Violent games are boys' toys (Statistical analysis)

[Kubrick]

Resident Evil - Jill got a bigger inventory, access to the Grenade Launcher, a lockpick to avoid the need to use Sword Key/small keys.

Women have it so easy compared to the hardships Chris Redfield had to deal with

Ah, but in Resident Evil 2. It's Leon who's the pussy

[ragdoll]

Psyvariar 2 is nothing to do with difficulty, that's just personal preference to how you want to play isn't it?

i mostly agree with you there, i put it a bit too bluntly in my initial post. if designers choose to give a choice of characters, then they almost always represent more than just a difficulty difference. however, usually the differences in style between the characters also brings differences in accesibility. and in my experience (could be my playing style, though reviews often agree) the style of the female character is virtually always more accessible for beginners. when you eventually get into the game it evens out and then it becomes really just a style difference. in Psyvariar 2, my first rounds with Kei went a lot more smoothly then my first rounds with Yuhei, and the same goes for the friend i played it with, but i bet the pro's score bigger points with Yuhei. sorry for being simplistic about it in my initial post, hope i make more sense now.

Never played Resident Evil so can't comment, but the word 'often' doesn't come into it at all in my opinion.

guess we haven't been playing the same games, and/or "often" is reached a lot sooner when it (slightly) bugs you.

[vertigo]

but it's a thin line i guess. girls like to identify with a pretty female character, guys like looking at a pretty female character. devise a female character that's sexy enough to attract guys, and decent enough not to offend girls and you're crammed, maximal appeal, bigger sales. but given that gaming still is a mostly male market, sexyness still gets prioritized a lot...

Let's talk Jade from Beyond Good & Evil then.
For girls: Strong role model with the whole orphany stuff going on, leading a resistance against oppression, and she can kick some arse.
For boys: She's certainly an attractive lady, sports a good figure with some lovely makeup, and she can kick some arse.
Critical appraisal: Great game.
Sales: What sales?
So Ubi Soft did it all right and still got bugger all out of it, to the degree that it was meant to be a three game series but Michel Ancel gave up on it due to the lack of sales.

Still, to refer to my original post, BG&E contains a female hero who, while admittedly running an orphanage, indulges in violent behaviour. Whether this is for the power of good or not isn't important because the fact is there is still the player directly controlling a woman beating up stuff with sticks.

So where are all these positive female role models? Hanging out in Puyo Puyo perhaps?

(I must admit though, in Puyo Puyo Sun, the cleaner lady who wipes the floor with Arule is absolutely classic.)

[eretsua]

...sorry, ragdoll accidently posted using my account...

[ragdoll]

ok, that's depressing indeed...
having a good female character in a game is no guarantee for great sales, true. but in the long run i believe it will help to expand the audience. bimbo's only increase sales in a certain segment of the public. ok, that's by far the most significant segment currently, but if more developers take the effort of adding some clothes (not asking for burka's, mind you) and identity, then gaming CAN lose the bad reputation it has with many females.

So where are all these positive female role models? Hanging out in Puyo Puyo perhaps?

lol, guess so... though i think Reko (Mushihimesama) does a pretty good job as well when it comes to both being sexy AND having some personality (and a f*ckload of firepower, hooray! 8) ). and i don't personally know Jade, but she sounds pretty cool too. they're just totally outnumbered by the armies of inflatable bimbo's clad in what adds up to hardly a shoestring bouncing around in too many bigger titles. and that alienates.

[vertigo]

What with the DoA main series, beach volleyball and that wench in Ninja Gaiden, Team Ninja has a lot to answer for
Still, I have to say I do admire Tomonobu Itagaki for at least pushing the boat out and making the games he wants to make. Technically, the majority of them are excellent, and most of them are also quite a lot of fun too. Can't really say Team Ninja's adult output is just sub-par crap exploiting jiggling tits to sell games, can we?