650°

God of War creator David Jaffe says Kratos was 'never a misogynist'

God of War creator and director David Jaffe has said that Kratos was "NEVER a misogynist," and that the character has been mischaracterized since the 2018 GoW.

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gamerevolution.com
annoyedgamer1868d ago

Violently murder scores of males = ok
Sex with female prisoners = not ok

Simp logic.

rainslacker1867d ago

Being an asshole to everyone is misogyny apparently.

A better adjective to use would be he is a sociopath, and unapologetic about his actions. They changed that some in the new game.

His general attitudes towards women, or men, is probably pretty typical of spartan warriors in the time the games were set.

annoyedgamer1867d ago

The general attitude of men being expendable hasn't changed since Spartan times. Its the exact same today.

Gaming1011867d ago

Everyone likes to pretend that if they weren't living in present times, they wouldn't have the exact same morality as those who lived thousands of years ago in all different parts of the world.

You most definitely would not be a feminist, or virtue signalling social justice warrior. You would not be crying about toxic masculinity like a bitch, and shaming men who had sex with women without making it into a fucking romantic comedy first.

rainslacker1867d ago

@gaming

Not suggesting that the world, and perceptions towards how we treat people haven't changed over the past thousands of years. Just that for the time the game was set that it works for the story. His reasons weren't based on what is considered sexist today. Sexism, in this case, is more about intent, and his intention was never to be discriminatory because of someone's sex.

Gaming1011867d ago

Misogyny is also about a deeply ingrained hatred and prejudice towards women.
Feminists have tried to lump men who use women for sex into this category.
They are idiots, and just hate men. They are brainwashed by their liberal studies professors, and see the world through a lens of victimization which leads them to living a life of pure misery. I don't know a single happy feminist.

P_Bomb1867d ago (Edited 1867d ago )

Definitely a different time, different place with a strictly defined class structure and gender roles. It’s our history, loosely based but still.

Anyone who has AC:Odyssey (or Origins for that matter) check out the fantastic historical tours mode. Whatever it was called. I’ll look it up. An informative look at the Spartan way of life, dare I say educational. Yay videogames!

Had my son walk through a virtual day in the life of. He’s healthy so his age he’d have been conscripted, head shaved, no shoes, sleeping on sticks and swimming every day starting a 20+ year military training where he couldn’t be with a woman until his 20’s with the expectation to be married by 30...or face fines and stigma. Women sewed clothes.

Edit: Discovery tour. That’s it. Check em out.

Fluttershy771866d ago (Edited 1866d ago )

Maybe not God of War 1 but I remember the "Bros before Hos" trophy in GoW: Ascension after you beat the sht out of a female character... If that's not misogynistic, I don't know what is it. That was a low moment for the franchise...

KillBill1866d ago

Does not change the fact that he was a misogynist... simply because everyone else back then were also misogynists.

rainslacker1866d ago (Edited 1866d ago )

@Kill

I'd say he was a misandrist also then. He was an equal opportunity discriminator. His intent wasn't there to make him a misogynist....at least not in the context that Jaffe was using here. he was just an a**hole.

@Flutter

That doesn't make Kratos misogynistic. That's just a play on words for a common saying that exists today. The saying is indeed disrespectful towards women, but the word hos itself is also a colloquialism that in it's original form was actually made into a term of endearment, and later changed to be inclusive of all women. But the saying itself is more about not chasing after a women while you leave your friends behind.

I think it's a stupid saying myself, and sounds like something men use when they are too insecure, but that's beside the point of the discussion.

In the case of where you got the trophy in the game, Kratos wasn't smashing that female characters face because she was a woman. He was doing it because it was an enemy. The context of the trophy was that you were helping, and being supported by another male character, and you were needing to kill this woman before you could progress. If it had been a male character, and they used the "Bros before Foes" that they eventually changed the trophy name too, no one would have been upset on the play on words. But, because they used the "Hos" saying, and it happened to be a female character, it's suddenly misogynistic?

