Sunset Overdrive's latest developer video is a not to subtle jab at UbiSoft and the e3 news that Assassins Creed Unity would not include playable female characters, because the teams simply lacked resources to create such assets. Good one, Insomniac, good one.

Game is shaping up nicely.

Ooooo, so you don't have that play as dude with the goofy haircut? Definitely more interested now!

No, you do. They only made that girl for the video, and won't be implementing her in the game. She's too hard to animate.

@slag:

Watch GB's unfinished / quick look video. Near the end they show some of the character customization. Looks like you have a lot of choices....except for a female assassin. Female assassins are hard.

Here's a good pull-quote from GameSpot's interview with one of Insomniac's community managers:

"Of course. Self-expression is super important to us," Insomniac Games community manager Brandon Winfrey said. "So you can be female, you can be male, you can be different skin tones, you can be different body types.

Winfrey also confirmed that all of the clothing in Sunset Overdrive is gender-neutral. "So if you want to be a dude in a skirt, you can be a dude in a skirt. Just be who you want to be," he said.

That last line was the best part. Guys in skirts, women in tuxedos or something, who cares? It sounds like a lot of fun. I like that they are making a game that looks like they're trying to have fun and wackiness take center stage. This and Splatoon are now on my radar.

I want to be a midget. Can I be that?

That was a cute little dig. The thing that interested me the most in that video was the traps. I'm so stoked for this game.

can I make a character who looks identical to a character from Jet Set Radio? but yet they can't be sued by sega?

Yeah. Customization isn't usually the most newsworthy selling point, but the guy also says literally those exact lines at the end of the video, so I guess someone realized this'd be a good PR move.

Yep. This game feels like a Dead Rising game that I'll actually enjoy playing. Can't wait.

@ripelivejam said:

Awwwww girl... Lemme give you some meters, know what I say?

Yes, but only if you don't use offensive terminology.

But what if I want to play as an alternate version Peter Dinklage who happens to be super racist?

Oh my god, yes. Yes. Please.

But not if he's dressed in a school uniform because...yeesh.

This strikes me as really petty and dumb.

@irvandus said:

I don't see it as anything more than a sly little jab against Ubisoft, given that their initial reasoning for a lack of female characters in the coop was incredibly stupid and nonsensical. It only seems natural to frame a joke around it.

I have a thing for women in suits. It would be tempting to make a female character just for that.

During E3, did they say something about picking between male and female as an option (or something to that effect)?

Definitely getting this game, it looks like a good time. Just dumb fun.

I believe the character customization stuff had already been announced up prior to E3 (I think in the Unfinished video), if that's what you're getting at.

@slaegar said:

@jadegl said:

@zombiepie said:

Here's a good pull-quote from GameSpot's interview with one of Insomniac's community managers:

"Of course. Self-expression is super important to us," Insomniac Games community manager Brandon Winfrey said. "So you can be female, you can be male, you can be different skin tones, you can be different body types.

Winfrey also confirmed that all of the clothing in Sunset Overdrive is gender-neutral. "So if you want to be a dude in a skirt, you can be a dude in a skirt. Just be who you want to be," he said.

That last line was the best part. Guys in skirts, women in tuxedos or something, who cares? It sounds like a lot of fun. I like that they are making a game that looks like they're trying to have fun and wackiness take center stage. This and Splatoon are now on my radar.

I have a thing for women in suits. It would be tempting to make a female character just for that.

who is this baby mode wanna be fate zero saber

Right, I want to know if I misheard them about having options to customize for non-binary characters (like a gender slider in Saint's Row 2 or Dark Souls).

@otogi: Gender sliders are AMAZING.

Since they were already developing the game with a customizable character I don't see how the jab hits the mark.

If they only implemented this AFTER ubisoft made that statement- as if to show they're full of shit- then I'd say well played.

That isn't what happened here, but clearly as a PR stunt it's working at least somewhat. So good on them for making fun of other companies PR I guess.

Man, I really wish you put a time stamp in there. I can't handle five seconds of that guy.

Seems like the Insomniac of 2004 went into hibernation for 10 years. This is exactly the kind of irreverent PR backstabbery that I expect from a company that made multiple games featuring a incompetent cross-dressing superhero.

