Party Chat 6.13: Ubisoft’s Women Problem  Lots of big news came
out of E3 this week, but none got quite so much play as the
announcement that Ubisoft’s newest entry to the Assassin’s Creed
franchise would include no female playable characters, in spite
of the four-player co-op being a defining feature.  Before we
get started, I want to make something clear: I understand the
player always sees themselves as Arno Dorian, so any female
character would ultimately be assigned to one of player 1’s co-
op buddies. To which I say, awesome. What a great way to include
women as actual agents of the story without anyone being
“forced” to play as woman. Obviously I would love to play as a
female assassin—I couldn’t buy the HD remake of Assassin’s Creed
3: Liberation fast enough, and I very nearly purchased a VITA
just to play that game—but I get there are some people who don’t
want to “get stuck with the girl.” Frankly, that’s messed up,
but let’s table that discussion for now.  Ubisoft had an
opportunity for a compromise