A love tap may be the only thing keeping the good Duke out of Wal-Mart shelves if feminist organizer Shelby Knox gets her way. The slap given to belligerent girls when captured in Duke Nukem Forever‘s “Capture the Babe” multiplayer mode has Knox attempting to get the game out of Wal-Mart stores. Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford has since taken to Twitter to clarify that the slap is on the rump, and not anything resembling a facial hit, but that hasn’t stopped a petition from being drafted at Change.org calling for its removal, at least until the slapping is gone. At the time of this posting, the signature count was at approximately 6,000.
“To be clear, Duke Nukem Forever makes a game out of physical and sexual violence against women. And Randy Pitchford — CEO of Gearbox Software which is in charge of the game’s release — thinks that’s simply hilarious,” the petition states.
“The Capture the Babe mode of the Duke Nukem game, which will be played primarily by young people, sends the message that physical and sexual violence against women is normal, acceptable, and even funny. It’s not – and we have to say so,” it says. “If Mr. Pritchford [sic] thinks violence against women will boost his bottom line, let’s show him otherwise. Walmart is set to be one of the primary sellers of the Duke Nukem game when it is released on June 14th. Tell this family friendly retailer to refuse to sell the Duke Nukem Forever game until the ‘babe-slapping mode’ is removed.”
Is “Capture the Babe” and the slapping therein a concern for you, E-Gs? Or is Knox merely the latest to take alarmist issue with the medium? Give us your responses in the comments section!
I’m pretty sure that any news story containing the phrase “petition … at Change.org” automatically disqualifies the story as news.
Yeah, yeah, I’ve “signed” them too when they’ve made the Facebook rounds. Let’s not pretend they mean anything more than Internet onanism in the absence of opportunity to produce actual change.
Personally, I can’t wait for Duke, and I couldn’t give less of a crap about women’s “rumps” or the rest of their bodies. Ms. Knox has, without contributing anything to the creative process, managed to make “Capture the Babe” mode 10 times as funny, sight unseen. If they had a “Goose the Gay” escort mission I’d be all over that too, especially if it employed stereotypes as hilariously over-the-top as Duke himself is. Shame that feminist theory combined with a southern Baptist upbringing stunts the development of a sense of humor.
I’d say I look forward to crossing their picket lines, but (a) even if they walked their talk, there are more Wal-Marts than there are virulent feminists, and (b) they’d have to picket the UPS truck, because I get my pre-orders delivered. I’d make a special trip to the Newbury Comics in Northampton, MA to buy my copy, but the ladies there have bigger boots than I do.