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[NahaNago]

Ideally they'd do some actual analysis into whether or not the female leads were the cause of the flop, but yeah. Hopefully Horizon will live up to the hype, it could go either way at this point.

I Hope it does really well as well . I would love to see many more interesting female main characters.

I have to add to it... I was typing on the Vita and that thing bugs out sometimes.

I was going to add, while Hollywood attempts this, they have yet to have a Lara Croft like they do an Arnold Schwarzenegger. They will attempt to make a strong female action star, and it is usually a one and done, and she is back to making Comp Romps for her career.

Just shows that society still has a long way to go. And gaming in it's infancy are breaking barriers at a much faster rate comparatively.

I was just thinking lately that i would love to see more martial arts films with a main female character come to the west.

 

[BlackBuzzard]

Instead of you protecting her. She will protect you.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Instead of you protecting her. She will protect you.

And women being the nurturers in life, I am okay with that.

I think we can learn from our animal kingdom friends where the females more often than not are the powerful one's doing most of the work that we do not give them credit for. Lot's of similarities with the powerful women in Game of Thrones, and how a Lion's Pride works sometimes.

 

[IAmRandom31]

She seems like an awesome character, fuck those focus groups

Actually it obviously went well because she is still the lead.

 

[ZeroGravity]

Devs overthink this shit way too much. Make a great game and people won't care either way.

 

[n00bsauce87]

Good, but please made her talk less while hunting dino robot

Because knowing the thought process of a female hunter during said hunt would be too distracting?

 

[Deadstar]

She has more character than the majority of video game male leads. When you look at her, she has that iconic look. Bald white guy #872 does not have an iconic look. Do you remember anyone from any of the military shooters that come out? Of course not. You remember Lara Croft, you remember Jade from Beyond Good and Evil.

You remember them because they look unique.

 

[Jacksinthe]

Devs overthink this shit way too much. Make a great game and people won't care either way.

False and extrapolated earlier in the thread.

 

[sjay1994]

I liked it, although I was more excited by fighting robot dinosaurs with a bow.

My one complaint is I hope that her talking to herself was done just for the demo, and won't be that frequent in the full game. Her talking about everything to herself got really annoying.

 

[Shadow_Lord]

They were obviously afraid of males with very high testosterone who can't play as a character with a vagina.

 

[ZeroGravity]

False and extrapolated earlier in the thread.

Sorry but I still believe that. A game's success is not dependant on the gender of its protagonist. There have been great selling games that star woman, and flops that star men. There are a ton of more important factors that go into a game succeeding that stuff like this is ultimately just noise.

 

[DeepEnigma]

I was just thinking lately that i would love to see more martial arts films with a main female character come to the west.

Agreed. Hollywood tried in the 80's with martial artist Cynthia Rothrock, but nobody took it seriously because they were the typical campy action B movies at the time. Instead they focused on Van Damm and the like. Society needs to break free from the conditioned lies on how they view women.

They are WAY more powerful in many ways than what we give them credit for. It was man's insecurity over thousands of years of said power, that sadly we oppressed them due to us due to fear, and not learning to control ourselves as good as they could.

Again I go back to Game of Thrones, because it just shows how in control women really are/were.

 

[StrongBlackVine]

they should have went with a male as the main charcater, especially since the game is about tribes and fighting robot dinos. they are gonna lose tons of sales, and the character just isn't anywhere as appealing as the new lara croft.

Seeing how almost every one is gushing over it I don't think it will lose enough sales to matter. The ignorant comments about her gender are not that prevalent and I'm not just talking about on Neogaf.

 

[TatteredHat]

Because knowing the thought process of a female hunter during said hunt would be too distracting?

It would be actually, I don't need every single action narrated. I'm confident that it won't be like that in the main game though, if it's actually going to be open world.

 

[Zornack]

It would be actually, I don't need every single action narrated. I'm confident that it won't be like that in the main game though, if it's actually going to be open world.

Yeah, it felt like stuff added in post to give the game some narration. I doubt it'll be like that at release.

 

[OccamsLightsaber]

It fun watching people come to terms with their sexism. #progess

 

[LogicStep]

Are you insulting me??!!111111

I do it all the time,especially with games, they're merely hopes, like this game having an element of choice rather for characters instead of the old killzone 2,3, and 4 method, sometimes I'm wrong sometimes I'm not. I thought it was human nature to assume, especially if your life isn't depending on the outcome.

Nothing wrong with hoping. But people can only blame themselves if they are disappointed when they learn how it really is.

 

[Whitman's Ghost]

I like here as I can identify with her as a male. If she was some weird girly sexual fetish machine I'd be kinda pissed.

 

[DeepEnigma]

they should have went with a male as the main charcater, especially since the game is about tribes and fighting robot dinos. they are gonna lose tons of sales, and the character just isn't anywhere as appealing as the new lara croft.

