It is curious how this occurs, though. Balthier in Final Fantasy XII is a pirate who is self-serving, and will work with the group for his fair share of the treasure. Setzer in Final Fantasy VI is a dashing airship pilot who kidnaps daring opera divas and will help the party if they happen to win in a gamble. Dante from the Devil May Cry series is an anti-hero with a devilish side. The feminization these men face sets to give them a bit of danger and makes them all slightly less than good—the rebel ...

Therefore, the male whose foil the dandy plays is the stoic, quiet, restrained, and/or muscular type. So, with the two polar opposites being the effete dandy and tough, muscular guy, the metrosexual makes perfect sense as someone who toes this line, which is where I would argue a character like Dante actually fits. He resembles more a James Dean or Han Solo than an Oscar Wilde or Jareth, the Goblin King. It is even more curious to note how these dandies do fight, as they are bound to be included in some brawl.

They sing, use tools, prefer using guns, and cast spells (the notable exception to this is the venerable old sage, who has earned his right to cast). Occasionally they may engage with a sword, but these are the fencers, not the brawlers (see: Raphael Sorel of Soul Caliber). Finesse, not strength defines their character—which lends itself to us distrusting them. Would you trust a man who would not engage you in direct combat? In a "man's world," this is seen as an affront to honor. Those silly effete duelers, chatty and unwilling to muscle through a problem. You certainly wouldn't want to wrestle with them!

It's an interesting conception of 'the dandy' character; do we ever see perfectly normal dandies who aren't suspiciously shifty? All of the VBR Friday essays that deal with sex and gender are worth a gander.

Who you callin' macaroni? [Vorpal Bunny Ranch]

Filling out the list we have Super Mario (none of this normal Mario bullshit) with 21%, Lara Croft with 16%, with Donkey Kong, Pac Man, Link, Max Payne (what?), Pikachu, Niko Belic, and Blanka taking up the rear. Hit the jump for the percentage breakdowns.

SONIC TOP DOG HEDGEHOG

A bright blue, spiky-haired, lightening-fast hedgehog has beaten not-so-Super Mario, cyber-babe Lara Croft and giant ape Donkey Kong to the title of the nation’s favourite video-game character.

Over 500 UK gamers voted in the poll to mark the launch of London Games Festival, which is expected to attract over 100,000 computer games fans to the capital this week.

Ahead of his appearance at the Festival, Sonic the Hedgehog, the official mascot of computer giant SEGA, was crowned the most popular video-game character of all time collecting nearly a quarter of all votes (24 per cent). Super Mario and Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft came second and third gaining 21 per cent and 16 per cent of the vote respectively.

The UK’s top ten most popular video games characters are as follows:
1. Sonic the Hedgehog (24 per cent)
2. Super Mario (21 per cent)
3. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) (16 per cent)
4. Donkey Kong (11 per cent)
5. Pac Man (10 per cent)
6. Link (The Legend of Zelda) (5 per cent)
7. Max Payne (4 per cent)
8. Pikachu (Pokemon) (3 per cent)
9. Niko Belic (Grand Theft Auto series) (2 per cent)
10. Blanka (Street Fighter) (1 per cent)

Other (3 per cent)

An inanimate cube, juveniles holding hands, and the nuances of a complicated adult relationship as seen through the eyes of a youth - the conclusion here seems to be that games are able to create that sense of intimacy by revealing less, not more - just as FFX's quietly tragic heroine Yuna lost a lot of dignity by cropping her shorts way up into her "personal crease" and gyrating around like a pop star in X-2 (even though it was cute and fun), games lose dignity the more decadent cleavage shots and full-body pans they show.

Me? I like a little sex with my media (and clearly, the keeper of Sexy Videogameland does too); it's probably a factor of my day job, where sex leaps off the page even when you're least expecting it (Mao Zedong? Inherently unsexy. Mao's bevy of beauties that accompanied him on train trips around China? Immediately spice up even the most boring of campaigns.). My research takes me into the realm of film culture of the '30s and '40s, where sex oozes off the silver screen and out from the pages of fan magazines, with little more than a flash of leg and certainly no busty beauties popping out of their catsuits; even the most serious of social dramas usually have their fair share of sensuous moments, and no one would accuse them of being juvenile. There is a lot of growing up gaming has to do in dealing with sex, and I agree with Alexander that taking a cue from media a little more mature would probably serve designers well.

Overt sexuality isn't necessarily juvenile — I for one would celebrate a female character that resembled my favorite women of imperial Chinese history, the brilliant, sassy, and most definitely sexy courtesans that litter the pages of secondary literature — but it does have to be handled in the right way, and that usually involves a little more brain and a little less boob. Maybe grown up sexuality will herald the continued maturation of the medium as a whole.

