Tag: video games

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Why is “no helmet” in the bingo, I fo mock battles all the time and have little need of a helmet even though I own 3.

bikiniarmorbattledamage:

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There is an extremely critical difference that you need to remember between mock battles and real battles.

People in mock battles are not only not trying to kill you, they’re actually take deliberate steps to make sure you aren’t injured!

In a real battle your head is particularly vulnerable and a high priority to protect for a variety of reasons:

  • Head wounds bleed really strongly, between blood in your eyes and problems from blood loss – a relatively light cut can be a death sentence
  • Your head is relatively unprotected compared to your other vital regions.  Even a glancing blow can do serious damage to organs like your eyes, nose, etc
  • Because it is on top of your body, your head is vulnerable to attacks from pretty much every angle except directly below it so it has more ways to get hurt
  • As well as being the end point for the common carotid arteries, your head also contains a vital organ known as the brain.  Serious harm to this organ can result in life long crippling and/or death.

Not wearing a helmet as part of artistic license is often employed with characters who are either not normally in armor, or who need to be recognizable as unique among many armored figures.

However it is also often employed with female characters because of the idea that unless a character has long flowing locks, warm kissable lips and a dainty little nose clearly on display – men won’t be able to tell the character is female (and hence they’re supposed to be attracted to her).

Basically prioritizing the sexualization and objectification of female characters over portraying them as competent, interesting people, etc.

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– wincenworks

So there’s been a few more people asking why we would include no head protection on the bingo card…

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I know, I know…

But it probably also bears repeating that generally speaking, that part of the reason it’s a bingo card is because is that singular elements (even completely nonsensical) rarely ruin a design (most people don’t even notice Pharah’s battle thong). 

So if a something tends to skip on helmets for men and women alike for the purposes of giving character’s distinctive appearances and expressions it’s unlikely anyone is going to take issue.  It’s more about stuff like this:

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Or this

– wincenworks

Posted on

bacon—pancakes:

Why is “no helmet” in the bingo, I fo mock battles all the time and have little need of a helmet even though I own 3.

bikiniarmorbattledamage:

image

There is an extremely critical difference that you need to remember between mock battles and real battles.

People in mock battles are not only not trying to kill you, they’re actually take deliberate steps to make sure you aren’t injured!

In a real battle your head is particularly vulnerable and a high priority to protect for a variety of reasons:

  • Head wounds bleed really strongly, between blood in your eyes and problems from blood loss – a relatively light cut can be a death sentence
  • Your head is relatively unprotected compared to your other vital regions.  Even a glancing blow can do serious damage to organs like your eyes, nose, etc
  • Because it is on top of your body, your head is vulnerable to attacks from pretty much every angle except directly below it so it has more ways to get hurt
  • As well as being the end point for the common carotid arteries, your head also contains a vital organ known as the brain.  Serious harm to this organ can result in life long crippling and/or death.

Not wearing a helmet as part of artistic license is often employed with characters who are either not normally in armor, or who need to be recognizable as unique among many armored figures.

However it is also often employed with female characters because of the idea that unless a character has long flowing locks, warm kissable lips and a dainty little nose clearly on display – men won’t be able to tell the character is female (and hence they’re supposed to be attracted to her).

Basically prioritizing the sexualization and objectification of female characters over portraying them as competent, interesting people, etc.

image

– wincenworks

So there’s been a few more people asking why we would include no head protection on the bingo card…

image

I know, I know…

But it probably also bears repeating that generally speaking, that part of the reason it’s a bingo card is because is that singular elements (even completely nonsensical) rarely ruin a design (most people don’t even notice Pharah’s battle thong). 

So if a something tends to skip on helmets for men and women alike for the purposes of giving character’s distinctive appearances and expressions it’s unlikely anyone is going to take issue.  It’s more about stuff like this:

image
image

Or this

– wincenworks

Posted on

So, if you’ve ever doubted the influence of Creepy Marketing Guy, remember that generally family-friendly Nintendo has apparently decided that the best way to market Fire Emblem Heroes is to pitch it like… basically every other mobile fantasy game.

This is a real shame since Lucinda looks pretty good:

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But apparently not in line with their goal of marketing it as “Mini-dresses, boobplate and garter-belts, the game”.

– wincenworks

(Many thanks to those who messaged in to let me know I’d initially mispelled Lucina’s name)

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[full size pic]

Ah, one of our favorite repeat offenders… Seriously, though, what am I even looking at?? Is this a Red Bull ad?

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So I looked up this character and the wiki page had this to say: 

Only the most elite knights of the continent of Hiquba are permitted to join the Starka Temple Knights. It is considered the highest honor to join their ranks… At the grand induction ceremony in their hallowed temple, their captain Fortunata looks on forlornly. Her heart grieves at the thought of how few will live to see the end of the next war.