Why, because she doesn't have that typical Vidal Sassoon hair shine, or the pretty thin jawed semi-Asian princess look to her?

And super tight pants so you can see the same of her ass as she climbs?

She is way more interesting and believable than Lara Croft, dressed in style rock climber.

And plenty of women have fought in tribes just as the females do the hunting in a lion's pride for thousands of years, despite what the history books want to SELL you.

I like here as I can identify with her as a male. If she was some weird girly sexual fetish machine I'd be kinda pissed.

Agreed. Hated the old Lara character, while the new one is progress, and in the 2013 edition they were on the right path of building her narrative in a more believable way, there is still a ways to go, since you know, she still has to be "oh so beautiful".

 

[Dice//]

Sorry but I still believe that. A game's success is not dependant on the gender of its protagonist. There have been great selling games that star woman, and flops that star men. There are a ton of more important factors that go into a game succeeding that stuff like this is ultimately just noise.

Preach

Correlation =/= Causation

 

[NahaNago]

Agreed. Hollywood tried in the 80's with martial artist Cynthia Rothrock, but nobody took it seriously because they were the typical campy action B movies at the time. Instead they focused on Van Damm and the like. Society needs to break free from the conditioned lies on how they view women.

They are WAY more powerful in many ways than what we give them credit for. It was man's insecurity over thousands of years of said power, that sadly we oppressed them due to us due to fear, and not learning to control ourselves as good as they could.

Again I go back to Game of Thrones, because it just shows how in control women really are/were.

i had no idea who Cynthia Rothrock was but her movies look really interesting and something i would watch , thanks for the knowledge.

 

[DeepEnigma]

i had no idea who Cynthia Rothrock was but her movies look really interesting and something i would watch , thanks for the knowledge.

You are very welcome. She was amazing, and did all of her own stunts most of the time from what I gather. She holds black belt rankings in 6 martial arts styles. She is no joke.

The original Sonya Blade from the first Mortal Kombat was said to be inspired by her.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

She has more character than the majority of video game male leads. When you look at her, she has that iconic look. Bald white guy #872 does not have an iconic look. Do you remember anyone from any of the military shooters that come out? Of course not. You remember Lara Croft, you remember Jade from Beyond Good and Evil.

You remember them because they look unique.

Bad example since this game and Tomb Raider and Beyond Good and Evil aren't military shooters.

 

[kuroshiki]

any news that I can change the look of her like fallout series?

 

[ForsakenLotus]

A) I'm glad they went with a female. She has a great design, and it's always good to see diversity in gaming.

B) Stop with the focus testing. It's what turns Insomniac's cool sounding new IP into the bland Fusion. Was it Fusion? I literally can't remember the name.

 

[Defcon_2Fast4u]

I was incredibly happy to see a female lead. There is a lacking of them when it comes to games.

There are you big franchises that do have them, Tomb Raider and Metroid are the largest ones that come to mind right off the bat.

We do have games were we see only a few leads, or in an ensemble cast.
Beyond Two Souls, Heavy Rain, The Last of Us, Halo, Resistance Fall of Man, Gears of War, Heavenly Sword.

When I walked out of the theater on Monday my friends all asked me what I was most excited about, and I said Horizon Zero Sun, and they were as well. I mean yes we are all looking forward to Uncharted, but from all new IPs shown in all of E3, Horizon is crazy.

 

[KingK]

As far as I know, Sony has published a single game with a black lead: Starhawk. They've actually done ok with female leads, relatively speaking. I think the industry has made big strides lately with gender but has made almost no progress with race.

Really i think that's just a reflection of the market, because i think the exact same thing could be said of (at least American) society at large over the last couple decades.

 

[slavesnyder]

Focus testing not ruining good ideas? That's surprising.

10/10 answer

 

[neoemonk]

Commander Shepard is a woman and Mass Effect sold well.

 

[inpHilltr8r]

i can't play as tits and vagina

...and now I want to make a sex-ed game where your character is a set of cute genitalia.

 

[SSReborn]

any news that I can change the look of her like fallout series?

I don't think anything has been said to that however, it seems like they went for a character that isn't really supposed to be psychically (facial features and such) customizable at least that's what I'm getting.

 

[DeepEnigma]

I think the industry has made big strides lately with gender but has made almost no progress with race..

I think that has a lot to do with demographics as well. Women make up 51% of the world's population. What is considered traditional minorities is far less than that percentage by a mile. It is getting there based on percentages of demographics.

There have also been a lot of non white leads. They do not have to be specifically black to fit that narrative. There have been leads from Middle Eastern to Spanish/Latin/Native/Hispanic.

And a lot of games allow for character creation as well. Would I like to see more at a faster rate? I sure would, but again, it is demographics holding the speed of it more so I believe.

 

[slavesnyder]

Commander Shepard is a woman and Mass Effect sold well.

