I don’t know why they didn’t want Orchid’s retro as it was originally, but saying “Capcom does it” has zero bearing on what MS is okay with. Honestly, I think R Mika, Laura and Cammy look ridiculous. Sorry, but some stuff should be left in the 90’s not because feminists might complain, but because its embarrassingly juvenile and outdated.
As for that crack about “why no one’s buying KI” having to deal with the lack of s-e-x appeal, for one… That’s not only an unnecessary (and kinda bush league) cheap shot at the dev and publisher), but “s-e-x sells” is simply not true.
I know. It’s one of those things that’s said so much that it’s just this universal truism, right? Wrong. Studies have shown that using scantily clad women or virtually anything else related to s-e-x has no impact on whether a person buys a product or not.
I mean think about it logically for a moment. If a game comes out and it’s really good, but all of the women in it are dressed normally and not like jailbait or fetishes etc, do you honestly look at that game and think “man, where are the bewbs bouncing around the screen? Why isn’t that chick’s back end hanging out? I don’t think I want to buy this.”
And it’s the same thing with beer, with restaurants etc. You will turn away so many people with s-e-xual advertising that those you gain that are drawn by it usually create a zero net gain or even a loss.
So why do so many advertisers do this? I mean, if studies have shown that it doesn’t really work, then why bother? Two reasons. For one thing, we’re a vanity culture. We like seeing hot chicks, even if seeing them has zero impact on whether we buy the product they’re advertising or are in etc or not.
Two, and more importantly… Advertisers are VERY slow to adapt. They do what’s safe. Tried and true, even if it’s not true. They also do what’s easy and what’s cost efficient. People that hire ad companies love that second part.
So if MS didn’t like Orchid’s retro because they thought it looks ridiculous or lame or garishly 90’s then so be it. It’s there prerogative and saying they’re scared of offending people doesn’t change that fact. As you said, Capcom does it. This was preference, and I side with their preference on this.
For Thunder, yeah, the taller, multi-colored Mohawk could’ve been a cool way to do it as opposed to the highly unauthentic feather Mohawk that he had in the 90’s. I think DH dropped the ball there. But if they’d rather play it safe and go a different route, no big deal.
I really don’t think it’s a PC culture thing either. I think they just wanted either authenticity or something completely different and that left no room for something that, at best, was unauthentic and at worst, a 90’s gaming era caricature of a Native American. Simple as that.
My issue is that a lot of the season one retros simply aren’t very well done from a quality standpoint. I’ve seen the pics of Wulf, Orchid, Fulgore etc that go with that Thunder pic in the video and what we have now falls far short of those pics.
I’d really like to see all of them touched up. Make the hair look better, clean up the faces some, smooth out all the rough edges in the designs and simply make them better wherever possible. It’s not just a preference thing, it’s addressing a weaker looking aspect and doing right by the quality of the rest of the game and the fans as well.
I don’t fall in to the camp that believes we’re entitled to spot on replicas of classic KI costumes. I think it’s unrealistic to expect certain things, even if LCD can’t wrap his head around why (and that’s not a jab at you, man, our opinion just differs a bit) But he is absolutely 100% correct about the quality issue. Completely agree there.
