Today’s WTF: Duke Nukem Forever Has a Sexist Take on CTF

The unicorn that is Duke Nukem Forever is coming out freakishly soon, and with it more and more information about the game is being trickled out. One of the newest bits of info concerns the multiplayer offering of Duke Nukem Forever and its take on the traditional mechanic for Capture the Flag. Instead of having an inanimate, emotionless flag (because you know, that’s for squares), DNF will repleace the traditional piece of fabric with a slappable woman. Wait, what?

In the recent issue of the Official Xbox Magazine (via a snippet from PC Gamer) Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford revealed that his team didn’t want to “shock” people, but rather wanted the CTF mode to fit with the game’s plot element of aliens capturing Earth’s women to breed an army. Apparently the terrified woman can get a little unruly during the match, and players will need to calm her down with a five-finger reassurance.

OK, wait, what? I get that Duke is not the kind of guy who will be leading a women’s rights rally, but I think I draw the line at abusing women, even if it is in a video game. I was really uncomfortable in Grand Theft Auto 4 when the game forced Niko Bellic to abduct and beat up a girl, so I can’t imagine finding this sort of thing “fun”. Besides the obvious ploy of using this for controversy, what’s wrong with a normal flag?

This news moves Duke Nukem Forever firmly down to my “do not want” list. Call me a sissy if you’d like, but I think gaming has enough problems without adding “condoning abuse” to the rap sheet. What do you guys think? Are you as disgusted as I am? Do you care?

Update: According to Randy Pitchford’s Twitter, we should all calm down because the slap takes place on the butt instead of the face. I’m still of the opinion that this is a stupid idea, though.

Source – PC Gamer

Weeping for Games Lost

Goldeneye Xbox Live ArcadeAs avid videogamers, we’ve all grown used to the hype machine. Every year it bares itself before us, offering up plenty of food for us to feast on, all the while luring us into its clutches. Kind of like that scene in Pan’s Labrynth. Only instead of the weird hand-eye dude it’s Master Chief. You know what I mean. Anyway, because of all this pumping of videogames that we’ve seen, we’ve grown equally used to the disappointment when some of these games somehow fall into the nether regions of gaming vaporware.

Taking a look at some recent entries into the ever-expanding catalog of games that won’t see the light of day, GamesRadar has posted a list of 19 Incredible Games You’ll Never Play. It really is astonishing to take a gander at the list, because I remember reading about a couple of the games in particular (Tiberium and Cipher Complex) as featured stories on magazines like Game Informer. In addition, there were a few of these titles that I didn’t know had been canned, such as Division 9.

I think the title on the list that makes me the most upset would have to be the Goldeneye HD remake that was going to release on XBox Live Arcade, which eventually got shelved. I also would have loved to play the FFXII spinoff mentioned, which is described as Helm’s Deep meets Chocobos. Um, yes please. And last, but certainly not least, Star Wars Battlefront III, a sequel to one of my favorite games of last generation.

Anyway, were you guys looking forward to any of the games on this list? Which of those titles do you think you would have wanted to play, and what games have been canceled in the past that really stung?

Source- GamesRadar

A Bloody History of Duke Nukem Forever

dnfIn case you hadn’t heard, the longest running gag in the video game industry, Duke Nukem Forever, finally had the nail put in its coffin in the last month or so. After a long, ridiculous history, the game that had been teased for nigh on 12 years by 3D Realms is now officially dead.

So, how exactly did we get to this point? And just why does it take 12 years to make a game that ultimately never gets released? Well, CVG has compiled the entire history of Duke Nukem Forever in one easy to read post, complete with some video documentation to make the ride more enjoyable.

I have to say, it’s fascinating to read about, and it makes me wonder just what the hell 3D Realms was even doing all that time. One other cool thing is that they do have a leaked video of Duke Nukem Forever gameplay on there as well. What do you guys think? Does it look like it could have been worth the wait?

Source- CVG