Vanillaware’s latest game, Dragon’s Crown seems to be generating some minor “controversy” online thanks to one prudish writer-type who’s “ashamed” to play the game in public because he thinks George Kamitani’s artwork is sexist based on how one character looks (see below) and nothing else. Yikes. For starters, while SOME of the heroines in his games may be exceptionally curvy (as in they make Christina Hendricks look like Twiggy), they’re not just lounging around falling out of their tops or waiting to be rescued by some lantern-jawed dude in shiny armor at all.
Kamitani’s larger than life gals do a damn good job at kicking all sorts of ass all around the screen, and I’d gather that the character in question will see her fair share of real-life cosplayers who like the outfit and Kamitani’s singularly pneumatic art style. As you can see here, some of the guys in Dragon’s Crown are exceptionally beefy (and even less dressed in some cases). Granted, I’m quite sure the audience for this will be primarily male, but I can recall quite a few gals and guys into Vanillaware’s excellent beat ’em ups buying the glorious Odin Sphere and/or Muramasa: The Demon Blade and not whining about boob size as an issue. Not to mention that it’s kind of foolish to fault an artist’s work because you don’t grasp his style… Continue reading
Hey, speaking of creeps, prepare to get a whole caseload of them in a week’s time when 
One person who’s very probably having an ABSOLUTELY fine Monday is Game Director Swery 65. I’d bet he’s pretty much sitting around in a bar or coffee shop somewhere checking his email, having a(nother) tasty burger and beverage combo while updating his Facebook page with a quick post or Instagram photo (or both) and just hanging out enjoying himself while he waits patiently for the first reviews to roll in. I’d say he’s got nothing to fear in terms of too many gamers and editor-types NOT liking the game, as it’s already gone through that wringer once and is now seen as a genre classic by many who fell under its strange spell…
Well, there goes the rest of the week, folks. I walk in from working on a few posts and there’s a copy of Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen waiting for me. Nice. Hmmm… I see from the included Fact Sheet that loading up that old save I have will net me a cool 100,000 Rift Points, a nice set of gear and some other fun stuff, so I’m going to have to NOT pass up that chance to score all those goodies and see what this “expansion” packs on that disc. I say “expansion” because it’s a lot more than a simple add-on and nope, you don’t need the first game at all to play this one.
Hmmm… I was wondering earlier today if Game Director Swery 65 actually drives a car in Japan or is he a public transportation sort of guy? Not that it matters, mind you – it’s just that the driving mechanics in the first version of the game were notoriously wonky to some critics and gamers. Granted, once you got used to them, they weren’t that bad. I actually kind of think this was part of the plan, as the game plays with its players on a few core levels from its visual style to smashing expectations of what a lead character in a game can be. York’s certainly a memorable main character loads of new players won’t soon forget. Of course, this just means more well-dressed cosplayers at the next big convention all York-ing it up and making Swery smile even more so than usual…
I can only think of a very few games that are played from the perspective of children and all of them are indie-made sleepers. In addition to a few RPG Maker games, there’s 
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 