When you push the whole notion that girl gamers aren’t that common, all it does is push more women away. My girlfriend is this way, for some reason she thinks that she isn’t good at video games, so she doesn’t play very much, even though she’s actually really good, lol. I try to tell her, I’ll be like “What do you mean you’re not that good?! You just beat three levels without dieing once!” lol. She’s got it in her head that girls aren’t suppose to be gamers, which I just think is bull.

Besides, most of my friends who are girls have played plenty of video games in their lives.

I see where you’re coming from, but I think you are put on the defensive by being a minority in the gaming culture. Gamer girls are just that, a minority, and while video games are growing and appealing to wider audiences, that continues to be true and will continue to be true for awhile.

You have a point that these co-op features are good for any co-op experience, but lets really look at what that means.

With the advent of Live, co-op is easier and more popular than ever, but looking at the Live, you’re playing with someone who owns an Xbox, owns the game, pays for Live, and has arranged to play with you. Chances are your both experienced players with similar skill levels. So in this event these features really apply minimally. If you’re just matchmaking on Live they don’t apply either, as you’d just get paired with someone of similar skill level.

So live doesn’t really apply. We’re left with single console co-op experiences where these tools REALLY apply. We’re talking about just someone who happens to be sitting on the couch next to you. They might own an Xbox they might not, they may have played a game recently, or at all, maybe not.

So lets break down who these people are likely to be.

First, there’s me sitting next to my friend and rocking some Gears. The friend over scenario is common for us, but since it’s common and we always play together we wouldn’t need the features.

Then, there’s friends that you don’t play games with on a regular basis, but if it doesn’t happen regularly the features aren’t being used that often. Nice to have but not the main target.

So we’re left where you might be playing a game on a regular basis with someone who doesn’t really game. Why would this be happening? Most likely because you live with the person.

One common case of this is siblings, but the game’s demographic rules that out for the most part.

So what are we left with? Mostly significant others. Since the majority of gamers are male, it’s assumed these features are good to get the girlfriend playing. Instances where both genders are gamers the features don’t apply, and instances where the girl is a gamer and the guy isn’t are far from commonplace. Furthermore many of the girls in that demographic are more likely to be playing Final Fantasy, Blue Dragon, magic and story games than they are to be playing “Look it’s a blood fountain!” Gears of War.

So to call these features Girlfriend Friendly is accurate, and applies to the majority of uses these features would see. While saying “Casual-friendly” might be more PC, Cliff is a game dev, not a journalist.

Which brings me to my next point. So many people bash on Cliff for semantics in this post, calling him stupid, etc, but he’s just a normal guy with an extraordinary life. He’s a game dev with a rockstar personality.

He’s arrogant sure, but he has a right to be. Other than that, he’s just an outgoing, magnetic personality that the media latched on to because he’s exiting. He’s not some humdrum game dev monotonously explaining his game while being clearly camera shy. He’s the guy that comes out on a stage with a lancer and gets people’s attention. That is why you know his name.

So when he lets something slip like Gigantic Tits, he’s just being a guy. Personally, I hate when people get upset at something like that, and I wouldn’t be attracted to a girl who would hold such a phrase against the man. Gigantic Tits describes the video game vixen stereotype perfectly. Sure “Large Breasts” would work, and be more PC, but it’s also very boring, which Cliff is not, and doesn’t quite nail the absurdity of the issue.

I’ll concede that it’s not smart to say gigantic tits in an interview, but I also maintain that it being an issue is a damn shame.

I also find it funny that you stopped quoting him where you did, instead of including the next question where he elaborates on what he means using Anya as an example. Anya Is a perfect example of where his head is at. She’s strong, important, powerful, and human. She’s beautiful but she’s not unrealistic or Barbie’d out. She’s the perfect example to how to make an appealing female character to all genders. So semantics or not, actions speak louder than words, and Cliff obviously understands what he’s doing.