#1reasonwhy

DE is very much on it's own list, I think.

Which one was Digital Extremes? I'm realizing I'm largely remembering the misogynistic games and not the developers.

Can you link to this tweet, out of curiosity?

I thought the first Dead Island was okay, but will not be considering this new one. Who wants to support a company that thinks this is a good idea?

No specific game.

Charles and I are former employees thus making our relationship with it... unique.

Out of curiosity, what did Gearbox do? Should I feel guilty about my BL2 purchase?

That's not the one Charles:

I think it's to do with Duke Nukem Forever.

Well, if it makes you feel better, the guy did apologize in later tweets. Doesn't completely make up for it, but at least he didn't double down on it and spew extra hatred like some other idiots.

I totally forgot they made that, probably because I didn't have any interest in playing it.

I worked for Gearbox. They are also on my "never purchase from" list, and that's all I'll say about that.

Tom weighs in in typical contrarian style: http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/20...e-for-tasteless-horror-tchotchkes/#more-19349

I didn't think they were - I assumed it was the crass sexism and misogyny in that game.

Someone linked that upthread but you get a like because when I followed your link I noticed the first comment:

What?!

That is a pretty horrific reaction.

And mine.

FFS, this is honestly worse than the actual bust we're talking about. Parts of my brain actually sparked incandescently at crap like:

That's not true, that's just something people like to insist is true as an excuse for other behaviour. He pulls out a similar nonsense explanation when he tries to link this to busts:

Except that's not how busts work! Busts exist to preserve a person's face, not pander to some base sexual desire to see the pecs of Marcus Aurelius. The Venus de Milo (which isn't even a bust, but keeps getting mentioned) doesn't lack arms because the sculptor wanted to focus on her breasts - they fell off sometime in the last two thousand years. There's no riffing going on, this is just a woman with absurd breasts and all the important chunks missing.

There's something to be said for the defence of "it's horror; are you horrified? Then surprise, it's working!" - but this article definitely isn't what ought to be said. By anyone. At any point.

Sexuality and horror intersect because it's an effective juxtaposition - it has nothing to do with some cro-magnon desire to protect women, it's solely because if you combine something repulsive with something attractive, it creates conflicting dissonance in the viewer. You are horrified with yourself for being drawn to it. Of course, it doesn't work on everyone, because sexuality varies - which brings us right back to the chopped up torso. That is horror aimed at straight men (or possibly lesbian women, but the self-identification of seeing a chopped-up woman when you are a woman may spoil the effect); even if it's not some misogynist power fantasy, it still pretty clearly says "this is for straight white men; ladies, why are you even playing video games?"

Anyway, that's enough of me flipping out. I might be wrong. I don't actually enjoy most horror, I just use it occasionally, so someone more familiar with the subject matter is free to correct me.

I'll give you straight, but what makes you think this only appeals to white men?

Well, it's a white woman's body - but you're right, that might be a stretch.

It is probably a somewhat blurred line but i think it's pretty fair to presume appeal of that piece to men other than white was at best secondary concern, given the choice of skin colour.

edit: too slow.

Fair enough - I wasn't sure if I was missing some nuance, guess I was.

I'm skipping it.

I only got DR because of really, really high recommendations and only on a MASSIVE Steam sale after it seemed they'd learned their lesson and apologized for the Purba problem, because while the game may be good, the behavior shouldn't be rewarded.

Well, they obviously didn't learn a thing, and I'm just plain not buying this one, ever.

You know, the most startling thing to me is how this statue could have been much more acceptable with oh, a few small changes.

Like, a tank top, breasts that aren't bolt-on implants, and that aren't magically immune to damage and thus obviously the point of focus.

It'd still be icky and gross, but at least at that point it wouldn't be a tribute to sexualized violence, it'd just be plain old horror movie violence.

But no, that didn't and won't happen, because this is Deep Silver and they see women as a pair of tits stacked on top of a body. If it's not sexy, it's pointless.

Maybe they could balance the equation by having the US version feature a black zombie torso who was clearly whipped to death.

Yeah, blood-spattered or made to look like a zombie. Still wouldn't have made sense but it might have been cool looking.

I'll wait to hear if anything this sexually disgusting is prominently displayed in the game itself.

If not, I'll still buy the game (the regular edition). But if this bust thing is indicative of the game's tone, then it wouldn't be something I'd be comfortable playing anyway.

"You know what would make this more appealing? Make that zombie on the far left touch her own butt!"

(to be fair that's from the first game, but... somehow I doubt it will get 'better' in the second)

I don't see that as malicious -- it's lampooning/juxtapositioning pinups. It's not disturbing guro torture porn like the statuette thing.

"It's not sexist, it's just referencing other sexist depictions of women!"

Maybe it's not "as bad" to you because the gore level is a lot lower, but this kind of sexist shit is the background radiation of my life, and I'm definitely tired of it. Even with the benefit of the doubt, it's still supremely lazy marketing.