Slashdot Mirror
On Videogame Characters And The Poochy Effect
Thanks to GamerDad for its editorial discussing videogame characters/settings that excessively ape popular culture. The writer summarizes: "A new evil is spreading throughout the industry to stifle gameplay and original game characters, the need to set games in 'cool' or 'hip' settings that meet with mainstream approval", and points to Ubisoft's Beyond Good & Evil, which he says underwent a "...last minute change in the main character to make her more Gen X compatible." He continues: "For Jak II, developer Naughty Dog seems to have wanted to incorporate every possible 'hot thing' in gaming, from a goateed main character to dark themes." But he concludes by lauding some "breakout successes" in terms of original characters, including Halo's Master Chief and Viewtiful Joe.
..in gaming, from a goateed main character to dark themes..
Hands up who thought this meant something else when you first read it?
-- Mod me down. I am not a karma tart. ffs,gag
The Master Chief is an original character? Since when? He's a man in a suit of armour - that character goes back to the Middle Ages. Or you might get excited that it's powered armour, which dates back to the '60s at the very very latest. Soldier held in hibernation until he's needed? That's Joe Haldeman's Forever War, at the very very latest, which is the '60s again. He's not an original character at all. He's a good character, but he's not original.