There is a whole generation that is still out there playing video games, and that has been heavily influenced by very scantily clothed pin-ups posing in front of cars on the first page of their magazines. One could attempt to hypocritically deny it, or blame marketing all day long, but as a matter of fact, female characters in rather revealing outfits used to contribute as a strong selling factor in the industry.
For the sake of integrity, I need to state that I am a male in RL, and probably belong to the aformentioned generation. Like any other heterosexual male, I keep a pronounced liking for the female anatomy, but it's been a while since I expected video-games to limit themselves to such trivial standards before catching my interest, and motivating a purchase. The same for novels, movies, magazines, etc.
Video-games need to evolve, like society has, like the population of their players has, no doubts. I would absolutely hate it though that we couldn't find some kind of sensible middle-ground in doing so.
Females characters in bikinis, with submissive psychés hiding in the background of the archtype of a Conan-like superhero belong to the past, but so does the stereotype that the slightest nipple showing would be inadmissible.
Female characters need to remain feminine, male characters masculine, as a whole (in their physical and psychological features), lest to portray everyone as some kind of horribly dull and boring asexual robots in our games.
