2013-07-26 Immo mess him up

[uzivatel]

The power and costume changing aspects mentioned sounds like something girls, like Sandra, would be drawn too.

Tiny costumes...
Maybe back in the day, but looking at the audience, I am not sure thats the case with the franchise any more. Even Sandra, who used to be a huge fan, has already almost forgotten about the game...

[Liska]

As a girl gamer (who has kicked the ass of many, many boys in video game competitions previously) i'll be right there next to both ladies to kick his butt !

He totally just shot himself in the foot.

[Tenjen]

i seem to have missed the panel showing how she's forgotten the game.

infact i seem to be seeing lots of panels of her remembering it and bringing things up about it. and being aghast at whats being changed, which implies she remembers enough of it to know its been changed.

and the audience present here is in no way reflective of the actual audience and cant possibly be used to state "isnt the case with the franchise". In so much that a press conference by the president means the people present are his central demographic.

[chupacabra555]

Its funny, but I never played the new "Tomb Raider", but I remember it causing a bit of a controversy due to a scene where Lara was tied up and attempting to escape, all the while making moans and grunts that sounded like something else entirely

Later, I saw somebody who had compiled her death scenes online, and decided to take a look.

OMFG!!!!! It was like watching a 'torture porn' movie like "Saw" or some such!!

I can understand why women wouldn't want to play a game like that, particularly after dying the first time.

Meanwhile, a game like Mass Effect seems to attract a LOT of women to it, with its engaging story lines for both a male and female main character.

[Mooncatx]

eeeeeeeeeee!!! let her mess him up!!! eeeeeee!

[Bloody Vikings]

Mass Effect, on theother hand, managed to somewhat alienate a different subset of people with myopia about what ind of people play games, but that's neither here nor there.

Most of my observations have already been voiced, so I'll just note that the audience may not necessarily be aghast at the faux pas on the mike, since there appears to be a berserking woman in the audience loudly attempting to physically assault someone onstage. That's got to be a little unnerving in its own right.

[Ecchi-Spud]

At the signal, Alex, UNLEASH HEL- er, MARIE!!!

[Don Alexander]

That moment.

That exquisite moment.

That moment when time grinds to a stop and you realize you have just fucked up everything forever.

There is no going back, no turning back the clock.

A last bit of energy is expedited to turn the face into a contorted grimace of shock and regret, saying "What have I done?" better than any words ever could.

Then the body just freezes, as does the moment.

In your mind, a small remnant scrambles for answers, somehow trying to come up with a witty remark that defuses the monstrosity you just spawned. But this remnant fails, quailing at the onrushing tidal wave of the future you just unleashed, a future you will not wish to dwell in.

And the rest of your mind. It just flutters, shrieking insane laughter that echoes through the caverns of eternity.

Eisu has captured this moment.

Okay cool and thanks, I'm not having a Senior moment then.

Well, unless you did not even really remember them from two comics earlier. That would be a very senior moment, indeed!

Destroy. Him. Now.

RELEASE THE MARIE! And here is her intro music.

What's this about girls not liking violent video games? I know lots of gamer girls who are proud of their virtual body counts.

Well, I've had the impression that this game, while surely not marketed exclusively for girls, was for a "young adult" audience (what they seem to call Twilight-reading 13-year olds these days", I mean, Sandra in school hat braces and everything. I'm not sure what kind of game it was and if it really does have similarities to Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (it's unclear if Sandra's getup is something new, though I'll not she did not seem to surprised by it...), but it very likely was not some splatter game beforehand. Maybe something in the vein of Zelda.

Anyway, my point being that this is a MAJOR rethinking of the entire game.

Also, he is called Alex, I am honored! ;)

[themacnut]

Tristan might as well just annouce his resignation now, run off the stage, and go into hiding. You know he'll be blackballed in the video game industry, and probably any other industry as well. Might as well change his name and appearance and start over.

[Milnoc]

Its funny, but I never played the new "Tomb Raider", but I remember it causing a bit of a controversy due to a scene where Lara was tied up and attempting to escape, all the while making moans and grunts that sounded like something else entirely

Later, I saw somebody who had compiled her death scenes online, and decided to take a look.

