She’s Sexy - Now Kill Her?

Kotaku: Sometimes beauty is just that: beauty. Sometimes, it's sexualized. That kind of beauty is meant to appeal not just to the eyes or the heart but to the loins, to tap into something primal, to turn us on.

What makes me uneasy, what feels—my opinion!—gross is when these two things combine, when a game sexualizes some of its characters and then lets you bash their heads in the ground and rip them in two. That's when it feels weird. That's when I wonder why I'm being asked to have fun with this. That's when I start wishing that vivid violence and sexualized content wouldn't mix in video games in the manner they do in God of War: Ascension, not when there seems to be no other point than asking me to have fun with it.

[AnotherProGamer]

so you would be ok with killing ugly people in games but not good looking people

Thats uglyist!

[knowyourstuff]

lol this has to be the most pretentious article written on this subject yet. No one is listening to the idiots at Kotaku, and no one cares.

Gamers aren't stupid enough to think that Sony Santa Monica is full of woman-haters because 0.001% of the total enemies killed in all God of War games thus far were female.

Stop trying to make up the context to a scene in an attempt to mislead people, and allow people to interpret it for themselves.

[Donnieboi]

Everyone...let's vote down Kotaku every time they try to start a flame war between the sexes. Noy to say there aren't real gender issues that need addressing, but articles like these are just fishing for needless flamebait.

[SilentNegotiator]

As an ugly person on the inside and out, I'm deeply offended. I'm contacting the Ugliness Defamation League at once!

[cooperdnizzle]

hahahah, so stupid. And you know what n4g is a crap website itself, they have people monitor if you swear? They have people monitor if you say something that may be immature. If they think you are off topic well then they hide your comment. This site is a joke now. Horrible articles left and right. Gaming media has to stop this bullshit. O wait will i get marked with bad language? And wait I'm off topic. On topic this is just taken way out of context. Move on get over it.

[dantesparda]

Wow! Kotaku is phoney and pathetic and N4G needs to chill out with all the sensoring and i cant wait to get GOW:A so how you like them apples Sessler and Kotaku?

[legend911]

I'm with him, it seems pretty stupid that the mods can do whatever they want and get away with it. :p

[KingKelloggTheWH]

Because you can kill as many men as you want but when you kill a woman....

[TongkatAli]

Its not even a women. Furies are demonic creatures that worked for Zues, their job is to die by the hands of Kratos.

Attention "hoes" are the worst.

[MasterCornholio]

Wait, are you saying that one of the furies are hot? I thought the 3 were all ugly just like the one in the demo.

Hmmm hot demonic fury.

Anyways back on topic. How many of you hanged a hoe in GTA and then sliced her in half with a Katana to get your money back? Killing women in Video is nothing new and in my opinion it would be sexist if you could only kill men an not women in video games. Now the next step are minors but I doubt that will ever happen because most of the time they are invincible in the games.

DING

Motorola RAZR i

[csreynolds]

This subject is getting pretty tedious. Can we build a bridge and get over it already?

[minimur12]

so what?
(im not gay)
but im guessing you kill loads of 'handsom' looking guys on the game

[JamieL]

You don't say "(im not gay)", you say "No homo, but...". DUH

[clintagious650]

So reviewers want kratos to be more badazz but when theres a sexy female boss (whose really ugly as fu**) u want kratos to turn into a frog & kiss her so he can turn into prince charming? Lol make up your mind already.

[DragonKnight]

Can you imagine how the God of War games would turn out if every "group" against it were heard?

Imagine Kratos violently slaughtering everything in his path, then he gets to a female boss and goes "Nope, sorry, can't do it. That's a girl. I can't strike girls because that'd be sexist."

The Olympian Gods could do whatever they want to to piss him off and then just put a girl in his way to prevent him from fighting back. Quality game design there.

[sobekflakmonkey]

"I can't strike girls because that'd be sexist." so true, but what a fuckn double standard that is.

