I haven't played the game so I can only comment on the information Carolyn has provided. I agree that the treatment of Kanji definitely comes off as homophobic, or at least offensively naive. However, even following Carolyn's own arguments, the Naoto transgender thing seems like a stretch. Her "identity issue" sounds like it's definitely drawn from the narrative of her wanting to be a hard-boiled detective and the option the gamer gets to feminise her is just another way to allow a player to mould her towards their own poclivities.
The main point I'd make though is that this is a Japanese game and anyone who knows anything about Eastern media knows that effeminate or "sexually deviant" males are portrayed as uniformly untrustworthy or inherently evil. You can't judge Japanese culture with a Western mindset. Japan is not, and has little desire to be, a progressive culture.
Agree about Colonial Marines. The idea of not having female characters in the Aliens universe is... shocking and goes some way to explain why that game sucks all the balls it does.
But not having a female protagonist in GOW, I'm afraid it makes perfect sense. In a universe of pumped-up-super-bodybuilder-soldiers it would be all kinds of wrong. NOONE wants to play a game as a female bodybuilder.
That's not because "women aren't viewed equally... moan... waffle... sermonise..." we are all well aware of and enjoy games with female protagonists on occassion. The truth is that most of the gaming community are male and they relate better to a male characters (via escapism or roleplay) OR it's a third person perspective game and you want a nice ass to look at for the 20+ hours you'll spend playing it.
May not be PC but it's true. Long may my tastes be catered for!
Err... what? How would a tax help curb school shootings? I'm starting to wonder if there is a rock bottom to the American intellect, because we can't find it.
Absolutely awesome feature. Remember playing this game a LOT when it first came out. Seeing Johnny die in all the ways I did made me LOL hard in nostalgia.
Love you Lara, you crazy grunting, sighing, drowning bitch.
@nate1222 I've read a few times recently that the US is specifically recruiting gamers to be drone pilots. We're a military asset, don't go banning our training materials!
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