Breasts' 'jiggle physics' met with online controversy

This week, video game company Capcom released footage of its highly anticipated game Street Fighter V. Soon after, online critics quickly criticized the depiction of one character. In particular -- one character's breasts.

The footage features popular character Chun-Li. In it, her breasts are bouncing uncontrollably.

"They're jiggling all over the place in a way that I think is meant to be provocative," game developer Brianna Wu tells As it Happens co-host Carol Off. "But, to be honest, it's kind of a little ridiculous and embarrassing for Capcom."

The company has since come forward and said Chun-Li's jiggling breasts were a glitch.

But, Wu doesn't buy it.

"When I see this, I believe someone at Capcom basically turned up the settings on Chun-Li's breasts and made them very jiggly," she says.

When game developers try to simulate the natural movement of breasts it's called "jiggle physics." 

"Sometimes we cheat animations by hooking controls up to them that simulate physics," says Wu.

But, "we tend to hook those controls up to women's breasts. It's ostensibly meant to be convincing animation but the truth is it's meant to be sexual in nature."  

Wu is one of the co-founders of the video game company Giant Spacekat. She's also an outspoken critic of female representations in the game industry. Last year, Wu was at the forefront of a controversy called Gamergate.

"Gamergate is a group that likes games exactly the way that they are. They're a bunch of men that feel like their culture is under attack," she says.

Wu received death threats online and, at one point, was forced to leave her home.

"It's truly a scary time to be a woman in the game industry."