People say Rockstar just “Isn’t a rockstar anymore”

No, this is pretty much how I expect from washed up rockstars who’ve sold out and only care about reliving the glory days. Constantly shouting “Don’t you know who I am?” when anyone gives them any grief.

I vibe to this because my BF recently got into Runescape and he was like “You play this?”

Then I walked him through various quests and kept hooking him up with new armor and like a shit ton of Rings of Life.

We must defeat racism, sexism, and transphobia

Plausible deniability

God I’d love to redistribute the fat from my belly to my hips and tits

I basically mean, who intentionally picks an overly masculine character unambigiously male character with female pronouns? Because that’s really only a thing in transphobic far right political cartoons.

I could see people picking the “female” character with he/him pronouns if they wanted to play a femboy and there wasn’t really an option to make the male character look “pretty”, but the “male” character with she/her, I dunno about that one chief.

Hold up…

Runescape has a mod scene?

To be fair he didn’t know Samus was a woman, Kid Icarus’ name was actually Pit, or that Metroid was the name of the alien not the planet, so yes… he was definitely a joke to me.

Brb, making a sequel to Sonic & The Black Knight and officially licensing it.

What? Sega can’t copyright Camelot!

Huh… well how about that

So max femme makes you look overly and cartoonishly feminine? I’m sorry I’m not understanding the problem. I’d imagine any slider pushed to one extreme end would give you an extreme result.

Actually if you read what I said, I’d say part of my problem is that having two character models one that is “Unambiguously Male” and one that is “Unambiguously Female” while claiming “Oh you can just choose your pronouns, and we didn’t actually say Male or Female! So it’s fine” is a lazy solution that does more to annoy than to assist.

And that if they were actually serious about being more respectful to the wider gender spectrum that exists in real life, they’d have more than just those two options. But the concern dev studios have is not in helping gender non-conforming individuals be more immersed in games, it’s to say “I’m with the current trendy thing, upvotes to the left.”

We need to be critical of what’s called “Rainbow Capitalism/Pink Capitalism” or we’ll be stuck without any real meaningful change.

No, but we still see models that largely either have bulges or camel toes.

Seeing a buff, hairy, bulge-having individual labeled “she/her” is typically only done in transphobic alt-right political cartoons and it feels a little tone deaf that game companies actually expect transpeople to unironically go with that…

This, but unironically.

If they were labeled something like masculine or feminine, buff or curvy, or anything that doesn’t imply a hierarchy that would have been an improvement.

“Dude and Chick” aren’t terms I’m saying they should use instead, I’m saying Body Type A and B come across as disingenuous and better terminology could be used. “Masculine” and “Feminine” would work, as you can be masculine without being male. I’m a short-haired tomboy who strongly prefers she/her pronouns, I’d be considered “Masculine, but not male” even if I was cis!

Heck I myself am in a relationship with a cisgender male who presents feminine with many of his behaviors, but that doesn’t make him less of a man aynmore than being masculine makes me less of a woman. We’re all adults here we know that pink can be for boys and blue can be for girls, this isn’t kindgergarten in the 80’s anymore.

In fact let’s take a look at how Old School Runescape handles it. This image is… not great…

Why is the term “Body Type A” and “Body Type B” present at all when there are clear pictures of the two options that speak for themselves? It feels like just going out of the way to include “the corporate approved buzzwords intended for maximum synergy with the brand!”

That’s not the only problem with the UI as we’re still seeing rigid reinforcement of the gender binary.

The example picture of the more masculine build has a beard and the example picture of the more feminine build has a skirt, as if to reinforce gendered stereotypes while trying to avoid using the word gender, which is a mixed message at best… And to really draw the point, she/her is located just under the feminine option, and he/him is under the masculine option as if to imply these are the “correct” options.

The message this gives off is “Look, we call these A and B, but you and I know what’s really going on here eh fellow cisheteronormative? Gotta check off that box for corporate”

When the message they should be giving off is “He, she, they… whatever, it’s all good. All we have is that you have fun playing our game and try not to let anyone else tell you who you’re supposed to be!”

I agree we should be more inclusive, but we should do so in a way that feels less insulting and backhanded.

Exactly.

I’m not saying that women are inferior or that anyone with tits is a woman… I’m saying that by labeling the feminine option as the “B-Grade” option instead of just the “Feminine” option there is an uncomfortably misogynistic implication that needs addressing.

Don’t they already have scripts to re-size cosmetics based on height/weight for basically every game with a height/weight option?

