Whether it’s a gasp of wondrous awe for a Mass Effect T-Shirt for my X- Box 360 Avatar; a squeal of girlish glee when my Mii wears a Hawaiian dress in ‘Wii Sports Resort’; or a shriek of joy equal to a five year old being given a Hannah Montana CD when I unlocked Elika’s ‘Beyond Good And Evil’ costume in ‘Prince of Persia’ – I have to admit it, I get a little bit excited about costumes.
Well to be honest, you all knew that already. But when I’m not dressing up as Ulala from Space Channel 5 due to the lack of appropriate situations you can get away with wearing orange PVC, I then hand my obsession over to the virtual me. Like the real Fran, the Avatar Fran likes to dress up and likes to shop. Damn you Xbox Live Marketplace, I’m now buying more clothes I don’t need – but at least they don’t take up wardrobe space.
It’s not just costumes, it’s customisation (costumisation?). I spent much longer than an hour honing the physical appearance of my Commander Shepard for ‘Mass Effect’ (she kicks ass, and destroys Space Councils) and you haven’t lived until you have seen my orange and electric blue clad ‘Soul Caliber IV’ character kick your ass with an oversized death Frisbee. As much as I would like to play as Voldo all the time because he is ‘amazing’ (holding up sarcasm sign) I would rather slice and dice Taki’s spandex zentai suit as me.
In any game that has the option, I usually make someone who looks a bit like me. Their hair colour will be the same as mine, the physique is usually about the same but I usually take 10lbs off the hips and put 10lbs on the boobs. Still, she is called Fran, so it must be me. Or me after plastic surgery… and unlimited credit at Cyberdog.
So my Soul Caliber IV characters always end up in just an armoured bra, pants, fish net stockings and an evil grin on their face. My Saints Row 2 character started off slim and in proportion but ended up in a ‘man-kini’, a pair of whore heels and a bust that would have put Jordan to shame. Well, more shame. Of course, customisation isn’t always about making an idealised man-kini clad version of yourself.
The first thing I did when I brought home Rainbow 6 Vegas, was to put my head into the game. After a few minutes getting the lighting right and a few hours getting the face right, I finally got a Fran I could be proud of and sent her into battle against a bunch of my man friends. Now having my face on this camo clad body did something rather unexpected. For some reason people who should be out to pop a cap my ass, didn’t want to see me lying dead on the floor. I guess I could understand that, it was kinda odd seeing myself being blown up by a rebound grenade and mangled in a heap. Just about as odd as if someone threw themselves out of a window at my feet with a cardboard mask of my face on. But not quite.
So realism isn’t that important to me in customisation, and normally when it comes to finding hidden extras and treasures in games, I’m the last person to care, but when it comes to the Tomb Raider games on the Xbox 360, it is well worth all the extra effort. By finding the hard to acquire treasures and relics you get to unlock different outfits for Lara to wear. This was the only reason I even looked for them. To see Lara from TR: Anniversary wearing her TR: Legend outfit made me have smiles. Then to also see her wearing alternate raiding gear and even a cat suit was bringing our relationship to a whole new level. Then when I unlocked Classic Lara – yes classic as in PS1 pointy boobs classic – I nearly proposed. Fortunately, this look ultimately scared the crap out of me and for fear I might get my eyes poked out I reverted back to a modern Lara but with a Tomb Raider 2 wetsuit. And my non lesbonic status.
Being able to change outfits and appearances is something that will draw me into a game. Even something as small as unlocking Ulala’s pink hair in Sega’s Project Rub on Nintendo DS.
Rainbow Six Vegas Fran did freak out a few of my friends as it was my actual face on the character, but I did still look bloody good even after being shot in the head. After playing Tomb Raider: Underworld, I played it again, in a very skimpy camouflage bikini (if you’re reading this Angelina, feel free to leave a comment) that I downloaded for free of the Xbox Live Marketplace. Unlocking costumes in Tomb Raider: Legend and Anniversary got me to replay games for the first time since I was a kid.
Some might say customisation has gone too far. They might even say: ‘If you can already have Miis and Avatars in Guitar Hero 5, what’s next? A cartoon version of yourself shooting police men and having sex with prostitutes for a health boost in GTA V?’ To that, I say I want an Avatar made to look like Hitler facing off against Gay Tony – whether or not he’s singing a ballad..Whether it’s a gasp of wondrous awe for a Mass Effect T-Shirt for my X- Box 360 Avatar; a squeal of girlish glee when my Mii wears a Hawaiian dress in ‘Wii Sports Resort’; or a shriek of joy equal to a five year old being given a Hannah Montana CD when I unlocked Elika’s ‘Beyond Good And Evil’ costume in ‘Prince of Persia’ – I have to admit it, I get a little bit excited about costumes.
