Comments on: Nude Descending A Star: The Naked Void

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:35:03 +0000

I think what bother’s me the most about pseudo-political / pseudo-intellectual conversations that take place in venues like this, would be the complete ignorance of the obvious. That being, (albeit an overused cliche) sex-sells. Now, before anyone jumps to the conclusion that I’m asserting that the IN-GAME sex is what’s selling here, I’m not.
Instead what I’m alluding to is that exactly the same moral choices, as if within a mirror of our daily lives, is what takes place within the heart and mind of the protagonist of this game. Were this a driving game, you could be damn certain that he would be coming to a complete stop undeterred by the traffic backing up behind him to allow one of these beautiful ladies to cross the road. Now, alternatively take another UNattractive female crossing the same road at the same time, all the sudden his risk versus reward mechanism kicks in and dictates to him “dont bother”.

Unfortunately this is human nature, this is EXACTLY what would happen in the real world, a man, myself ABSOLUTELY included, would gladly do these girls dirty work with the reward (because of the visual she portends) already firmly in place in his mind, being well worth the risk.

These girls (in the game) are selling precisely what they know the protagonist is buying, and if ANYTHING, this game is completely an experiment in human nature and introspection, and if the NUDITY bothers someone, I would suspect it would arise from 1 of 2 places: Either they see something within themselves that they dont like (because of the truth of it and how THEY would react), or perhaps from some ultra-feminist group whose sole purpose in life is to do nothing more than demoralize a healthy sexual appetite (typically because they themselves find that they are the ‘not so attractive types trying to cross the road’ and no one is taking the risk side for the reward)

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:09:08 +0000

When I first saw the screenshots for The Void, it reminded me instantly of Surrealist painters such as Dali. He has produced some of the finest paintings of the 20th century and many of them featured nudes.

Everyone seems to be wrangling over whether the female nudity in The Void is entirely necessary. Sadly, I have yet to play it (although post willing, my copy will arrive tomorrow \o/ ) but from the descriptions of the characters – the brutal, cold, emotionless Brothers, it does seem quite valid in this case.

Nudes were often used in Surrealist paintings (oh for heaven’s sake, check wikipedia for more info) as a *counterpoint* to something else – sometimes violence or corruption, or as a mockery of civilised values. Again, what information I’ve found out about the personality of the Sisters suggests that they are not exactly mindless airheads such as you’d find in a lads mag but cruel manipulators, sirens and similar.

To summarise, the nudity I think deserves its place here – the beautiful and erotic forums of the Sisters contrasts the nightmarish appearences of the Brothers and serves to lull the player into a false sense of security. Of course, sometimes beauty is only skin deep…..

By: name

name — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:04:12 +0000

I like this post, it is hilarious.

By: Tore

Tore — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:35:02 +0000

This is the best piece of games writing I have ever read, without a doubt. That man in the photographs looks stunning, too.

By: The LxR

The LxR — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:07:23 +0000

Don’t you think that the text of the review itself is supposed to deliver to you what this game is about, and should you play it or not? When the review is followed by a score, there’s always the temptation to just glance at the score and don’t even bother reading the review, which can be misleading. There are a lot of really good games, that have an average score around 50-60 %, that a lot of people missed out on.

By: Mr.President

Mr.President — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:53:29 +0000

Perhaps the main reason why I was okay with all the T&A is that I had played and enjoyed Pathologic. Ice-Pick are about as far from machoist objectifying types and creepy hentai game developers as you can get, so I trusted their intentions and let myself enjoy the game.

Hmm, this is probably not that different from the point Quintin made in his article.

By: Luckylad

Luckylad — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:52:43 +0000

Its all simply a matter of whos company you keep. Personally, I’m from one of the most puritanical states in the nation by stereotype but I’m staying at the capital cities which by chance happens to be one of the most liberal cities in the nation. Calling it one way or another for any area is ill advised and short sighted.

By: Nalano

Nalano — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:07:15 +0000

I say this in all compassion and grace, but you people really need to get laid.

By: Quinns

Quinns — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:05:41 +0000

“All of the characters, male or female,” are not naked. Perhaps something I should have made clearer in the article is when I say the game cuts to the women being naked during conversations, they’re wearing clothes beforehand.

By: TeeJay

TeeJay — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:26:57 +0000

Here: http://www.mamba-games.co.uk/
and/or here: http://forum.ice-pick.com/viewforum.php?f=28
for details.

By: Dominic White

Dominic White — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:53:26 +0000

If you read this thread, the people who have actually played the game seem to be generally disagreeing with Quinns about the whole abuse/force angle. It sounds like he’s pretty heavily overthinking it all There’s definitely thematic reasons for the nudity. ALL the characters, male or female are naked (including the players avatar, who maybe be blue and ghostly, but you can still see your man-bits in your character screen), it’s just that the Brothers are so twisted that you barely notice it on them.

It sounds like he’s gone into this article feeling very guilty about enjoying something featuring naked ladies and coming up with a much darker interpretation of events than most would come away with.

By: del

del — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:32:46 +0000

Quirk, that’s exactly what I was getting at. In the same way as having a woman dressed in a skin-tight black dress can be just as sexy, if not moreso, than having them appear entirely naked, does the atmosphere of Void feel enhanced by their nakedness in a way that could not have been achieved, with the same or more impact, using other methods? It’s probably something I’d have to play the game for to see how they’ve worked with it but a lot of the time I see developers using nudity as titillation first and impact second.

I think that you’re right to say that the naked form can be used to great effect, much further than just porn. I just wondered if this was the effect achieved in the game and whether the same effect could have been achieved without its use.