Here are excerpts from my interview with Bungie’s Marcus Lehto, “Halo Reach” creative director, that led to today’s story on the game coming out Sept. 14.
Q: You’ve got more women in the game. Was that a business decision to reflect the market, or influenced by developers with female players in their families?
A: We always want to be sure we’re trying to be as inclusive as possible with players. That’s one of the reasons in player customization you can choose a real female Spartan now, and choose a real female voice to go with her, and kit her out just like you would male Spartans. You can do some really neat stuff there, and it’s really cool too, because contextually all the characters speak to you appropriately then with regards to your gender, in cinematics and also in gameplay itself.
Q: That’s new – to have gender-appropriate cinematics even?
A: Yes, that’s something I really pushed for on this project. I wanted to make sure both male and female were treated equally as far as player character was concerned and you could really open up the audience, hopefully, to a broader group of folks.
Q: When you make a decision like that, how much is driven by business and marketing decisions about getting X more players?
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