Oroboros:

choclatechocobo:
Sooo, is this a case of someone not paying attention, or simply false advertising?

http://postimage.org/image/eh9mtnssl/

This was already brought up and answered on the first page:

toomuchnothing:

TConti:
Talk about crappy reporting and stupid people in general. Go to the Aliens Colonial Marines website (http://www.sega.com/alienscolonialmarines/) and scroll down there will be a picture of 4 marines available for preorder one of them is distinctly FEMALE. This is not new, its been up for months now, instead of accusing a company of sexism do some research and find true answers.

Sorry to tell you but this complaint comes from a video posted almost a month ago during a Live Chat with Brian Burleson, Producer at GBX, during which he was asked will there be an option to play as a FEMALE MARINE to which he responds no you won't (although he responds there will be female characters in the game).

http://www.livestream.com/electronicarts/video?clipId=pla_a70e0295-f084-46c5-9106-0ad601d63104

Question is at 28:35.

So apparently there are no females in multiplayer, but you can play as one in co-op I guess? What about non-coop campaign?

At any rate, I think it's about time one of the aliens games let the palyer play as a female marine. The movies have always had a female protagonists, and the marines in the movies have always been of mixed gender, so I can't of a good reason why every single alien and alien v predator game has only let the player be a male marine. (with the exception of the DS game, which let the palyer use female as well as male marines, I think)Vasquez and the other marines were pretty badass in Aliens, so I don't understand why they would think no one would want to play a female marine.

The problem is that in the video, the question is "will there be a choice to play as a female marine?" to which the answer is no, but the website clearly shows that you can customize your marine to be a female.

Could just be a case of he didn't realise the full customization options at the time? (or maybe he is answering in relation to the standard game? the female marine is a bonus in the additional customization pack after all)

Mortai Gravesend:

Comparing women to dogs. Great going.

I knew this shit was coming.

I didn't compare anyone to anything, I was taking a shot at how silly the petition is.

let me just roll my eyes at this....

Sober Thal:

EDIT FOR CLARITY: If you want something, you have to do it yourself. You see something that isn't represented? Make it yourself, or go home.

Bayonetta'd for life, G.

Normally I don't agree with your posts but this one I agree with, if you want something, do it yourself.

And funnily enough Bayonetta was designed by a female...

This is a good example of how bad the situation is for female gamers: they make a videogame from the one franchise that's all about badass female protagonists, and they don't make you play a female character. Perhaps because women need to be damsels in distress or because only males play videogames or some other crap.

I think this is the only online petition that I completely agree with. I mean, who doesn't want to play beside Vasquez style players!, she's like the most bad ass woman ever to feature in a movie.

At the end of the day though, it should be about giving gamers what they want, and what I really want is the ability to make my own bad-ass jarhead, make him unique, personality is more important in Aliens games than in say, Halo... just look at those Aliens forum games that diehard fans enjoy, inventing back stories and all sorts. That might be cool as well, write a little biog about your character. That is the kinda stuff that makes people stick with games, we don't need another AVP with nobody playing online after a few weeks. Aliens is one franchise where adding more and more depth to this stuff is really appreciated, it's what the fans want. Ideally we'd be able to put some thought into creating our characters, and that should certainly include female jarheads, it's a no-brainer.

I just find it hilarious how the majority of people were against what happens to Lara Croft in the new Tomb Raider game, but are good to go to throw women into a situation where they are killed, strapped to a wall, and face raped while being impregnated against their own will.

The screen writer had the intention to mess with men on the subject.

http://www.cracked.com/article_18932_alien-film-franchise-based-entirely-rape.html

Of all the double standards... this is the strangest one. XD

I don't see why not, and it's admittedly dense of the developers to have never thought of this for a series where the first protagonist, in the thick of things as well as anyone, was a female. So meh, why not?

DVS BSTrD:
I have a feeling we'll mostly come out in support. Mostly

I see what you did there, this made my morning :D

Mortai Gravesend:
When you post stupid shit and then defend it by not really thinking it out you must get used to it.

