terabient

Today's post is once again about (mostly) men crying about something that doesn't matter: Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 isn't going to be released in Western territories, apparently because the criticism of the game's overt sexism (which, lbr, is what Dead or Alive is most known for) is scary and they don't want to deal with it. I think the underlying concern for Koei-Tecmo is that DOAX3 is going to sell abysmally no matter what they do (DOA5 has only sold 1.5 million copies worldwide over 4 multiplatform releases, and the DOAX games have always sold significantly worse than the main series) but they don't want to admit it, so it's easier to blame a vague, non-specific target.

Anyway, OF COURSE if you are in certain Gamer-Gatey circles this is UNEQUIVOCAL CENSORSHIP and a sign of how 'the SJWs' and their shadowy agenda of criticizing things will lead us to a world without fun. This USGamer article has a pretty excellent run-down of why KT's position seems to make no sense in light of DOA's long history of being called sexist and super embarrassing ever since it was released.

As for the cries of 'censorship': GG, you need a refresher course on what words mean and possibly on how the free market works! Censorship occurs when a group in a position of power edits or bans something from being distributed due to content it deems objectionable. People who criticize something as sexist (or as objectionable for any other reason) and thus refuse to purchase or support that thing are not censoring it; they're simply exercising their right to free speech and action.

Things get a little dicey when it comes to companies not releasing or altering product due to consumer backlash, real or perceived. Sometimes a company chooses to self-censorship because, after encountering criticism, they decide they don't want to be a company that supports whatever objectionable behavior they're accused of. More often, it's a financially-driven decision: the company determines that the negative attention and/or loss of sales from the people who criticize them is not worth the support from those who don't care or want the objectionable content. So in KT's case, they either

1. Don't want to be perceived by Western audiences as a company that releases softcore porn video games, or at least not as a company that releases softcore porn video games that have no other entertainment value;
2. Have no faith in the product in the first place and are trying to minimize costs and consolidate (pad, really...) sales numbers in a few regions, which would look much better on paper than abysmal numbers in many regions. :P

Given the state of DOA5: Last Round and their releases from the past few years, Option 1 seems unlikely. Option 2 is VERY possible, for a variety of reasons that...well, I planned to get into them in this post, but I have to work early tomorrow so I'll have to save that portion for later.

Anyway, regardless of what the reasons are for not releasing DOAX3 in the west, I think it's important to focus on what we, as an audience are missing: a shitty mini-game collection and polygon boobs bouncing in hilarious ways for the low, low price point of $90. Truly, a great work of art has been denied us.

Title: the last goodbye
Fandom: Ninja Gaiden/Dead or Alive
Characters: Ryu Hayabusa
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Spoilers for entire game
Words: -
Summary: After the destruction of Vigoor, Hayabusa deals with his ghosts the only way he knows how - alone.

( the last goodbye )