I’ve heard that for Monster Hunter Rise “Type A/Type B” was decided upon by the localization and that in Japan (the country of origin for MHR) they just use Male/Female. Meaning it’s not the dev being lazy, it’s localization earning themselves a “You Tried” ribbon.

At least, that’s what I’ve heard.

See, I don’t really care that the player is referred to as “They/Them” in Deltarune, because it’s established that you are playing as Kris and those are their pronouns.

(and in Undertale, the monsters simply had no idea what Frisk’s gender was due to an unfamiliarity with humans so it’s kept intentionally vague… with they/them simply being the most gender neutral thing to call them and the fanbase having their own headcanons on what Frisk actually is. Personally my head canon is Frisk is male and Chara is female, which seemed to be the most common interpretation in the fanbase back then… my headcanon for Kris is that they’re intersex with they/them pronouns as I see them as being representative of both Frisk and Chara, but however you see the situation is just as valid unless the creator comes out and says “No it’s this specific way, everything else is wrong!” and to my knowledge Toby Fox has not done that)

Sidenote: First non-binary person I ever met used ey/eir pronouns, this was so long ago that ey called eirself “Genderless” instead of Non-Binary as the latter wasn’t a word. Ey was femme presenting, but very much not female. Sadly we’ve drifted apart and wherever ey is I wish eir well.

I always wished ey/eir had caught on instead of “singular they”, because personally I thought “ey” sounded cooler and was more straightforward than “singular they”. But hey I’m not non-binary myself so it’s not really any of my business.

On a similar note, I used to see shi/hir pronouns more often than I do now as well, though that was more for intersex individuals than non-binary. I still see some usage of shi/hir, though the people I see with those pronouns tend to self-identify as “hermaphrodite”, a phrase that is considered highly insulting by most. I guess what I’m saying here is that there are all kinds and it’s probably best not to make assumptions or assume gender to be a one-size fits all phenomenon.

Outside of a very offensive thing to call a heterosexual FTM individual, I legitimately do not.

Again, I feel like it would be if this wasn’t just “Gender Binary with feel-good buzzwords to fake inclusivity where little is present”

I just believe that you need more than “If we just don’t say the M-Word/F-Word then we’ve solved transphobia forever” for this to be a proper step in the right direction, as it stands it just feels like “Don’t say Latina/Latino! Say Latinx!” all over again, and we now how well THAT went.

You simply need more than a couple of rainbow pins on your jacket to make meaningful change.

I’m actually all for this as well, unless the game is some open-ended roleplaying experience just give me a character to play as and design the game around who this person is (I think the original Dead Rising did a good job of this with Frank West, the remake… well unless previews are from an earlier build than what we’re getting in September not so much)

And I mean a REAL open-ended roleplaying experience, not something like Fallout 4 that was blatantly designed for me to play as Nate, a lawful good heterosexual cisgender male military vet with predefined goals… with gay romance options and the ability to play as his wife Nora existing solely to give the illusion of choice… An Illusion I still appreciate because when I play I always wind up being Nora with Curie as my wifey.

(I feel like FO4 would be far less divisive if it was a spinoff about Nate’s journey rather than a sequel to a series that is known for player agency, and even then the Brotherhood of Steel suddenly being a bunch of Nazis is still stupid as hell)

I definitely have to say, Body Type A/Body Type B definitely feels like a groan-worthy growing pain that will be ironed out sooner or later. It’s just disappointing that we have to resort to such awkward terms that mislead players about how much variety across the gender spectrum is actually being offered. It almost feels like a vegan menu that still heavily uses animal byprdouct.

This almost makes me want to buy Starfield to support a proper way to revamp gender selection, but it’s going to need the same amount of work that FO76 getting it from how it was at launch to the awesome experience it is now for me to dip my toes in that…

I’m not saying keep it cis-only, I apologize if that’s implied, pronoun selection is fine and I don’t have a problem with that. My issue is if we’re not going to offer more options than simply two body types, both based on super idealized and gender stereotyped versions of the male and female form… Can we have a less awkward thing to call it than “Body Type A/Body Type B”?

Remember when modders tried to fix Starfield, but gave up because the game was JUST THAT BORING!?!?!

I was not aware of this slider, as I don’t really go for Souls-Like games, but it sounds like a perfect solution.

I remember when Mega Man X DIVE ended, and then turned around and released an Offline version with all the non-PVP content and none of the microtransactions. That was beautiful. Wish I could play a version of Marvel Heroes that was like that.

So we’re getting Limbo of the Lost 2 afterall?

