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Super Smash Bros. Brawl


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I have to look at an ever-decaying society each week. It would be impossible for me to get over it, when I study this stuff in school. It's really, really sad how numb people are, when, sexuality is equated with 'maturity' when it's just some adolescent yearning to play with an imaginary character.

Again, what is so different from a woman trying to appear sexy compared to the typical men consciously or subconsciously trying to be masculine? Games merely do that more outwardly and if someone is to be actually affected by that, that means they're complete, utter dolts. We have those types everywhere, not just for gaming audiences.

games that endorse having sex with as many girls as possible, blowing up anyone in your way, etc. I've played some of these games, but I didn't fully realize the destructive impact it has when you watch over and over again somebody being slaughtered, and you enjoy it.

I don't think that's it. If you make realistic slaughter or really mean/hideous aspects into games, people notice. That's why in war games, you fight something like Nazis or aliens or zombies all the time. Even in eroge (hentai/porn games), they're now mostly about storytelling than the simple act of sexual promiscuity nowadays. Even PORN games have evolved that much.

Society shapes it, and rather than being proactive, game makers layed down and gave in to the same crap the movie industry did. Whatever twisted crap sells, we will make.

I disagree. If games are horrible, they usually don't sell well. There's always the quick-buck titles and catch-all sequelitis of the mediums, but that happens. There's always the shallower aspects across all media. Singling one out is not very convincing.

But I'm also not going to go and advocate for the same social engineering that's made people flee from marriage and has our society in an identity crisis.

Empowerment and the widening of choices confuses everyone. It's natural. Life literally used to be simpler in the past. We merely have more choices careerwise, sexuality wise, marriage-wise, etc. I agree traditional values have deteriorated, but I can argue that it's merely a change. Not a total destruction of society.

And what does this have to do with Smash Bros.? Conditioning. If someone can show me another prominent woman in a game (regardless of it's violence) that doesn't look like a bimbo, or available, I'll concede that. I'm not even suggesting people don't have the right to do this; but what you have a right to do and what is good for society is usually a set of different things. Video game characters lack sexuality, and even speculating whether A.I. could model human sexuality is moot for quite a while, so that doesn't factor in either. What does factor in is, whether we just see people as hollow, one-dimensional vessels for our desires or not, and in a small way, I see this Zero Suit crap as adding fuel to the fire that's separating our country and planet apart.

We do that with males too. Mario is a laughable Italian stereotype and we love him for it. Snake is a veritable icon of manly sexuality (I guess some guys can't notice that from the getgo because of the action game aspect itself). Dante is basically a fangirl-bait if you think about it.

So a sexy girl is a bimbo while the sexy guy is just cool? That is plain sexist. Now I'd agree if we're talking about the Guy Game or some exploitation videogame that actually portrays women as skanks, but most games with the mass-market-appeal sexuality? They're harmless.

Completely and utterly harmless. In fact, I know most girls really don't give a shit about all this perceived sexuality against women. That argument is a steaming pile of double faced cliche.

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I just read today that Lucas from Mother 3 (what would have been Earthbound 64) is going to be an unlockable in SSBB. Freaking sweet. Anyone else play Mother 3?

Well, if you haven't seen the update that is on Smash Bros Dojo now that is Lucas, then you should check out the characters page! If you have, well, I don't think he's unlockable, looks like he's a standard character to me. Also, I'm playing Mother 3 (which I've said a few times by now I think, I'm like a broken record here), and it's an excellent game it is-it is!

Apparently this thread has drifted into the portrayal of women and video-games? Yeah, I definitely agree it is quite shallow, there are a lot of games that use it as a focus point (i.e., a LOT of fighting games), which is quite shameful in my opinion. But it seems to me the less "sexualized" characters have more personality. Some of my favorites being Tron from the Megaman Legends series (she seems rather normal) and Jade from Beyond Good & Evil (compared to a lot of other characters, yes, she's pretty normal). Honestly, don't know why I'm continuing this discussion, but I suppose I should just throw my two-cents in.

