In a 24-hour news cycle, media outrage often becomes just as newsworthy as events actually transpiring. So when UK newspaper The Sun runs an article with former Pussycat Dolls singer Ashley Roberts in Crysis 3-themed bodypaint, we can't help but pay attention to it.
Crysis fans are more than familiar with Nanosuit, a skin-tight armor that gives the series' protagonists super-strength, invisibility, and other abilities. Roberts' version certainly takes advantage of the skin-tight aspect of the suit...
I'm choosing not to make one a handful of jokes connecting the Nanosuit's super powers and the fact that Ms. Roberts is attractive. Please feel free to insert yours here.
Sex appeal is obviously a great way to get attention from mainstream media, but this is a shameless plug barely mascarading as a celebrity profile. Given recent reactions to the objectification of women in the gaming industry, publisher EA and developer Crytek either have incredibly bad timing or are itching for a fight.
On the other hand, the semi-naked spread fits in at The Sun, which frequently features nude and semi-nude photos both in stories and advertising. The fact that they chose to give their gaming coverage the treatment may not besubstitive, but isn't any more extreme than they're take on other subjects. We just can't help but wonder if there's a way for game publishers to get the public's attention in a way that's both appealing and substitive.
Crysis 3 was released yesterday in North America and hits the UK on Friday.
