| NKAJ said: maybe they could go the middle road and just make a non-girly but normal looking man? Or is this option to advanced for video game designers? |
That.
I don't think Western audiences want macho guys so much as they do not want metrosexual guys. I think a normal looking people like Alan Wake or even the characters of Heavy Rain would be acceptable to American audiences.
No wonder all their recent suck so bad with such a rigid distorted world view.
Also, that must be the reason why Final Fantasy 7-10 flopped in the West. Oh wait....
updated: 14.01.2012
playing right now: Xenoblade Chronicles
Hype-o-meter, from least to most hyped: the Last Story, Twisted Metal, Mass Effect 3, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Playstation ViTA
bet with Mordred11 that Rage will look better on Xbox 360.
| Kushalafang said: So exactly how did making the protagonist into an ugly, old, super buff man help sales in the west? |
A lot of American gamers are fairly insecure people; they scream "emo!" at every character that is not a steroid pumped chucklehead. The funny thing being, most of these geeks are more emo than the characters they claim to hate; actually living up to the stereotype (IE. I work with a guy who won't play Japanese games because they are emo; he has long hair, emo-thick glasses frames, and listens to indie punk music and techno.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
Ok, let's look at the top most successful video game franchises in the West and their associated characters*:
Some are quite masculine, definitely. But none of them are Square Enix' idea of the Western protagonist, they are certainly not this:
*Skipping games with no real "characters".
A game I'm developing with some friends:
www.xnagg.com/zombieasteroids/publish.htm
It is largely a technical exercise but feedback is appreciated.
Um, when is the last time FF had a macho protagonist? 4? Has Kingdom Hearts ever had a macho protagonist? Yet these Square-Enix games have done fine in the west; better than in Japan, actually.
Complexity is not depth. Machismo is not maturity. Obsession is not dedication. Tedium is not challenge. Support gaming: support the Wii.
Be the ultimate ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today! Poisson Village welcomes new players.
| scottie said: Mario is a fucking hunk of man!! Anyway, this is a great example of why S-E need to stop trying to make games for some elusive 'western gamer' and go back to focusing on making good games |
This right here is right on the money. S-E has failed terribly this gen because they're trying to make games that appeal fto one person or the other. Just fall back on the squaresoft mentality and I'm pretty sure it'll all work out
"Dr. Tenma, according to you, lives are equal. That's why I live today. But you must have realised it by now...the only thing people are equal in is death"---Johann Liebert (MONSTER)
"WAR is a racket. It always has been.
It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives"---Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler
Weird, their game that has actually done really well in the west & not that well in Japan has a female as the protagonist, this is a confused company.
Hey, Square. You know what game was really macho? Bushido Blade. Hint, hint.
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