Whether it’s a gasp of wondrous awe for a ‘Mass Effect’ T-Shirt for my Xbox 360 Avatar; a squeal of girlish glee when my Mii wears a Hawaiian dress in ‘Wii Sports Resort’; or a shriek of joy equal to a five year old being given a Hannah Montana CD when I unlocked Elika’s ‘Beyond Good And Evil’ costume in ‘Prince of Persia’ – I have to admit it, I get a little bit excited about costumes.
Well to be honest, you all knew that already. But when I’m not dressing up as Ulala from Space Channel 5 due to the lack of appropriate situations you can get away with wearing orange PVC, I then hand my obsession over to the virtual me. Like the real Fran, the Avatar Fran likes to dress up and likes to shop. Damn you Xbox Live Marketplace, I’m now buying more clothes I don’t need – but at least they don’t take up wardrobe space.
It’s not just costumes, it’s customisation. I spent much longer than an hour honing the physical appearance of my Commander Shepard for ‘Mass Effect’ (she kicks ass, and destroys Space Councils) and you haven’t lived until you have seen my orange and electric-blue clad ‘Soul Calibur IV’ character kick your ass with an oversized death Frisbee. As much as I would like to play as Voldo all the time because he is ‘amazing’ (holding up sarcasm sign) I would rather slice and dice Taki’s spandex zentai suit as me.
In any game that has the option, I usually make someone who looks a bit like me. Their hair colour will be the same as mine, the physique is usually about the same but I usually take 10lbs off the hips and put 10lbs on the boobs. Still, she is called Fran, so it must be me. Or me after plastic surgery… and unlimited credit at Cyberdog.
So my ‘Soul Calibur IV‘ characters always end up in just an armoured bra, pants, fish net stockings and an evil grin on their face. My ‘Saints Row 2′ character started off slim and in proportion but ended up in a ‘man-kini’, a pair of whore heels and a bust that would have put Jordan to shame. Well, more shame. Of course, customisation isn’t always about making an idealised man-kini clad version of yourself.
The first thing I did when I brought home ‘Rainbow 6: Vegas’, was to put my head into the game. After a few minutes getting the lighting right and a few hours getting the face right, I finally got a Fran I could be proud of and sent her into battle against a bunch of my man friends. Now having my face on this camo clad body did something rather unexpected. For some reason people who should be out to pop a cap my ass, didn’t want to see me lying dead on the floor. I guess I could understand that, it was kinda odd seeing myself being blown up by a rebound grenade and mangled in a heap. Just about as odd as if someone threw themselves out of a window at my feet with a cardboard mask of my face on. But not quite.
So realism isn’t that important to me in customisation, and normally when it comes to finding hidden extras and treasures in games, I’m the last person to care, but when it comes to the Tomb Raider games on the Xbox 360, it is well worth all the extra effort. By finding the hard to acquire treasures and relics you get to unlock different outfits for Lara to wear. This was the only reason I even looked for them. To see Lara from ‘TR: Anniversary’ wearing her ‘TR: Legend’ outfit made me have smiles. Then to also see her wearing alternate raiding gear and even a cat suit was bringing our relationship to a whole new level. Then when I unlocked Classic Lara – yes classic as in PS1 pointy boobs classic – I nearly proposed. Fortunately, this look ultimately scared the crap out of me and for fear I might get my eyes poked out I reverted back to a modern Lara but with a ‘Tomb Raider 2’ wetsuit. And my non-lesbonic status.
Being able to change outfits and appearances is something that will draw me into a game. Even something as small as unlocking Ulala’s pink hair in Sega’s ‘Project Rub’ on Nintendo DS.
‘Rainbow Six: Vegas’ Fran did freak out a few of my friends as it was my actual face on the character, but I did still look bloody good even after being shot in the head. After playing ‘Tomb Raider: Underworld’, I played it again, in a very skimpy camouflage bikini (if you’re reading this Angelina, feel free to leave a comment) that I downloaded for free off the Xbox Live Marketplace. Unlocking costumes in ‘Tomb Raider: Legend’ and ‘Anniversary’ got me to replay games for the first time since I was a kid.
Some might say customisation has gone too far. They might even say: ‘If you can already have Miis and Avatars in ‘Guitar Hero 5‘, what’s next? A cartoon version of yourself shooting police men and having sex with prostitutes for a health boost in ‘GTA V?’ To that, I say I want an Avatar made to look like Hitler facing off against Gay Tony – whether or not he’s singing a ballad…
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