Yeah, the Mirror's Edge protagonist also came to mind. The interesting thing is that both Chell and Faith are first person view, so maybe they were designed to be easier to relate to by both genders. I think guys are not weirded out by playing as them, but I wonder if it would raise some eyebrows if they had to pretend to D-cup bikini model vavavoom.
Calling Chell a good female character is a little odd to me. Not that she isn't better than most female characters in games. It's sort of like calling Gordon Freeman a good character. They aren't they're mostly just empty shells with some light characterization.
Faith and Alyx are pretty good though, and thinking about it the old D&D sims like Baldurs Gate the female characters are pretty good. If for nothing else all the characters are decent in them and they don't really have many chances to chainmail bikini it up.
The twins from FFIV are the first to come to mind for me. Also, @gomi: I for one would find it more difficult to play as a D-cup bikini modell vavavoom than Chell. Chell had a sexual neutrality to her that makes being weirded out by playing as her comprable to women being weirded out playing Half-Life. Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball on the other hand is very awkward.
Here's a trick I want guys to try. Do you ever imagine what it would be like to be different video game characters?
Fuck no. I don't want to imagine what it's like to be a video game character. All the good ones are in games where they can die!
I want to be the party leader who makes brave decisions and is interesting.
So play that one Fire Emblem game where you play as the sword-carrying princess leading her forces through hostile territory to save her brother and her country from hellish forces.
Also, Chell is like Freeman. Gender is utterly irrelevant in the entire game. "Dr. Freeman" will still be "Dr. Freeman" if the doc was a woman. Valve's games are more designed to address the player than whatever character. Glados only uses "you", and with Chell being such a completely empty husk, the only you that is there is the player. If Chell was a guy, nothing would be different. Except maybe the porn.
Sure the protagonists are always bland, customizable, personality-less shells, but I always respected the way Bethesda did female character design. The women in Elders Scrolls and Fallout actually looked like they were dressed for living in an egalitarian kingdom/apocalyptic wasteland.
Sure the protagonists are always bland, customizable, personality-less shells, but I always respected the way Bethesda did female character design. The women in Elders Scrolls and Fallout actually looked like they were dressed for living in an egalitarian kingdom/apocalyptic wasteland.
Yeah I was about to mention Elder Scrolls. I like how whether you are male or female doesn't affect anything (other than minor dialogue), they can both do the same badass things. Also the quests seem to have an even mix of male and female characters. Female leader of the Dark Brotherhood = totally awesome.
FYI: You can't get all the quests as either a male or female in Morrowind. There is one Kajiit who will only give quests to a guy and a human who only gives quests to a woman.
The blank slates are better than the status quo, certainly, but I don't know if it's necessarily praise-worthy just to have that. Bethesda does put a lot of effort into storytelling at least, so there are a lot of NPCs across genders that are valid individually. But as far as protagonists go, it's not necessarily going to balance out all the Marcus Fenix and Kratos testosterone in the room.
FYI: You can't get all the quests as either a male or female in Morrowind. There is one Kajiit who will only give quests to a guy and a human who only gives quests to a woman.
Which ones are those? I was thinking about replaying Morrowind and I'm curious, not sure which kind of character I wanna make yet. I could go look it up but I'm lazy. There is a character in Shivering Isles that won't let you do their quest if you're a Khajit, totally racist. My poor S'pot wanted that quest.
Anyway forgot to mention, some of the female armor is pretty skanky in Skyrim and Oblivion, so I guess that's a minus point. Then again, I like getting the skanky armor because I think it looks cool, and I'm a girl. :-P At least they are pretty good about having female leaders, membership in guilds, bandits, stuff like that.
Anyway forgot to mention, some of the female armor is pretty skanky in Skyrim and Oblivion, so I guess that's a minus point. Then again, I like getting the skanky armor because I think it looks cool, and I'm a girl. :-P At least they are pretty good about having female leaders, membership in guilds, bandits, stuff like that.
