The folks at Bandai Namco clearly know what it takes to make women feel more welcome in video games: great clothing options! In their free-to-play PS3 game Soulcalibur: Lost Swords, they’ve just added a new armor you can receive as a loot drop until March 4th for Ivy and Amy, two of the game’s female fighters.

So functional!

So classy!

Given the lady-friendly nature of the armor, it may not surprise you to learn that Bandai commissioned manga artist Yamatogawa to design the outfit. Sorry, did I say manga? I meant hentai. You know—the porny stuff, not exactly known for sex positivity or female empowerment.

And don’t even start with any garbage about “cultural differences” or “freedom of expression” or any of that. This is equally as problematic as hiring a erotica artist to design a cover for a female superheroine. Geek culture is still largely exclusionary to women and choices like this only serve to drive away half of the consumers who buy these products. This is especially toxic in the gaming industry, which fosters a culture of violent and terrifying misogyny through its objectification and devaluation of women both in-game and out.

But, I mean, as long as someone aims a hit like right into her butt crack, she’s gonna do just fine.

(via SRK)

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