Kpt._Rob said:
I hadn't meant to say that it was deep social commentary, just that the immaturity of it was the joke. That is to say that Duke Nukem is a self-aware expression of immaturity. If I were to try and express it more clearly than I was before, I would say that there are two types of immaturity. There is genuine immaturity, that is to say that the person making the immature thing has no idea how immature it is. When you laugh at its immaturity, you also laugh at the creator (whether you meant to or not) because it is a genuine reflection of immaturity. But the second type of immaturity is that possessed by Duke Nukem. The people at Gearbox are clearly aware of how immature the game is, and they're creatively working to make it as over the top immature as possible. Unlike the first type of immaturity, where the creator is the actual joke, in the case of Duke Nukem it is the creation itself that is the joke.
Likewise, there are two groups of people who will play Duke Nukem, those who will laugh at it, and those who will laugh at its immaturity. I think my fear here is that the assumption made of gamers by the non-gaming public (and anyone who doesn't realize that Duke is a joke) is that they are laughing at Duke Nukem as opposed to laughing at its immaturity.
Ok, I sorta get what you mean, but I'm not sure if that's what they are going for.
For example, just refering to the sex. It's been pointed out on the forums time and again that scanitly clad females don't hurt sales, large breasts appeal to certain demographic, and so on. This is generally seem as a normal part of the gaming industry.
But in regards to DNF, it's totally not about sex, it's about laughing at the how it's portrayed? Presumably, then, it's marketed at those who aren't too happy with sex in games, and not at that who want to see more of it? I have a hard time buying that. DNF seems to be awfully close to being what people say it's parodying, though we'll have to wait and see to be sure.
