The Leaderboard of "Texts" (Games to look at)

It occurred to me recently that I may have set my task too large with too wide a range of games to cover. As in any well organized paper, I need to limit my amount of texts so that I can say a wide range of things involving gender identification in Avatars while still limiting my subject to only a few texts. Because of this, I will list here a breakdown of the texts I think I will use, how they relate and why, specifically, I chose these games. In this list you will notice what I hope is a mix between male dominated games, female dominated games, and games that use both genders to a certain extent (Through DLC and other content). Some games will be mainstream games, some will be art games and some will cross the chasm spanning these genres.
Note there may be spoilers ahead, so if you don't want to know, don't read any further.

The list:

Female centric games:

Tomb Raider -

There is a lot of literature out there about this game and Lara Croft in general-- everything from her existence as an empowered female heroine ideal to her over hyped design as a titillation machine for male gamers. However, what intrigues me about this character is her simultaneous ability to attract male gamers who have reported feeling more able to let out their "feminine side" while pushing away some female gamers with her general design and objectification. Even the wikipedia artical suggests that Lara Croft is actually more easily identifiable to men than she is to women. Interestingly, for a character who has been reviewed with such depth as a sexual icon in the videogaming world, she is never given a solid indication of sexuality: whether she is straight, bisexual, gay, pansexual, asexual or in-between, the gamer is never told directly. This indecision on the part of the directors makes her relatability all that more intriguing - in many ways this ambitiousness let's Lara be more easy to identify with; in other ways, it frustrates both male and female players alike.
Playable Female: Lara Croft - Sexuality Unknown

Gone Home - 

This game has gotten a lot of flack from the consumer market-- it appears, at first glance like a horror mystery game that may culminate in action but SPOILERS it is not. In reality, Gone Home is an art piece that plays with your expectations to tell you subtle stories about one family through that family's absence. While you play this game as a seemingly hetero-sexual female, Katie, the plot of the story revolves centrally around Katie's sister who discovers who own homosexuality during a more repressed 90s era backdrop. What gone home does is it takes out the shooting part of a large world First Person Shooter and instead focuses on exploring the world and discovering the plot on your own. Many reviews online have complained about the game's extremely fast beatability-- most complain about finishing it in one or two hours. However, they miss the point: this game is not about reaching the ending but enjoying the ride. It is an art piece, and what many could consider a feminized game.
Playable Female: Katie Apparently Heterosexual BUT the piece is primarily focused on a Lesbian Relationship

Games with both Male and Female Representation:

Bioshock Infinite - 
The Bioshock Series is impressive from pretty much all angles. The depth of the world and story telling are enhanced by most game play, but it is truly the building of the world that makes this game so intelligent and playable. That being said, Bioshock Infinite becomes extremely useful because it illustrates an important difference between how one plays as a male character, in its central game, and how one plays as a female character. Unlike a lot of games that do provide both female and male avatars,  Bioshock Infinite's DLC keeps the same basic method of game play while limiting what the female character can do when the male character could. Booker and Elizabeth are both able to use guns, use vigors/salts, and play in similar manners, yet the game has taken the time to limit what Elizabeth can and cannot do in what may be a realistic way.
Male Playable: Booker DeWitt -Apparently Heterosexual
Female Playable: Elizabeth - Sexuality Unknown


Male Representations:

Uncharted - 
In many ways, Uncharted and Tomb Raider are brother and sister games. Both Nate and Lara do similar tasks - look for artifacts a la Indiana Jones. However Nathan Drake is much more of a man's man - he has multiple love interests, a standard hetero-normative sexuality and is often left out of gender discussions. He is, in many ways, a very American Hero. His representation is just as important as the representation of female playable characters because he represents the kind of character most women play as and need to relate to in the video-game world.
-Male Playable: Nathan Drake  -Heterosexual


TBD

I would love suggestions to use for male representations of videogames, but there are so many to choose from it becomes kind of a mix. Because all you gamerbros like commenting so much, please try to do something productive and suggest titles for this section. I have Uncharted for sure, but I would like to know what games you think best represent an identifiable masculine character.
Frankly, I would also like a few suggestions as to games which let you choose a character gender at the beginning of the game -- and not just in multiplayer mode. I mean plot-centric games.
**Note: I would like to stick to games made to be video games - Unless there is an extremely compelling reason, this means games that stem from films, such as any of the Harry Potter games (some of which are actually quite fun) do not count. Tomb Raider slips by because the Movie stemmed from the game, not the other way around.



Games I might use:
Final Fantasy XIII Series - 
Using these title is kind of a double edge sword. On the one hand the games include such a wide aray of playable characters that have multiple sexualities and genders, but on the other the storylines can can get so confusing (particularly after FFXIII-2) that it may not be worth the effort.

Legend of Zelda - 
A classic example of the heroic male character, in a very series of games. I would probably work with Ocarina, Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess and Wind Waker. I am trying to stick with console games for continuity - though who doesn't love Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages?

The Last of Us - 
Great game, with a very interesting playable mode for Ellie. Goes in interesting directions as Ellie is not only female and young but also apparently Lesbian. I'll admit it, I would mostly be using this for the DLC section.

FarCry 3- 
This game's protagonist is masculine almost to the point of satire. He is characterized in a high energy, adrenalin junky manner in a game that is almost entirely about shooting things. The plot isn't exactly nonexistent but it is so open world that it lacks direction. You are given a lot of options about what to do and are able to play at your own speed. I'll admit it though, I cannot complete this game in one sitting because it can get a bit... repetitive. Despite the hilarious quips in the 'manuals' the game lacks a lot in terms of character development.

Bioshock 1 and 2 -
Its Bioshock. I'm sort of in love with it. Also there is a choice component where your decisions drastically effect the gameplay. But did I mention it is amazing?

Catherine - 
This is an incredibly bizarre puzzle game which focuses on a male character making choices that has him end up with one of the two Catherines of this game. This game, like Bioshock, has a choice component that effects game play and could be useful when considering the avatar-player relationship.

Do not turn off the power while your progress is saving.

LEX saved the Game