
These depictions in video games potentially influence the socialization of young people, who make up a large part of their audience, and thus may transform or reproduce gender representations in the general culture ( Downs & Smith, 2010). Lara Croft of Tomb Raider fame, to use an obvious example, may be an active protagonist and capable adventurer and gunslinger, but she also exhibits the oversized breasts and unusually thin build of a Barbie doll rather than the muscular physique an equivalent male character would have ( Jansz & Martis, 2007). Studies completed on video games sold in the US have shown that female characters are not given representation equal to male characters in video games and are often created from a male perspective that is less than “realistic,” exaggerating their sexual or feminine traits (e.g., Beasley & Collins Standley, 2002 Burgess, Stermer & Burgess, 2007 Downs & Smith, 2010 Martins, Williams, Harrison & Ratan, 2009 Williams, Martins, Consalvo & Ivory, 2009). Video games have often drawn criticism for stereotypical depictions of women as passive partners for the (male) protagonist in such situations as the cliché “save the princess” scenario or as sex objects present primarily for the gratification of a male audience (e.g., Provenzo, 1991). These findings suggest there is an economic motive for the marginalization and sexualization of women in video game box art, and that there is greater audience exposure to these stereotypical depictions than to alternative depictions because of their positive relationship to sales. In contrast, sales were negatively related to the presence of any central female characters (sexualized or non-sexualized) or the presence of female characters without male characters present. Using a sample of 399 box art cases from games with ESRB ratings of Teen or Mature released in the US during the period of 2005 through 2010, this study shows that sales were positively related to sexualization of non-central female characters among cases with women present. Box art adorning the front of video game boxes is a form of advertising seen by most game customers prior to purchase and should therefore predict sales if indeed particular depictions of female and male characters influence sales. In order to assess the cultural influence of video games on players, it is important to weight differently those games seen by the majority of players (in the millions), rather than a random sample of all games, many of which are seen by only a few thousand people. However, the relationship between portrayal of female characters and videogame sales has not previously been studied.
007 quantum of solace ps2 box art Pc#
This also resulted in GoldenEye: Reloaded for PC being canned, which is a shame.Content analysis of video games has consistently shown that women are portrayed much less frequently than men and in subordinate roles, often in “hypersexualized” ways.
007 quantum of solace ps2 box art license#
I believe the problem was that, much like Tony Hawk, Activision were about to lose the Bond license in 2013, so they forced Eurocom to release slightly moist oats and called it porridge. (It was so rushed the Skyfaller chapter was DLC.) There was no way to deliver a quality game in 6 months, especially since AAA production values kept growing more and more demanding. Eurocom shut down after making 007: Legends, which was clearly a labour of love, but it was reportedly made in 6 months to be a Skyfall tie-in. The rushed development cycles of post-GoldenEye Bond games has been hugely unfortunate. However, it's a remarkable achievement on the PS2, and definitely worth playing. The boss battles often involve random QTEs mid-battle, too. The bosses are particularly a problem, particularly the final boss. The game tried to ape Uncharted, and does so in a slightly janky way. The QoS games were so rushed that they had to mix Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace because they couldn't realistically develop all the QoS content while the film was still being made. It's a very interesting game with three chief caveats.
