The New Comic Thread for Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Skelly B

All I see is mullet Samus.

Gaslight

On a lighter note, I think it's cute that Tycho makes his FemShep look like his wife.

Although it's still arguably kinda weird considering all that alien sex.

Tossrock

so am I the only person who plays through with all 4 gender/moral combinations to experience all the game content?


...probably

Cambiata

I'd Fuck Chuck Lidell Up wrote:

I would have gone with 1 or 4 probably... If I'd known this was a thing, which I didn't...

You can still vote if you are inclined:http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150244340101645.322035.85811091644&type=1

You can even vote for both 1 and 4 if you want. Blonde Shep is winning by a landslide, however.

Stilts

Tossrock wrote:

so am I the only person who plays through with all 4 gender/moral combinations to experience all the game content?


...probably

No, I do that, too.

Well, sort of. My male Shepards are on opposite sides of the spectrum. One basically 100% Paragon, and the other 100% Renegade. My two female characters are predisposed toward Paragon or Renegade, but tend to mix up their responses more.

Wyborn

Gaslight wrote:

On a lighter note, I think it's cute that Tycho makes his FemShep look like his wife.

Although it's still arguably kinda weird considering all that alien sex.

Oh no, I do that too. It is perfectly normal.

Grey Ghost

Tossrock wrote:

so am I the only person who plays through with all 4 gender/moral combinations to experience all the game content?


...probably

My "canon" Shepard as they call it, the one I'm playing straight through to ME3 with, is a Male Paragon

But I've been doing a second run of ME2 with a Female Renegade for shits and giggles and it's fun to play with the alternatives

jwalk

probe away

Cambiata

SwashbucklerXX wrote:

To be fair, Tycho posted pretty much the worst possible example of somebody who didn't like this poll. While I totally agree with his reaction to the PC Gamer article and the comic is awesome, the response in that article completely misses the point of why the poll was stupid. The poll was stupid because the way it was set up pretty much made it a foregone conclusion that Shepard 5 would win. The top 3 Shepards look extremely similar, thus splitting the vote of anybody who liked that look based on their preferred hair colour, which compounds the fact that a lot of dudes just aren't going to vote for a woman with a butch haircut. The bottom three Shepards basically put skin colour up for a vote, a bad idea the result of which should be obvious to anybody who has ever stepped into an MMO and seen how many gamers choose to use dark-skinned avatars. Yeah, we know that white people make up a disproportionate percentage of the hardcore gaming population, thanks!

If Marketing wanted FemShep 5 to be their new default Shepard, that's fine, but don't go through a charade of democracy that we all knew was going to cut out the options that were more "alternative." That's how popular votes based solely on appearance work.

I agree with this.

The thing is, the vote was always going to be about "who has the best hair?", because Mass Effect has always had terrible hair. So the opportunity to have hair that isn't awful is coveted. If they weren't trying to herd people into choosing a specific choice, they would have only included one pixie/butch cut (I say this even though #1 is my favorite from the bunch), while all the others would be longer hair styles, shoulder length and loose. Particularly, the shoulder-length red hair from the previous FemShep default is conspicuously missing from the vote.

That said, I'm not all that riled about the vote overall and am actually quite happy that they're even making a FemShep trailer.

Cambiata

jwalk wrote:

probe away

Really, Commander?

Grey Ghost

How about you all make your Shepard look however you want and forget about what the fucking box art looks like

Viscount Islands

Meer is better than McHale.

She just sounds really bored and monotone.

Also if you can't make a decent looking Shepard you are probably just really impatient. My Shep looks pretty handsome.

Framling

I just don't understand why default Shepard wasn't even an option. That's basically what they use for dude Shepard.

Cambiata

Grey Ghost wrote:

How about you all make your Shepard look however you want and forget about what the fucking box art looks like

How dare you, sir, how dare you tell me to be reasonable! I will wreak a just revenge on your people.

Didgeridoo

I don't care if they slap a dolphin's head on top of the default LadyShep body

I'm just happy they're including a female Shepard in the trailers/ box art

Viscount Islands

It would've been cool if default FemShep was a woman of color, but we all knew that wouldn't happen.

It's cool that McHale and the lady players and guys who like FemShep more are getting represented though.

Gaslight

Grey Ghost wrote:

How about you all make your Shepard look however you want and forget about what the fucking box art looks like

To the extent I have a position on this "controversy" at all it would probably be this. Most people are presumably going to customize the look of their Shepherd anyway and the few that just go with the default presumably do so because they don't care what he/she looks like at all. So I don't know what the point of getting up in arms about what basically amounts to box art is, or understand why people would be surprised that the one choice which most stood out from the rest and most closely conformed to our culture's subjective aesthetic ideal won the useless publicity-stunt "poll."