I like so much in this thread. This is great news, and my anticipation for the game has noticeably increased.

@artelinarose said:

@slaegar said:

@jadegl said:

@zombiepie said:

Here's a good pull-quote from GameSpot's interview with one of Insomniac's community managers:

"Of course. Self-expression is super important to us," Insomniac Games community manager Brandon Winfrey said. "So you can be female, you can be male, you can be different skin tones, you can be different body types.

Winfrey also confirmed that all of the clothing in Sunset Overdrive is gender-neutral. "So if you want to be a dude in a skirt, you can be a dude in a skirt. Just be who you want to be," he said.

That last line was the best part. Guys in skirts, women in tuxedos or something, who cares? It sounds like a lot of fun. I like that they are making a game that looks like they're trying to have fun and wackiness take center stage. This and Splatoon are now on my radar.

I have a thing for women in suits. It would be tempting to make a female character just for that.

who is this baby mode wanna be fate zero saber

That is the small manga editor from the short show "The Comic Artist and His Assistants".

You don't need to look it up. The show is one of the most grating I've seen in a long time. ha. Though, I know some people like it. (or at least like some of the characters)

She grew two millimeters! Gosh!

heh. It's the little victories that matter.

Yeah, the game looks really fun but everything about the marketing has been kind of cringe inducing. (that e3 trailer was alright though)

I understand that the characters in Unity are different versions of the main protagonist but they could have done a Watch Dogs and just had him appear as some random assassin. I mean they had the resources to do it with that game and they're a big studio. I do find it a bit weird that Insomniac has never had a female protagonist and is calling out Ubisoft though. I mean they had female protagonists before internet hysteria was a frequent thing.

@boozak: Two of the main playable characters in Fuse are female. Dalton is admittedly still situated as the leader, but they all get the same amount of screentime. Doesn't mean any of 'em are especially interesting or well-developed characters mind...

Good.

Am I missing something? I don't see how this is a "jab" at Ubisoft anymore than just Insomniac trying to get ahead of the game.

Congrats to all the guys that want to play as females, I guess!

@kindgineer: The (what I would gather is a female) character's outfit shown in the video is clearly supposed to emulate the look of the assassin's robes from the AC series.

I'm guessing it's that the female character they show is in a white hooded outfit that looks a lot like the classic Assassin's Creed costume. heh.

And plenty of women will enjoy playing as women, as well. :P

Like the attitude towards inclusive character customization and the dig at Ubisoft's abject bullshit. Slightly less happy about finding out that there's Crackdown 2-esque "protect this thing from zombies for a while" missions.

@truthtellah: I believe the jab was originally just "theres an assassin cloak in the game" but following the news they put the video together by creating a female character wearing it - as above, clothing is separate from gender in the game.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the goofy dude isn't even playable, is just a default option, or is just the main character for marketing purposes.

I think I must be the only person who thinks that these third person city-navigating open world games (is there a word for this? GTA-likes?) are only good if they have a great story. This playground stuff like Crackdown, infamous, and seemingly Sunset Overdrive has never held my interest.

Hah, that's pretty great.

Both games do share the same release date, October 28th.

That's one of the best things about the character customisation in Saints Row.

@alistercat: Yeah Saint's Row is great. I tend to make my character pretty conservative (which kind of makes no sense in that universe) but I appreciate the amount of sheer dumb choices that you can do with your character.

Actually, I take that back. I did have my female boss running around in a red catsuit and devil horns with a black kitty backpack, so I guess I wasn't always trying to make her look business casual...

Also they had female characters in way before this they just pulled together the costume for a joke.

Sorry I look at that jab as some real low hanging fruit. Its even more eye rolling when you factor in that this was planned in from the start.

@jadegl: Are you saying that women in these videogames are anything less than business? That said, I imagine the catsuit in these cases had nothing to do with being quirky and everything to do with creepy sex appeal...

All they did was show the AC outfit they didn't even mention it directly I would call that "subtlety"

Also this video was 80% about traps, this was literally thrown in at the end and was not directly brought up.