Sony Video Game To Feminists: "Let Them Eat Cake" (Literally)

Posted by Brian Fairbanks

 

Sony apparently forgot that there are, surprise, women who play video games. More importantly, they forgot that feminists play video games and can raise a big stink on the interblogs if they they think your game is unfunny, sexist, and more out of touch than George W. Bush...

Fat Princess is a capture-the-flag game with a twist: you can thwart capture attempts by locking the once-thin princess in a dungeon and stuffing her full of cake, thereby increasing her girth and making her harder for your enemies to haul back to home base.

The ladyblogs had trouble deciding what to attack first...

Melissa McEwan of Shakesville writes: "Congrats on your awesome new game, Sony. I'm positively thrilled to see such unyielding dedication to creating a new generation of fat-hating, heteronormative assholes."

Zing! Wait, what does that mean?

Feminist Gamer's "Mighty Ponygirl" suggests a simple gameplay switcheroo would solve the problem (and change the title). "Instead of running out into the forest to find cake to fatten up the princess with, why not go out and find gold (which is a lot heavier than cake) to stuff into a treasure chest," she says, adding, "The more gold in the chest, the heavier it would be, and the harder it would be to carry."

That's a great idea! Then again, Sony isn't interested in having their video games make sense or insulting fewer than half the population of the world. Nope, they just say "let those feminists eat cake-- literally." And male gamers are apparently backing them up-- check out the comments on Joystiq:

Fat women would be better served by getting up and exercising and eating less. They would have more energy, better self image and feel more confident. They might find a boyfriend, even perhaps, love. But you know, its like hard to do that stuff, and its easy to complain on the internet!

Women will cry about anything.

They are piss because they lack a penis.

If it were "Fat Prince" and you had to carry an obese dude around nobody would care. Except maybe Prince.

However, a female commenter had a reaction similar to ours:

If anything, I think they're attacking the wrong concept. Who cares if she's fat or gets fed? It's way more offensive that the princess is treated as an object (in replacement of a flag) and helpless (she can't even move on her own) and unable to do anything about her situation (or refuse food). But I know that the designers weren't being pig-headed, they were just trying to be creative, and they succeeded. 

There are far too many memorable (but not necessarily intelligent) comments to post here, so check out the original post

Via Joystiq and Yahoo!


Comments

venusinfurrrs said:

Man, fuck that noise!

July 29, 2008 11:33 AM

asb76 said:

I'm glad nothing that really matters is going on in the real world for people to protest against.  PC is so old, white Republican.

July 29, 2008 12:31 PM

INTPLibrarian said:

I just love the comment about how "Fat women would be better served by getting up and exercising and eating less."  Cuz you know how fit and trim and *sexy* the stereotypical male gamer is, right?  lol.

July 29, 2008 1:21 PM

Mandy said:

What I'm taking away from this is a vow to refer to more people as "Kitten."

July 29, 2008 2:45 PM

LydiaSarah said:

lol Touche, INTPLibrarian. And male gamers totally all have girlfriends too! Is there anything else that they would like to share with women about attractiveness, healthy lifestyle choices, and relationship success? Because I can't think of a better source of such wisdom than a bunch of guys who make staring at a screen and pressing buttons a way of life.

Sorry, I guess I sound a little sarcastic. But I can't help it, you know, being that I'm all piss[ed] because I lack a penis.

July 30, 2008 12:04 AM

About Brian Fairbanks

Brian Fairbanks, the Senior National Political Correspondent for Nerve, is a filmmaker living in Brooklyn or New Orleans, depending on the season. He is a heavily-armed advocate of gun control.

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