14 DAY TRIAL // You know those Japanese shows where scantly clad women throw themselves at the feet of some unsuspecting 20-something that's never even seen an exposed boob in his entire life? Yup, that's most of the "hentai" out there for you. If a GDC conference speaker is right, you're going to see a lot more of it sooner or later.
One of GDC's conferences was called "Hentai, hardcore and hotties: Sex in games" and probably drew the attention of the entire male attendance. One of the speakers was gamer and developer Brenda Brathwaite. She began by saying that the guy in Gears of War was kinda sexy and it all just got weirder from there on.
For Brenda, the Internet has largely developed as the only way of access to games about sex in the Western hemisphere due to the fact that most retailers refuse to sell such items. But through the advent of digital distribution and through the power of the Internet games that feature sex, or are centered on sex, could be making huge gains in the near future. The market is ready for games featuring sex and games about sex and if the Western developers do not fill this niche, then Japanese "hentai" games will fill the market.
For one thing, sex sells. Mass Effect was the example given here. "Sex sells if it's in something like Mass Effect. It makes people who would not otherwise care about Mass Effect go, 'There's a lesbian scene in it? And they're blue? I'll get it'." But the sexual part of a game needs to be somehow connected to the game itself, rather than being just attached to generate batter sales numbers.
Brenda also talked about the way the media reacts to nudity in games, like the boob in Mass Effect or the pictures in The Witcher, as a question of double standards being applied. In her opinion "happy little cookie cutter Disney games" are ok, but that should not stop developers from trying to push the boundaries now and then to release games that are more open about nudity and sexuality. Such games could serve as learning tools for the youngsters, and maybe even as therapy tools to help struggling couples.
One can only hope that all this talk about nudity and sex in games will make it easier for titles aimed at the adult gamer to get published and will limit the media attacks against the gaming industry on the issue of sexuality.