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N-Gage Opts To Give Away Lara, Not Bury Her
Thanks to Yahoo for reprinting a press release announcing Nokia has teamed up with Eidos to give away over 70,000 copies of the N-Gage version of Tomb Raider at this year's Sugar Bowl college football game. An Eidos spokesperson oddly opines: "Lara [Croft] has always been the number one video game heroine, and it's appropriate for her to be present at this year's Sugar Bowl where the national champion will be crowned", and insider suggestions that Nokia are pulling an Atari of sorts, in the face of allegedly limited demand for the N-Gage 'game deck' are, of course, fatuous. Meanwhile, GameSpy weighs in with some reasons to like the N-Gage, still suggesting: "Nokia's game deck has a lot going for it, and is in many ways superior to the system that has dominated the portable gaming market for over a decade: Nintendo's Game Boy (now Game Boy Advance)." Update: 01/02 16:46 GMT by S : According to a L.A Times/TribNet article, Tomb Raider on N-Gage sold around 3,000 copies in October, the last stats available to the reporter.
Is it just me, or does it seem that the big review sites (IGN, Gamespy and Gamespot) are beginning to pity Nokia just a little and are trying to say something or anything nice about the piece of junk?
I remember IGN slammed the N-Gage after it was shown at E3, and wrote many articles about how badly designed it was, and how useless it was etc... and then a few months later they suddenly wrote an article in its defence, saying that "they aren't sure why everyone is giving it such a hard time" (forgetting that they gave it a harder time than anyone else).
Now Gamespy is doing the same thing. Having said nothing nice about the system prior to release, or at release - they have suddenly written an article in its defence. And look at what they wrote - they say nothing about it having a good design (because it doesn't); or about it having good games (because they suck); or about being able to play it for longer than 2 hours (you cannot); or any of the other things that make a decent system.
I just find it amusing that having witnessed how badly it flopped (as it deserved to) Gamespy and co are trying to soften its fall.
Agreed. I don't understand why Croft is held up as a great heroine in gaming when there are so many better female characters out there.
Aran definitely takes the #1 spot. I remember spending countless hours getting lost in Metroid, and when I finally beat it my big bad bounty hunter turned out to be a woman! And this was back in the early days of the NES, which says a lot. Throughout the sequels you wern't thinking "mmm girly", but enjoyed the character as someone who could tear through a room full of enemies in no time flat. Samus isn't a fuck toy, she's a character you respect. (Besides, who would want to screw her? She'll screw you back, and I don't want to know what her screw attack could do to my apartment.)
Another personal favorite is Rydia from Final Fantasy IV. For those who haven't played the game - In the beginning your main character unknowingly kills her single mother and ends up taking her with him on his journey to overthrow the most powerful nation in the world. During the game she grows up and shows an incredible amount of passion and empathy as you watch your party members die off one after another. ("Stop it! I've had enough! They're all dead! Dead! And here we stand bickering amongst ourselves?! Are their deaths for nothing?") She's a very powerful character that makes you fall in love with her emotionally. Plus she has the most powerful black and summon magic in the game, so she is far from a helpless little creature. She can deal out damage with the big boys. ;)
Terra and Celes from FF6 (especially Celes)... Chun-Li from Street Fighter II, Sonya from Mortal Kombat... The list goes on and on of heroines that get your respect as characters who are more than pixels with tits.
But hey, Laura Croft has breasts the size of watermelons so of course she's going to be the one that everybody talks about.