Bayonetta, or A reminder That Sex Sells.

For once, a game is being made into a controversy, not by mainstream media (yet), but by gamers themselves. All the buzz about Bayonetta focuses on the extreme sexuality of the game. I can't remember the last time that sex and games were discussed with such fervor; it seems as if everyone with a gaming blog has devoted as least one post to this game.

Some of the opinions out there are really interesting.
Yahtzee from Zero punctuation thought the sexuality was "shameless" and criticized the ridiculous anatomy of Bayonetta. He described her as " a pencil stuck through two grapes."
Landry from elder-geek saw it as a form of "Sexcapism", and he makes an interesting observation about glasses-wearing protagonists.
Movie Bob, the game overthinker, spends over 9 minutes discussing the history of sexuality in games and comes to the conclusion that Bayonetta is the first female character to pull of the "sexuality as a means of empowerment" angle.
Gamegirl seems to agree with Movie Bob, praises Bayonetta femininity, and says the game is beautifully made.

I think the outlandish sexuality of this game is a crude, but effective marketing strategy. Games like GTA have shown that even negative press will help promote sales, and the makers of Bayonetta definitely picked up on that. I highly doubt that this game was designed this way to fit some artistic vision, or to empower women; it was made this way because controversial themes get people talking, and word of mouth is still the best kind of advertising there is.

I know I'm contradicting the title of this post, but, in the long run, controversy will out sell sex every time.