I would think more, using Halo as an example, of having Cortana not necessarily be female. After all, she's the caretaker in the Halo series. Of course we want Master Chief and the like to kick ass. That's what they do and that's why we love them. However, kicking ass isn't really a gendered trait.
WilliamUsher
It's not really about sides in any kind of conflict, more about using lazy tropes to design characters in order to get them to resonate superficially. I don't think anyone is arguing every, or even the majority of games need compelling stories, but there are plenty out there, whose writers seem unable to really grasp past the stereotypes when writing female characters. Mario doesn't need good writing, nor does Call of Duty. However, a game that puts s...