As the years went by, games have featured an increasing number of female characters. It’s a great thing to see captivating, strong females in lead roles. What’s not so great is how they are being depicted. And I don’t mean the skimpy tight clothes. It’s the chest I’m talking about.
Virtual boobs and the way they move have become so important now that they’re even being quoted in official fact sheets as a game feature (just look at Lula 3D, that’s her on the left).
Now, I don’t know about the rest of you, and I can appreciate the female body too, but how do large boobs and their physics contribute to a good game? The time developers spend creating exaggerated breast physics could be spend working out playability issues, better controls and oh, I don’t know, maybe even plot details.
Take Rumble Roses, for example. Sure, it was pretty impressive when I first looked at it, no doubt about it. But once I was done looking at the girls’ intro sequences, the rest is a blur I prefer not even try to remember. I’m still trying to erase the oh-so-obvious in-your-face bouncy boob shots. The attempt at making a female wrestling game seem sexy ended up in a raunchy fest. If it’s masturbation material they were aiming for, they got it.
But where exactly does this bouncy trend come from? The bouncyness actually originated as an anime “feature”, and it didn’t take long to leap (or bounce, if you will) onto games. The first bouncy-boobed girl was Mai, in the 2D fighting game Fatal Fury.
From there on, the bouncy thing caught on pretty quick. As technology advanced, it became a constant in 3D games as well, with Tecmo leading the way with DoA.
Interestingly enough, Mr. Itagaki (Team Ninja’s head developer) has said once in an interview that “if [breast physics] is realistic but not beautiful, what’s the point?”. The point is boobs don’t do that. I suppose it was because of Mr. Itagaki’s ideology that DoA evolved from fighting game to voyeurism on the beach, with girls whose breasts have each a life of its own. I tell you, if my boobs moved like that, I’d need an exorcist!
Clubskill.com said that the individual physics in DoA Xtreme 2 (notice how the volleyball is missing from the title?) resulted “in a more natural and crazy look”. Crazy, sure. But natural? Have these people actually ever seen a boob? Better yet, have they ever seen a female volleyball match? No one wears mini-bikinis to play, not even on the beach. Not in real matches anyway. I played volleyball for three years, and I can assure you that big breasts can’t just waltz into any sport without proper support.
Which brings me to my personal motive of writing this piece, and why the concept of oddly over-bouncy breast physics bothers me so much.
I was advised a breast reduction when I was 17. Since then, my back and neck have become a mess, and pain is a constant. I have two vertebrae nearly locked together due to the bad posture caused from the weight of my boobs. I was uncomfortable sleeping, walking, running wasn’t even an option. I even had problems breathing, all because of the volume of my boobs. So when I look at these scenes in a game, I can’t help but think that if it’s the realism that they’re looking for, those girls would have been bent, would walk leaning forward, and most of all, would definetly be wearing some kind of heavy-duty sports bra for whatever sport they practice. You wouldn’t see Taki standing up straight, that’s for sure. With every installment of Soul Calibur, she seems to get bigger breasts. And so does Ivy…
Yep. Big tits aren’t all that sexy in the real world, they’re a nuisance. You try living with a hyper-sensitive pair of 38D’s… Fortunately for me and as of February 1st, I have my breast physics enhanced. It took three hours of surgery, several hours of vomiting afterwards and a severe allergic reaction to the painkillers (complete with hallucinations), but it was right away a relief. For me, the point isn’t to look like any of the girls in these games, but to relieve the pain, breathe better, and maybe eventually be able to walk straight with my chin up, without being embarassed of my boobs sticking out too much.
Besides, who wants to be Taki anyway?