think of off the top of my head? FF 6, 12, 13 to name a few. So what if they're attractive? That's part of what makes them so empowered! The dichotomy of "cute but dumb girl/ugly, but capable girl" is such a goddamned farce in the first place. On the whole Kuja thing, I just asked a few of my friends whether they thought he was designed specifically to cater to them, and they fervently disagreed that he was. He was designed to be a disturbingly flamboyant narcissistic weapons dealer(who is also disturbing). Not to say that I agree with the general male mindset of gamers(who are on many occasions vulgar, racist homophobes), and I am a staunch supporter of equality on all fronts, but I don't think that anyone has ever tackled this issue in a way that wasn't in some way externalizing, unfair or misguided.

I'll come up with a more articulate response later, but A) I totally disagree that we've reached gender equality on a social treatment level, and The media only sells what people want, as doing the opposite would be bad business sense. Therefore I think it's a bit naive and irresponsible to blame game creators/publsihers/etc. for catering to their demographic. If change is to be made, it needs to start from the people buying the stuff.

The Halo-verse has nearly just as much going for it as the Mass Effect universe, or at the very least enough to make some more games out of it; the various member races of the Covenant, the origins of the Flood, the Forerunners, etc. Wait a minute... A lot of this stuff sounds like a few things I've noted in Mass Effect. Yeah... Prothions, member races of Citadel Space, Geth, Reavers, Cerberus. But common tropes aside, my point(not opinion) still stands. If EA decides that keeping Shepard(who as a human is naturally more relatable to a player) makes them more money than playing as a Krogan having interspecies sex with a Rachni, then Shepard(or _insert human lead here_) will be back. It's a crying shame, too.

All that is well and good, but it doesn't mean jack if the fans want more Shepard. They could just as easily tell more stories in the Halo series as they've tried, but what's the main(or Chief) complaint? You aren't playing as Master Chief.

Halo 3 was supposed to be the end of Master Chief's story, and yet here comes Halo 4 with everyone's favorite Spartan taking the lead. Assassin's Creed 2 was supposed to be the end of Ezio to set the stage for the next assassin in Assassin's Creed 3, and yet what do you know, 2 more games starring everyone's favorite flamboyant Italian. Really think Mass Effect 3 is going to be the (rightful)end to Shepard's story?Not while there's money to be made off his/her character. This isn't necessarily a negative critique, as if something awesome spawns something more awesome, then awesome. I just feel that it sort of stifles the creative process if creators feel pressured to keep digging when they've already finished the job. I'm also pretty tired of the whole "we need to defend the homeland from aggression!" that seems to have taken the limelight in a lot of sequels in a given series. It feels tired and lazy. With all that said, I still loved what the Mass Effect 3 demo provided. I'm kind of conflicted here.

Yeah... As opposed to the RE: Revelations demo, I'm really not feeling the love with the MGS demo... I hope the demo isn't indicative of the final version's quality, because I have some serious issues, chiefly the terribad framerate and the goofy controls. Why are you making me BALANCE the bloody system when I'm already having a hard enough time fighting with the camera!? Maybe it's just me, but I don't really feel compelled to move while aiming in this type of game, so I'd much prefer if they'd just let me aim with the movement stick when I have the aim button held down. Remember when games used to let you do that, guys? I do like the nuances here and there though, although I never played Subsistence extensively so I can't tell if they're just carry overs from that revision, although I'm pretty sure the touch mechanic for the sensors is new, and that's a nice touch. Still, even though Metal Gear Solid 3 is an awesome game, MGS 3DS gets a tentative from me.

I can't say I appreciate where this whole server merge business is going. FFXI was all about getting people from all over the place playing and interacting together, but now it seems like everyone would rather segregate themselves into little packets. True, servers will be going back to normal once 2.0 hits, but who's to say we won't just see the same thing happen? And people gave Japanese players shit with the "JP onry" nonsense. Reading through the forums is also a serious exercise in "internet entitlement". For all the clout these people have as a "great community", I can't help but think that it's made up of socially awkward 16-year-olds that are still waiting/hoping for puberty to finally hit. Now that I think about it, maybe self-segregation ain't that bad in this instance.

Epic posts happening in this thread.

I definitely prefer using the 3DS browser over my phone's by far, simply due to more screen real estate. Not having Flash is annoying, but the baterry life on this thing is low enough as it is... Also posting from 3DS.

They definitely could have done more with the Sky Realm. Giving you more in the way of flying races, maybe more combat, and/or an optional secret dungeon(that would rely on the Clawshots and other items, naturally) that would be a REAL test hidden in the clouds might have been awesome. For all the touting of the residents of Skyloft and their connection to their birds as the Goddess' providence, they didn't really do much with those concepts.

And I'm not trying to convince you to grab it either. A lot of people were annoyed with FFXIII and that's totally cool, but saying SE isn't treating the "fans" with respect is flat out wrong. If they weren't, then like Avatar of Justice said they'd churn out an even shittier game, when all SE has done lately is apologize about their recent string of goofs, and worked towards making better games again.

Art assets aren't the only thing they had left over, and they've created several new areas to complement them in addition to completely redoing map layouts and area designs. Archytle Steppe for example is very much a different place, and some areas are reminiscent of stuff out of Mass Effect. I also do not understand your statement Fishy, but by all means continue your misguided boycott. As for the endings, well if you thought the actual ending wasn't satisfying and or fitting(which I did given several presented story elements), then I don't think you'll particularly enjoy any of the side endings, as they're just alternate timeline dead ends. I've loved the ones I've seen, but they aren't going to push the story forward like the true ending.

Skyward Sword did two things to maintain the items' relevancy throughout most of the game: 1)It made sure to incorporate the items in some form throughout nearly all the game, and 2)have the combat focus be mostly on swordplay, while items were relegated to multi-functional tools. While the slingshot could hit far away switches, vines, and take out smaller flying enemies, it could also be used to stun larger mobs, and the whip could be used to pull levers, swing across gaps, and steal items(just horns from what I can tell though) from enemies, for a few examples. It's too bad they didn't think of all that during the development of Twilight Princess. They could have used the Dominion Rod for letting the player control lesser monsters and have them protect Link, give the spinner a sort of dash attack ability, etc. I do agree however with Bleck that wasteful is probably the best way to put Twilight Princess; a lot of fun ideas that weren't realized or simply discarded in minutes. Still thought the game was excellent though.

As a person who prefers original audio whenever possible, I agree that the lack of Japanese audio is vexing. Not sure if you're up and up on voice actors, but Troy Baker, Liam O'Brian, and Laura Bailey are some of the names in the cast. I think they get the job done, and SE usually does an above average job on dubs relatively speaking(my opinion naturally). Of course it all depends on how well you tolerate the dialogue, which doesn't bug me too much, but well, there's that.