I have a few questions: If these soldiers are the most elite, why will so many of them die? How do they replenish their ranks? Why does the captain worry about her fully-armored soldiers dying, and not herself, who appears to be wearing a Victora’s Secret armor lingerie? Did her left foot step into a wormhole, and is that why it’s disappeared? …What’s with the cherubs…??

Her evolved armor looks a lot better, though she still forgot her pants at home, and I don’t even want to theorize on what’s happening with her breasts…

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But with the improved armor comes a worse lore entry:

Fortunata leads her fresh recruits to subjugate the ogre demonic brutes that have crossed into their borders. The unfortunate young soldiers, lacking in the strict training characteristics of the Starka Temple Knights, serve as little more than human shields. Despite this handicap, Fortunata exhibits superb technique and strength, slaying the horde with ease. She is more than willing to prove how she earned her lofty position.

What???? This lady is awful at her job, how has she not been fired? Or jailed?? She’s just leading fresh recruits to die to demons when she supposedly has an army of professionals! Is this an insurance scam? Why is she leading recruits when she’s supposed to be commanding the elites? No wonder that cherub is glaring at her!

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Get her, cherub!! #TheTruthAboutFortunata2k17

-Icy

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bikiniarmorbattledamage:

coelasquid:

In an alternate mirror universe where game developers are terrified of making new franchises starring male leads Gears of War, Call of Duty, Doom, Max Payne, Battlefield, and Deus Ex all star Duke Nukem and people get really angry when you say you wish they would try to make some new male leads instead of hammer Duke Nukem into increasingly tonally different games.

Thank goodness female characters in popular video game franchises never suffer from a lack of diversity in appearance or tonal incongruity.

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Yes, there is one character who appears in this image line up twice – and it’s not one of the (many) obvious match ups.

– wincenworks

Given the recent hilarity with Street Fighter’s new characters being indistinguishable from some Smite characters (and also some Halloween costumes) – it seemed appropriate to bring up this reminder that so many video games seem to use more or less the same few female models.

Even when the video games aspire to avoid it, honestly or less honestly, the expectations from marketing teams and just the general normalization of this kind of imagery in modern media leads to designs repeating.

This is why it’s so important to challenge these trends and not look for any excuse to just ignore it.

– wincenworks

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So, Kolin and Menat are two new characters introduced into Street Fighter V via intro videos… Kolin’s intro happens to feature her fighting fetishware model Juri.

For some reason, these characters look a little familiar, like maybe I’ve seen them before, in another game that recycles cliche designs… that or they’re just so creative my brain can’t handle the strain.

In terms of male characters, well Abigail is the closest they’ve gotten to true empowerment… kind of:

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I just… don’t get the same feeling that his his costume was designed with sensual posing as it’s first and second priority…

– wincenworks 

So… We’re getting a suspiciously Neith–like vaguely Egyptian contortionist and a “sexy Russian” Halloween costume as the new lady fighters? Creativity is off the charts! 

Hell, Street Fighter is also ripping itself off, considering how similar Kolin’s “Battle Costume” is to Cammy’s.

And since her “Nostalgia Costume” is a throwback to when Kolin wasn’t playable, it’s a proof that you truly need to lose any remnant of credibility in your clothes to become playable female character.

~Ozzie

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(Warning: This game deals with a lot of dark material and imagery for this game includes a lot of themes of torture, death, psychosis and gore.  I have tried my best to avoid putting any disturbing imagery in this post or linking to any directly)

We’ve had numerous requests for comment on Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and to be honest it’s a complicated topic.  It is true that it is a game that avoided various tropes that we’re told games need such as bikini armor, battle thongs, cleavage, etc  But the outfit is still not on par with say Emily Kaldwen or Billy Lurk’s attire. (It’s still angering brodudes though)

It’s also a game where the much more important criticisms such as the handling of theme of mental illness and protagonist having locs (which Celts and Vikings did not have, which is why their descendants need various modern products to replicate them). So comparatively Senua’s attire not being terrible is minor.

The game is however is an interesting example of how even studios beginning with the noblest intentions can get pulled down by industry pressure and reliance upon media and societal standards.  They started with:

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They wanted it to be historical, but when it came time to find reference images… they didn’t exactly cite what I could call historically robust sources:

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When it came time to scan a body for the 3D model of Senua, they went with a fitness instructor, who also happens to do modelling.  She she did end up half of the things that the original vision promised she would not be, and her attire was designed more around modern fashion ideals than her origin.

The fact that it stands out to so many people as so different and that the developers felt they only had the freedom to do this much by avoiding signing on a publisher really says a lot.

– wincenworks

Developer blog posts cited: Development Diary 17: A New Body | Development Diary 3 – Senua