@SonictheHeg: It was the English that coined the term 'soccer' first. Americans just used it when they had their own version of football.

In any case, the word 'soccer' sounds cool, so I don't know why people get pissed off anyway. A great nickname for football if their ever was one.

@Floymin @ExplicitMike No, it bombed because it was a volleyball game.

@DAOWAce That's a little patronizing, mate.

You'll find women don't mind you appreciating their sexual appeal. What they will mind is when you think that's all they're good for.

For the record, the female characters in DOA 5 have greater characterization than the male characters. It's the male characters who are objectified as beefcakes. In fact, grab the game, grab a girl, and play through Dead or Alive with her. If she doesn't find gaming tedious, she just may enjoy it.

Brendan,

Your first error -- and the error of many of your fellow journalists, as well as the community -- is falsely thinking that video games are primarily an artistic medium. That's the entire crux of your argument. If you remove the notion that video games are fundamentally artistic, your point vanishes almost completely.

Video games are in fact like many other games, including chess and sport. Would you Brendan, or would anyone else in this community, object to the changes in sports game rules as a matter of artistic or cultural integrity? For example, the goal-line technology that is currently being tested for professional football/Soccer has been a long standing controversy, and yet it fell on the deaf ears of the FIFA executives who thought it was antithetical to the sport. They believed that the errors of referee calls were just part of the game. Only now, for love and fairness have they embraced the notion that it could add to the legitimacy of professional Football.

Now unless I'm sorely mistaken of your character (and that of many others), that you would agree goal-line technology would not affect the cultural integrity of the sport, why do you sing a new song about video games? GameSpot's own review back in 2004 criticized the logic of the design. In fact, almost every fan and critic had criticized the silliness of it. And you're defending the silliness as 'artistic integrity'.

The video game industry ironically needs to grow up from this 'we are an artistic medium' vibe, because it's hindering progress rather than encouraging it. The sooner our journalists snap out of it, the better it will be.

Wow, you guys handled the topic incredibly well! Good job!

Very, very cool article guys. Keep it up.