OMFG!!!!! It was like watching a 'torture porn' movie like "Saw" or some such!!

Watch how Conan O'Brien reacts to the Tomb Raider death scenes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCe8-1dbXZc

[antimonious]

Thanks for that link, that gave me a good laugh this morning!

Having gotten a little farther in TR than my last post, I...yeah. I was surprisingly bothered by the "Lara getting shot in the head point blank" scene. Normally I have a high tolerance for "violence in video games", but it just seemed utterly unnecessary to show your own character's death that graphically...since...y'know...you're dead...

Mass Effect may have its flaws and not be for everyone, but it's a damn good universe and ride <3 And I prefer the non-explicit ways in which they show Shepard's deaths (dark red screen, sound, text, over a lying down body) to actually watching in slow motion the deed be done...

So basically, I related to Sandra's face in the eviscerations panel.

Quote removed. The DAMNed

[Bloody Vikings]

I had only been peripherally aware of the hubbub over the new Tomb Raider game, but while watching that video, I was expecting fog and a siren to show up midway through...

[moueska]

What's this about girls not liking violent video games? I know lots of gamer girls who are proud of their virtual body counts.

Well, I've had the impression that this game, while surely not marketed exclusively for girls, was for a "young adult" audience (what they seem to call Twilight-reading 13-year olds these days", I mean, Sandra in school hat braces and everything. I'm not sure what kind of game it was and if it really does have similarities to Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (it's unclear if Sandra's getup is something new, though I'll not she did not seem to surprised by it...), but it very likely was not some splatter game beforehand. Maybe something in the vein of Zelda.

Anyway, my point being that this is a MAJOR rethinking of the entire game.

Okay, I'm going to take a second and pull a Sandra. Actually, I signed up TO post after this one. I've been a lurker for a long time.

Anywho. There's a crossover range between girls who played videogames and girls who didn't play videogames in the 80's. Very few of the videogames in the 80's and 90's had a focus on girls. They really did have more of a focus on gameplay and interaction, and the audience just turned out to be boys (who have turned into men). So these men are STILL playing videogames, their kids are playing videogames, and a few select girls who have turned into women are ALSO gamers as girls who turned into gamers as women.

Sandra's one of 'em. Good on her.

There's also a HUGE amount of anti-chick-gamer and anti-chick-geek whiplash in the last year or so. As in... "She could not POSSIBLY be interested in playing the new 'Duke Nukem' because she's a girl." instead of " She could not POSSIBLY be interested in playing the new 'Duke Nukem' because it sucks and she's sorry she got on the waitlist for a game that she spent an insane amount of time waiting for after hanging out with her brother/cousin/game system as a tweenager and playing the original 'Duke Nukem'." The stigma had been changing a little bit from what I had been seeing, and then there was a misogynistic rant posted a few years ago and the argument was being argued loudly for a little bit. Charma Chameleon was likely NOT marketed for just girls. It was likely marketed for both, with the "catch" being the ability to do different outfits/items with perks (As in - one creates fire attacks, which is great for tundra and arctic fighting, one creates magic attacks, one creates water attacks) which would be something that boys and girls would both find appealing. The redirected demographic isn't really redirected, it's just directed at the moneymaking part of the demographic - the increasingly-less-shocked gamer dudes and their older brothers who are used to playing Call of Duty (or Fallout III with the "Bloody Mess" perk).

The choice to REMOVE the quick-changing costumes is very likely one of the choices that they decided to make to focus the demographic, but that could be one of the most beloved parts of the character.


(Also - Samus was a girl. Strong chick hero characters FTW.)

[Quinlan1973]

Thoughts in panel 5:

Tristan: "OMFG! What the f**k did I just say?!?!?!"

Sandra: "OMFG! He didn't just f**king say that, did he?!?!?!"

[Raxus]

Play Fallout 3 or NV with bloody mess as female character then? Goes for TES as well, and in limited scale, Assassin's creed. Also, Mass effect.