Dragon’s Crown designer: ‘I apologize to those who were made uncomfortable’

Kotaku: "In an e-mail to Kotaku, Kamitani explained some of the rationale behind his designs, which picked up a great deal of media attention this week after the artist wrote a note to me on his Facebook wall that featured three shirtless, burly men embracing one another."

[Blastoise]

This entire thing between Kotaku and the character designer of this game is ridiculous.

"controversial sorceress" There is no controversy, Kotaku made it a controversy when the guy insulted the art director and called him a 14- year old boy.

Shes got a pair of tits, get over it.

[AHall88]

Bingo!
Really shouldn't expect anything less from Kotaku though.

[NewMonday]

Kotaku could be great if they just stop trolling.

[ShinMaster]

We want games to considered an art medium, yet we have people like this trying to censor the artist. If he wants to draw male and female characters with exaggerated features, let him. Don't like it? Don't play it.

Sexually titillating character designs are not the same as sexist. Sexism is prejudice, discrimination or devaluation of a person based on their gender and Kotaku has nothing on the game that proves this.

[ApolloTheBoss]

@newmonday
Correction: Kotaku could be great if they ceased to exist.

[Blacktric]

I love how some idiots are still acting like this is a serious issue that can be considered "sexism".

A comment made to the article;

"What a bunch of garbage. Jason, you got it right in the first article. This IS sexism. This IS insulting to the large audience. And it IS exclusionary to anyone with a shred of self-respect or intelligence!"

Using cop-out BS like "you don't have a shred of self respect or intelligence if you support this" seems like something a Kotaku reader would write.

[SilentNegotiator]

@newmonday

That's like saying poop would be great if it didn't stink and have high amounts of e. coli. And wasn't poop.

[miyamoto]

Like Kamiya said, desperate for hits. Kotaku is a shame for Japanese gaming.

[Bimkoblerutso]

I will never be a proponent of censorship. I feel like people have every right to create whatever they want in the world of art. So in this way, yes, I think the Kotaku article was ridiculous and childish.

Conversely, though, I also think it's funny that people are trying to pass these designs off as anything other than hyper-sexualized fanservice.

See, the problem here is NOT that hyper-sexualization exists in gaming (everyone likes a little sexy time every now and then), it's that the gaming community has become so enthralled in the debate of whether or not this stuff is "sexist" that they end up grasping at straws when the opportunity to defend themselves arises. For instance, I would say that the "homage" that was being paid to classical design was thrown out the window the second the sorceress bent over for us and the staff went up the crack of her ass.

No, it's not SEXIST. Men don't think ALL women should look and act like this. But make no mistake, these designs were made SPECIFICALLY to hook the shallower bits of the male libido, the bits that make us associate beauty with the amount of swelling in the front of our pants.

Do I personally think it's a little too prominent in gaming as a whole? Sure I do. And I think that most gamers would agree if they weren't so addicted to reacting to retarded articles like this one.

But it's also NOT sexist, and it should NOT be censored or apologized for.

[Th4Freak]

The thing is that he talks about the Sorceress but not about the other characters in the game, they're all equally exaggerated so why didn't he complain about the Dwarf or the Knight?

[Abriael]

It's shameful that an artist was forced to apologize for his art.

But yeah, AHall88 is right. Can't expect any better from kotaku and from the other usual pundits that supported them.

[Cryptcuzz]

Kotaku is the worst when it comes to trolling, over exaggerating, and bad journalism.

If I was a professor lecturing students in becoming a future journalist, I will show examples of what not to do from articles like this from Kotaku.

[Flavor]

The response from the character designer was perfect and required no apology. Don't like a sexy woman? Okay here are some hot mans 4 u.

[Apollosupreme]

They are concealed so no foul.

I personally don't find them sexy. It's a tad to much under the hood for my tastes. Just imagine those things at age forty if she continues to opt for no support. ;)

[nukeitall]

LOL.

The fact that we focus on sexism, creates sexism. If you ignore it, it will go away and let the people that enjoy that sort of thing enjoy it.

It's called tolerance people! It's not aimed at you directly.

[L6RD7BLU3]

I fail to believe that this dude is %100 socially correct in his life, so he shouldn't mouth off like this. It's just the ways of the japanese culture

[Donnieboi]

Nothing wrong with boobies, this is a free world and that man should not be pressured to apologize...

http://n4g.com/news/1241091...

