Soooo….either more customization for the males…or females….males win again…after all they do dominate the world and the gaming industry even though women in their 30’s and 40’s are the fastest growing population segment in gaming….shame…I would think that adding even just a couple of female characters wouldn’t have cut too much of the extras for the male characters…after all nobody said you had to have 8 male characters and 8 female….2 female would have been nice…(and yes I have a electronics and gaming company background, I know the industry inside and out) A huge title due out in 1Q 2011 added their first female character….and even they admitted all they did was take a male and whittle it down to female believability..that it wasn’t as hard as they and most developers thought/say. I am though, looking forward to this game..It looks to be amazing, and the talent behind it…awesome. So the above comment is my view, my opinion, and lack of female characters will not stop me from purchasing this or any other quality game. We are used to having to play as males. I wish developers would realize that girls like to shoot and blow things up too…..in fact..Wouldn’t you rather have your wives/girlfriends do that on a video game instead of in real life….lol

I pretty much agree with you, ElisabethinCA. I think it bites that they couldn’t put in even 1 female character. But, considering that this game seems to have a huge multiplayer focus, it might be moot that they are all male. Common experience is that most female characters are being played my males (I won’t even try to go into the reasons,) and many if not most women play male characters in order to avoid getting pounced on by immature guys.

And, yes, I would like girlfriends/wives playing the game with me (not just to avoid real-life violence.) And if something as simple as cutting a few male options for female options makes it more likely she’ll play with me – I want that.

I’d be interested to see exactly what they would have had to cut to include female body types. I mean, as much as I honestly don’t care to look at a female with the heavy body type, the real question is which provides for more variety: an entire other gender (sounds so foreign that way), or more clothes for the one gender? I’ve seen some great stuff with the designs here in terms of what’s available for your character, but still, I can’t imagine that females, if they were different enough, wouldn’t provide a much more diverse visual environment for players. Look at UT, the females are constantly quite varied, and they seem to pull it off well. Yes, less variation, but it’s more of a “I’ll work with what I’ve got” because when you INCLUDE the other gender, and have less options, players don’t know what they’re missing other than “more options”. When you have more options and no other gender, players are very aware that there’s no females. The Pyro in Team Fortress 2 is a great example, people joke about it being female all the time, because they know the female gender exists (well, most gamers do). So, while yea, this won’t change my decision to buy the game, I think the female gender would’ve helped with the suspension of disbelief, as well as provided plenty more perspectives for the story mode and etc., much moreso than tires versus trashbags versus armor etc.

Either way, I look very forward to this game.