Getting To The Action [GameSetWatch]

You can read IAH Game's notice about the wipe after the jump

[Urgent News] Implementation of Patch0
10/11/2007
Gamers,
Thank you for your patience while we worked to upload Patch0 onto our local servers. For the past two weeks, IAHGames and our partners have worked overnight almost everyday as they attempted to implement Patch0 onto our existing servers.
In the end, it has been determined that there is no way to implement Patch0 onto our Hellgate: London servers without also discarding relevant player data.
Because of this, when Patch0 is installed on Tuesday, there will be a complete character wipe.

|We understand this event is frustrating for you, and we are sorry for the problems in implementing Patch0. As compensation, we are providing all gamers who purchased both the Standard and Collector's Edition Box Sets 4 weeks of free subscription benefits. Each box already includes 30 days of free subscription benefits, meaning all of you will be entitled to 60 days of free subscription when the service becomes active around the end of the year.

IAHGames and our partners have taken this event very seriously, and yesterday our CEO and Deputy CEO flew to Seoul to discuss the issue with the CEO of HanbitSoft. As a result of the meeting, HanbitSoft has graciously agreed support IAH Games' decision to provide free subscription time as compensation. HanbitSoft and Flagship Studios have also agreed to provide all further patches on par with US patching time lines, to ensure the SEA version of Hellgate: London stays up-to-date.
The implementation of Patch0 and subsequent character wipe will occur at 1200hrs(GMT+8) on Monday, November 12. After the Patch is implemented, a comprehensive test will be run to ensure there are no further problems. The process will take about 8 hours.
We would like to repeat we are sorry for the delay and the frustration it may have caused you. Please accept the game time as compensation, and thank you for your support until this point.

Sincerely,
Team HGL

With BioShock and Halo 3 behind us, the next big epic game (not to be confused with Epic Games) is Mass Effect, set to hit shelves on Nov. 20, just in time for Thanksgiving holidayers to have something to play whilst trapped at various relatives homes. (Don't forget to bring your 360)

This clip introduces us to some of the denizens of Mass Effect you'll meet throughout the game and shows off some of the gorgeous character animations that will likely set this game apart from other RPG shooters. If you missed Part One, I have included it for your viewing pleasure after the jump.

Like a little tea pot, short and stout...here is the soldier:

Nintendo Paper Models [Gotorion via Wonderland]

Splicers are among the many enemies you'll encounter in BioShock. Once some of the best minds in the world, these people chose to leave the world above and become citizens of Rapture. They then began to morph and adapt their bodies to optimize their wits, the physique, anything they could dream up perfecting, they augmented. Sometimes, to horrible ends.

The "Yam Hand" (also called, "Yammie) character eventually turned into a full-fledged Big Daddy in later versions of Waters' concept. I love how some of the lady friends look like zombie versions of Bettie Page. Kim Phu

Splicer Art Sketches [2K Games]

One thing I haven't really been clear on is what Rule of Rose is actually about. The plot synopses I've seen are all vague and full of innuendo.

I've been able to piece together that much of the game takes place onboard an airship or something description, probably the fishblimp we see in screenshots and trailers. And there's a wicked cabal of cute little girls, who are called the Aristrocracy of the Red Crayon.

Our heroine, little blonde Jennifer, arrives in this group somehow and immediately becomes the whipping girl. I assume the game is a sort of Lord of the Flies in petticoats.

Siliconera just posted a rundown of the characters in Rule of Rose, complete with little portraits.

Jennifer

The main character of the game. An unlucky, helpless and timid girl who's dragged into an alarming world. She's doomed to face unimaginable hardship with her companion Brown. To find a way out of this nightmare, she's forced to obey the ridiculous rules of the Aristocrats of the Red Crayon.

I like "Aristocracy" better. Eliza Gauger

The Characters of Rule of Rose [Siliconera]
Interview with Atlus about Rule of Rose [Siliconera]

Feast your eyes and nuts on this glistening new character selection screen from Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. According to hot tipper David, it just got dropped onto the Midway forums by one of the mods.

New characters include Florian, third from the left on the third row; Crecente, second from the top on the second row; Bashcraft, first on the left on the second row, and don't look now but I think Scorpion might be gay and/or racist. Eliza Gauger

The official Super Smash Bros. Brawl site has updated with some new screenshots. Hop on over to the site and click through the characters to check out the new images. Brian Crecente

Smash Bros Characters