[linko18-1990]

kinda funny actually, If everybody looks back at Heavenly sword, now wasn't that a good looking female killing males left and right sometimes for the heck of it. no a soul complained there, i swear females just want to get away with everything, even getting pull over by the cops can be forgotten by them showing their boobs to the cops. lol

[jeeves86]

@linko-18-1990

Worst part yet, these are dudes writing this!

[dantesparda]

yeah, b!tchy dudes

[Inception]

I'm curious to see wtf this kotaku writer wants to proof with the article. So i click the link, read it from A to Z, and in the end...i just laugh really hard.

Points i got from the articles are:

- The writer don't like God of War had scene of sexy-pretty-naked womens / monsters with bare tits, because Kratos not showing his virtual BALLS. ROTFL! This is the first time i read that someone wants to see kratos balls! XD

- Kotaku bitching why kratos not kill all male enemies by stabing their BALLS. Because, kratos kill the female enemies by stabbing them in the boobs. ROTFL!

So i sum all the writers bitching in one sentence:
He wants to see kratos balls and gender equality on how kratos kills his male & female enemies.

Seriously kotaku, are this the best articles that your journalist can churn every day?!?!

[KUV1977]

Also: Kratos IS cutting of the Chimera's snake regularly, so there is gender equality, is there not?

[Inception]

Haha yeah. But wait till kotaku churn another silly article about 'animal equality' in God of War XD

[MrDead]

Looks like this games content is too mature for little kiddies and Kotaku. The rest of us are able to realise you are not killing anyone and what we see on screen is part of the games story and in context with God of War universe.

If you can’t handle it stay away and keep watching Fox News.

[DragonKnight]

Don't forget Madam Sessler.

[subtenko]

Madam Sessler, LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO!!!!!! *bangs desk while laughing* thats rich!!!! XD

Yea seriously guys this stuff its going too far now. Too much political correctness and too much stupidity coming from people now-a-days. We need to turn it back on these people. Like for example, how many male workers at kotaku? *wait for answer* The ratio of men to women there is like 9:1, you frikken sexist!

[DragonKnight]

Lol, I didn't invent that moniker for him, I saw someone else here call him that but I don't remember who it was. I had the same reaction you did.

[Ravenor]

Seeing as how this article is written by Stephen Totilo, you can pretty much write this article off right there. He has disappeared so far up his own butthole that he's come back around again, anyone who disagree's with him is a hater of women and loves to punch women in the stomach.

This whole debate would be so much more tolerable if it wasn't wrapped in that polarizing "On our side or not." shtick.

[The_Klank]

Wasn't the trophy name selected by a female in the 1st place?
Isn't Sony Santa Monica one of the few development studios with a female studio director?

I don't get why this has become a bigger issue these last few weeks. There are many other worse examples of misogyny that could & should be the focus.

[KillrateOmega]

This whole subject concerning Ascension has become so ridiculous. They're not real people. Hell, the furies aren't even women. They're demonic beings.

And why does it matter that some of the women were sexy while still being just as vulnerable to the same type of brutality as the rest of Kratos' enemies? So it's not cool to kill sexy people, but less attractive people are fair game?

Some people just can't handle fictional material I guess...

[JD_Shadow]

Reason why people are doing stoies like this now? Because of a certain video from some bitch that people think is so important to the games industry that when she put out said video, everyone is rushing in order to not be labeled as something they wouldn't be to begin with.

Seriously, Anita Sarkeesian is a piece of crap that is using the hot button issue and her fake feminist ways to get the game community up in arms and laughing all the way to her YouTube bank. If we can stop giving her the luxury like this article does, we'll be better off.

[GraveLord]

....so its ok to brutally dismember women as long as they're ugly? Great logic there Kotaku.

If you played the game, this woman may be sexy, but she is also annoying. There's a reason we're killing her. You would know if you were following the story.

SPOILER ALERT: You don't actually end up killing her since she was playing tricks in your mind.

[TheTwelve]

You see...overly feminist women don't really want to be treated equal. They want to be treated in a preferred fashion. Which is just as bad as chauvinism.