[OmegaSlayer]

The writer from Kotaku is an hypocrite.
I wonder if he mails "God" when a girl has big boobs.
He should be banned from the internet.
If you don't like, don't buy. Period.

[joab777]

This is absurd. Write something real. Do ppl actually think like this? What amazes me is that not only did this thought enter his mind but then he wrote about it to get attention and then expected to get a response. This is insane.

On a completely unrelated note, I have written an article about how objectified women are in porn these days. And since its up 250% since 2009, we have a serious problem. I am expecting an answer to my complaints from anyone in the industry any day now so I will get back to ya!

[DivineAssault]

I think the big a$$ tits gives the chick character just like the elf not having any at all.. Wheres the bitching about that? Some broads have big ones & others small.. Thats just the way the world is; in real life too..

[LucinaStar]

Not that I'm a feminist or anything but is there any reason why you chose to use the word "broads" instead of just saying females?

[DivineAssault]

I treat most women like objects.. (mind you, i said most.. not all) Call me an asshole or whatever but i rarely come across any that deserve better.. When i do, i call them females, ladies, etc but the majority i come across are little more than play things..

[nosferatuzodd]

kotako mean videogame or anime nerd in Japanese language
why kotaku is called that if they hate or so bias against japanese games, they need to change their name to something else .

[bigrob904]

i love those tits so yeah i have no problem with them.

[Aaroncls7]

YOU KNOW, when people act like this I can only think of how they are ironically exposing themselves as perverted people.

And being a little of a pervert is actually quite the natural thing; but you don't see everyone yelling:

"OH SHIT THE WIZARD IS GIVING ME A MASSIVE BONER!"

...

Note: the art design of this game is amazing, and it only makes sense that the women of this represented time period are as burly and voluptuous as the men.

[fsfsxii]

-__- Internet these days

[rezzah]

More like people o.o

[cleft5]

You gotta love clueless people that think any depiction of a woman in a highly sexual/suggestive manner is sexist. You know, it would be one thing if only the female character in Dragon's Crown was exaggerated like this, but so are the males. Apparently, showing exaggerated males is no problem at all, but show an exaggerated female and of course we get complaints.

It's sad because there really are real issues out there involving gender discrimination, but all we get to see is this nonsense.

[N4GCB]

It's funny because the sorceress has the most justified pair oh breasts in all of video game history, and that, is what the article should have been about.

But you know... journalists don't ever research anything, so whatever I suppose.

(scroll past the article to the comment below, and just have your mind blown that there was even a legit reason for her breasts)
http://kotaku.com/heres-an-...

[Skate-AK]

Mind = blown.

[Hicken]

... so how in the hell can Kotaku justify criticizing the character design after having an article like that up? And how freakin AWESOME is that concept? I have to say I love that the character design has such roots.

I also have to say I hate Kotaku for being such a plague on the damn industry.

[izumo_lee]

This is Kotaku....do you really really think that any of the douchebags on that site do ANY research at all.

They are the National Inquire of gaming journalist that's very existence is to generate hits to pad their inflated pockets & egos.

[n to the b]

the rest of the features (hips, legs) are exaggerated as well. there may be some truth to the necromancy idea, but I think marketing and the artist's fascination with voluptuousness have more to do with the design than the back story does.

of course, I remain almost as anti-censorship as they come. just sayin let's be real...

EDIT: 'or course' to 'of course'

[N4GCB]

n to the b, you can't expect a character to have huge breasts while everything else stays small, that'd be proportionally incorrect, and look weirder than it already is.

Incidentally when it came to marketing various distributors were asking for promotional art of the girls in swimsuits and stuff, so he purposely drew promotional art of the dwarfs.

[LucinaStar]

I don't think the problem lies in how exaggerated the features are but more in how "exposed" they are (fyi I'm still getting this game and don't really care on how the sorceress looks but I'm just giving my opinion on why I think there's so much attention on girls like her).

I mean look at the fighter, he's a good looking guy yet his body is covered up entirely with armor including his face (up until we saw the picture with them all sitting at a table we had no idea how his face looked).

Same thing with Wizard, good looking face but covered up body. The Drawf is the only male in Dragon's Crown who shows off his bare chest, yet he just looks like a muscled up grandpa (sorta like White Beard form One Piece).

So while the males do have exaggerated features they don't really give how out as much eye candy as the females do.

Also I think another problem in why females like sorceress get so much negative attention sometimes, is because of the lack of variety in female character designs in the industry.

