Babes are the New Flags in 'Duke Nukem Forever' Multiplayer

One common feature of a multiplayer first person shooter (FPS) is Capture the Flag. It typically involves a team of shooters storming an enemy base to steal a flag and return it to the home base while preventing the enemy from doing the same. While I was always pretty good at stealing a flag in most FPS games, it was always bringing it back home that troubled me, since my enemies promptly shot me before I could find my way back.

The heavily anticipated "Duke Nukem Forever" (with a May 3 release date) just announced its own twist on the classic multiplayer game: The flags are now babes. Capture the Babe will require various Duke Nukem players to storm an enemy base, kidnap the titular Babe, carry her back to the home base, and give her a gentle smack to calm her down when she freaks out over being an objectified MacGuffin for this sexist game of fetch.

Feminists and other people who find this sort of game demeaning to women may face a difficult learning curve on the course of Gaming History 101. Duke Nukem was always characterized as a chauvinist pig with a big gun, and his games allow players plenty of opportunities to show that off. Whether Duke's treatment of women is a way for game designers to vent their misogyny or to make a beyond-absurd parody of the macho man, complaining about this juvenile view only brings the game more attention. In an age where FPS games are going back to comedic shooting fun instead of gritty and repetitive realism, any controversial news is good publicity. Either way, the game will hopefully be good beyond its immaturity.

In the end, it is all about context. Flags, drugs, bombs, oversized briefcases of intelligence, or buxom babes all serve the same purpose in an FPS Capture the Flag game: Form a strategic defense around your item while dispatching troops to grab the other team's item. Duke Nukem's apocalyptic future and misogynist personality makes Babes the perfect flag for his game. If you are going to shoot, loot and scoot your way into an enemy base, a little eye candy definitely makes the chase more worth it. I never saw a flag that graciously thanked me for rescuing it.