ESRB Dishes on Dragon Age 2 Sex

[The Stonker]

Bioware tells stories.

Stories can and do at times have sex in them, because people in the real world have sex and it's something they can relate to.

It's the same as a book or a movie depicting sex in it's story. It's usually used to add to the world or the story.

Movies show real people.

Books use imagination.

Sex in the uncanny valley, though, is just strange. That's the only reason I don't enjoy sex scenes in games.

What if it serves a purpose in the story?

 

[LightspeedJack]

The Fox news quip made this worth reading.

It's true though in a couple of months fox news will have the headline: "WORST PORN EVER AND YOUR CHILDREN ARE WATHCING IT!!!"

 

[Jamous]

Ah Bioware you masterful trolls

I choose you Fox News! Fox News used Controversy... It wasn't very effective

Bioware used Free Publicity... It's super effective!

Fox News fainted

Masterfully done, good sir.
OT: They're probably doing it to piss off people who get in a flap about this sort of stuff, and also it probably helps sales to some people.

 

[Doog0AD]

I've never really understood the appeal of sex scenes in videogames but somebody must like them because BioWare [http://www.bioware.com] keeps doing them, over and over and over again. Which leads me to wonder: why is it always about sex with you, anyway?

That's because Bioware couldn't make a great RPG if their lives depended on it. Remember Planescape: Torment? Shit was so great, now it's all about David Gaider and his obsession with anal sex.

Planescape was Black Isle, though.

And truth be told, I think it's just because BioWare likes to troll mainstream news outlets.

What my only true gripe with sex scenes in BioWare games is that they usually don't amount to anything. It's hard to pull off character development with mister , but it would be nice to see your love interest changing as a result, not just looking at you with rose tinted goggles. A game that (sorta) gets this right (there's romance, but not sex involved, and if there is, it's not graphic) is Persona 4. With fear of beating the now-zombified horse of that game, your love interest in that game gets an evolved Persona, usually a more powerful-looking version of their existing one. This means that a romance has a tangible impact on gameplay. The sex scenes in a BioWare game, at least for me, just seem to be very out of place.

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

I don't think it's a huge appeal on sex perse. It's just something that can happen sometimes. You CAN engage in sex or you can just play the main quest. if it was a mandatory part of the game, then it would be a bit of a bigger story, but it's background stuff. Meh I say. MEH!

 

[Hatchet90]

Heavy Rain had actual nudity.... not much else to say there except there wasn't a lick of controversy towards that. You were also told to strip at gunpoint so... wtf?

 

[samsonguy920]

Andy would you quit screaming and shaking your walker at those kids? They are just trying to have fun.
And as long as it doesn't feel like it is just tacked on (which it might without intention), then it is all good. It is a mature game.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Bioware tells stories.

Stories can and do at times have sex in them, because people in the real world have sex and it's something they can relate to.

It's the same as a book or a movie depicting sex in it's story. It's usually used to add to the world or the story.

Movies show real people.

Books use imagination.

Sex in the uncanny valley, though, is just strange. That's the only reason I don't enjoy sex scenes in games.

What if it serves a purpose in the story?

Never said it didn't, and never said they shouldn't exist. My basic point is "that's why I'd prefer a fade-to-black".

Bioware tells stories.

Stories can and do at times have sex in them, because people in the real world have sex and it's something they can relate to.

It's the same as a book or a movie depicting sex in it's story. It's usually used to add to the world or the story.

Movies show real people.

Books use imagination.

Sex in the uncanny valley, though, is just strange. That's the only reason I don't enjoy sex scenes in games.

I completely understand that you probably in some form find them distasteful. That is why they are optional to the story. You do not need to seek the ingame relationship if you don't wish to, but to say they are wrong or should not be in there, well that is just crazy.

The thing I like about having them in the game is that they can offer a depth to the story if I so choose to pursue that in the game. I remember in Mass Effect 2 I pursued that girl who is always covered completely in that suit in hopes of seeing what they look like underneath. I didn't, but it added a strange dimension and depth to story that made it feel all the more real.

