Team Ninja director Yohei Shimbori says he was surprised to learn fans wanted more sexualized characters in new fighting game.
In a new Gamasutra feature, Team Ninja director Yohei Shimbori discussed the sexuality of the characters in its new fighting game Dead or Alive 5.
Shimbori explained that the studio received word from its overseas offices to tone down the sexuality of the game's characters. However, this was reversed when the studio received feedback from fans who played the Dead or Alive 5 demo included with Ninja Gaiden 3.
"We actually got a lot of feedback from people who were playing it, saying, 'We want bigger breasts. Make the characters more like that.' That was kind of surprising," Shimbori said.
The developer added that so long as the core mechanics of its fighting game were in place, there was no reason not to adhere to fans' requests and further sexualize its characters.
"There's definitely still room for having sexualized aspects," Shimbori concludes. "If you have a solid fighting game system there, there's nothing wrong with having beautiful characters as a layer on top of that--that's another layer of entertainment that there's a need for. If there wasn't a need for it, people wouldn't have responded to the alpha demo like they did, and send us feedback."
Dead or Alive 5 arrived earlier this week for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. For more, check out GameSpot's review.
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
I think the way that the breasts on the girls keep moving for a good minute after the girls have stopped moving is a little weird. It's like they have a mind of their own. Will the next game have them doing special maneuvers with their boobs or something? Because that seems like the logical next step.
adding bigger breast would make the female charters seem less realistic,leave it to the perverted fans to mess up a decent game,i love the new more realistic direction there going with DOA 5 and thats coming from someone that owns all dead or alive games and anyone that wants the bigger breast thing needs to get a life and get a women & stop wankin off to video games, so sad indeed,..anyway the only thing i think needs to be added is better cloths customizations >:)
1 Like I totally "get this". When I first saw the very first trailers, I immediately went "What? No bouncing boobs?", somewhat kiddingly.
But it has pretty much become a little "trademark" style of the series, so when it went missing, it did stick to your eye immediately. And hey, I don't mind the sexy girl figures/shapes on my screen, even though they're not real people. I actually even got the swimsuit version, just because I think Kasumi is sexy/pretty/awesome ;|
I don't FAP to it, but there's nothing wrong with beautiful characters. And yes, you can relate and respond/emote to their sexiness, just as you do with EVERYTHING in games. I mean if there's a car in a game, it's a car. You don't go "THAT'S NOT A REAL CAR!" when you see one.
Just as you can think a car is cool, you can think a character is sexy.
But yeah, if someone marries a game character.... well that's just unhealthy.
As long as you recognize the characters are just characters, it's all good to admire the "eye candy"... after all, that's what all visual entertainment is, in one form or another.
1 Like So when people keep accusing Team Ninja of desperately wanting to add big boobs, let's just take into consideration that it's actually what the FANS want.
Dayyn...... just ADD BREAST SIZER Feature and all is settled !! from flat chest to a melon giant boobies !!!! just slide em' up and down..... right ? .
I find the interesting part of this article is that the 'fans' are totally opposite to the 'overseas offices'. shows you have to be careful who you listen to.
1 Like Team Ninja should just implement a breast size slider for the DOA series. That way fans can have everything from perky little apples to big floppin' zucchini and everything inbetween. Custom, baby!
This is one of the reasons why the Facebook group "No hope for the human race" was created, lol. I went to a summer university course a couple of years ago about game production (focusing on the non-programming aspects mostly) and the teacher actually showed us this trend. He showed us the progression of the female fighting game character Ivy from Soul Calibur, that had gone from physically revealing to where "slutty" would be too kind a word to express her (lack of) clothes. The importance of large breasts and "jiggle" can sometimes not be overstated it feels like and that sickens me. I'm not preaching for realistically portrayed girls, but game developers need to get their priorities straight and large breasts/jiggle shouldn't be one of them.
They should really bring out a Version Called BIG DI*** just to even things out for everyone. Sigh sometimes gamers make me sad....
Seriously, fans requested bigger boobs!?... but they are not real lol
I wonder how many actually requested this, since "a lot" is not a a value anyone can measure.
Games have to follow the trend. Just ask any plastic surgeon what the trend is and he/she'll tell you the trend is BIG is BETTER.
Get with the program. Size matters - that is FACT.
4 Like Guess when you live in the basement, this is the only interaction you would have with females.
Please tell me this is a joke. I'm gonna need more gamers to get out and experience REAL women if it isn't. *facepalm*
1 Like This is insulting to female fans.
WHERE'S THE MALE CHARACTERS WITH TIGHTER PANTS AND HUGE TROUSER SNAKES?! *Creys*
@nsfn @StellaLunarisWanting equal consideration in game design doesn't make her a feminist..have some consideration
1 Like @nsfn Quiet you! I have nothing to ogle now that Snake got way too old for me to not feel awkward.
Oh well, maybe I'll see if there's anything worthwhile in the next Street Fighter installment. *Waves "Team Cody" flag*
Bigger boobs? That is pointless... If they hear this feedback, why they did not increase the size? TN simply heard feedback but did nothing with it...
