Pitchford: Most Gaming Heroes Now are Pussies

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford was the centre of a BAFTA showcase last night, and he had a lot to say about Duke Nukem Forever - including how weak most other video gaming heroes are these days, going so far as to call them all "pussies."

"We are really in a time when most of our heroes have become pussies," Pitchford said to a captivated, aging audience (they had been waiting 15 years for Duke Nukem Forever, after all). "Most of our heroes are emo, and they take themselves so seriously."

The charismatic developer then admitted that Gearbox was actually guilty of doing the same thing. "Look at what we did with Brothers in Arms, where we really wanted to treat the subject matter with so much deference and wanted to get so real that we took a tone about sacrifice and real human emotion. These characters have real emotions and real problems.

"Duke doesn't have any problems. He just kicks ass and so we have this world where heroes now are trying to be so human and so believable, that it's actually surprisingly fresh to have this guy show up again and doesn't give a crap. He's just badass, wins, and that's fine."

One of the reasons why Pitchford believes Duke to be such an enduring character, even after all this time, is similar to the appeal in Iron Man hero Tony Stark. "[Duke] definitely has the biggest ego in the world. He wrote a book called 'Why I'm So Great' - who does that? But in his world, everyone loves him... [Tony Stark] is a super-rich, crazy-smart guy who can do whatever the hell he wants and he's loved for it."

More choice quotes from the rather interesting discussion panel coming later today. You won't be disappointed.