Go Fanboy - Everyone Has A Favorite

Videogames have long been a male-dominated hobby despite the fact that study after study shows a growing number of gamers are actually female. So why then is it that we see one horrible game after another being tailored to male gamers? We’re not talking about the action-packed warfare of Call of Duty and Gears of War. We’re not even looking in the direction of the intense and bloody goodness of God of War. Instead we’re looking at the shovelware that’s been heaved onto our game machines because developers have cloaked horrible gameplay behind glossy girls.

That’s right folks – even with a growing number of gamers being women, it appears that game companies still feel they can push out sexist garbage to male gamers when they need a quick buck. So we’re looking at the worst games to come from developers and publishers that try to use scantily-clad female characters in order to divert our attention from the thing that matters most – gameplay. So join us as we run down these horrible foot notes in the history of video gaming.

Dead or Alive Xtreme/Paradise Spin-Off
When it comes to well-known fighters that offer strategic gameplay mixed with fast animations and flashy graphics, Dead or Alive usually jumps to the front of most gamer’s minds. But the name Dead or Alive is also known for another thing – boobs. Tecmo decided to use DoA’s other famous attribute to their advantage and published craptacular titles like Xtreme Beach Volleyball and Paradise in order to parade the characters around in bikinis. Sadly, based on the sales at least, it worked.

Tomb Raider Series (After Tomb Raider 2)
Lara Croft was, and in many cases still is known as one of the most famous female characters in gaming. The first two games in the series were landmark titles and won over fans of the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation. After the second game though, Eidos decided to start churning out game after game relying more on sexing up the player model than adding new features. So while Lara’s butt and chest got rounder, we kept flipping boring switches. Now Eidos is owned by Square Enix and the hope is that Lara can be saved. We’ll know soon enough.

X Blades
Holy crap-fest Batman. This SouthPeak (and Ubisoft in Japan) published blunder was designed for the soul purpose of having a sexy heroine in a thong. The game was panned by critics everywhere immediately and hit the bargain bins almost overnight. Now this isn’t really even that rare considering most games with a SouthPeak logo flop at retail, but the blatant use of thongs and bikins in an “action” game made the whole thing that much worse.

.