Chi Kong Lui has written an article over at Gamecritics.com on sex in games. That is, actual intercourse, not just mere sexiness or what not. He excludes non-mainstream games, although the boundary is vague. Of course I immediately thought of some titles not mentioned, and they are all games Rockstar Vienna was involved in somehow - a coincidence, I swear. I think the sex in GTA3 and especially GTA: Vice City is graphic and overt enough to merit inclusion, and if I'm not mistaken there is some sex in Max Payne 1, although I still haven't played that myself.

Anyway, given that this article is volume 1, there will probably be a volume 2. I hope there will be some analysis - what is the conclusion drawn from this list of games, and what does it mean about the medium or the industry? Love, sex, romance, etc. are a popular topic among game designers, only slightly less so than "when will games make people cry?" Case in point: the GDC session on romance in games (with Eric Zimmerman, Warren Spector and Will Wright) was apparently one of the better ones. (Sadly, I missed it.) It remains a fascinating topic, worthy of a deeper blog entry.