The core of the problem is that videogames, by and large, are not sold by plot and characters but by hype and marketing. It’s very difficult to market a game on the merits of its excellent writing, as buyers need to actually play the game to see the quality emerge – digital cleavage, on the other hand, is something that players can see for themselves without having bought the game.

And while it’s true that gratuitous flesh by far outweighs more mature approaches to sex and sexiness in games, there are still some examples of more considered, nuanced characters and relationships. The article that kicked this all off mentioned Ico and Yorda along with Balthier and Fran from Final Fantasy XII – but let’s throw another into the mix: Princess Farah from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time comes to mind immediately as a videogame love interest who has both sex appeal and depth of character. While the series subsequently took the mainstream supermodels-in-thongs approach to women, Farah remains a precedent of a modest, realistic female character who was still dead sexy and – unlike her contemporaries – provoked a genuine emotional reaction from the player. So perhaps games need a little more time before being judged; the medium is still very new, after all.

The final problem that games face is that they are primarily games, not stories. The huge budgets and development teams are generally devoted to making working game engines, appealling visuals, a solid game design, and all of the other things that gamers generally take for granted. There is almost always little attention paid to clever, substantial writing, as it is a talent quite different from the others required to make a good game and at any rate will not be a deciding factor in mass market appeal. Finding a good writer is difficult. Throwing in virtual nudity is not.

But I’m running off at the mouth now. A very interesting article, and certainly a more thoughtful and measured piece of thinking than the responses thusfar posted. But as long as videogames are a mass market industry, the bulk of them will remain nothing more than mass market products with the depth of a puddle. All we can do is hope that the industry matures enough for a philosophy focused more on quality than sales to emerge.

This seems to be more appropriate on a movie website than a video games website, since the majority of the reading is comparing “masterpieces of cinema” to bloody FINAL FANTASY X-2. Just using the game, which was created by Square-Enix to give two thumbs up to the Final Fantasy fan boy populace for their support, is like argueing that Dumb and Dumber isn’t a masterpiece to Citizen Kane.

At least add into your argument a game that attempts to tackle sex serious (Metal Gear Solid 3) than a game created for eye candy (DOA).

The lack of a substantiate argument hampered by the poor selection of gaming title to compare makes me feel like your huge knowledge of movies seems to overshadow your knowledge of video games.

I could be wrong and you have an equally huge knowledge of video games. However your article is biased to video games feels like all you have written is a bag of hot air about how movies are superior to games.

Too bad movies, unlike games, can flesh out their story more since no one in the cinema can do anything but watch. While video games are created to allow the player to be the main character and immerse in far more ways than watching…. Blah blah blah its 9:46 in the morning.

Please post an essay that gives video games an equal ground to stand upon, or else you will just get posts by video gamers who feel like crap a piece of their mind, which helps no one.