I don't think so. I think it's just a quippy saying, and while i don't care for saying women are "hos", and have never used the colloquialism, or other potentially disrespectful colloquialisms that describe a group of people, I don't see that the term was used here to be offensive, nor that it makes Kratos himself misogynistic.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 1866d ago
Eamon1867d ago

I'm pretty sure Kratos disrespected women less than men. When a guy is in his way, he brutally rips him apart without question - regardless of the guy's cries or begging. If a woman is in his way, Kratos usually asks them to stand aside, and if they do not comply, proceeds to rip them apart.

Also, Kratos is not cruel to children and has never harmed any. It is ancient Hellenistic society that is misogynistic, not Kratos.

generic-user-name1867d ago

"Also, Kratos is not cruel to children and has never harmed any"

Hmmm, he killed his daughter but that was not deliberate, however in GoW III each time he killed a god he unleashed catastrophe upon the earth (or just Greece? Or just 'his' version of earth?) and he knew what he was doing then, he killed probably millions indirectly.

1867d ago
rainslacker1866d ago

He would sometimes try to help people in the games, more often than not women. He'd usually end up killing them eventually to solve a puzzle, and conveniently remove them from the story of the game. Sometimes they'd kill themselves by running away when he was "escorting" them. He's certainly doesn't show remorse for his actions towards others.

Fluttershy771866d ago (Edited 1866d ago )

@rainslacker

I mean you can explain it all you want, but at the end of the day people find that trophy to be misogynistic and highly inappropriate, to the point that Santa Monica patch it up almost immediately and the studio and Sony apologize, and promise a better "quality control" for the future...If the trophy wasn't misogynistic, and they meant like you say that you were being "a bro" to kratos while he beat the crap of an "enemy", and "hoes" is just like a coloquial term... Why change it? Why not keep the trophy? Why apologize?

I remember at the time there was a little bit of backlash on regards of how Kratos himself was a misogynist...
Idk about that, you decide.
But my point is that David Jaffe can't really act all surprised and "piss off" when people remind him that this version of Kratos (that is 2018) is not misogynistic... Because there are some precedents to the whole thing

BlackIceJoe1868d ago

I know off topic, but still on topic, because of David Jaffe, I'd like to see him make AAA games again.

I remember in the past he had an idea about making a third or first person shooter and it was about making the Chinese government, attack America, so you become a freedom fighter, to free America. I'm not sure if he was going in this direction or not, but I always thought of it being something like Wolfenstein.

I doubt a game like that would be approved, in this day and age, but I really would like to see it.

porkChop1867d ago

Sounds like a mix of Wolfenstein, Homefront, and Red Dawn. Could be cool. But we've seen a lot of similar stories so he'd have to find some kind of hook to make it more unique and interesting.

Mr_Writer851867d ago

The thing is with Jaffe, and a few others designers (Cliffy B springs to mind) he's like a sportsman.

He has a shelf life.

And his has now expired.

He made good games, but they were very of the time. Time has moved on, but he has not.

I doubt he will give up, but he peaked with GOW and will probably do nothing of note until he retires.

generic-user-name1867d ago

I dunno, if there's space in modern gaming for Doom games to be successful then there's space for Jaffe.

Mr_Writer851866d ago

@generic

I'm yet to be convinced. Like I said sometimes these guys have 1 maybe 2 hit IPs in them and that's it.

Doom is a very different beast, it's a well established IP, and the original team have nothing to do with it.

Ironically, Romero is another example of one or two good ideas followed up by less than.

8bitRey1867d ago

IIRC That game was titled HEARTLAND

StormSailor1867d ago

In today's world where nothing can be said against China and everyone pretends to ignore the tyranny and the risk they pose to the world, I find it very difficult for a game like this to come out. Only an indie funded by donations from ordinary people

BlackIceJoe1866d ago

Sadly you're right and now more than ever do we need someone to be brave to stand up to the Chinese government. I just don't know who will be strong enough to do it.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1866d ago
jambola1868d ago

Oh thank God
I never could enjoy the games because I thought he might be
Now I can finally enjoy them

camel_toad1867d ago (Edited 1867d ago )

I'm happy to see that you didn't have to add the "/s" and everyone still seems to of gotten it. It gives me hope that our society (gamers at least) arent just drooling drones bumping into kitchen counters.

ApocalypseShadow1868d ago

Of course not. He was a lady's man and an equal opportunity @ss kicker.

