Sega Puts Bayonetta 2 in Stasis

[cgentero]

https://twitter.com/#!/PG_inaba/status/197167942587252736

I don't think its cancelled.

 

[LilithSlave]

You know, I can't say I will miss Bayonetta.

It just screamed "women have to be sexy in the gaming industry in order to be badass."

No thank you.

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

You know, I can't say I will miss Bayonetta.

It just screamed "women have to be sexy in the gaming industry in order to be badass."

No thank you.

What annoyed me was that it acted like it was aiming to be a parody, while simultaneously reaping the benefits of and perpetuating the very thing it was parodying.

And then you get people like MovieBob who claim Bayonetta is a feminist icon just because she's sexually dominant...as though being sexually submissive makes a woman weak and just there to please men. He thinks the fact that the lollipops Bayonetta sucks on are very tiny makes her somehow not designed to be wish fulfillment, apparently unaware of the fact that "humiliation" is a popular service offered by dominatrices. He also said that she doesn't move like a stripper, she moves like a dancer! A dancer who happens to remove her clothes and spread her legs constantly...in other words...a stripper.

Yeah, that was when I kind of stopped liking MovieBob. That and his Other M review. He has some weird ideas on female empowerment.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

I'm not sure what you're on about, I have several female friends who actually adore Bayonetta both as a game and as a character. They fully agree that she is an icon of female power. And evidence that you can be sexy without being slutty. She is sexy and aware of it, but she never puts out, and she shows more than once that she needs no man to help her out.

That is what sets her apart from the DoA cast, basically.

 

[Swyftstar]

You know, I can't say I will miss Bayonetta.

It just screamed "women have to be sexy in the gaming industry in order to be badass."

No thank you.

This did in fact turn off a lot of people including a friend of mine. Once he played it though, he was hooked. It was a really fun game with some nice boss fights, enemies that you actually had to learn how to fight and combos that you actually wanted to use. The story and characters were totally "Dafuq?" but if you could get past that it was a great game. So it totally makes sense that Sega would put a hold on what was probably their best game in decades. I say this as an old school Sega fanboy, Just die already! Seeing you just hanging on with brief glimpses of coming around is more painful than a clean death would be.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Yeah, I'm not going to lose any sleep over this.

The combat was swanky, but everything else was pretty much bloated nonsense (the bad kind) with a lot of cut corners. Also, every character in it was annoying as fuck.

 

[4173]

You know, I can't say I will miss Bayonetta.

It just screamed "women have to be sexy in the gaming industry in order to be badass."

No thank you.

What annoyed me was that it acted like it was aiming to be a parody, while simultaneously reaping the benefits of and perpetuating the very thing it was parodying.

And then you get people like MovieBob who claim Bayonetta is a feminist icon just because she's sexually dominant...as though being sexually submissive makes a woman weak and just there to please men. He thinks the fact that the lollipops Bayonetta sucks on are very tiny makes her somehow not designed to be wish fulfillment, apparently unaware of the fact that "humiliation" is a popular service offered by dominatrices. He also said that she doesn't move like a stripper, she moves like a dancer! A dancer who happens to remove her clothes and spread her legs constantly...in other words...a stripper.

Yeah, that was when I kind of stopped liking MovieBob. That and his Other M review. He has some weird ideas on female empowerment.

Tastes vary of course, but I thought it was quite successful as a satire, because it wasn't very sexy (in the sense of arousing/hot).

 

[Therumancer]

Bayonetta was an interesting game, I liked it more than I thought I would.

That said, having just finished listening to Bob's "Big Picture" video for this week, I have gaming politics on my mind, and I wouldn't be surprised if finances have less to do with it than you might think.

Bayonetta was actually pretty well received, it didn't have majority dislike, just a lot of vocal people who like to QQ about the artwork of women in fantasy and games like the DOA franchise who jumped on this game as well. It rated well, sold really well in Japan apparently, and made money internationally. A sequel would be safe money under most circumstances.

However a second term by Obama might be a very unfriendly enviroment for any kind of video game with potentially touchy content. He won't have to worry about re-election, and his still carrying around Hillary with him apparently. Video games are one of his favorite scapegoats to avoid other issues when discussing everything from social policy to children's health. The president can't set policy but he CAN influance it, and a second term of Obama will have him looking to set down a legacy, and going after video games are a "safe" target for him to try and do so.