That's not to say all female characters are sexualized (Jade, Faith Alyx Vance to name a few)I but think if had more women like them to balance out the ones that are sexualized like this it wouldn't be as much negative attention when women such as the sorceress are created.

[cleft5]

I do agree that the problem is related to the lack of variety in female character design. A lot of that has to do with the state of the industry when games first started getting made. Games where basically being made for fun. There wasn't much maturity in story or characters because the emphasize was on fun gameplay. Just look at Mario, I love the character but he is very basic and simple. Maybe part of the reason that I like Mario is because it is such a simple character.

As the medium became more mature we noticed characters that have much more depth and meaning. I am glad to see that this has been happening really fast and without the need for an outside party to force the change.

That's part of the reason so many people don't like seeing this current nonsense happen because the gaming industry is self-correcting. With that said, I know their are real issues that need to be addressed, but it becomes much harder to address those real issues when you have sites like Kotaku that only look to exploit the issue for clicks.

[SolidDuck]

They shouldn't apologize. If u don't like big boobed cleavage than avoid this game. Simple concept. U don't see movie directors apologizing for putting something similar in there movies. Just dumb people complaining about dumb things.

[bunt-custardly]

The artist by default shouldn't have to apologize to anyone. I hope he sticks two fingers up at the complainers and carries on as he does without limitation or effect from external and mostly different cultural influences.

[ShinMaster]

We want games to considered an art medium, yet we have people like this trying to censor the artist. If he wants to draw male and female characters with exaggerated features, let him. Don't like it? Don't play it.
Sexually titillating character designs are not the same as sexist. Sexism is prejudice, discrimination or devaluation of a person based on their gender.

Kotaku's sensationalism strikes again.

[baldulf]

Kotaku is yellow press garbage.

Kamitani should have done like Hideki Kamiya and tell them to fuck off.

[Psychonaut]

DONT Apologize. If they don't like it they don't have to see it, or play it. But don't apologize because someone else didn't like your creation.

[Xer0_SiN]

damn it. dont apologize. its good games like these that are turning into vaporware cause people want to cry and complain about every single detail. just throw a mature rating on it, if you want to shield the eyes of the unwashed masses; not like it needs it anyways.

[Inception]

What in the name of G...This is too far joketaku. Why you insult respectable person like George Kamitani as a "Cheap 14 old year" just because you don't like his sorcerers design?! And top of that, you insult people who like George arts as "Lolicon & pedophile"?! o_O

Even after George Kamitani himself politely apologize if his reply to joketaku article with painting of three bulky dwarf got misunderstand by this jason 'douche bag' schreirer as gay, joketaku still not apologizing properly instead they posted this stupid article and positioning themself as a victim and George is wrong?! o_O

Now i can really understand why Hideki Kamiya only react with "Ah, douche bags", "Journalism? ha ha", and "Do you eat shit?" to joketaku who depict him as clueless for pc gaming & valve. Because kotaku are not real & profesionall video game journalist who loved this industry and respect the people who working hard in it. I think it's about time joketaku got banned or something. And seriously, if i ever meet this jason 'douche bag' schreirer guy, surely i will crush his balls so he can't use it to bang girls with big tits :(

[BuffMordecai]

The designer doesn't have to apologize for anything, kotaku is filled to the brim with white knight faggots, virgin losers, bitch whipped degenerates, and huge manginas looking to make issues out of nothing on a daily basis.

[radecGaming]

i hate that big boobies!

[VTKC]

making a mountain out of a mole hill. Don't like the game?-then Don't play it. Simple.

[gamer7804]

Good on the artist for responding respectfully to the article, but it is his artistic impression, not anyone else's.

It would be a shame to see artists whether from 2000's or the 1800's to be swayed by cries of the few for change, consequently depriving others as well as the artist enjoyment or freedom of their work. He was commissioned for his artistic talent, as many artists from days gone by were.

I'll be buying this day 1.

[cero55]

since when has big boobs been a minus? thats my preorder bonus right there.

[izumo_lee]

Being an artist myself I have always admired the artwork of G. Kamitani cause it is unique & refreshing compared to all the usual manga & anime characters we see in other games.

To hear that some douchebag from Kotaku (really!?) had the nerve to insult an artist like Kamitani who probably has more talent than him is sick.

Kamitani shouldn't be the one apologizing for expressing his artistic talents rather the douche from Kotaku should be the one doing the apologizing. Maybe the dumb-ass i a virgin cause he clearly has never seen breasts in his life or even has gone near one to even know what they are. I am sickened by this guy to make a big deal out of nothing.