I've gone after the relationships in Mass Effect 1 and 2 and, I have to say, they feel so forced and awkward that although it added to the overall story in a good way, the events themselves just felt wrong. And I'm not even talking about pixelated side-boob.

I've never liked Bioware's romance writing. I feel like they don't know how to portray that stuff correctly. I can relate to the connection between Monkey and Trip in Enslaved better. Or, hell, even John Marston and Bonnie in RDR, and that never even goes anywhere

Mass Effect 1's sex scene really does feel like shitty porn to me. 2's was better, but only in the fact that it didn't feel like shitty porn, but instead like a stupid Hollywood "romance", which, and let's be honest here, is just bumping uglies.

(For the record, in 1, I've gone for both Ashley and Liara, while in 2 I went for Miranda. And I've never seen the way the romances play out in Dragon Age, that game can barely hold my interest.)

 

[etempest]

It think this can also shine light.

In the US, we love violence but sex is Taboo.
In Europe, sex is fine / natural but too much violence is a Taboo.

I think part of it a social / cultural thing.

Just mentioning the topic of sex education in school all sorts of heated debate.

 

[Optimystic]

Same sex confirmed! YES!!!!

*snip*

Ah Bioware you masterful trolls

I choose you Fox News! Fox News used Controversy... It wasn't very effective

Bioware used Free Publicity... It's super effective!

Fox News fainted

I love both of you so much.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

uh... what is the other f-word?
English is not my native tongue, can someone help me out here? ;-)

Be-Have, man! XD

This is what we're talking about. Not necessarily in that order.

what Came first the Fellatio or the Decapitation? X)

*sigh* There goes my Morpheus......I was so close too.

 

[Outright Villainy]

"the camera pans out to the rest of the room"

Maybe it's supposed to be first person veiw and your character is desperately trying to find of vase or something to focus on

[sub]"yep good vase... keep thinking about the vase..."[/sub]

Was that... a Mad Men reference?

[sub]That bit was really depressing...[/sub]

 

[Alon Shechter]

uh... what is the other f-word?
English is not my native tongue, can someone help me out here? ;-)

Fellatio.

Oh, ok... that is disapointing, I tought I would learn another swearword...

But why not?
YOU'RE SUCH A FELLATIO, DUDE!

Anyways,
Something's telling me Faux News aren't gonna let this pass.

 

[Outright Villainy]

"the camera pans out to the rest of the room"

Maybe it's supposed to be first person veiw and your character is desperately trying to find of vase or something to focus on

[sub]"yep good vase... keep thinking about the vase..."[/sub]

Was that... a Mad Men reference?

[sub]That bit was really depressing...[/sub]

No it wasn't but i do watch the show and i have no idea which bit you mean, remind me so i can bask in the glory of a shared reference.

It was season 2, when joan brought her husband to the office, and... yeah.

I want him to die.

 

[4173]

I don't have strong feelings about sex scenes in the pursuit of in game romances. I wouldn't miss them if they were gone, but I do enjoy having romance options.

I'm not too thrilled with plot based romance scenes though. The thing at the beginning of AC:Brotherhood with Caterina was really annoying.

 

[Zero=Interrupt]

It think this can also shine light.

In the US, we love violence but sex is Taboo.
In Europe, sex is fine / natural but too much violence is a Taboo.

In Japan they apparently love sex and violence. It's like the US and Europe combined! Now if only we can get them to make video ga- ooooh right.

Seriously, Bioware, don't do any more disappointing sex scenes until your writing improves. The Dragon Age franchise has enough problems with story, dialogue, and art direction for you to get into the finer points of people bumping their unmentionables.

 

[BioHazardMan]

Sexual relationships between characters makes the story more believable, I'm all for it. Of course Fox is going to piss and moan when it's already for people over 17.