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Are Game Magazines Turning Into Men's Magazines?
KaiEl writes "I was skimming through the latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (April 2004) the other day when I began to notice a recurring theme: pictures of scantily clad women, both virtual and real, kept popping up. Usually it's not surprising to find one or two skimpy outfits in an issue, but this one seemed crawling with them. I decided to chronicle a list of the semi-nudity in a post on my weblog. What does this surplus of sexy pictures say about the direction of the videogame industry? Is it a reaction to the success of 'male' magazines like Maxim and FHM? Is it a reflection of the video game industry's seeming fascination with the barely clothed female form (see: Dead Or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball)? Or am I just a prude who's getting worked up over nothing?"
Your wish is coming true. Liesure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude will be availabe for the the PC, XBOX, and PS2. It appears to be a 3D version of previous LSL games though one major difference is the main character, Larry Loveage, nephew to the previous games main character Larry Laffer.
Americans, in general, are more prudish than Europeans. I personally see this as both a positive and a negative. It's a positive because it seems to be working. More married couples now are staying together rather than getting divorced, teenage pregnancy is decreasing, drug use is down, average income is up, unemployment is low (compared to most European countries), etc.
Whoa! The divorce rate is higher in the U.S. than any major European country. It's almost double the rate of Denmark and Sweden, both of which are among the most sexually open countries in the civilized world. We have a drastically higher incidence of rape in the U.S. as well as a much higher incidence of murder. Our teen pregnancy rate is far higher than that of most European nations.
As to the economics, have you seen *any* reputable studies which show a correlation between repressing sexuality and income or employment? (Okay, if some guy spends 9 hours per day yanking himself off while looking at porn, then, yes, it probably will affect his income and employment. But that's an extreme.) But having an exposed breast on TV during a shampoo commercial or a half-time show? Just what effect would airing such material have on the GNP?