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The updates continue to impress me -- this game can't come out soon enough! The new videos aren't working for me yet though... :-x

In any case, my contribution to the debate comes in the form of a list of female characters that aren't oversexualized:

Jade -- Beyond Good and Evil

Claire Redfield -- Resident Evil

Princess Zelda -- especially in OoT, but all of them

The Fey Clan from Phoenix Wright -- the PW trilogy (in game 3, there is one reference to Mia's sexuality / good looks)

Charlotte Aulin -- Castlevania PoR

Jan Ors -- Jedi Knight II

Jenna -- Golden Sun: TLA

Olga -- MGS2

Meryl -- MGS1. Despite the fact that Snake makes something of her looks, she is the exact opposite of a typical VG female

Yuna -- FFX original only...admittedly, they _did_ oversexualize her for the sequel.

Note that avoiding "oversexualized" doesn't mean they have to look ugly or unusual -- my criteria is twofold: First, sexuality can't be their defining characteristic. Second, realistic proportions -- the Lara Croft / Dead or Alive concept of what a woman should be _is_ outdated. Also, I realize that this list isn't nearly as large as the list of games where women _are_ basically just sexual objects (Ninja Gaiden's Rachel especially comes to mind).

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female characters that aren't oversexualized:

Jenna -- Golden Sun: TLA

Actually, I'd extend that to the entire female cast of Golden Sun. Most of them are drawn to be good looking, but none of them are over the top, and they're all not over-sexualized at all.

I second Jade, Charlotte, and Jan Ors as well.

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ZS Samus never really struck me as extremely sexualized, yeah sure she's got the tight curve exposing suit, but what she's missing is the mannerism.

I mean the way she's dressed isn't any more different than a gymnast/runner/swimmer/[insert sport here], and they aren't dressed to be extremely sexualized so much as for ease of movement.

Maybe I just fail at making this mental leap cause she isn't really that sexy as far as women go, and I'm not male so it's harder to see it I guess.

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ZS Samus never really struck me as extremely sexualized, yeah sure she's got the tight curve exposing suit, but what she's missing is the mannerism.

I mean the way she's dressed isn't any more different than a gymnast/runner/swimmer/[insert sport here], and they aren't dressed to be extremely sexualized so much as for ease of movement.

Maybe I just fail at making this mental leap cause she isn't really that sexy as far as women go, and I'm not male so it's harder to see it I guess.

I think the reason we men are so attracted to her is because she's a intergalactic bounty hunter - she's badass. Combine that with a nice appearance and you get the most attractive video game character alive, regardless if she runs around half-naked or not. A bimbo is just a bimbo. Nothing more than eye candy.

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Oh, noes! Fictional attractive girls! What is society comming to?

The reason all girls are thin and sexy and all guys are manly and musclebound in videogames (with a few exceptions to both) is that THEY ARE FICTIONAL! This is what we do with fiction; we create a world that we know is different than our own but that we think would be cool. It would be cool if all girls were hot and wore skintight clothes. It would also be cool if you could respawn when you get thrown off a cliff. That's another recurring theme in videogames, but does it make people suicidal? No. Because it's fiction, and we all know it.

Even if you are playing the most pornographic game ever made, it's no different than masturbation; it's a harmless way to get off on your fantasies.

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Oh, noes! Fictional attractive girls! What is society comming to?

The reason all girls are thin and sexy and all guys are manly and musclebound in videogames (with a few exceptions to both) is that THEY ARE FICTIONAL! This is what we do with fiction; we create a world that we know is different than our own but that we think would be cool. It would be cool if all girls were hot and wore skintight clothes. It would also be cool if you could respawn when you get thrown off a cliff. That's another recurring theme in videogames, but does it make people suicidal? No. Because it's fiction, and we all know it.

Even if you are playing the most pornographic game ever made, it's no different than masturbation; it's a harmless way to get off on your fantasies.

Discussion over.

Anyway, this has been a great week for updates so far.

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