I am a tomboy, I present very masc, and it does annoy me when as a consequence people mistake me for a guy despite the fact that I obviously have breasts… But that is what it is…

But what I’m getting at is most Body Type A options don’t allow me to play a masc-presenting woman, but a masc-presenting man as in “Someone who looks like Leonidas on Steroids”. If Body Type A regularly allowed you to play as a masc-presenting woman I’d see your point.

The option to play someone like Zarya rarely if ever exists, whereas the option to play as someone who looks like Kratos is overwhelmingly what Body A refers to.

Thing is I definitely don’t look like the “Type B”, but my other option is “Type A”, which is something so blatantly masculine in every way that it would be insulting for me to represented as such, and I guarantee any other trans woman would feel that same in that scenario.

The reason why perfect is an enemy of good in this particular circumstance because the message it gives off now is “We care about buzzwords”, with just a little more effort, it could be “We care about inclusion.”

As it stands now, I’m just left rolling my eyes because game studios see me as not a woman, but as “Body Type B”, but if we had some more androgynous options alongside itl, it’d come across more… “Oh I CAN have a feminine build if I WANT to.”

It’s that little bit that goes a long way.

Oh definitely, heck, in Animal Crossing they might as well just ask for your pronouns and nothing else… In fact doesn’t New Horizons basically do that? But I’m referring more to the more common scenario of “Beefy Guy” and “Curvy Cutie”, which we see in World of Warcraft, you can pick whatever pronouns you want but it’s going to go on either on testosterone fueled bearded Dwarf you’ve ever seen or the hourglass with pointy ears we call a Night Elf…

When you only get two body type options and neither have any level of androgyny, what does pretending they aren’t gendered when they clearly are accomplish? That’s the part I have an issue with, it’s dishonesty being masqueraded as progress. Either have androgynous character options or don’t pretend “Body Type A/B” is a solution to a problem.

I feel The Sims 4 gets this right by letting you pick between male, female, or a custom gender (where you can decide if the sims pees standing up or sitting down, whatever pronouns you want them to have, whether the sim gets others pregnant, becomes pregnant, both, or neither), and ALL THREE of them have a healthy amount of customization options to go for whatever look you want.

Yeah, but In Baldur’s Gate 3 I can make a feminine looking character with tits and a big throbbing horse dick, a masculine character with a vagina, or an adrogynous character with whatever the hell I want… So having the pronouns separate from the build actually makes sense. The concept of binary gender identity is subverted enough for pronoun selection to serve a practical purpose.

In something like Old School Runescape or the Demon’s Souls remaster? Not so much.

If I’m ONLY going to have two body type choices, Buff Dude or Curvy Chick, why this unnatural “Body Type A/Body Type B” language instead of saying “Masculine/Feminine” ? It just makes me feel like I’m in some Orwellian New Speak environment that just simply doesn’t exist in day to day life. And again, Non-Binary individuals aren’t getting any favors here because they’re STILL forced into a dichotomy of Masculine or Feminine, it’s just now that “Those buzzword unfriendly M and F-Words” aren’t present. The best a non-binary individual can really get in that situation is do a heads/tails coin toss and pick They/Them pronouns.

No one’s needs are really being met here, we’re just forcing awkward corporate jargon to pretend the game is more inclusive than it really is.

My issue is how half-assed the measure is. What’s the point of letting me pick between “He/Him” and “She/Her”, if it’s going on a character that looks like a stereotypical brodude or a model in a fashion magazine? Is it really doing anyone any favors?

Would anyone in good faith, with only two options “Stereotypical Brodude or Fashion Magazine Cover Girl”, is going to play the former with she/her or the latter with he/him? If there was more variety or perhaps something like Cyberpunk 2077 or Baldur’s Gate 3 where you can have a masculine build with feminine features or vice versa, I could see the point… but for most games that are only going to give you the most common denominator as your only two options?

It just feels like throwing a coat of paint to make it look like the studio cares about making their product more accessible, when really it’s just trying to check a box to appease HR.

It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s so small that it’s insulting to everyone involved.

^ This, I much prefer this… I mean something about “Body Type A/Body Type B” just feels too “corpo” for my tastes… but Saints Row sliders not so much.

Heck Pokemon even figured this out by just showing you pictures of characters and saying “Hey, which one of these do you wanna play as”, didn’t even have to use words.

I don’t like this at all, and I’m going to tell you why.

Because this, like many changes in the remaster, does not respect Dead Rising as a work of art.

Let me explain something for people who either didn’t play the original or don’t analyze games as deeply as I do.

A big part of Dead Rising is Frank’s morality or lack thereof. Frank West is not a hero, he’s not a villain either.

