Nintendo gets it wrong

[DaveW]

Anyone else see how this attempt at making a video game with a female central character might go horribly wrong for Nintendo?


Princess Peach takes centre stage in this girl-powered platform game! Bowser has finally done the smart thing and kidnapped Mario, whisking him (and Luigi, too) away to his castle hideout on Vibe Island. But Bowser hadn’t reckoned on Peach taking it so personally…

Armed with her trusty parasol, Parry, Peach can whack Bowser’s bad guys if they get too close for comfort, though she also has more womanly wiles to save the day. She can channel her emotional feelings into special abilities, allowing her to float on air when she’s happy – handy for bypassing hazards. She can also set fire to flammable objects when she’s riled. Even turning on the waterworks is a weapon for Peach – her tears can make plants grow huge. Climb up the newly grown vegetation and maybe you’ll discover a new area!

Do women really want to be portrayed as emotional wrecks in this manner? It's ludicrously patronizing. Opinions? Thoughts?

-Dave

[Vertigo]

Maybe my head's just in the gutter, but I also noticed that now that the woman's the focus ... she's gotta go to Vibe island. But yeah, generally speaking sounds iffy.

[DaveW]

But yeah, generally speaking sounds iffy.

Good, I'm not crazy. I'm surprised this hasn't stirred up all kinds of hell from equality groups. I mean, i know it's not meant to be offensive, but usually all it takes to get those guys going is the phrase "women's work" or "for all of mankind" or something similar...

-Dave

[Zephik]

I think people get much too easily offended. I say, it's not about you, so don't take it personally. I mean that for the person who is playing the game. It's not like it said anywhere that this is the personification of a woman, this is how all women are, blah blah blah. Maybe they were thinking, well here is a girl that is absolutely goo goo over a guy and now her special guy has been kidnapped. I mean, I certainly would be a wreck if that happened to me! Would I go around growing plants with my tears and whacking bad guys on the head with things? DAMN RIGHT I WOULD! lol

oh yeah, "vibe" island... I'm not sure what is with that. We'll have to see what the island is like first, then we will probably understand the meaning behind calling it "vibe" island. I just did a google search on the word "vibe" too, and it does in fact say vibration....

Well, I probably said a whole lot of nothing there. So feel free to beat me with a bloody shoe.

-SnowFire

[Omega]

Well, it all boils down to this concept of political correctness, which is bull****. You can't say "Merry Christmas" if you work at some retail chains, because people view it as excluding the Jews and Blacks. You have to be oh-so-correct and say "Happy Holidays".

Oh, and don't forget, you can't say Jews either. You have to say "People of Jewish Belief". It's retarded, I say.

It's not like I get pissed off if other races assume that all white people are skinny and listen to rock and are named "Chad", etc. Even if I did fit the sterotype, I wouldn't be pissed.

[Zephik]

Well, it all boils down to this concept of political correctness, which is bull****. You can't say "Merry Christmas" if you work at some retail chains, because people view it as excluding the Jews and Blacks. You have to be oh-so-correct and say "Happy Holidays".

Haha, That reminds me of last year at my fathers business christmas party in Couer d'Alene, Idaho.

For those who don't know, Couer d'Alene has a world class resort on the lake. Literally. It's also on the top "most beautiful lakes list" for america and it's even made the global list as well.

Anyways, so thats a pretty high class place which means they have all that "political correctness" bs. So my dad arrives before the party to check things out, making sure its all set up right, and what does he see? A big ****ing banner that says "happy holidays". He specifically requested "merry christmas". We thought it was a mistake, but we then found out that THEY CHANGED IT because they didn't want to "offend" anyone and they wanted to be "politically correct". You know what my dad did? He unleashed his horns! He was so pissed off I wanted to laugh at the people with dumbfounded faces. They even had the guts enough to tell him "too bad". A couple of threats to take his business elsewhere, among other things, and they put up the "Merry Christmas" banner as originally planned.

Moral of the story? F political correctness and when a business comes in that is paying what you make in half a year for one night, do as they tell you.

oh yeah, and my father isn't religious at all in case you were wondering.

-SnowFire

[simon275]

Dont get me started it is getting worse by the day here. I am not a red neck but when people go around correcting me. It just pisses me off.

It sounds like those resort people where up themselves Snowfire. Why would they go and change what the customer wants its not good business

[d_stilgar]

On the subject of the game, We all have to remember that it was also released in japan where stereotypes like that are more accepted and taken for the joke that they are. I was considering that game for my gf, but then I remembered that I would also have to get a DS for her, haha.

[m4gnum]

Look at 90% of the characters in FPS games, all muscle bound tough nuts. Should I get offended over that? Perhaps I'll create a game with a pasty white gamer having to take on an alien race.

[DaveW]

My train of thought was:

1) Not enough girls like computer games.
2) Is this what Nintendo thinks girl gamers want?

The bit i like the best is where it goes:

she also has more womanly wiles to save the day...She can also set fire to flammable objects when she’s riled. Even turning on the waterworks is a weapon for Peach...

Keep an eye on those female creatures in your locale. Never know what they're gonna set fire to next, the emotional train wrecks.

-Dave

[Vertigo]

On the subject of the game, We all have to remember that it was also released in japan where stereotypes like that are more accepted and taken for the joke that they are. I was considering that game for my gf, but then I remembered that I would also have to get a DS for her, haha.

That's a very good point, the culture that developed the game is very different than ours most likely. For instance, if say they called their dollar wang, which is a perfectly reasonable name in that part of the world. It would be a bathroom joke here, "The wang is up today .... oh no the wang is down."