In the Pixar/Disney movie Wall-E, the fat humans are shown as being human beings; perhaps not what human beings should be, but still human and in the conclusion heroic.

In the DreamWorks Animation movie Kung Fu Panda, the fat major character is the butt of every fat joke that the filmmakers can cram in. This despite the fact that pandas are naturally in that shape, the same way that snakes are thin. He's a panda, he's automatically fat, let's make fun of him for what he is.

The social-reject coders that made "Fat Princess" must have seen the latter, thought it hilarious, and went back to their cubicles littered with Angelina Jolie pinups and empty Mountain Dew cans to create this hilarious joke of a game. Their next gaming project will probably be "Grand Theft Auto: Kill the Darkie Hookers."

Did you play the game?

since it's clear it's not the parody of the Princess motif in games that is causing so much angst

Hey there,

The first coveted red-star just appeared....and it went to the letter I thought would receive it.

As I've said previously, I and two of my friends sometimes play a game which involves our betting on which letter gets the "red star".

However?...on this particular day (as with most others, which is why we've sort of stopped playing the game) all three of us won.

Between the "article" and the letters, it was just too easy to guess......

The last thing any Broadsheet writer or its supposed editor (a job I wish I had, since it doesn't seem to involve working) would do is to answer any question such as those voiced in the first page of responses to this "article". At most, they'll pretend to "respond" (a la Joan Walsh) by replicating the stupidest, least-defensible letter they've received....and do it on video, and end with the predictable "whhat do YOU think?!?!?!? Write in and TELL us about it!!!!!!!".....

Oh,La Fatigue du nord......

--david terry

What is it that bothers you about my letter?

Please! VivalaNerds' letter is certainly interesting, since it addresses one of the points Ms Harris was worried about -- stereotyping of fat people. There is nothing wrong with it. I don't see why it shouldn't deserve a red star.

dterry, let's not fight about such trifles. I do feel that Broadsheet posts tend to be biased, but this does not mean they don't have points to make or should be 'trolled'. After all, there are other people here, and even if Ms Harris doesn't answer a reader's questions, some other reader might. The world is a big place, there's room for everybody. And Ms Harris is certainly entitled to her viewpoint.

What I think this article is getting at is the mentality behind so many games. Where's the creativity? For every one 'Starship titanic' there's hundred or thousands of first person shooters. And it's not like it's even driven by good economics - the Sims makes extremely good money, and they actively try to appeal to women. They do it by letting people customize their characters - and pay to do it. Whereas World of Warcraft has had character customization as the number one fan priority for years, but won't bother doing it.

Why is the industry like this? Well, I asked a female gaming exec a couple of years ago and she said it was because of the culture of the programmers and (ahem) their immaturity. But she held out hope it would change - she said that developers were getting to the end of improvements in graphics and sound and that she hoped that companies would turn to improvements in plot to help profits.

Then I asked her what the next title her company was producing. She flushed a little as she said "Playboy Mansion".

Now you can't talk about who is fat, what is fat or that they are fat. As of today 66% of the entire population is an oppressed and repressed minority.

Hey there,

To answer your question?....nothing in the least "bothers" (or for that matter, bothered) me about your letter.

It was perfectly fine, reasonable, and rather markedly better-written than the article to which you were responding.

that said?...I knew it would get the editor's red-star because, as opposed to the letters preceding it, it did not in the least criticize the original article in any way.

In short, your letter was of the sort which would allow Broadsheet to giddily trumpet "See! We're writing sharp, incisive, cutting-edge blogs that foster productive 'dialogue' about feminist issues!".

Of course (and as ever), your letter was better-written and actually more interesting than the "blog" to which it responded.

By the way?....I agree with you....anyone who thinks that Christina Ricci and Scarlett Johannsen (sp?) are "fat" needs to learn what actual, beautiful women look like.

I apologize for seeming to have criticized your letter, which I definitively did notintend to do.

It was the article that SUKT (as, I gather, Ms. "I'm blogging as Fast AsI can!" Harris would phrase the matter)

As sincerely as ever,

david terry

you pay all the extra medical costs/equipment costs/compensation-mitigation-for-all-that-money-could-have-been-used-for costs/etc/etc/ associated with your obesity yourself. AFTER you do that you can complain about persecution along with all your fellow drunks, drug addicts, smokers, and other similar persecuted victims.

Hello, depending on the game, a lot of women play games. There are some games like FRPGs where the majority of players are women. There are also female game designers (like me.)

There are fat chicks who can fight in games. Check out the Unreal Tournament series for some badass chicks you wouldn't want to sit on you.

I wonder the same thing must have to do with the patriarchy or something. To the american feminist it is evil to ever say anything bad about fat people or there life styles and you must assume that each and every fat person has some medical condition that causes the weight gain because they all eat nothing but a well rounded meal planed for them by the top dietitians in the world and excersise more than TO in a parking lot. But, women that are skinny must be banned from working a career that they choose and are a much higher drain on society and cause more women to die than cancer, heart disease, and diabetes combined.