We have games that are so realistic that encourages the killing of other 'humans' but an ANIMATED women with large breasts (which isn't new cause porn stars are a plenty) is clearly to this ass more harmful to society....REALLY!!!???

[VampHuntD]

Unlike the fools at Kotaku, I actually didn't care about the proportions of ANY character in the game. I saw Atlus and VanillaWare and I was sold. Guess if I were a 14 year old boy all I'd see was BOOBS. Oh wait, that's what Kotaku did....

[yazter]

Why massive boobs, why no massive bulges?

[ShiftyLookingCow]

I am so fuking tired of all this puritanical feminist hyperbolic BS. Its gone totally nuts.

[thewant]

Thought they made a pervert trailer in the past. Here's the trailer below.

[WildArmed]

This is an unofficial trailer.
It's community made.

[devilhunterx]

BEWBS!

[Lone_Man]

she's sexy and she know it..LMFAO

[ErzaScarlet]

Based on the comments right here, most of you don't like Kotaku..

[smashcrashbash]

Don't apologize to the people who say your game isn't worth it.Don't apologize for your designs.And especially don't apologize to Kotaku. Kotaku are a bunch of idiots. They are the FOX news of the gaming world. Do not apologize for anything. You didn't apologize for the sexy fox girls in Muramasa the Demon blade or the busty underworld queen in Odin Sphere. Do not listen to the empty vessels. They just make the most noise.That is all that it is.Noise.

[Shadonic]

I've seen crazier things in anime like yondeymasu & azezal Kun.

[bigtrucknd]

I like big breasted sorceress that is probably where she gets her magic from. She is able to make things rise up and stand ready for battle.

[-Gespenst-]

"Earlier this week, I criticized Dragon's Crown's sorceress, a character that seems designed to be ogled and leered at as a sexual object. I called it juvenile, and said it was symbolic of a much large issue of sexism and exclusion in the video game industry."

And he's damn right. Honestly if you're hating on Kotaku for making an issue of this, YOU'RE the fool. It's all well and good to say you mean no "ill will" in matters like these, but that's just lazy self-appeasement. You're still contributing and perpetuating a culture of this shit by being so receptive to it, as well as making light of it. It's a serious issue and you shouldn't shrug it off.

I think a lot of people think too narrowly about these things. They focus on the sole instance of the issue, like this game, ignoring the fact that the issue is ubiquitous across culture. It's in thousands of games, films, and TV shows, not just in this single game, and it takes many forms. You should be using the instance to graduate to a broader grasp of the ubiquity of this issue, you shouldn't naively try to domesticate the issue in a single example, that's lazy wilful ignorance, and a complicity in a disgustingly sexist culture.

Women are far more than just surface appearance and sexual meat. You can deny your culpability as much you want, many people whether they're conscious of it or not, have that preconception inculcated in them.

[Statix]

I'm still confused as to why sexual objectification is a bad thing? Women do it to themselves all the time--Penthouse, Maxim, and Playboy models posing as sexual objects for the sole purpose of men to ogle and choke the chicken to. Not to mention porn actresses. Should pornography be banned because it objectifies and sexualizes women???

News flash: Men like boobs. Men like butts. A lot of men make games. A lot of men play games.

Those are the facts laid out for you. Now go ahead and try to dissect why it's inherently bad--utterly morally reprehensible--that men like boobs and butts. As I know you're wont to do. Go ahead. I'm waiting.

"Women are far more than just surface appearance and sexual meat."

You have to be the biggest idiot of all time if you seriously let a game like Dragon's Crown shape your entire perception of women. I tend to think people are stupid, but not THAT stupid.

[-Gespenst-]

Do you understand what sexual objectification is? Objectification alone is the rendering of something as an object- defining something as solely matter, that is to say, without an inner-life, without cognitive ability. Think of sexual objectification like having putty in your hand- moulding women to whatever shape you think they should be and naturalizing it, making women think that's how they have to look and be. Of course we all know that women have minds, but when operating in the objectifying mode, many people (men) turn a deaf ear to that side- render them as sexual meat to be consumed metaphorically speaking- (think of sex or orgasm like a kind of satiation.)

Women who pose as models do so to make money in an industry that objectifies them. They do it because it's an effective way to sustain themselves financially, not necessarily because they agree with it. Women who do agree with it have merely internalized those patriarchal values- been indoctrinated into thinking they're true.