Fandeathis

I like the 6th choice. It would be nice to see some darker female heroes in games, but I understand why companies don't really do it.

Adus

Will she even be on a box? They've used male Shepard in all promotional materials for all the other games. They're going to change it up now?

Gaslight

#6 has kindof a weird hair-do in my opinion.

Grey Ghost

Adus wrote:

Will she even be on a box? They've used male Shepard in all promotional materials for all the other games. They're going to change it up now?

I think there will be a Male box and a Female one, unless that's something I just made up and thought was real

Nikolai

I stick to the default male shep. I made a female shepard and actually spent time making her look ok.

Lavender Gooms

Grey Ghost wrote:

Adus wrote:

Will she even be on a box? They've used male Shepard in all promotional materials for all the other games. They're going to change it up now?

I think there will be a Male box and a Female one, unless that's something I just made up and thought was real

Collector's edition will have the Male Shepard on one side and Female Shepard on the other.

PiptheFair

Viscount Islands wrote:

Meer is better than McHale.

She just sounds really bored and monotone.

Also if you can't make a decent looking Shepard you are probably just really impatient. My Shep looks pretty handsome.

I can count on one hand the amount of main female characters in videogames that have been "not white"

it is what it is

Eddy

Gaslight wrote:

On a lighter note, I think it's cute that Tycho makes his FemShep look like his wife.

Although it's still arguably kinda weird considering all that alien sex.

I've only played ME1, but I couldn't stomach the idea of intergalactic love. I guess I'm like, a space antimicegenist?

Cambiata

I just noticed the title of the comic. Ha ha ha ha ha.

Didgeridoo

PiptheFair wrote:

I can count on one hand the amount of main female characters in videogames that have been "not white"

it is what it is

Mirror's edge

and

uh

............. the Prince of Persia lady? Kinda?

Kagera

I think the best Shepard is Borat Shepard

Kagera

Didgeridoo wrote:

PiptheFair wrote:

I can count on one hand the amount of main female characters in videogames that have been "not white"

it is what it is

Mirror's edge

and

uh

............. the Prince of Persia lady? Kinda?

The main character in Kagero: Deception 2 is not white. She's blue. Also the female PC in the Mercenaries series is Asian. Lara Croft doesn't LOOK white at least...but that can just be a really good tan.

Kagera

Jada Pinkett's Matrix character was the main character in a video game.

Stilts

Didgeridoo wrote:

PiptheFair wrote:

I can count on one hand the amount of main female characters in videogames that have been "not white"

it is what it is

Mirror's edge

and

uh

............. the Prince of Persia lady? Kinda?

Also Jade from Beyond Good and Evil.

And Chell from Portal.

But your point still stands.

Kagera

The main female character in Half-Life 2, not white.

Main female characterinLeft for Dead 2, not white.

Shiva from RE5, not white.

Dora the Explorer has some videogames, I'm sure.

Darmak

I only ever played the first one but in it and any game that lets me, I create a male character that looks as close to me as possible. Not that I really care all that much but I figure since I'M the character then it ought to look like me. Makes it easier to get into the game for me.

Lord_Asmodeus

I don't think I ever punched the reporter. I just made her look like a witch to her own viewers, and that seemed pretty good to me.

Also, am I the only one who is hoping you have the option of having Batarian/Vorcha friends/allies? And not just being dudes you shoot?

jwalk

Cambiata wrote:

jwalk wrote:

probe away

Really, Commander?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvbmKWMhjb0

Sterica

Games come in boxes still?

Huh

Framling

Darmak wrote:

I only ever played the first one but in it and any game that lets me, I create a male character that looks as close to me as possible. Not that I really care all that much but I figure since I'M the character then it ought to look like me. Makes it easier to get into the game for me.

I don't think I could make a character look like me. I don't really know my own face that well.

To be fair, though, I'd probably be pretty bad at making a character look specifically like anyone.

Kagera

I like making my characters look obese as possible. Shit is funnier when the babes fall for him and he outfights others.

Unfortunately Bioware insists on making you look 'fit' and shit.

Speed Racer

I just jiggle the sliders around until I get something that looks okay

Druhim

it's amusing to assume that Kagera is his avatar. Just this little infant trying in vain to sound as cool and bad-ass as possible.