ThievingJacob

Surely that's remotely similar to the distinction between murder and manslaughter

@theht: As opposed to the swath of critics who bat for the opposite side.

It think it is fair to say this scene exists for shock value, but that doesn't mean it is meaningless or without merit. From the first game, Hotline Miami has been the commodification of extreme violence while involving the player in it, and this scene just seems to extend this theme to extreme sexual violence. The exploitation movie stuff fits with the 80s theme. There's many pieces of entertainment which have eroticised sexual violence, but with how low-fi and brief the depiction is in Hotline Miami 2, the developers seem to have taken efforts to make the scene shocking and not titillating. It's undeniably creepy, but I have to imagine that the people who seem so uncomfortable about the developers including this scene, must be ignorant of the extent with which films and books have explored the subject of sexual violence.

Also assholes comprise more than 1% of the internet.

If this is of benefit to Phil's health then this can only be a good thing.

They're both in the wrong on this one, but people should relax about empty death threats. Put things into context.

@Shrimpy: On Alex Vance, that is my personal opinion of the character. But my point was to point out, that from a feminist perspective, it is very easy to pull apart what could be considered the paragons of female video game characters. Video game characters generally don't hold up to much critical scrutiny. I appreciate that many may not object to these characters, but there are those that do object, and it is easy to take that opinion.

@chaosnovaxz: Not entirely sure of your question. But on character quality and any imbalances therein, the production of equal numbers of games with male and female characters in varying roles but of similar quality would be the ideal. It is a pipe dream, because of rigid gender identity and because capitalism tends towards imbalanced exploitation.

@Shrimpy: It's easy to complain about characters like Alex Vance, she idolises Gorden Freeman, the supersmart nerd wishfulfilment non-character, which undermines what worthwhile character Alex has. Even GLaDOS was ultimately in the thrall of a man. These are not robust, non-patriarchal female characters.

@SirGregoryEdmunson: This is a good point. It does fall into the 'people get angry about female characters being done badly, but don't about bad male characters' situation. I would say it is an issue which feminists would be wise to consider, as the issue of sexism and equality only goes away once it becomes a non-issue, not when people cater art/entertainment to fit PC criteria.

In terms of games, Survival Horror is probably the genre most comfortable with female protagonists. I would also say the abundance of custom character stuff is a good thing.

@ashenozzie: Why, do you live in world where sexism doesn't exist?

• Mirror's Edge really didn't do much for me from a story perspective. Faith's character design seems obnoxiously and exploitatively tokenistic.

• I'm not a fan on the falling on his sword routine, that dominates Patrick's coverage of this issue. He has a point, but I believe that sexism issues can be resolved with everyone's dignity in tact.
• I hope that we can still enjoy the lurid excesses of video games that we enjoy today once the feminist revolution is over. I appreciate it is one of the most damaging institutions to their cause, but I am not a fan of the no-fun, entertainment should be wholly moral brigade.

@Axelhander: I thought Americans were supposed to love freedom and that it was an argument unto itself...