It's Fox News vs Duke Nukem: Media outlet attacks Gearbox over 'Capture The Babe'

March 29th, 2011, 00:33 Posted By: wraggster

Last month, Fox News asked if Bulletstorm was "the worst video game in the world". Now it looks like it's found a new contender: Duke Nukem Forever.

The US media outlet has taken Gearbox to task over its controversial 'Capture The Babe' multiplayer mode.

OXM US last month revealed that the online challenge sees players grabbing a 'babe', then carrying her off in a rescue attempt. However, it added than when the woman struggles, players have to give her a "smack" to "calm her down"; qualifying that this was more "goofy than offensive".




Perhaps sensing a potential storm de merde, Gearbox's Randy Pitchford later clarified on Twitter: "It's a love pat on the ass - more about sexual innuendo. Not at ALL about violence towards women, which is SUPER UNCOOL."

But that didn't stop Fox News from unleashing editorial Hades.

"Video Game's 'Capture the Babe' Mode Has Players Slapping Women" screamed the outlet's news website. Reporters Jeremy A. Kaplan & Patrick Manning then continued:

"A new videogame that requires you to abduct women and give them a 'reassuring slap' if they freak out has gamers and women's rights-groups crying foul."

Fox, which called the game "awfully sexist", quoted Jamia Wilson, vice president of the Women's Media Center, who said: "It was offensive [when it was Duke Nukem 3D] and it's even more offensive now. These depictions of women are extremely harmful, especially to young women."

Gearbox announced last week that the release date of Duke Nukem Forever had been delayed one more time - until mid-June.

The studio hasn't explicitly released a statement distancing the postponement from the Capture the Babe controversy, but Pitchford has Tweeted: "Nothing is getting cut because of the delay. Some things are getting better, though."

So, is a slap on the buttocks to calm a woman down "awfully sexist" - even if it is a "love pat"? Or is OTT objectification of women folk all part and parcel of the Duke Nukem world? Let us know your thoughts below...

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