12

[mynameisEvil]

Ah, someone gets it. Modern feminism isn't about being treated equally, it's about getting all of the good qualities of being a male without any of the problems. Oh, feminists would throw a fit if judges gave women prison sentences of man-length. That would be 'sexist' and 'degrading.'

Women already get a lot of things pretty easily by the power invested in them by BEWBS (Just Google the amount of stuff women have been able to get by showing their breasts. It's ridiculous." Then they want to complain? Whatever.

[yaz288]

lol 5 games and I was wondering where was this shit. the timing is funny.

[yeahokchief]

complete bullshit article by stephen totillitoiotioitoito.

greek mythology is full of misogyny so is god of war. deal with it.

first comment on kotaku is a load of crap too. god of war is about brutal revenge and a guy who wont let anyone stop him from getting his.

if god of war was emo, kratos would be sitting in a corner crying and sulking. he's the complete opposite. nothing can control him or get in his way. period.

SUCK IT haters. this game rocks.

oh hey whered that extra bubble come from. disclaimer: im an asshole

[yeahokchief]

i already have it platinumed and i'm still playing the multiplayer.

the sign of a great game. playing it for hours beyond the trophies. shows that playing the game itself feels intrinsically rewarding. you're playing it for fun instead of just for internet points.

Annnnd extra comment well spent.

[TronEOL]

The men are overly masculine, and almost ridiculously "perfect" looking, and the females are getting the exact same treatment.

Look at all the male enemies in the game and they're all built with "perfect" bodies (minus a small few). And it's okay to mercilessly murder all those "man-like" perfectly chiseled bodies, but not do the same to the female-like enemies?

You rip dogs mouths apart, gut a man-like horseman and that's not an issue. We all cry "equality" but are being unfair and unequal in the process.

God of War is God of War. Kratos will gut/stomp/rip-apart/etc anything that gets in his way, when he damn well pleases. Regardless of how human they look.

[YoungKingDoran]

Pretty sure I got a sweet-ass body and I'm not deluded...
http://25.media.tumblr.com/...

[ziggurcat]

sick and tired of this white knight BS...

[FantasyStar]

I'm so brave.

[sway_z]

People need to realize certain content is implemented into products as a way of desensitizing people to gradually not be freaked out by this kind of stuff, and ultimately accept this as the norm.

So in that regard I thank you for this article.

Wake em' up!

[Cryptcuzz]

Kotaku and similar sites that creates articles like this are terrible.

I miss those days when we all can play games without anyone making a fuss about killing anything or anyone. Whether it be men, woman, zombies, who cares!

Its a game, a form of entertainment; let us all go cry about movies that has a villain, that happens to be sexy and make a fuss about that?

This is why video games gets a bad wrap. Instead of creating relevant articles about a game and how its played or how fun it is, we get trash articles that talks about a whole different subject altogether.

[sway_z]

@Cryptcuzz

'I miss those days when we all can play games without anyone making a fuss about killing anything or anyone. Whether it be men, woman, zombies, who cares!
Its a game, a form of entertainment....'

You seem to enjoy simulated murder...and you expect anyone sensible with a right thinking brain to take what you have written here seriously?

[Cryptcuzz]

I'm not sure what you mean by me liking simulated murder. I never said such things, but then again, I expected only sensible people with a right thinking brain to understand.

All I am saying is, games before used to be just about games, no BS about anyone complaining about such things as destroying an enemy as part of completing said game.

It did not matter whether you were hacking and slashing, shooting or hitting an enemy until they died. Why does it matter if the enemy happened to be "sexy"? Its a game for crying out loud.

Does it offend you that the enemy you are killing in the game happens to have attractive features to her?

It is kratos man, he doesn't care for who he kills, have you even played the games? He is hell bent on revenge, and you as the player should be understanding why he does what he does, not debating over what is right as a human being to do in the real world.