5 Like Guys stop being so dumb about this whole thing. I'll use the basic two examples that show people are just wasting there time arguing over nothing. First can anyone tell me how we're seeing more than is in movies? I've seen movies, books etc. (50 shades of grey for example which I've not read) that are far worse, far more explicit or have actual nakedness and the movies chucking in hot women to help sell. Why are games just such a controversial medium that we have to complain whenever there's any little thing with sexism in it? Either advocate censorship or stop crying, because the devs are free to do what they want within the confines of legal limits.
Second how are we seeing more than we see even at a beach? At beaches women wear bikini's, hell they sometimes even take them off but if a game has a pair of covered breasts in a bikini then pull out the bandwaggon of complainers. How is it different to Cammy having her ass out in a leotard on Street fighter or chun li having her chinese style dress too? If it all just about moderation then we best start protesting about beaches too cos I'm sick of seeing way too many women on them beaches.
DOA is a perfectly good fighting game, I like the series and I understand why anyone might look at it and complain it has a shallow side but a lot of these people are far more shallow that the game. Getting into knee jerk reactions, pre-judgements and emotional vandetta's over nothing. I see some even talking crap about how much skin is shown as if it's constant when you can fully change which costumes you wear anyway.
@Sigil-otaku Madam/Sir, you're post is one of the most rational I've read on the whole issue. Well done.
1 Like @Sigil-otaku absolutely right !!!
i think part of the problem is that people generally (non-gamers specifically) are still struggling to accept gaming as mainstream entertainment and still think of it as something 'children' indulge in.. we see more nudity, profanity, stereotyping, violence, sexual objectification in movies, music videos and real life in general !
all this hoopla is an effort by political lobbies, lobbyists, general losers to garner a few points and get themselves seen and heard.. pathetic effort really. i dont mind the complaints.. but i get really annoyed when devs and publishers react to them just to be 'politically correct'..
wish makers of Hitman, Lara Croft etc hadnt succumbed to the pressure.
2 Like Yeah, CG babes are sexy but to actually ask for more boobs etc etc, mmm not really my style. But girls can't really cmplain seeing that most girls I know wants to see sexy men and boys in all their movies like Vin diesel, or Robert Pattinson from twilight etc etc. So many men are sexualized and do you see me moan about it. No because I know they are only idolized because of the movie (seeing that no one knew who Robert Pattinson was when he first appeared in Harry potter or Vin diesel in Saving private ryan) so yes making characters that are sexy is what helps sales of movies, games, posters, books etc etc. For me, as long as the fighting in DoA is good me and my wife will both play it as we did all the previous DoA and soul calibers etc.
@danteswart yeah.. sadly it appears that sexualisation and being sexist works only one way - when the females are objectified ! otherwise it is all fun and games..
@surferosh @danteswart For a man to be fit and have a muscular body takes exercise. For a woman to have abnormally big breasts takes surgery. Do you see the difference? Unless, perhaps, these "sexy female characters" should be made obese so that their oversized breasts look somewhat natural. Breasts are made up of fat tissue (unless, of course, they are made of silicone).
@surferosh Yes, I am looking at the topic quite literally and it's true that the game doesn't need to follow the laws of biology or physiology; that wasn't really the point I was making. Whether or not it's offensive, is based largely on opinion, which is obviously varied. The fact that it has been so widely discussed suggests that it is not just a topic that has no meaning. It seems as though people generally want everyone to think that sexuality is not a big deal, and then on the other hand, the level of obsession with all things related to sex in our culture would suggest otherwise. I'm talking about a bigger issue, I think, while many others here are just seeing, "Boobs," quite literally.
It is perhaps true, as others have suggested, that women outside of the gaming community see this kind of behaviour (men singling out large breasts as something that is "needed" in a game) as juvenile and not mature in the slightest, adding to the idea that gamers are immature boys.
@selisa86 it is not about biology and physiology.. and asking for female models in video games to have bigger breasts has nothing to do with being truly offensive towards women.. there are differences between men's and women's bodies that are uniquely attractive.. and if a certain percentage of consumers find that appealing, then i see no harm in it.
@surferosh @danteswart I will add, though, that it isn't fair when men are objectified either merely as a piece of meat in entertainment and I don't think that only women should be heard regarding sexism (it just tends to be more obvious in relation to women in entertainment, which isn't an excuse, regardless). In my above comment, I was merely pointing out the discrepancy between, "we want female characters with huge, exaggerated boobs!" and "men tend to be really muscular in video games."
Special version of upcoming 3D fighting game to have art book and in-game swimsuit costumes; available only at GameStop outlets in North America.
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