According to Epic Game's art director Chris Perna, female leads are hard to justify because fewer gamers buy titles with strong female leads.

In an upcoming issue of OXM, Perna talked about the cliché of female characters in video games. "You see the implants and the blonde hair and pants and you roll your eyes - it's almost like the game geek's idealisation of what a woman should be. I think because we didn't go that route we have more believability... we've got more butch characters."

Later on, when asked if a future Gear's title could feature a female lead, Perna responded, "That's certainly interesting but I don't know. If you look at what sells, it's tough to justify something like that."

What do you think? Are you less inclined to buy a game if it stars a female lead? When given the option do you normally play as a dude or a gal?