So basically I wouldn't be surprised if Sega and other publishers are laying low with projects like this until theyknow what is going to happen. Elections favor the incumbant, so the odds are things could go badly for a game like this.

If Mitt wins, you'll probably see this project and others picked up again by coincidence. Not so much because Mitt is some bastion of tolerance for extreme and fringe media, but being in his first term he won't be willing to throw down on issues like that in a big way for four years at least.

All I can say is "lol conspiracy theories."

Not really applicable here. A conspiricy theory requires a large group of people to be working covertly towards a specific end that would otherwise be opposed. What I'm saying isn't really covert as Obama and Hillary have been quite public on using video games as a scapegoat:

Obama:

http://www.myce.com/news/pres-obama-continues-anti-video-game-crusade-20004/

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/02/20/obama-campaign-theme-video-games-as-metaphor-for-underachievement

Hillary's most famous stance:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/hillary-clinton-to-take-on-rockstar-over-hot-coffee-6129021


That's just the tip of the iceberg if you look at it. As this can be found easily it's not "conspiricy" material. I just didn't post links because I've already covered this in detail in other posts (which is usually why I don't bother).

My point is that someone who is actually looking at the facts, and whose business is video games, might be wary about releasing a game as sexually charged and violent as Bayonetta with this administration entering it's second term given their use of the industry as a whipping boy. Given that Bayonetta arguably went further than "Hot Coffee" did, and didn't need it's content to be unlocked with mods or work arounds (by this I look at certain lesbian bondage executions as an example), a proper sequel that pushes things even further probably has the industry concerned.

Right now it seems that the left wing likes to claim anything negative about Obama and his camp is a "conspiricy theory" even when the guy is on record. Let's be blunt, the guy is not an especially good president, and what little agenda he has is as wonky as can be. For the first term he was relatively harmless as he had to be concerned about re-election, but when it comes to a second term you have to be concerned about all the insanity the guy has been spouting over the last four years. His supporters in the media generally aren't focusing on things that might negatively impact his campaign, but that doesn't mean it's a conspiricy or isn't out there.

To put this into perspective, Obama is someone who is after the youth vote. Needless to say you aren't seeing his attitude about video games, and blaming them for "youth under achievement" and similar things that are far more complicated coming out in the media very often, especially not where that youth vote might notice. I doubt many young adults would want to support a censor like this if they knew what his attitudes actually are, not to mention Hillary playing Robin to his Batman. I doubt many young adults right now (due to the passage of years) even know what role Hillary played in "Hot Coffee", and some just now voting might not even be aware of that entire situation. Someone whose business is in video games however has to consider this.

I'll also go so far as to say that right now the sheer amount of Obama support on forums like this one show a high degree of ignorance, since he is very much the anti-video game cantidate, not because Romney is a huge supporter of video games, but because Obama is in a position where he's likely to be able to do something if he's re-elected. I blame ignorance rather than any kind of conspiricy theory... people who really don't pay attention, check the facts, or remember what they already knew when it's important. As a gamer, or just someone involved in attached aspects of fandom, getting Obama and his administration out before a second term should be the #1 priority. Of course to be fair we'd probably want Mitt out before a second term as well.

 

[wooty]

I cant think of anything else to say, so I'll let this video say everything for me.

 

[krychek57]

being one of the few people that did not care for the first one, I see no loss here.

i thinks its the majority that didn't like it so I'm part of the small group that did.

No, he was in the minority. I've heard a lot more praise for the game than criticism. It was an awesome game (IMO, the best game of this console generation) and it needs to LIVE!

I absolutely LOVED the game ^_^ It's too bad Sega doesn't want my money :-/

 

[Something Amyss]

Not really applicable here. A conspiricy theory requires a large group of people to be working covertly towards a specific end that would otherwise be opposed. What I'm saying isn't really covert as Obama and Hillary have been quite public on using video games as a scapegoat:

And you follow up with a bunch of links one needs to piece together some hidden truth, though the links themselves hardly support anything close to that which is alleged.

In other words: Conspiracy theory.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Oh sadface

Bayonetta was fucking amazing, y'know when Yahtzee first called it "ironic sexy" I was sceptical to say the least but when I actually played it, it is actual ironic sexiness pulled off amazingly well...

Like she's so ridiculously sexy and does everything in such an overtly sexual manner she ceases to be properly attactive around level 3. The fuck does that work?! Go and watch MovieBob's Game Overthinker episode on Bayonetta, one of the few times he knows what he's talking about when it comes to games.


