Target Audience

Now when I was in highschool, there were video game babes. When I got to college, there were video game babes. When I went to grad school, there were video game babes. Now I have been out of school for a couple years, and there are, unsurprisingly, video game babes. The obvious reason for this is that video games have a massive - hugely massive - demographic that is made up by and large by horny teenage boys.

But Winda Binedetti at MSNBC thinks video games need to grow up. Because...you know...she did. After enumerating a very long list of games showing scantily clad women for Xbox360 (many of which were described in such compelling detail that TAE may need to buy an xbox) she also pointed out that the new expansion pack for GTA4 includes male nudity.

Now I think it is a little unfair to expect the gaming industry to clean up its act. It's not like the movie industry is doing so. In fact, movies seem to be moving towards more cartoonish, scantily clad women. Much of the reason for this is America's sudden bloodlust for comic-books-turned-movies. Comic books have made women look like sex objects for nigh on 60 years, so Hollywood has a lot of catching up to do. Just look at the only major female character in the upcoming Watchmen. She wears that outfit because it's comfortable, to be sure. Or maybe the women in the movie 300 (intense nudity during sex scene), Iron Man (she sleeps with him immediately), X-Men 3 (spray on costume), etc etc etc...blah blah blah as long as there are teenage boys there are going to be teenage hormones and there are going to be people who are finely trained to target those lusts to make money.

Winda, just like you, I'm getting older, and ridiculous costumes in movies or outfits on video game women makes me roll my eyes too. But the entertainment industry is smart enough to make products for every demographic. If you think you have evolved beyond teen hacknslash games with mostly naked women, try Fantastic Contraption, one of the smartest games ever made (and it's free too). Or Spore, or the Call of Duty series, which are FPS made for the older group.

Just don't lament the continued boobage in games...because that is something that is timeless.


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