Internet Petition Brings Aliens: Colonial Marines Female Jarheads

Fanghawk

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Internet Petition Brings Aliens: Colonial Marines Female Jarheads

Playable, customizable female characters suit up for both singleplayer and multiplayer.

It's easy to doubt the significance and importance of online petitions, but every now and then they can make the voices of gamers heard. Such was the case when Gearbox producer Brian Burleson stated that Aliens: Colonial Marines' multiplayer modes would exclusively feature playable male characters. Aliens fans found this a little odd, considering that the series is among the most female-centered franchises of science-fiction, so <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118287-Petition-Demands-Female-Jarheads-in-Aliens-Colonial-Marines>a petition was quickly filled with almost 4000 signatures demanding that the oversight be corrected. The efforts have attracted the attention of Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford and Community Manager Chris Faylor, who revealed that Colonial Marines will not only have playable female marines in its competitive multiplayer mode, but in the co-operative story campaign as well.

"I am happy to be able to confirm that female marines are playable in competitive multiplayer as well as co-op, complete with customization elements," Faylor wrote to the petitioners. "This is something the team has been planning and working on for quite some time, and that work is finally at the point where we can confirm it will indeed ship with the game when it releases on February 12, 2013."

Pitchford has also confirmed that playable female characters are in the works, adding that Gearbox simply hadn't wanted to show anything off until it was in a finished state. The petition and subsequent media attention forced a change from this position, so fans are being treated to the early reveal of Private Jennifer Redding, a playable female character for the story campaign. Competitive multiplayer modes will also feature male and female characters, along with customizable armor modifications, weapon upgrades, and even the ability to write slogans and messages on your equipment.

It's easy to be skeptical of the claim that female characters were always planed for Aliens: Colonial Marines when <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/trailers/6122-Aliens-Colonial-Marines-Xenos-vs-Marines-Trailer>there is enough content to <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgSHqjwFcd8>create multiple trailers using <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7UBQouJBns>in-game footage while playable females are still in the design stage. Still, that's not nearly as important as the fact that female gamers can don armor and wield flamethrowers against Xenomorph hordes with their female avatars, just like Ripley would have wanted.

Sources: <a href=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-09-03-aliens-colonial-marines-will-feature-playable-female-characters-in-competitive-multiplayer-and-co-op>Eurogamer

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Rainboq

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Nov 19, 2009
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To all those people out there who don't like this idea, all I can say is:



This has me really excited, definitely going to look into this now.

captcha: The only way to be sure.

Is it just me, or does the captcha read the thread to look for appropriate things?
 

Bindal

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saintdane05 said:
SnootyEnglishman said:
It's nice to see that there is a female but where's Vasquez? This game needs more Vasquez!!!!
I tinks that he is dead at this time.
Doesn't to stop some other chars like Hicks and Hudson to appear in the Multiplayer...

But still, good news. They could have at least MENTIONED it earlier, to be honest. I didn't need a screenshot (but getting one would've been nice). Still, great to hear that females are in.
 

Rainboq

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saintdane05 said:
Rainboq said:
saintdane05 said:
SnootyEnglishman said:
It's nice to see that there is a female but where's Vasquez? This game needs more Vasquez!!!!
I thinks that she is dead at this time.
Fixed that for you!
Ah. Thanks!
No problem, you should probably take a second to proof read your comments, it just takes a second and its worth it to get your point across clearly.
 

Legion

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Oct 2, 2008
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Rainboq said:
To all those people out there who don't like this idea, all I can say is:
Did anybody actually not like the idea of female marines? Or was the issue with "gamers demanding new things"?

Not that I think gamers shouldn't be able to express the desire for things in games, it is not like developers have to include them. In this instance, it was just common sense to.

I imagine some people will see this as "caving into whiny fans", but then in my opinion, if developers want to treat their games as art, then they can't treat it as a marketable product as well.
 

Rainboq

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Legion said:
Rainboq said:
To all those people out there who don't like this idea, all I can say is:
Did anybody actually not like the idea of female marines? Or was the issue with "gamers demanding new things"?

