Pitchford: Female version of Duke would be interesting

Duke Nukem is a big fan of the ladies, but according to his new master, Gearbox co-founder Randy Pitchford, the gun-toting macho man isn’t a misogynist.

Asked if he is prepared for a potential feminist backlash when the game launches, Pitchford said there’s nothing to worry about.

“Wow, no, I don’t have a defence strategy. You know, it’s funny because Duke isn’t a misogynist. He isn’t. He is egocentric, and everything in his world revolves around him, but women can offer him something different than men can. So to Duke, if women are less to him, it’s not because they’re women – it’s because they’re not him. He actually loves women, and will go to great lengths to make sure they’re safe.”

Pitchford added: “I think actually it would be really interesting to see what a female version of Duke would be like. Maybe that’s a game that somebody could do.”

If anything, Pitchford believes Duke could be used to raise awareness for women’s rights.

“I think honestly that the kind of people that bring that stuff up – they’re probably not the people that are actually consuming this stuff themselves. They’re not actually truly offended. They have an agenda platform and are using something famous or something that has notoriety to draw attention to their issue,” he explained.

“And honestly – and I don’t know what’s going to happen or have any predictions – but maybe my strategy would be – you know what, if there are feminists who want to use Duke to further the cause of women’s rights – go for it. Because we’re all people in this world; man, woman – I don’t care what nationality we all are. We all want the same thing: to have a good life and get along. Honestly there’s a lot of unfair crap that happens to chicks in this world, and if they can use Duke to get attention to their cause; good for them.”

So could Duke be a mascot for feminists? “Maybe, maybe,” laughed Pitchford. “And if they need to abuse him a little bit to get more attention, hell yeah.”

Duke Nukem Forever will be released on May 6 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Find out what we thought of the game after a recent hands-on session.