I can’t even say that Frank is “Just trying to stay alive” - He has a place to hide out, plenty of food and a solid escape plan. If he wants to he can just stay in the bunker until the helicopter comes (You can actually beat the game and not even get the worst ending by simply staying in the security room for around six irl hours)

So, what is Frank doing? Well he is the protagonist and winds up doing a lot of good for a lot of people, but it’s all transactional.

Frank West is a photo journalist who gets paid the big bucks for sensationalized media. He’s not here to beat the bad guys, he’s here to make money off of click bait.

Frank West only saves people because he can get witness testimony and dramatic pictures of people hunkered down in a bunker. It just helps sell his story, that’s all.

Frank West only works with Brad and Jessie to stop Carlito because by doing so he can learn more about what’s going on in Williamette with all the zombies. Heck when you miss or fail a story beat, you don’t get a message talking about how the bad guys won or a game over screen, you get a message saying “The truth has vanished into darkness”, because that’s all Frank cares about. Getting a story he can sell for a large amount of cash.

We see this expanded upon with the side-quest “Cut From The Same Cloth”,

Here Frank meets Kent, a fellow photo-journalist who feels he’s beyond Frank’s level. This quest takes place over three days

On the first day, Frank is asked to take pictures of Kent to showcase his photography skills and prove it by getting a sexy shot of a pretty lady. This is our hint that Kent isn’t quite on the up and up, but Frank does it anyway because he’s no better than Kent. This is what the mission’s name is referring to… That Kent and Frank are both of low moral fiber.

However, in the remake, this is changed to Kent asking for a “Funny Shot” instead of a “sexy one” due to the lack of an erotica category… Which kinda kills the whole point.

The quest climaxes on day 3 when Kent is caught trying to kill a man in order to get a shot of it, forcing Frank to take down Kent who has clearly lost his god damn mind. However we are left with cold bitter reminder that if circumstances were only slightly different, Frank could have been the one doing snuff shots.

The game’s infinity mode confirms this further, as it takes place in an alternate set of events where Frank isn’t working with anybody and the helicopter isn’t coming. In it you are actively meant to kill characters who in the main game would be survivors or allies, all for the purpose of securing food and resources.

The game’s ending theme is a song called “Justified”

tl;dr - The Erotica Pictures don’t exist to tantalize the player, they’re there to remind of what kind of man Frank West really is. A scumbag in the right place at the right time.

By removing this category, they’re not “Bringing Dead Rising to a wider audience”, they’re outright spitting on the narrative.

PS: The term “Erotica” is misleading, as the most explicit this gets is a scene of a large breasted woman in a low-cut shirt leaning over an injured man. You see more “erotic” scenarios on prime time cable television. The point was NEVER to provide eye candy for the player, it was simply to remind the player that Frank is an opportunist not a hero.

I am not fond of this Dead Rising Remaster, it does not preserve or improve upon the original game, it’s simply trying to make a quick buck off of a famous name in gaming. There are other forms of censorship beyond the ertoica tag, such as Larry The Butcher being made white instead of Chinese (I agree the original Larry was a racist stereotype, but they couldn’t have just toned him down while keeping him asian? Why does he have to be white? Almost every other boss fight is with a white guy! This is the exact opposite of creating diversity!) and the boss fight with Clint no longer having references to the Vietnam War…

Because of this, the ugly character designs (New Frank looks straight up uncanny valley) and the shameful decision to throw out an all-star voice cast in favor of a sub-par one all to save a few bucks (The new voice cast is non-union, the old one was not)

I can’t in good conscience support the remake, and recommend people just get the 10 Dollar original version, already on Steam.

Please no…

Haven’t executives themselves done enough damage by demanding excessive crunch, releasing remakes/remasters that censor or remove content present in the original game, putting in half-assed inclusivity measures that anger many and please no one (Pro-Tip: Body Type only works as a replacement for Gender select if you have options outside of Buff Dude or Curvy Chick. Aint nobody but a damn right wing troll who identifies as “Not Funny” is going to put she/her pronouns on the buff dude), forcing voice actors out of the industry in favor of random celebrities, and demanding every game have a FOMO-Fueled Battle Pass?

I really don’t need some out-of-touch pro-censorship blowhard telling me that my boomer shooters can only feature the thrills of “Shooting Non-Intimidating Robots with Nerf Guns”

I thought someone was doing a Genesis Port of Resident Evil, but I"m not sure if it was just a fan trailer or if they really were doing it.

I should play Animal Well, I have it, just never played it.

Personally I feel like service games have an obligation to provide offline functionality ala Mega Man X Dive Offline.