Women-bashing breaks out on Twitter after claim Microsoft E3 game demos lacked female leads

Financial Post ^ | June 11, 2013 | Matt Reeder

[MCH]

Female bashing aside, I do have to wonder why there aren't more buxom, over-endowed female protagonists in the console role-playing, adventure and first person shooter type games. Especially considering the predominant young male audience, and the extent to which these main characters are graphically depicted on-screen in various outfits and such.

For instance, I know a lot of young guys build and level female characters in MMORPG games like WoW. The explanation goes something like, "well if I'm going to have to stare at my own character's @ss for hours on end, I'd like to have something decent to look at!"

[Rides_A_Red_Horse]

What about the “Lara Croft” franchise? My wife and I used to play “Champions of Norrath, Call to Arms,” and you could choose male or female characters of different races and classes. I got her started on “Reckoning.” She set up a female character.

[publius911]

Case in point: Anita Sarkeesian, a female gaming critic, wrote on Twitter Monday that none of the games teased during Microsoft’s Xbox One E3 presentation featured lead female characters.

They mean to tell us that there is no updated version of Tomb Raiders?

Can we sue?

[publius911]

I think I’ll write a game about today’s American female. I’m gonna call it OOO Baby, short for Overbearing, Oversexed and Overweight.

I'll buy that for a dollar!

[KC_Lion]

WHY DOES EVERY CHARACTER LOOK LIKE MIA FARROW?

LOLS!

[TADSLOS]

LOL

[FreedomPoster]

Microsoft bailed out from MSNBC some time ago.

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_21672902/microsoft-launching-own-news-organization-after-msnbc-split

[CharlesWayneCT]

Thanks. BTW, did you catch the newer outrage, over the “rape joke” at the conference where they introduced the Xbox-One?

It’s like Microsoft can’t buy a break.

Some random employee uses a common gaming term, and bam — it’s sexist.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I always pick female characters when I’m playing games, if they have them. I had a really rad female snowboard character, and a cute guitar-girl for guitar hero.

I do play occasional shooter games, and don’t remember getting to choose a female character, or really any character at all. But I am really not a gamer.