And damn SEGA, didn't they pull this with Alpha Protocol 2 as well? FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFuck you!

 

[GeorgW]

I never played it, but it did seem really interesting. It's too bad, I would have probably tried the sequel.

 

[verdant monkai]

DAMNIT Bayonetta is one of my favourite Asian characters (along with Fukuyama from Girls Bravo), I loved her game sure the combat was easy and there was only one song, but her character and the visuals made it awesome.

I would not want the task of writing Bayonetta 2 however, because she has killed what is effectively God. There is not much more to do after you do that...

 

[Vuirneen]

Add me to the list that loved Bayonetta, but didn't know there was a sequel in it works. I was proud to complete my first play through on Easy, not Very Easy mode. Went straight onto Normal mode when it unlocked.

Hated the plane fight. It was obnoxiously hard.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Bayonetta was an interesting game, I liked it more than I thought I would.

That said, having just finished listening to Bob's "Big Picture" video for this week, I have gaming politics on my mind, and I wouldn't be surprised if finances have less to do with it than you might think.

Bayonetta was actually pretty well received, it didn't have majority dislike, just a lot of vocal people who like to QQ about the artwork of women in fantasy and games like the DOA franchise who jumped on this game as well. It rated well, sold really well in Japan apparently, and made money internationally. A sequel would be safe money under most circumstances.

However a second term by Obama might be a very unfriendly enviroment for any kind of video game with potentially touchy content. He won't have to worry about re-election, and his still carrying around Hillary with him apparently. Video games are one of his favorite scapegoats to avoid other issues when discussing everything from social policy to children's health. The president can't set policy but he CAN influance it, and a second term of Obama will have him looking to set down a legacy, and going after video games are a "safe" target for him to try and do so.

So basically I wouldn't be surprised if Sega and other publishers are laying low with projects like this until theyknow what is going to happen. Elections favor the incumbant, so the odds are things could go badly for a game like this.

If Mitt wins, you'll probably see this project and others picked up again by coincidence. Not so much because Mitt is some bastion of tolerance for extreme and fringe media, but being in his first term he won't be willing to throw down on issues like that in a big way for four years at least.

Yeah, that's pretty much complete horseshit, sorry. This is straight up about money, as it usually is with Sega.

Edit: Also, if you think that people in either camp (Obama or Romney) are even aware of Bayonetta's existence, you're on crack. Metaphorically speaking. If a game is going to be their whipping boy, they're going to choose one that has general name recognition in the public - a Call of Duty, or Grand Theft Auto. Something where they can talk about "how many kids are playing it" and how it's more accessible than movies. Bayonetta, tiny little game that it is, doesn't further their cause in any way.

 

[The Wooster]

However a second term by Obama might be a very unfriendly enviroment for any kind of video game with potentially touchy content. He won't have to worry about re-election, and his still carrying around Hillary with him apparently. Video games are one of his favorite scapegoats to avoid other issues when discussing everything from social policy to children's health. The president can't set policy but he CAN influance it, and a second term of Obama will have him looking to set down a legacy, and going after video games are a "safe" target for him to try and do so.

So basically I wouldn't be surprised if Sega and other publishers are laying low with projects like this until theyknow what is going to happen. Elections favor the incumbant, so the odds are things could go badly for a game like this.

If Mitt wins, you'll probably see this project and others picked up again by coincidence. Not so much because Mitt is some bastion of tolerance for extreme and fringe media, but being in his first term he won't be willing to throw down on issues like that in a big way for four years at least.

You're blaming Obama for Bayonetta 2 being put on hold?

 

[Swyftstar]

He won't have to worry about re-election, and his still carrying around Hillary with him apparently.

The president can't set policy but he CAN influance it, and a second term of Obama will have him looking to set down a legacy, and going after video games are a "safe" target for him to try and do so.

If he won't have to worry about re-election why would he need a "safe" target to try and set down a legacy with? Not really following your logic here friend.

 

[Evilsanta]

Nooo! Sega why do you this?! Why have you abandoned me Jubileus God?!

Oh, yeah...Getting punched into the sun might have something to do with that.

OT: Well that sucks. But I can't stop to think of what it would be about. I mean after punching god into the sun I don't think there is much more do with Bayonetta.

Maybe if she had to battle the forces of hell to free her from the whole "Spend your afterlife in hell for witch powers".