The Uncanny Valley Of Digital Cleavage

Here at eGamer we pride ourselves on delivering good wholesome family entertainment for everyone. With cerebral thought provoking articles about games and gaming culture. We would never ever resort to posting a nice pair of digital jubblies (aka breasts) to impress you. Okay who are we kidding? 

It seems that most game developers have reached the uncanny valley with games becoming more and more photo realistic, where they pushing boundaries, graphical limits, and realism. But it seems the developers have reached one major hurdle in the quest for the uncanny valley and realism, and that would the breasts. Yes, the breast physics in games. More often than not, breasts take on a life of their own and forgo the natural law of physics. A good example of this would be Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 and Soulcalibur, both of which have breasts with minds of their own.

These games have reached cult status due to their legendary physic defying bounce, and not for their “cerebral” gameplay. Having said that, on very rare occasions are there games that get breast physics right. One game with good breast implementation is Devil May Cry 4. Devil May Cry 4 has just the right amount of cleavage, bounce and jiggle to make any gamer geek who hasn’t had the privilege of having a real pair in-front of them drool with geeky joy. While playing Ninja Gaiden 2 I also noticed that Team Ninja’s groundbreaking bouncy breasts™ technology has been successfully transferred from Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 to Ninja Gaiden 2. For those who haven’t played the game: lead female character, Sonja, also sports a pair of physic defying breasts.

Is breast physics a growing problem in the gaming industry? Also, did you see what I did there? 

Could it be that the study of breast physics in games have taken a back seat to the study of fluid dynamics and quantum mechanics instead? Or, is there a huge number of game designers who simply don’t get out of the office enough to interact with a real women, with real breasts? Probably the former, I might add.

In the dark void that is the unrealistic portrayal of the female anatomy, there lies a glimmer of hope in CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher 2. In one of the most noticeable times in game development history, game designers have gotten the realistic portrayal of the female anatomy right. From this, it’s evident that CD Projekt RED’s developers have indeed spent some time with with real women, and not female heroines who are top heavy, dressed in as little armour as possible.

I believe that there is a thin line between realistic displays of nudity, and gratuitous gravity-defying jiggly bits bouncing everywhere. That being said, I think that boobs and cleavage will always be a part of video games. The industry is slowly growing up, and it’s now at the point where developers are listening to gamers and their concerns. But like the movie industry, some video games will continue to sell sex, where certain people will continue to buy into that.

Don’t get me wrong, as a hot blooded male I enjoy looking at a perfectly rendered pair of boobs. However, if we use the “video games is an art theory”, the presence of breasts in games could be seen as the developers trying to sell something specific, like sex or sexuality — and this is often seen as wrong. Although, it’s not always the case.

It’s no big secret that most people like breasts, but there is a fine line that needs to be walked here. You simply cannot dismiss the presence of boobs and cleavage if it is used correctly in games, opposed to being the main object of advertising. The female body is the most beautiful thing on this earth, and if done correctly, it can offer a lot more to games. Hopefully, not too far in the near future, game developers will eventually get it right. But, until then, we can only yearn for a perfect pair of digital jubblies.