Jezebel 
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New York, 5:40 AM
Sun Nov 8
22 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/26/09
10/26/09
10/15/09
I think they're trying to appeal to the tweens in order to get them "hooked", and repeat what they did in the 80s, when most games were designed to appeal to male kids/teens, being all Rambo this, Commando that, Target that, Mission whatnot or sports. That worked very well, and nowadays, the guys who buy a new game every month are those kids (that's my generation), and yes, casual gamers may be mostly girls, but most heavy gamers are not, and they must have thought "hey, let's repeat what we did in the 80s, and maybe in ten years time we'll be selling tons more", because as you say, most girls are casual gamers, who make them less money, which can be considered a marketing failure, if you compare it to what they make with male gamers.
10/14/09
Great article. I've been thinking about this for a while, and this solution is so elegant. Yep, "girlz" like games like The Witcher and Resident Evil too, let that make your head spin, marketers.
10/14/09
1) Something cute
2) Something to do with fashion/shopping
3) Girly colors like hot pink
Seriously. Like if it doesn't have one of these things we won't buy it or something? Most of the female gamers I know (myself included) tend to avoid these things like the plague. Yeah, I like shopping but I don't want a game geared towards it. Actually, the games I'm into are the roleplays (Kingdom Hearts on DS I'm totally drooling over now), puzzlers, mystery solving sort of games, or arcade type games. I am interested in none of the so-called "girl" games listed above. Even if I was in the intended age market, I would have rolled my eyes at them. I think this is part of marketers main problem. They think this is all girls would be interested in. Maybe they need to talk to their local female gamers. Don't try and tell me they can't find any. We're everywhere.
10/14/09
I agree with most of the comments and speaking from my experience, all I can say is that playing video games (don't know if it was a local problem in my ccountry, Brazil), had to be a hidden secret for girls till the sims came along.
Well I do play the sims (now in its 3rd generation), but I played all kind of games during my 30 years of living.
It all started with atari in the early 80's and I dropped it till got my first pc.
I remember telling the people from the game store that I was buying some game for my brother (ehich I don't have), because everyone would look at me as if I was some masculine chick only because I used to play video games.
Nowadays, I have a super gamer pc and 2 (the old version and the new slim) PS3. And I buy all types of games that I'm interested.
Guess the only game I didn't play at all and was a success was Tomb Raider (maybe because I now associate it too much with that Jolie actress), but I didn't like it.
I've never played any barbie game or do your make up stuff.
What attracts me in a game is a good story (I prefer rpg's, but action, first shooter also works, even sports which Baseball is an adiction - MLB the Show), and I do admitt that some romance might always be a plus (loved the Max Payne Mona Sax duo), cause it gets you more involved... However, I can also fall in love with a game like call of duty (world at war specially).
And for the record, I like that producer a lot and think that me - sorry - boys, were responsible for the ridiculous nonsense that happened over the internet about her and the franchise she produced. She is an avant garde professional like many others that don't have a face yet, because they aren't porn stars or model or something like that. Salute to Jade Raymond which I work and professionalism I really enjoy and all the other women that work in the game industry.
10/14/09
How much are these adult female gamers going to be spending money on adult-like games? My girlfriend is content to play free games on the net (and girly DS games). If you made adult-oriented games for females who played on PS3, or 360, what exactly would be done differently? On the other hand, just how many female gamers own these systems and aren't happy with the games that are out?
10/14/09
Read the thread, tons of us are going into great detail about what we find frustrating about many games. It isn't necessarily about making games specifically for women, it's about realizing we exist, we play, and we're sick of constantly having to play with either a male character or Booberella, queen of the Bikini Fighters.
It really sounds like you're implying none of us actually play video games and that we should be content with Bedazzled or something. It is pretty insulting sounding, given how many women here have gone into great detail about how much they play, and I'm not sure if you realize that's how your comment is coming across.
10/14/09
Some of my favorite games are...
- Shadow of the Colossus. (Breathtaking and simplistic. Also a LOT of fun.)
- Fable and Fable II. (Just...the musical scoring and the pure enjoyability of these games are off the charts.)
- Mirror's Edge. (FAITH IS A BADASS...and the game itself is brilliantly composed. Can't wait for the second one to come out.)
- Super Smash Bros. (Just because I get a lot of satisfaction out of playing as Peach and beating the shit out of Bowser,)
- F.E.A.R. (Scaaary, but good, bloody fun.)
I really can't wait for God of War III either.
...I've also held a secret love for the Harry Potter games too. Something about getting to run around as a freaking wizard in Hogwarts is just plain awesome. It's like living out a dream. xD
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
If we want to go into the dark relm of gender stereotyping though, I will say that there could be more games that aren't about killing your enemies.
I'm not saying collections of mini games either, I'm just saying what happened to a good platformer, or how about environmental puzzles, simulation, ect.
All of these genres seem to have been overwhelmed and forgotten in a surge of stale first person shooters and repetitive hack'n slashes.
Really, just because we're gamers, it doesn't mean that our view of fun depends entirely on the need to kill things.
10/14/09
There are a lot of different factors involved with this situation, some of which I think are changing for the better, but it's a complex problem.
For example, hit titles for modern consoles (ie. Xbox360/PS3) cost in the low tens of millions of dollars to bring to market. That makes the people supplying the money very conservative with what game concepts they'll approve. It was pretty cheap to make PS1 games and so all sorts of unusual games got made (eg. No-one Can Stop Mr Domino). If the financial risk pulls back in that direction more experimental games (both in content and demographic) will get made.
And that's just one issue of many. I really hope the powers that be figure out these problems because it will benefit everybody, from the programmer like me to the women who want challenging games which don't insult them either in their content or marketing.
10/14/09
10/14/09
And Doctor Horrible! Wheee!
10/14/09
10/14/09
It was written by Joss Whedon during the actor's strike, and was an experiment in low cost, internet delivery TV. Stars Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia and Nathan Fillion (the Captain from Firefly/Serenity).
"With my freeze ray I will... STOP...the world..."
10/14/09
More Phoenix Wright games!
More gay lawyers for everyone!!