I have nothing against people finding video game characters attractive. If you are going to kick alien/zombie/alien-zombie ass then it is better to have a hot female ass to look at while you do it. And while a spate of games recently have used sex to sell and not sold very well, i would argue that this was not the failure of sex, but rather the effectiveness of places like destructoid at spreading the news about how mediocre these games are.

Wet would be no better if the main character was a Quasimodo look-alike. Red alert 3 would not have sold more if all the eye candy was replaced by equally good, ugly actors. Tomb raider would have been no more meaningful if Laura was replaced by Nathan Drake.

It isn't just the pulpy, quick, dirty thrill games which are improved by attractive characters. Half life 2 would have been a lot less effective at getting us to connect with Alyx Vance had she not been so beautiful (in that Rashida Jones, I like a lot of milk in my hot coffee, kinda way). Sure, she has a fantastically crafted fun personality that you cant help but adore but... if she looked like one of the head crabs I wouldn’t have cared so much when (insert spoiler of your own choice here) happened.

To anyone who says this damages the image of games as a legitimate art form I offer the example of classical music, where it was realised long ago that hot chicks with nice assets were performing the same old music just as well AND they were nice to look at. People don’t go around bemoaning the lack of ugly musicians or Hollywood actresses.

So do not think for a second that I don’t care for the upcoming boyonetta game because I just don’t think beauty improves a game. I don’t care for it because all the associated advertising and blogging is about how boyonetta is so bloody beautiful, and if that is its one selling point then I would have expected something better than the chicken legged, pin headed, gangly thing with a stupid haircut excuse for a sex object.