Exactly. Heard a rumour that you can also play as male. But who would do something this silly anyway?

 

[E-Cat]

To be fair

There is a precedent that games with female protagonists tend to not sell alot.

Remember Me, Mirrors Edge, Beyond, Beyond Good and Evil, Heavenly Sword, Wet, etc.

I'm excited for the game, but I understand that funding a game like this to be a AAA title is..risque.

Yeah. I guess I was speaking more towards the human race as a whole.

 

[Infinite Justice]

Commander Shepard is a woman and Mass Effect sold well.

Shephard was hardly portrayed as a woman to the mainstream though (until 3 and even then what came out of that was a reversible cover iirc), hell they got an actual male model's face for his default look.

So while yes it sold well, their is a wrinkle that still leads to this discussion about the market

 

[IcyEyes]

"I was nervous to see the reaction from people."

Just stop to reading forum and everything will be alright

 

[ZachzOOming]

I think it is so cool and have no problem whatsoever playing as a female protagonist (didn't stop me from playing Tomb Raider, Life Is Strange, FFXIII). Love her designs.

I guess she will probably become one of Playstation iconic characters like Nathan Drake, Crash, etc.

 

[EpicBox]

Meanwhile DICE doesn't think twice about using the same female protagonist for Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

 

[schaft0620]

It works for me when there is no cheezy over-sexualization.

 

[NahaNago]

Meanwhile DICE doesn't think twice about using the same female protagonist for Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

i'm lost here the last mirror's edge was made 7 years ago.

 

[Rats Off To Ya]

Meanwhile DICE doesn't think twice about using the same female protagonist for Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

I guarantee you there were people within EA pushing for a male protagonist. DICE stuck to their guns, just like Guerrilla did.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Commander Shepard is a woman and Mass Effect sold well.

ME is a good example of what I was talking about earlier when I said companies that have a gender select will choose to promote the male character as the lead

 

[Lord Malachite]

Honest question:

Is the concern that Yosh is speaking of in this article less about the fact that the game has a female protagonist, and more about the concern that said protagonist would create controversey?

The exact concerns of the character's femininity don't seem to be detailed in the article--but part of me wonders if there was fear that Sony would be accused of pandering, or that she would be looked at as oversexed, or as some barbaric male ideal of a female, etc. While I don't think anyone who watched the demo could honestly think those things for a moment, it may be that the fear is that that a single mistake on the part of GG or misonception by that audience could touch off a spring of bad press or accusations of being misogynistic. Media loves a good controversey--like the accusations of the Lara Croft "rape" in Tomb Raider (2013).

Again, I'm not trying to cast aspersions on this game or in any way imply that such content will be in Horizon. But since, as has been pointed out, female protagonists have been in highly successful games previously, the root cause of the "nervousness" Shu is expressing may have been different, and the specific mentioning of focus groups may have been related more to perception of the character, is there anything about her people might be upset/offended by and cause a PR nightmare for Sony, rather than from a gameplay perspective.

 

[Dragon1893]

Fortunately they went through with it, that's what matters.
When a company puts tens of millions into a product the suits get scared easily, specially with sony's current finances.
Let's hope the game's sales don't suffer for it. It's sad I even have to type this.

 

[Chariot]

ME is a good example of what I was talking about earlier when I said companies that have a gender select will choose to promote the male character as the lead

Yeah, it's not a coincidence that we have "Shepard" and "Fem!Shep". Male is the norm and female is the special one. Would've been nice if they made half of the covers male and the other female.

 

[StrongBlackVine]

Meanwhile DICE doesn't think twice about using the same female protagonist for Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

Only took 7 years or so to get a new game.

 

[Messofanego]

Character creation happens pre-war, so you look just about how a comfortable suburban family would look.

Wait, did they say your face will get dirtier or wear and tear further in Fallout 4 once you're past the prologue? Like Captain Walker in Spec Ops The Line or the beard tech in Witcher 3? Tomb Raider?

 

[Teletraan1]

Don't actually think that's how it went down either. I doubt there was much of a response from Sony in regards to TR at all internally. After all, MS went for TR to compete with UC.

I agree. This is no response to TR. That concept art was around longer than the MS deal anyway I think. TR better up its game then because Rise of the Tomb Raider looked like total shit compared to UC even if I have to play as that smarmy murderer.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

Only took 7 years or so to get a new game.

Yup. Mirrors Edge is a bad example to use. The only reason we're getting 'catalyst' is because it's more of a cult classic.

Tomb Raider might be a better example. Despite going through an era of average to shoddy games through the PS2-PS3 gens, the Tomb Raider games tend to sell fairly well despite the female led. But again, it's the exception, not the rule.

 

[toastyToast]

Where are these big budget games with female protagonists that flopped with comparable male protagonist led games that did well?

I'm not understanding this sense of trepidation.