Not that I think gamers shouldn't be able to express the desire for things in games, it is not like developers have to include them. In this instance, it was just common sense to.

I imagine some people will see this as "caving into whiny fans", but then in my opinion, if developers want to treat their games as art, then they can't treat it as a marketable product as well.
There will always be people who disagree with everything, even free healthcare for everyone. Some people just plain don't like the idea of women in potentially dangerous scenarios, its just a fact of life.
 

Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
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Rainboq said:
Legion said:
Rainboq said:
To all those people out there who don't like this idea, all I can say is:
Did anybody actually not like the idea of female marines? Or was the issue with "gamers demanding new things"?

Not that I think gamers shouldn't be able to express the desire for things in games, it is not like developers have to include them. In this instance, it was just common sense to.

I imagine some people will see this as "caving into whiny fans", but then in my opinion, if developers want to treat their games as art, then they can't treat it as a marketable product as well.
There will always be people who disagree with everything, even free healthcare for everyone. Some people just plain don't like the idea of women in potentially dangerous scenarios, its just a fact of life.
It happened on the Gears of War 2 forums before it came out. Some female gamers expressed the desire to have playable female characters and there was a huge response of "I don't want to chainsaw a girl" and other such statements.

I have always found the logic to be rather odd, because to me I can tell they aren't real, so the idea of killing a female character in a multuiplayer game doesn't mean any more to me than killing an alien or a cube.

If people really do see these characters as people, then the logic should really be "I don't want to chainsaw another person", but hey ho.
 

Rainboq

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Nov 19, 2009
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Legion said:
Rainboq said:
Legion said:
Rainboq said:
To all those people out there who don't like this idea, all I can say is:
Did anybody actually not like the idea of female marines? Or was the issue with "gamers demanding new things"?

Not that I think gamers shouldn't be able to express the desire for things in games, it is not like developers have to include them. In this instance, it was just common sense to.

I imagine some people will see this as "caving into whiny fans", but then in my opinion, if developers want to treat their games as art, then they can't treat it as a marketable product as well.
There will always be people who disagree with everything, even free healthcare for everyone. Some people just plain don't like the idea of women in potentially dangerous scenarios, its just a fact of life.
It happened on the Gears of War 2 forums before it came out. Some female gamers expressed the desire to have playable female characters and there was a huge response of "I don't want to chainsaw a girl" and other such statements.

I have always found the logic to be rather odd, because to me I can tell they aren't real, so the idea of killing a female character in a multuiplayer game doesn't mean any more to me than killing an alien or a cube.

If people really do see these characters as people, then the logic should really be "I don't want to chainsaw another person", but hey ho.
Its an irrational statement based on someones personal idiosyncrasies, logic need not apply. :p
 

Timnoldzim

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May 19, 2012
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I find it a little hard to swallow that they were planning this "for a long time" (considering how they clearly stated that there would not be any female marines, but this is still obviously a good thing, and I'm glad that it won't delay development yet again.

Also: playable Ripley and Vasquez in multiplayer, plooz.
 

VoidWanderer

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Sep 17, 2011
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It may be skeptic in me, but what are the chances they wanted to create false hype (and therefore media attention) by claiming that it would be males only, while secretly having female characters already developed?

Would a company deliberately cause a mild internet storm by not allowing female characters in an official sequel to a movie series that featured the same heroine in each one?

I would also say spoiler warning in this, but I assume you have watched the movies.

Never trust The Company.
 

ProtoChimp

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saintdane05 said:
SnootyEnglishman said:
It's nice to see that there is a female but where's Vasquez? This game needs more Vasquez!!!!
I tinks that she is dead at this time.
Ain't nothing stopping them from putting her in mp. Shit have you seen whet else they got?

Wait what the fuck why is the actual HBO symbol my capcha? Does it have a mind of its own? Is Deadalus fucking with me?
 

ShirowShirow

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Oct 14, 2010
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Hooray! Time to squash some bugs! As someone with a uterus! Vasquez wouldn't have died if she was a player character. Trufax.
 

Jhooud

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Nov 29, 2011
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Outstanding! My daughter's going to be stoked! Good to have more female characters to play.