If you were a God that butted in or a worshipper of those Gods, you received equal punishment from his blades to create social change. Was willing to die for his believes and come back(escaping hell was so fun) to continue his struggle.

That's a progressive man. Lol.

rainslacker1867d ago

He'd use anyone to further his own goals. Didnt matter who they were. He even killed people who tried to help him. For the most part, if any other character existed in the game, you could pretty confidently say he'd likely kill them. One of the few exceptions were the women in the sex scene mini game...which funny enough, was someone he killed in the new game.

ApocalypseShadow1867d ago

That's how you effect change rain. Kill everybody. Lol.

rainslacker1867d ago

Since the people in the US don't seem to be taking these stay at home orders seriously, the pandemic will probably do all that killing for us.

Saaleh1867d ago

Very proactive even in hell..

NecrumOddBoy1867d ago (Edited 1867d ago )

Can murder a god with his bare hands; takes time out of his day to f*ck another man's wife; rises to power; falls again

Kratos = Dwight Schrute

rainslacker1867d ago

Hes angry because he doesnt have a super desk

rainslacker1866d ago

Oh yeah...damn. Can't keep your jello stapler in a super desk. not enough refrigeration.

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50°

Gen Urobuchi Interview: Rusty Rabbit, Madoka Magica, And The Impact Of His Legacy

We sit down with the legendary Gen Urobuchi to talk about his furry indie adventure.

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thegamer.com
anast3h ago

I tried the demo. It isn't a bad game.

70°

Overwatch’s Success Has Been ‘Life-Changing’ For Zenyatta Voice Actor Feodor Chin

Feodor Chin discusses lending his voice to beloved gaming icons like Overwatch's Zenyatta and Lee Sin, and reflects on a diverse career across animation, film, and TV.

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cgmagonline.com
230°

Epic's Tim Sweeney shares first details about Unreal Engine 6

In an interview with Lex Fridman, Epic Games' Tim Sweeney shared the first details about the next version of Unreal Engine, Unreal Engine 6.

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dsogaming.com
Vits2d ago

It’s going to come packed with a bunch of flashy, buzzword-filled features that no one will actually be able to use without tanking performance. And just like every iteration of that engine before it, the excuse won’t be that it’s poorly optimized, no, it’s "forward-thinking" and the hardware just isn’t ready to keep up.

But since it saves studios from having to invest in developing their own internal engines, it’ll still end up being widely adopted across the industry.

VenomUK1d 18h ago

But will it have micro-stutters?

jznrpg1d 16h ago

PC exclusive feature

Vits1d 14h ago

But of course, even compatible with VRR, so you can really feel it.

rlow11d 14h ago

What cracks me up, is a lot of games utilize Unreal 5 and yet gaming has become more expensive. So all that BS that they shoveled out the last big reveal hasn’t translated into savings and if it has, then the industry is just plain ol’ lying.

1nsomniac1d 8h ago (Edited 1d 8h ago )

You mean like “going digital will bring down costs for customer dramatically. Because there will be no packaging/distribution.” Or maybe the “games going forward, will be cross-buy so you buy it once and will be able to access it across all platforms you own.” Or even the “if we increase the rrp it will mean we can get rid of micro transactions altogether.”

… I could be here all day quoting the lies from this industry.

abstractel1d 3h ago

Scope of games are way bigger than even just 10 years ago. Also keep in mind that Epic charges 5% for using their engine, Steam charges 30% just like Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft's stores. That's 35% of your revenue gone. Steam infuriates me because they don't have nearly the overhead console manufacturers have but they know people are unlikely to migrate to Epic Games Store (which charges 15% instead but has a shit storefront compared to steam). I love UE5 (for the most part) and it has pushed the envelope in ways that would be too long to list here. I think UE6 will push things further and make it possible for devs who don't have Rockstar resources to make amazing games even further. Time will tell.

barom1d ago

@1nsomniac Going digital did make things cheaper though. Games are dropping in prices at much faster rate than before and you’ll find plenty of sub $10 games on sale all the time, whereas before we had to wait for “greatest hits” label. Not to mention the indies basically have a levelled playing field now.

