The 3rd Birthday Official Site Opens

[Carnivol]

It's because, apparently, you can't create an attractive female character in her thirties.

No, seriously.

I really hate this thing in games.

I believe it's mostly a Japanese thing (which is rapidly spreading). Where if the designer doesn't make you feel like the cops are about to bust in your door, there's clearly something wrong with the character design!

[Archelon]

Here it is:

Most interesting of all to me is a comment about Aya's age from Scenario director Motomu Toriyama. As you may have noticed, she is looking rather young for her stated age (she is 35 in The 3rd Birthday). Toriyama commented that it was "difficult to make a woman in her mid-thirties the main attraction for any video game". Wow. Hey ladies, you know after thirty, you become utterly devoid of worth, right?

http://www.destructoid.com/director-says-the-3rd-birthday-will-be-kind-of-a-3rd-person-shooter-117232.phtml

It originally appeared here, though.

As a special bonus for all you hormonally driven male teenagers out there, Aya is around 35 years old…but thanks to a side effect of her inherent ability, she still has the look and body of a 20-year-old woman. And what woman out there wouldn’t want that nice little side effect? Scenario director Motomu Toriyama has said it can be difficult to make a woman in her mid-30s the main attraction in any video game, and unfortunately, we do have to agree. We know you remember the shower scene from Parasite Eve II…

[Carnivol]

Darn... I guess I've been wrong about thinking women like Christina Applegate, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jennifer Connelly are pretty... 35 is the point of no return. Thanks for clearing that up for me, Japan.

Yeah... no. I guess it just shows where the limitations of their collective talent goes ('Cause it really is a bit of a tricky thing! There's like this weird gap in Asian graphical design, especially when it comes to women... where you either don't properly show it or you over-exaggerate someone's age and make them look like they're 30 years older than they really are... so you just avoid even trying and instead sell on sex and cheap merchandise.)

You know, the chaps that worked on Spirits Within (many of which were Square USA staff from the original Parasite Eve team, if I'm not mistaken) really did an ace job with Aki Ross and the rest of that movie's cast, making them all look their age (of course, the majority of that movie's cast were late 20s/early 30s, but they all look pretty darn good and age-accurate. Even compared to a lot of stuff made today, nearly 10 years later. Facial textures and such in that movie still beats most stuff whipped together today, mostly 'cause they feature the most important thing of all; the imperfections.)

So how come Square-Enix (and most other Japanese companies) are so gimped and incapable of making anything between ages 20~55 (unless they've aged absurdly slowly or rapidly). Is it' 'cause they don't know dick about facial traits? 'Cause they are perfectionists? Do they hate "ugly" people?

[aris13]

Kitase confirms winter 2010 Japanese release for 3rd Birthday, 2011 for Europe

[chris_survivor]

I want this game so much!!!!!!! ; I guess I need to buy a PSP, again ; since I sold my last one? Is there any news if, the game will be available for downloading, and play on PSP GO??

[ShadowHeart]

O M GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/3rd_birthday/

I jizzed.

Like.

Everywhere.

AYA <3

OH...MY....GAWD....As did I...[Parasite Eve] Will never die! EPIC GAME SERIES THAT WILL STAY EPIC FOREVER MORE!

[aris13]

The 3rd Birthday slated for Q1 2011 in west

[chris_survivor]

The 3rd Birthday slated for Q1 2011 in west

I hope that's closer to January than March!!!

[BBboy20]

I hope that's closer to January than March!!!

Eh, perhaps March would be better as both Jan & Feb are getting pretty filled up.

[chris_survivor]

I got this game on the release date (japan) ; I'm going to say that it was everything I expected after waiting 10 years for a game where Aya's on it. Everything looks awesome ( the story, could probably be a lot better, but still) . I'm still waiting for the US release, to see if they do a good voice acting on it (does anyone knows who is doing Aya's voice), and of course, I'm not a japanese speaker, so I still have some questions about the story after getting some answers of the forums.

[BBboy20]

Guess March is gong to be the month where long-waited sequels in handheld formats are finally released in the West.

[Vogue_Dirge]

Jensen Ackles from Supernatural is voicing someone in this!

[aris13]

And Yvonne Strahovski is voicing Aya.

[Darkmoon]

I'm (accidently) downloading this from the PlayStation Network as we speak. I'm surprised News Bot hasn't hosed down a building yet...

[Smiley]

I really hate this thing in games.

I believe it's mostly a Japanese thing (which is rapidly spreading). Where if the designer doesn't make you feel like the cops are about to bust in your door, there's clearly something wrong with the character design!

Yeah it's not really impossible. I still think Jill looks great in RE5 yet newcomers I've noticed in other topics talk about how ugly she is compared to Sheva.