You did compare women to dogs because you compared what some women might want to dogs wanting the same thing. And taking a shot at the petition in that way was a comparison.

Saying "I didn't compare anyone to anything, I was taking a shot at how silly the petition is." is BS because the two are not mutually exclusive. Logic. Use it.

I could have used anything, anything at all and you would still have said I was comparing, do me a favour and stop the white knight bullshit.

All you're doing here is trying to defend the female point of view instead of a general point of view.

you:
what some women might want

See that?
That right here just shot your argument in the knee caps as you're defending solely a womens point of view, when in fact the petition isn't strictly aimed at women.
There will be male signatures on there too.

Just to inform you too before you go jumping down my throat for some other bullshit, I genuinely think it's silly petition for this shit.
As long as there is nothing incredibly offensive about how your game is designed then I don't really care if they leave out certain groups.
I wouldn't petition to input a white guy in a game about African-American all female hit squad because I felt left out.
I don't petition to add homosexual characters and I wouldn't petition to add straight characters if it was the other way around.
I'm not 12, I don't have to be first picked for the dodge ball game every time.

Muhahhahahahaha really a stupid move... : DDD

Is it even worth it? Are these alien games ever that successful?

Kinda interesting that they didn't given that sigourney weaver was the best part about Alien... kinda a stupid move actually. Then again this late into development it might not be easy to make a main character, no speaking side character could be done.

Ramzal:
I just find it hilarious how the majority of people were against what happens to Lara Croft in the new Tomb Raider game, but are good to go to throw women into a situation where they are killed, strapped to a wall, and face raped while being impregnated against their own will.

The screen writer had the intention to mess with men on the subject.

http://www.cracked.com/article_18932_alien-film-franchise-based-entirely-rape.html

Of all the double standards... this is the strangest one. XD

you are kind of missing the point. the alien franchise has always had strong female characters in them. And while the sexual violence aspect of the Xenomorph reproduction is undeniable, geuss what, its equal opportunities (most people I can remember being face huggered were male), and its not glorified, eroticised or gratuitous. Unless, you know, the idea of an alien spider thingy wrapped around your head gets you off

I highly doubt devs would be so keen as to make female characters, given the recent "sexist" nonsense. They probably won't be touching anything that isn't create-your-own (MMO style) for a long loooong time.

Thank you internet.

At the very least this request does make sense. The original movies prominently featured badass women, so why don't the games?

Properties within a franchise should adhere to the rules of that franchise. In Alien, women can be marines. Similar to how Resident Evil must always have zombies, or how American blockbusters must always feature generically handsome white blank slate protagonists killing the evil darky or aliens representing Communists or terrorists.

itsthesheppy:
It's definitely a very odd omission. The female marines from Aliens were freaking badass.

Not really. One of them was a badass. The rest of the female characters in the first three movies were mere fodder. The other female in Alien spent most of her time panicking and ended up going down without a struggle. Deitrich was the first Marine known to have been grabbed in Aliens and worse, when she gets grabbed she sets another marine on fire which results in an explosion that kills a third marine. For those keeping track, that gives her a body count of two to the aliens zero at that point in the movie. Ferro may well have been a badass, but being strapped to a chair certainly reduced her ability to fight the single alien.

That leaves Vasquez who was certainly a badass but inadvertently got Drake killed. Of course, I'm not sure how the balance works with male characters when you consider Burke (he more or less got everyone else killed) and Gorman (he was incompetent and nearly got all the marines killed) or any of the male characters who tried to play hero and generally just ended up as fodder themselves. Hicks was the only male character that managed to be both badass and useful without having at least a few moments of utter uselessness.

Risingblade:
Is it even worth it? Are these alien games ever that successful?

There have been two attempts that I felt were pretty good. The first was Alien 3 for the SNES and the second was Alien Versus Predator (1999).

Wow, talk about sexist. People are demanding a sex be added to something? Here I thought people wanted everyone to stop treating each other differently and to ignore gender, to see everyone as a human being and not a penis or a vagina.

