Thanks to powerful graphics, many of the game characters we inhabit are pretty saucy. There's Lara Croft, the DOA3 ladies, Duke Nukem, and even "The Bouncer" heartthrobs. (The game may have been lame, but the tattooed dude was dreamy!) This week on "Extended Play" we ask the game developers about using sexy characters in their games, and this is what they have to say.

Attracting the core audience
"Our core audience is largely male, and that's why I think you see a lot of scantily clad women running around," says Ken Levine of Irrational Games. "But it clearly doesn't sell titles. I don't think 'Roller-coaster Tycoon' or 'Age of Empires' is really drawing people in for their sex appeal," Levine adds.

Aw, come on, little tiny men on horseback are way sexy, especially when they're beating the stuffing out of the French. Kidding! Seriously though, before we can think about why there are so many hotties populating the games we play, we have to wonder who is doing the creating.

"Do you think that your average game designer understands women enough from their angle to create a realistic female character that is compelling and attractive and isn't a chesty spelunker?" asks Cliff Blezinski of Epic Games. "I mean, I don't think we're at that point yet."

Geez, those game designers need to get out more. Of course, some designers catch pressure from above to sex up their creations.

American McGee, the creator of "Alice," says, "We would have creative executives at EA who would look at Alice and go, 'Uh well, what happens if you look under her dress?' or 'Why can't you make her breasts bigger?' and I'm like, 'That's not the point. That's not the market we're trying to sell to.'"

Inhabiting the hero
People can get bent out of shape about the physical perfection of game characters, especially the female ones, but the male characters are pretty ideal too. Part of the game experience is inhabiting the figure of a hero.

"In 'Freedom Force' it's appropriate that our female characters look like the comic-book superfemales. And you know there's not any kind of major difference between them and the male characters. Superheroes are superheroes. They've got to look good in Lycra," says Jonathan Chey of Irrational Games.

That's true. I don't think Spider-Man would be quite so appealing if he were paunchy -- though I imagine that saving the world burns a lot of calories and builds a lot of muscles.

"Are you going to design a game with some boring guy who sits in an office -- some wimpy-bodied guy?" asks Dave Perry of Shiny Entertainment. "The fact is, you want to try and be a superhero and we play videogames for these extremes."

Yup, everyone wants to be Superman, and no one wants to be Clark Kent. As for me, I think Clark Kent is far sexier. He's a writer who dresses in smart suits, and he hides his handsomeness behind glasses.

Anyway, not all women would agree with me, and not all women are offended by the game industry's representation of the fairer sex.

WWF's Lita, who also appears in "WWF Raw Is War" for the Xbox, explains, "I think the gaming industry -- it's got a really neat take on women. They portray this tough image, but keep the women sexy at the same time.... And I love it."

Future representations
Whether you love it or not, strong sexy characters are here to stay. On the other hand, we have yet to see the future face, and body, of gaming.

"I think 'The Sims' is an example where, especially like 'Hot Date,' which is one of our recent expansion packs, we were selling the game on sex," says Will Wright of Maxis. "But it's not the type of exploitive sex that you see with big-breasted women on the cover of the box. When you're selling to testosterone-filled 13 year olds, that has proven successful in the past, but I think the market is getting much more mature," Wright adds.

As games mature and grow more complex, so do the people who play them. Hey, even those testosterone-filled 13 year olds grow up, and then they get a subscription to Maxim (read bemusement here). Look, there's nothing wrong with enjoying far-fetched images of the opposite sex, as long as you can distinguish the fact of real people from the fictions that we create. The games will change as the demographic of players changes.

"I don't think you're going to see the big-breasted female characters go away, but as more women play the games, they'll gently steer us to the most sensible combination," Dave Perry says. "So luckily I think we face a future where all the games will not be the same."