Take your complaints and BS elsewhere to discuss your most sought after question in your life -- To kill, or not to kill, polygonal woman who happens to be "sexy"

While I and many others continue to play games like GoW Ascension with a smile on our face, thinking how awesome the game plays and how awesome Kratos looks while ripping the enemy apart. Sexy or not. Kratos cares not! And neither should you....P**sy.

[k2d]

The irony:

The author is the one being sexist.

[ShaunCameron]

Indeed. By putting her on the pedestal.

[profgerbik]

No matter how many times I vote this site down for all of their stupid articles.. oddly they still have 3 stars. I have a feeling I am not the only person voting them down.

N4G is so rigged. All the trolls who write blogs have tons of bubbles here, then you have all these horrible gaming news sites that always have the highest ratings in this place and all the ones who actually just care about games in general no one pays attention to really.

Makes sense.

[MegadethAndy]

where is the option to vote a site or article down? as im getting sick of these articles too.

[The_Klank]

Right under Read full story is a + just click on it.

[TuxedoMoon]

Isn't this being sexist? It's wrong to kill a sexy demon woman, but if the demon woman was butt ugly...it's okay? IMO, if a character is hostile and wants to kill you, man or woman, you have the right to defend yourself. If that evil character, man or woman, wanted to rip your guts out, you should retaliate. Kratos isn't killing women, he's killing demons. He isn't killing innocent people for fun either.

[GenericNameHere]

What the frick? This guy was looking for Kratos' balls???? What kind of sick person is this guy? Penis (hehe), scrotums (hehehe), and vaginas (hehehehe) are very rarely shown in videogames and cable TV (I don't think v-jays are even shown anywhere except real life and pornos). Just play the goshdarn game. So what if a female enemy gets her boobs slashed? Kratos has done worse to other characters. Maybe it was another female developer who's idea it was to add it in... Just like it was a female dev's idea to include the "Bros before Hos" trophy :/

Was Adam Sessler really the one who started all this God of War Ascension hate?? It wont affect anyone, but I'll be sure never to watch one of his reviews, or listen to his opinions ever again if that's the case. What a sissy. Greek Mythology was full of disgusting and sick stories and imagery, yet something like a trophy name was able to turn such a small thing into a huge problem...

[Max-Zorin]

This again?

[OmniSlashPT]

I wish Kratos would kill these pretentious journalists as well lol

[Dir_en_grey]

For god sake vote this site down already people

[Parapraxis]

I wish the mods would allow people to discuss the websites associated with the articles.
Talking about the sites the articles are from is not OFF TOPIC.
It is completely relevant to the quality and reception of the submissions being made.
Maybe a few of you should go back and evaluate your judgement, because as far as I can see it is way off.

This is why I rarely post here. The is the commenting system atrocious, maybe go browse Reddit for some ideas, what's the point of agreeing/disagreeing, if the comments are still presented based on which were posted first, not which are most relevant/popular, and the mods seem to have their heads up their asses. Why not censoring posts instead of deleting them, etc.

Good luck guys, but as I see it N4G's relevance is wearing thin.
Start looking at other sites, instead of always internally.
Still no captcha, no logins other than a sign up.
Falling behind...way behind.

SIMPLIFY it.
agree/disagree and a report button, end of story, why do you need to have the reasons...so you can try to figure out if YOU agree/disagree with what is being clicked? lol, it's absurd.

[T3MPL3TON]

This is thinly veiled feminism.

[kenshiro100]

...

-blinks-

I don't even...

[LightningMokey]

I meant to hit agree not Disagree... Damn laptop touch pad...

[aLiEnViSiToR]

ROFL is this for real... wait a minu BOOBS :D !!!

[LightningMokey]

I play God of War games because I hate women... don't all of you?

[DigitalSmoke]

People who write these articles are a cancer to humanity.

[spoonard]

Another Pulitzer prize worthy article from our friends at Kotaku! lol How does that website even still exist, really?

[MaverickStar7]

Oh,Its written by Stephen Totilo. That explains it. Putz.

[o-Sunny-o]

I killed a sexy bug lady...omg lol.
Duke Nukem would say
"Dam ill still hit it"...