Andy Chalk:
I'm not generally a fan of making demands of game developers (or of internet petitions, for that matter) but if the plan is to make customizable characters for online play, then why not include women too? It seems like kind of a no-brainer given the subject material, and it actually has me wondering if maybe there was a misunderstanding somewhere along the line.

*shrug* Because if you just want to re-skin the same model for all the playable characters, it's a lot easier if they're all the same gender.

That would be my assumption anyway.

teebeeohh:
aside form the fact that every game should have female avatars for MP...

Any particular reason why?

Eclectic Dreck:

itsthesheppy:
It's definitely a very odd omission. The female marines from Aliens were freaking badass.

Not really. One of them was a badass. The rest of the female characters in the first three movies were mere fodder. The other female in Alien spent most of her time panicking and ended up going down without a struggle. Deitrich was the first Marine known to have been grabbed in Aliens and worse, when she gets grabbed she sets another marine on fire which results in an explosion that kills a third marine. For those keeping track, that gives her a body count of two to the aliens zero at that point in the movie. Ferro may well have been a badass, but being strapped to a chair certainly reduced her ability to fight the single alien.

That leaves Vasquez who was certainly a badass but inadvertently got Drake killed. Of course, I'm not sure how the balance works with male characters when you consider Burke (he more or less got everyone else killed) and Gorman (he was incompetent and nearly got all the marines killed) or any of the male characters who tried to play hero and generally just ended up as fodder themselves. Hicks was the only male character that managed to be both badass and useful without having at least a few moments of utter uselessness.

So... is your point that none of the marines were badass? Because they pretty much all died. Even Apone went down screaming shrilly.

I stand by my assessment. Yeah Deitrich could have done better, but Ferro at least went for her gun and tried to fight, unlike her co-pilot who got smoked offscreen, and Vasquez who... come on. Boot to the head. She rocked.

Vault101:

CardinalPiggles:
You're getting "tired" of using male avatars in video games? Is the experience of playing as the opposite sex mentally draining? Sounds a bit petty to me. But then again, internet petitions usually are.

While I'll admit that it seems strange not to have female playable characters in a game based on a movie that had female cast members, it's not exactly important is it?

theres nothing petty about...variety and all that is a wonderful thing...it gets fucking annoying seeing the same shit over and over

And by "shit", you mean male avatars in video games? Bit sexist don't you think? There are plenty of female characters in games, in situations where gender does not particularly matter.

I agree that variety is nice, but pressuring game developers like this is not the way to accomplish this.

Scars Unseen:

Exactly how many Escapist "news" articles have you read? Every article on the Escapist contains the opinion of its author. This is in not new. This is not madness. This is the Escapist.

If you want neutral, opinion-free news, go to... well actually, I can't think of anywhere that has that.

I don't agree.

I come to The Escapist because I find it is one of the gaming journalism sites that is more balanced and "unbiased" than pretty much ALL of the others. IMO.

I don't expect journalists to be unbiased - but when you are doing a news article you are supposed to do your best to at least appear to not have an opinion on it, as much as you can. Opinions are for opinion pieces, editorials, or videos/podcasts; not news articles.
And for the most part I think that The Escapist is largely successful on that front, at least they do a better job than say IGNorant or G-Paid-4-Tv.

If the other journalists insert their "opinion" into the news pieces they do then its so unobtrustive that I haven't really noticed it with anyone else. Well, I noticed it a little with Grey Carter but not as bad as with Andy Chalk. His articles are positively reeking in his opinion.
And as Candace Bergen said to Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City: "This article positively reeks of Carrie Bradshaw's opinion. Who care's what Carrie Bradshaw thinks?"
And that's what I am getting at.

When I read the news I wanna read about whats going on, and unless it's something really really terrible, I don't expect or want to read their opinion.
A journo can put his/her "slant" on the article that's fine; but I really don't care what they think about it. I'd rather make up my own mind thank you very much.

