Bishonen and beefcakes
From Lara Croft to Samus Aran, lustful gaming has always been a man's, man's, man's world. You know the score: double-barreled heroines keep the boys' hands on their joysticks, but with more women than ever grabbing the controls – now more than 40 percent of all players are female, according to most estimates – developers have finally begun to give us ladies some eye candy, too. After all, what fangirl doesn’t like a man who can hold his load? And while we’ve long had the hots for classic studs like Link, Solid Snake, and Sephiroth, 2008 was a banner year for fangirl fantasies from bishonen to beefcake. So without further ado, we give you the 10 sexiest male video game characters of the year: these are the guys who kept us going and going and going...
10. Duke of Gravity from Rock Band 2
He’s been fingering our fretboards since the original Rock Band, but it wasn’t until 2008 that he gave us his real name. (Which is always the way with guys in bands, isn’t it?) Now that H armonix has told us what to call him, there are even more fans of the Duke. His bright pink and blue hair certainly don’t make him conventionally attractive – don’t even get us started on the goggles -- but the Duke has inexplicably developed a cult following. More proof that rock stars don’t have to look good or dress well to sweep groupies off their feet.