I literally said this:

Really? You don’t remember one of the most memorable villains of the year? Then I feel sorry for you. Whereas Halo might have been interesting to look at...the character designs from a non-mechanics point of view were largely forgetable to me except Gravemind, and that tells you the last time Halo captured my interest.

…

No, today you learned that sales equate to how interesting a game is a wide audience. Subtle, yet profound difference.

Like I said, that was only physical. It could have sold like gangbusters digitally, and I wouldn’t really know where to check that. Also you have to take into account these are all multi-platform titles, whereas Halo was not, so it’s most likely not going to hit numbers simply because of lack of install base.

The difference between shooter and MMO is growing increasingly narrow. Especially if it’s a third person MMO. Or a third person game of any sort, as they tend to be action oriented, unless the big deciding factor here is “use of gun” which really doesn’t have anything to do with character design...

And since shooters…

They praise Ellie’s character, not the character design. She was well written, and, frankly, as an NPC she was fine. Could you see her being a PC? I couldn’t. Especially not in a game that consists of primarily running from place to place. That’s just me, though. I’m sure there are people out there that honestly…

Actually, games with good character designs are pretty common, but a myriad of other things hold them back. Take a look at every Asian MMO ever, for example.

But, yeah, I mean...

I think a perfect example of this was The Room. It didn’t do a lot of things super well, but the ghosts and the swords that you could use to pin them were absolutely fantastic and the epitome of the risk/reward thing you spoke of. Good article.

Halo, which, let’s be honest...is far more known/celebrated for it’s MP than it’s SP (which is solid, no doubt), and it has none of the fancy silhouettes or audio queues. In fact, everyone has the exact same sounds and looks the same except for color. I guess that got slightly different in the later games but a…

Yeah, I broke down the numbers. They are pretty much split even. There isn’t a lot of diversity across either gender. Genji and Junkrat may be slightly more lithe than 76 and McGoo, but they are still...well...in the typical romatic male body shape (i.e the classic V body shape, less than 18% body fat). Same can be…

Interesting. Sales would state otherwise. Ah well.

This isn’t really rocket surgery. The visual differences you point to are in games that allow for it: TF2 is very cartoony, with very visible exaggerations and proportions. Overwatch is the same way. Halo has aliens. The Division, Tomb Raider, and Uncharted all have “uninspiring dudes” because...well...they are…

Thespectacularspidergirl had a very good breakdown of the female body types in Overwatch, much more in depth than the glossing “is skinny.”

Pretty much every fat male character is part of a joke, too. That’s...yeah, that’s a thing. And, the plus side is, you can make fun of a male body type and not be called misogynistic, or anything at all, because being able to comment on male bodies with no repercussion is absolutely normal.

Taking a look at Overwatch: There are currently 22 characters. 13 of those are male. Of those 13, I will discount Zenyatta, Bastion, and Winston because regardless if they are male or not, they are not human. With the remaining 10, I would say only Torbjorn, and Roadhog fall outside of “typically acceptable male…

Not really, because if you are, supposedly, trying to foster a dialogue, then you do not shame people, make accusations, and then reject information when it is given to you that proves what you are saying is false, or at the very least, highly subjective and ONLY given to interpretation.

Anita is no different than Jack…

Love that haploid WW.

You...realize that she’s not a real person? Like, if he said that about someone, that’s one thing, but taking offense at saying something like this to a not-real entity is sorta...weird.

Aww...Gawker...Mention The Killing Joke and this place becomes such a salt mine.

They don’t really have to maintain it, it’s just a thing. You don’t really have to market CLAMP at women, they seem to like it without much of a push. Dudes on the other hand? I mean, X/1999 is about as close as you get, but if you compare that to even the most base-level shonen manga...yeah.