Latest news with #RivalsAssembled
Metro
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Marvel Rivals is a ‘gooner game' insist fans but director refuses to comment
The creative director of Marvel Rivals has offered an explanation for the game's choice of skins when asked about its 'gooner game' status. If there's one thing everybody knows about Marvel Rivals, it's that everyone in that video game's roster looks incredibly sexy. Well, almost everyone, we don't think anyone's attracted to Jeff the Land Shark. It's a subject that has earned the game both praise and criticism, particularly regarding the designs for the female members of the cast, such as Invisible Woman and Emma Frost, the latter of whom quickly became a fan favourite for her thick Chun-Li style thighs. As a result, Marvel Rivals has earned a reputation as a 'gooner game' – a term people use for games that rely heavily on sex appeal. The game's creative director Guangyun Chen, however, has tried to downplay the idea that the characters and their unlockable skins are deliberately made to be sexy. Recently, Chen sat down with YouTube channel Rivals Assembled to discuss various aspects of Marvel Rivals. When asked how he feels about social media comments labelling it as a gooner game, Chen dodged the question and chose to explain how new skins are designed for Marvel Rivals. 'Because our design is inspired by classic comic themes, including some very outstanding skins, like Mantis and also Psylocke's Vengeance, these all come from classic comic designs, and we create some more fashionable designs based on them to gain players' appreciation,' said Chen. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. In a way, he's not wrong. A lot of classic comic book superhero outfits, especially for women, were designed to be sexy, like the aforementioned Psylocke skin. Although in a lot of cases Marvel Rival's team has made the skins extra sexy, such as Invisible Woman's Malice costume, which ditches the original's cape and lets her bare bottom hang out. We can't help noticing though, that Squirrel Girl still doesn't have the costume she wore for the majority of her most famous comic book run. One that happens to show very little skin at all… Plus, Chen's explanation doesn't account for any original skins that lean on sex appeal, such as this Hela skin that shows off a lot of skin, especially around her well-defined rear. Chen claims some skins are designed to fit with whatever storyline is occurring within a given season. For example, the current season has given characters skins themed around the Phoenix Force and the Venom symbiote, since the plot involves the superhero Phoenix fighting the symbiote god Knull. 'For designs like these, we try our best to integrate the storylines from the season,' continued Chen, adding that they'll incorporate real-world elements as well, like they have for the summer swimsuit skins. 'We create new designs based on that and I'm very grateful these designs have been well received by the majority of players.' More Trending Marvel Rivals fans don't seem particularly convinced by Chen's answer, though, with a couple pointing out that they see a lot of online ads for the game that focus on the sexier outfits. 'One of their ads I saw for a month or so was a girl in a one-piece swimsuit face away, so her cheeks were just hanging out. Definitely not a gooner game,' one writes sarcastically. Others think Chen is being honest, pointing out how Marvel comics 'have been gooning for a long, long time.' 'People are used to seeing censored designs for Marvel characters but if you look at most of the original comic book designs a lot of them are as horny as the average gacha game,' says one, 'Rivals is probably one of the most authentic Marvel projects we've seen.' Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Marvel Rivals interview – how to make a hit live service game MORE: NetEase celebrates Marvel Rivals success by sacking director and staff MORE: The best Marvel superhero video games you can play right now
Forbes
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Marvel Rivals' Director Dismisses ‘Gooner Game' Classification
The longer Marvel Rivals exists, the more cosmetic skins are added to the game, and the ones that attract the most attention on social media are the provocative ones, namely for the female characters that show quite a bit of skin. During a lengthy Rivals Assembled interview with Marvel Rivals creative director Guangguang, this specific question of Rivals becoming a 'Gooner' game was raised (don't ask me the origin of the word, let's just say people now use it to describe games relying heavily on sex appeal). Guangguang had a thoughtful answer that didn't go after those saying that, but explained why such costumes are chosen. Namely, most of the ones cited are straight from the comic books. Here's the exchange: Rivals Assembled: 'Speaking of cosmetics and skins…how do you guys respond to people calling Marvel Rivals a 'gooner game'? Guanguang: 'Because our design is inspired by classic comic themes, including some very outstanding skins, like Mantis and also Psylocke's Vengeance, these all come from classic comic designs, and we create some more fashionable designs based on them to gain players' appreciation. I think this also reflects the broad recognition from our players." "As mentioned earlier with the Squirrel Girl and the Krakoa Resort skin, these are actually designs based on real-world themes and the season's storyline. For designs like these, we try our best to integrate the storylines from the season, including elements from Krakoa and blend popular elements from real life. We create new designs based on that and I'm very grateful these designs have been well received by the majority of players.' FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder There's an entire debate in the gaming community about whether 'sexy' character designs help or hurt a game. The fact is…the main issue is whether the game is fundamentally good or not. There are examples both ways. Famously 'woke' Concord with its conservative, extremely poor character designs utterly failed. The hot heroine Eve was the star of the successful Stellar Blade. But The First Descendant which has leaned heavily into these character designs, is still trucking along but is at anywhere from 90-95% down from its peak. The general sense is that Marvel Rivals is a fundamentally good game, and it would be good with or without these skins, albeit it's almost certain they sell better than most. Rivals is still topping 120,000 players a night on Steam alone, and its monthly character churn is keeping people occupied who may otherwise dip out. The entire 'gooner versus woke' debate remains rather pointless, as the main point is that a game has to be quality enough to retain players, and going one way or the other isn't going to flip the success switch. I do not expect Marvel Rivals to change anything from here, nor should they, really. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