Only for the very primitive armours really. Which for the guys means: "YOUR MUSCLEBOUND CHEST IS PROTECTION ENOUGH AGAINST THE FREEZING COLD, SWORDS, CLAWS AND ALL SORTS OF MAGIC." Fantasy armour's fantasy armour. At least there's no heels or ridiculous boobplate in vanilla Skyrim.
For good female characters that even as a guy I may want to identify with, hmm... There is Alis from the original Phantasy Star. I say identify as opposed to want to be due to the fact that she had a pretty crappy life that led her to becoming a heroine (having her brother killed in front of her eyes, etc.). I wouldn't want to have her background, but I certainly would have no problem being the kick-ass hero she was.
Heading up the island again for the weekend, though admittedly, it's a rainy weekend. Will be taking my computer up for once, though, so normal service should be present, but for multiplayer gaming.
I think we all took FemShep as a given, although considering that her part is also written for a man, there's more reason for her to end up being relatable than your average female video game character.
I'm a Prime member I've experienced the same no charge next-day & Saturday deliveries that are mentioned in the article.
I've also noticed that many times I'll order something on a Saturday or Sunday & it will estimate Wednesday for delivery, but it will be waiting at my door when I get home from work Monday evening.
That's all well and good, but are they going to accomplish that by putting a fulfillment center in Jeffersonville when they have one in Shepherdsville? Seems like the overlap wouldn't add much coverage.
That's all well and good, but are they going to accomplish that by putting a fulfillment center in Jeffersonville when they have one in Shepherdsville? Seems like the overlap wouldn't add much coverage.
Probably a combination of factors outside of just added coverage. Maybe they were buying existing warehouses and that was cheaper than building a new one?
Other things that come to mind...
Maybe by splitting them apart, they'd have a larger pool of cheap labor. Some people probably wouldn't commute 2 hours for a job at an Amazon warehouse based on some of the stories I've read.
There could also be various tax or utility loopholes that made two warehouses more cost effective. Something like if they employed more than X number of employees or used more than X amount of electricity per day costs would go up exponentially?
I dunno, it doesn't matter much. It's more jobs to people in this shaky economy so I'm pretty okay with it, just get a little sketchy if they're saying this is part of a larger strategy to get more same day shipping to more parts of the country.
Comments
Faith and Alyx are pretty good though, and thinking about it the old D&D sims like Baldurs Gate the female characters are pretty good. If for nothing else all the characters are decent in them and they don't really have many chances to chainmail bikini it up.
Also, Chell is like Freeman. Gender is utterly irrelevant in the entire game. "Dr. Freeman" will still be "Dr. Freeman" if the doc was a woman. Valve's games are more designed to address the player than whatever character. Glados only uses "you", and with Chell being such a completely empty husk, the only you that is there is the player. If Chell was a guy, nothing would be different. Except maybe the porn.
There is a character in Shivering Isles that won't let you do their quest if you're a Khajit, totally racist. My poor S'pot wanted that quest.
Anyway forgot to mention, some of the female armor is pretty skanky in Skyrim and Oblivion, so I guess that's a minus point. Then again, I like getting the skanky armor because I think it looks cool, and I'm a girl. :-P At least they are pretty good about having female leaders, membership in guilds, bandits, stuff like that.
Snarky adolescent females = my otherkin.
I've also noticed that many times I'll order something on a Saturday or Sunday & it will estimate Wednesday for delivery, but it will be waiting at my door when I get home from work Monday evening.
Other things that come to mind...
Maybe by splitting them apart, they'd have a larger pool of cheap labor. Some people probably wouldn't commute 2 hours for a job at an Amazon warehouse based on some of the stories I've read.
There could also be various tax or utility loopholes that made two warehouses more cost effective. Something like if they employed more than X number of employees or used more than X amount of electricity per day costs would go up exponentially?
Ok, so I'm not strange drinking coffee when it's hot out.