If this was true I still would not sign the petition since it would just push this already heavily delayed title even further back.

But if the person who started it even looked around she would see on the gearbox site clear as day - customisable female marines, female marines in campaign pictures.

From what I can tell when the guy during the ea live Q&A said you can't play a female marine, I'm assuming he meant during campaign

Jeyl:
I'm going to check a few things out.

Aliens Vs. Predator for Jaguar: Male Marine
Aliens Vs. Predator for PC: Male Marine
Aliens Vs. Predator 2 for PC: Male Marine
Aliens Vs. Predator multi-platform: Male Marine
ALIENS: Colonial Marines: Male Marine

Hehe. Wow. It's like nobody even cared or contemplated on having the option to play as a female marine. At least Star Trek: Elite Force was generous enough to allow players the option of choosing the gender of the PC, including full voice work for both genders!

That's a fair point, but none of these games gave you the option of customizing your character, and they were basically blank slates with no characterization. In fact, other than pain sounds most of these wouldn't even have determinable genders.

If you're going to give players options, then it rather sucks that they don't let you play as a female marine, particularly given the prominence of female protagonists and characters in the movie series.

Kukakkau:
But if the person who started it even looked around she would see on the gearbox site clear as day - customisable female marines, female marines in campaign pictures.

From what I can tell when the guy during the ea live Q&A said you can't play a female marine, I'm assuming he meant during campaign

If I had to choose between the option to play a female character in single player, and well-developed female NPCs, I admit I'd choose the latter. Particularly if "female PC option" just means they had a woman come in to re-read the dialogue/character they wrote for a default male protagonist.

However if we're given a blank slate, rather than an actual developed character, I'd wonder why they couldn't go the extra mile and allow female PCs.

"My name's Randy Pitchford, and I'm freaking out!"
Yes, Randy, you will be, after getting lynched for screwing up the greatest opportunity afforded to a game developer. Xenomorphs have acid blood, remember? Oh yeah, that's right, the fans had to remind you of that after that gameplay showing.
No female marines? Anything else you arbitrarily decided to retcon/re-imagine or otherwise change?
As an Alien fan, I am expecting Aliens: The First Person Shooter. Do not disappoint the fans.
There has been much disappointment in AAA videogames lately.
Don't let this be another.

MetalMagpie:

teebeeohh:
aside form the fact that every game should have female avatars for MP...

Any particular reason why?

Any particular reason why not?

Vault101:

CardinalPiggles:

And by "shit", you mean male avatars in video games? Bit sexist don't you think? There are plenty of female characters in games, in situations where gender does not particularly matter.

I agree that variety is nice, but pressuring game developers like this is not the way to accomplish this.

as for those plenty of female characters? not many of them are playable...and even less are not optional

this has nothing to do with sexism and as much as I hate to pull this card your a guy, your plently represented in games and well..(not so much if your a minority though)

being desperatly hungry for anything that ISN'T the boring "safe" "weve done this a million times before" charachters

like oh god...Nathan Drake..the absolute epitome of "cliche main charachter" I don;t hate uncharted, and I get why Nathan drake has broad apeal but I swear to god I want to shoot that fucker in the face..I hate him..I hate the way he jokes, I hate the way he;s so "cool" and "lovable" I hate that fucker so much

but we are getting off topic here

thats not to say I can't identify with male charachters...(I wouldnt play games If I couldn't)

Adam Jensen, Altiair, Ezio, Cole ,Issac Clarke I all like in some way or another

but theres somthing so safisfyingly awsome seeing my Femshep or Badass gangsta from SR2/3 do their things....hell the fact that I could be whatever I wanted in SR2 pretty much made the game for me, if I couldn't play as some skinny brown haired girl then I would have been very "meh" about SR2...

or even Chell from portal...

as for preasuing game developers..I'm all for it..just somthing to show "hey...we like female charachters"

You know what, I don't think I would have enjoyed games like Tomb Raider or Portal if I could choose to play as a male equivalent, so I really don't get where you're coming from. Like, at all.