This is pretty cool, if a bit odd: Bungie are canvassing ladies to see if they'd like a female-voiced Spartan in Halo 3. Odd because adding in a female-voice option is probably only a few hours' work, plus a voice actor. Really - why the fuss, why not just do it anyway, like Quake 3 did back in '99?
However, points for being funny:
Hey, ladies. Yeah, I’m talking to you, ladies. It has come to my attention that a significant chunk of our playership is female. I myself am constantly pooned and then humped by ladies. That is not sexy like it sounds, btw. It’s humiliating. Anyway, one of the things we’re looking at for Halo 3 multiplayer (Master Chief is all man) is adding a female voice to the Spartan character should you choose it as part of your custom character.
Significant chunk! I wonder what the actual percentage is? I'm going to guess: 16%. Sounds low, but when you think about it for a bit, is indeed significant.
If you girls think it would be cool, then comment in the forums, spam me with PMs or start a petition on your own sites and forums. Then we’ll have to listen. If you think it’s pointless and patronizing and you’re happy just being a dude, then say so.
If you ARE a dude, we don’t care what you think, because we’re not asking you. Anyone who says anything stupid or sexist in the discussion forum will be megabanned.
Heh.
Bungie dudes - go for it. And don't just do one, do many. Also, do neutral ones. Like Bones. Bones had a death rattle taunt. Bones was the best.
I'm amazed it took them this long to think about it... why are they even asking? This is a no-brainer.
Posted by: bob | November 15, 2006 at 23:06
Significant chunk? Yeah, I'd say 1/2 the market is pretty significant. I'm all for the female voice so long as they don't make it the sleazy sex-object-y kind of voice I've come to expect from the industry.
Posted by: Aki | November 16, 2006 at 01:35
Female voicing? Why don't they go further and bring in female characters in the singleplayer? It's understandable not to have the main character as a female, as they've already established him as a male, but 117 isn't the only Spartan around, and they've had female Spartans before (from the Fall of Reach book, and I think First Strike - if I remember correctly her name was Kelly).
That's assuming they let you meet any of the other Spartans throughout H3. But it'd kind of suck to have a weird biased representation.
And yeah, why are they asking, why dont they just do it? The cost probably isn't astoundingly high (they'll probably just grab someone from inside the office anyways), and they could have already done it by now so I don't see how time is an issue. If nobody likes it, they just wont use it.
Unless they fear reprisal ¬_¬
Posted by: Andy`` | November 16, 2006 at 10:21
Dead or Alive 4 has an unlockable female spartan. She doesn't look any different from Master Chief (surprising considering the, uh, attributes of other female characters of that game), but has a female voice. Maybe they could use that same actress.
Posted by: Pag | November 16, 2006 at 14:28
A lot of people are wondering why women have to petition them to include a female voice actor for a Spartan.
Then again, the fact that Bungie staff use "poon" (according to Wikipedia, vulgar slang for "vagina") in their request for women to petition... It really shows how out of touch they are with women in general, much less women gamers.
Posted by: Brinstar | November 17, 2006 at 15:21
""poon" (according to Wikipedia, vulgar slang for "vagina")"
Erm, yes, way to inflate a pointless coincidence. They were using it as a derivitive of "own" (like "pwn"), it's just one of the less known and less used variants. The fact that they used it and it also happens to be the short version of a rude word doesn't mean anything.
For them to have used that word knowingly in an offensive way, they wouldn't have to be out of touch with women, they'd need to be out of touch with the whole damn world.
Posted by: Andy`` | November 17, 2006 at 17:50
Yeah, you're right, because the way the rest of the post was written wasn't patronising in the least, either.
Posted by: Brinstar | November 17, 2006 at 20:17
Given the content produced by most game companies, and the attitudes of various people I know involved in the game industry, I always assume that most game companies are characterized by a level of sexism that borders on misogyny. Bungie really hasn't done anything to change my mind in that regard.
Posted by: bob | November 17, 2006 at 21:34