Pyrofire9523h ago

In the same way that you make all these assumptions and judgments on the future of UE, I see you making these assumptions and disregard any opinion you hold.
I see no value.
There is nothing constructive, just ire on what was and the willingness to believe nothing will get better.
You have given up on the possibility of joy and will not find it.

Profchaos1d 16h ago

Will it have games or just more decade long projects

IanTH1d 15h ago (Edited 1d 15h ago )

I find this odd. How am I expected to be excited with future promises when mired by the current legacy of UE5 and its myriad of technical shortcomings that have yet to be solved, even years after release.

Of course they should be working towards the future, but talking about it while UE5 still has many unsolved issues years after it has been the de facto standard? An engine used by so many, after so many years, with the backing of a company as grossly cash-rich as Epic shouldn't have so many problems still.

And the optics - even if not the truth of the matter - is you're putting time & resources into UE6 at the expense of UE5; your current product still needs quite a lot of attention. Unless the message is "we're abandoning UE5 because it's issues are systemic, and we hope UE6 can address that mess by moving on as quickly as possible".

IanTH1d 15h ago

I was attempting to reframe my comment as I watched more of the video, but the edit timed out. So here is a nearly completely different comment lol:

The number forks/fragmentations of UE5 feels like - from a laymen's perspective - a plausible explanation for why the engine, 3 years post release, has continued to have the same problems today as it did from day 1. Sounding as if they can't really find a way to cleanly coalesce each of the seven disparate variants, it seems hopes lie with being able to do so in the years leading up to the launch of UE6.

That said, if they have so many specific versions, then it does still kind of boggle the mind why issues, like compilation stutter, are still so pervasive. Seems in this specific scenario, the fragmentation could potentially be useful for at least helping to narrow down platform specific issues/solutions.

Clearly not the case, so hopefully they can make UE6 more unified to allow for more focused, streamline engine development.

PixelOmen1d 13h ago

Compilation stutter hasn't really been much of an issue for a couple years now if the devs know what they're doing. The problem is not all the devs know what they're doing in that regard. The real problem is traversal stutter. That is nearly universal.

IanTH1d 12h ago (Edited 1d 12h ago )

I sort of ended up mentally putting both of those under the category of compilation stutter, which is surely too reductive. I should have just said "stuttering/fametime issues in all their incarnations". Because while there are improvements to comp stutter, even games that force you through long, even 30 minutes shader compilation stages before playing haven't managed to fully solve that issue. Heck, even consoles, with fixed hardware that can ship with pre-compiled shaders can't even seem to fully escape it.

Traversal stutter is definitely its own issue, though, and has only been exacerbated thanks to older cards being held onto longer, and companies - primarily Nvidia - opting to put 8GB VRAM buffers into cards for way the eff too long. If you don't have the top of the line CPU and high-end, overclocked RAM kits - most of the PC playing population - to help shuffle that info between system memory and the GPU, you're more screwed than most. And Nvidia could help the issue as well, if they could improve their years-long issue with high driver overhead. Freeing up any extra CPU usage, especially for those with weaker CPUs, would really benefit.

I really hope these things can have some kind of solution found for them sooner than later. As it is, it just feels like games are taking two steps forwards and two steps back a lot of the time. Improved pixel quality (world detail, lighting, etc), at the expense of degraded image clarity (softer image, heavy reliance on upscaling, increased artificing) and smoothness/performance (stuttering/poor frametimes).

And the fact this stuff occurs, when dev times are longer than they've ever been, with budgets creeping ever higher, it's that much worse to feel like a lot of experiences just aren't wins across the board. Especially as deep into this generation as we are, and with as much time as devs & engine makers have had to iron out issues. It feels like we may need to pump the brakes on the pace of research into graphics tech and rebalance towards optimization. Image clarity (native res, especially) continuing to fall further, with poor frametimes for a myriad of reasons, as the generation goes on doesn't feel the best.

PixelOmen1d 11h ago

I'm not just talking about shader compilation stages. There are games like Expedition 33 that barely have any pre-compilation stages (in the background on the main menu) and have almost zero comp stutter. It has to do with the way you use shaders and make your materials. It still has some small traversal stutter though.

Noskypeno1d 14h ago

It feels too soon to talk about UE6. It feels like UE5 barely got tapped, only a handfull of games really showed its potential.

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