You're missing my point entirely with that last part. I clearly said this: "I think a lot of people think too narrowly about these things. They focus on the sole instance of the issue, like this game, ignoring the fact that the issue is ubiquitous across culture. It's in thousands of games, films, and TV shows, not just in this single game, and it takes many forms. You should be using the instance to graduate to a broader grasp of the ubiquity of this issue, you shouldn't naively try to domesticate the issue in a single example, that's lazy wilful ignorance, and a complicity in a disgustingly sexist culture," which is entirely the opposite of what you're accusing me of. The game is part of a giant web of representation constituted by the millions of pieces of media we consume. You yourself are the one who's thinking narrowly, you refuse to acknowledge about widespread and ubiquitous this kind of representation is, and are trying to domesticate the issue by containing it to one game- arguing that it's not a big deal if ONE game does it, when the fact is that millions of other things do it to.

By creating a myth about the ideal woman, (imposing or forcefully prescribing a female subjectivity or identity) you create stable grounds for profiteering, which is ultimately behind all imposed representations in a capitalist society. Women get sucked in by these things because of their social power- nobody wants to be marginalised and socially rejected, so a lot of women are indoctrianted by the aggressive use of representation that pervades the media and culture.

There's nothing wrong with appreciating the aesthetic qualities of another person, regardless of race or gender. What IS wrong is denying them political agency, greedily indoctrinating them into a sex-industry, claiming there's some sort of singular way a woman "should be", and appreciating only the flesh to the exclusion and wilful denial of the inner emotional and mental life. Without an inner life, an object can be dominated and exploited by a human. This is an obfuscatory strategy that has been used throughout history to justify slavery as well the erasure of native peoples- all for the sake of territory, power, and control.

It's all a product of patriarchal society, women become pacified objects over which to rule and to profiteer from, just perpetuating asymmetrical male power through and influence. Culture and the media often unconsciously (or sometimes consciously) recite these fundamental values in how it represents women.

[smashcrashbash]

You are then narrow minded one. Out there there are women like this with big breasts, short skirts and wasn't to look sexy and don't care what people think. That is how it is. Not every woman in the world cares if you can see more skin or if you can see their legs no different then there are men out there who don't mind showing their bodies.They know showing their sexuality doesn't define who they are.The Sorceress is no less powerful or skillful just because she has a bigger bust size. I notice no one even noticed the girl with the smaller bust size because you re too busy staring at the girls with the big busts because that is all you see.If you think because there are some women who are not ashamed or concerned about their sexuality that defines all women then you are deluded.The Amazon and Sorceress have big breasts.So what? They have to be flat chested or they have no worth or value? Stop starting at their chests and play the game.

[-Gespenst-]

Just read and understand my comments very closely, I cannot stress that enough, because you just aren't getting it. You accusing me of things I'm simply not doing and which I directly addressed in my comments.

[Ozmoses]

It's used in almost every form of entertainment....

Have you happened across the DISNEY CHANNEL in the last 15 years??? They have teenie boppers running around in skimpier clothing every year...

It's all about vanity... Makeup, looks, being thin, being sexy, revealing, mysterious, out there, social, wanting to fit in.....

suggestive material is always used...

like for this video game I don't think anything wrong is being displayed... people are causing uproar over nothing.

this game isn't like the DISNEY CHANNEL that drowns the worlds youth in insensitivity and promotes selfish behavior.

[Statix]

Are we STILL talking about this?????

[kupomogli]

It'd be a shame if this controversy gets the artist to make changes in future works of art just to appeal to a certain fanbase who just wanted something to complain about.

Kotaku is filled with opinions like this that are written off as news. More like a video gaming blog rather than a news site.

[kingPoS]

Is it me or does Kotaku seem like that person who always uses the megaphone to talk.

[maniacmayhem]

Big boobs in video games??? This is new to me!

[WheatBread]

Jason Schreier is a queer

[ShiftyLookingCow]

Its better to be gay than being a puritan mullah pretending to be a feminist who absolutely hates sexuality. The former can't help himself while the latter is an extreme hypocrite.

[violents]

What? Japanese inspired art styles and the women have hyper sexualized body parts, NO FREAKIN WAY!

[jackwei22]

Japan doesn't see all this as a big deal while we in the west feel offended by so many things and have crazy campaigns to ban so many things because of some insecure people.

I am pretty sure they're all laughing at us from Japan on insecure people in the west who feel offended by such things.

[b_one]

Craptaku. downvoted