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Teen Vogue encourages girls to get their Wii on
While these aren't the best quality we've ever seen for scanned pages, it's still exciting to see the Wii getting mainstream press coverage, particularly in a nontraditional market. Magazines targeted at women and teen girls are often down on video games. Even the Wii gets this treatment, alas, in the March issue of Cosmopolitan, wherein it is referred to as an example of a poorly-chosen gift. Of course, we tend to think that anyone who can find a Wii must be a gift-giving superhero, but we are admittedly biased. No matter. We just find it refreshing that Teen Vogue is taking a pro-Wii stance and indicating that it's the bee's knees for girls.And we definitely wanted to point out the shirt the girl on the left is wearing. It reads "Oui Wii" and we here at the 'Fanboy feel a burning need to get our hands on one of those right now. We're probably not going to read Teen Vogue to get one, though. We'll do a lot of things for Wii gear, but that's a line we're so not crossing.Go Nintendo has larger (blurry) scans if you'd like to see the rest.
Women's magazine enters Japanese DS market
NamcoBandai today released more details of its collaboration with Magazine House, the Japanese publisher behind anan, which is a monthly title aimed at the female market. Like the magazine itself, the upcoming anan-licensed DS game (full translated title, anan Supervision: Quick Female Power Boost) is designed to help Japanese women achieve what they consider to be their ultimate selves. anan Supervision offers players 50 types of "ideal woman" and encourages self-reinvention via its three-month training course. Qualities such as cuteness, strength, and beauty will be taught through a series of daily lessons. As-yet-imperfect Japanese women will have to wait until the summer for a Quick Female Power Boost.
Survey shows HDTV preferred over live Super Bowl experience
Unsurprisingly, surveys these days can often have very interesting results, which may not necessarily represent the general population in a factual manner, but nonetheless, if the "Big Game Survey" is to be believed, more people would rather watch the Super Bowl on an HDTV than actually going to the event in-person. Conducted on behalf of Circuit City, the survey found that 48-percent of all respondents would rather catch the big game from the comforts of their couch compared to just 26-percent who would rather cheer from the nosebleed seats. While it wasn't directly stated where the other 26-percent fell, we can only assume that those were the folks who'd rather pressure-wash their entire house than suffer through four hours of non-stop partying over a game of pigskin. Nevertheless, it's certainly not a surprise to find that sports offerings glue Americans to their couches like no other type of programming can, and the survey also found that around 60-percent of men (and 49-percent of women) were more likely to throw down for an HD set solely because of the Super Bowl (and hosting a subsequent party). While we'd probably have no qualms accepting an all-expenses-paid trip to see the biggest NFL game of the year, we have to assume that folks were taking total cost into account when answering the questions, and considering the dough you'd likely lay down just to get a seat for this primetime event, wouldn't you rather bring home a svelte HDTV instead?
1 in 8 blokes would swap their lady for a "must-have" gadget?
Alright, so we're taking this survey episode of propaganda quite lightly, but apparently an alarming amount of guys would give up their "must-have" woman for that "must-have" gizmo. Reportedly, a UK survey conducted by GfK NOP on behalf of mobile price search agent (read: spam bot) 60207 found that nearly one out of every eight men surveyed would willingly ditch their girlfriend -- but not their 'fro -- for a hot gadget, which was classified as a svelte HDTV, iPod, or some other desirable inorganic object. While the 16 to 24-year olds were quickest to swap a person for a gadget (17-percent), only 2-percent of the happily married 55 to 65-year old crowd was willing to throw away their silver anniversary for something found at Circuit City. Also of note was the female reaction, as nearly six-percent of ladies admitted that they would kick their man to the curb for a lovely piece of electronic kit, but considering just how much the dames have fallen for gizmos of late, this isn't all that shocking. So while holding onto your SO might not be all that difficult a fortnight into February, don't be alarmed if things get testy around June.[Via TechDigest]
Breakfast Topic: Gender in WoW
We've written about gender before, and it's an interesting topic that confronts one more frequently and more dramatically in WoW than it does in other parts of life. Azeroth is a sociologist's dream in several ways; I'm not even a sociology buff and I'd love to see some data on player vs. character demographics.Do you play primarily your own gender or the opposite gender from your own, or do you play both genders pretty equally? Personally, I'm male, but I mostly play female characters. My other two RL friends who play WoW are male and female, but they both play mainly female characters as well. Furthermore, why do you play the gender(s) you do, and do you find that you get treated differently depending on what gender character you are playing?
Pink PSP proves pretty popular
ITmedia is reporting that the pink PSP is doing quite well, with a 70% female audience, aged 20 to 40. This is a market largely ignored by Nintendo's efforts: younger than the Brain Age-obsessed moms, and older than the Nintendogs-loving girls. Accessories, like the pricey Samantha Thavasa pink PSP case sold out "instantly," proving that a simple color change can expand the PSP's market quite a bit.Of course, Sony seems to understand that everywhere except the US, where gamers have been limited to one PSP color: black, and black alone. When will Sony realize that this is just limiting their ability to sell more systems? Certainly, the upcoming Silver system which hits Japan this week will also help boost sales.[Via PSP-Vault]
Female game shoppers persuaded by freebies, determines survey
Attention would-be game marketers: According to the "Customer Focus Tech Savvy" survey, Gen-Y females are suckers for the ol' special offer -- who isn't? Thirty-two percent of participating females, born between 1977 and 1994*, agreed that "special offers like free items or discounts" are the most important factor in deciding where to purchase video games. Not surprisingly, "parents" and "adults" (the other vague statistical categories polled) agreed.Retailer owners may also take solace in the discovery that almost no one surveyed thought herself attracted to helpful staff or demo kiosks. Just stick with the swag and pimply-faced dimwits.*Range used by survey; official Generation Y range varies: "there is no precise consensus as to which birth years constitute Generation Y. For instance, while the periodical American Demographics typically uses 1976 to demarcate the start of Generation Y, the demographers Howe and Strauss have consistently used 'the High School class of 2000,' or those born in 1982 as their demarcation" [Wikipedia].
Phat Loot Phriday: Robes of Insight
After today's discussion about looking good, I figured we'd go fashionable this week. Male cloth-wearers may complain about having to wear a dress from time to time, but when the girls put this one on, there aren't any complaints at all.Name: Robes of InsightType: Epic Cloth ChestArmor: 74Abilities: +25 Intellect, +15 Spirit Use: Reduces the cost of your next spell cast within 15 seconds by up to 500 mana (basically a free cast). 15 minute cooldown. Could be (and is considered by many players to be) the best looking "dress" in the game-- especially on human females. Hawt! How to Get It: Unfortunately, beauty ain't cheap. This thing is an Epic World Drop, which means it drops randomly, at an extremely low drop rate, on almost any mob in the world, which means you're just as unlikely to get it while in a group as you are tooling around by yourself. Farming it is like searching for a miniature needle in a hayfield, so you're likely going to have to depend on luck to get it in a drop.Or, more likely, you could just buy it. Most AHs, when they carry it, will have it at anywhere from 150g up to 400g (most average around 200-225g). It's only a level 47 item, however, which means that unless you're an alt, by the time you have the gold to buy it with, you probably won't need it anyway. But on the other hand, it is a really cool looking dress... How much would you pay to look like Leia in Empire?Getting Rid of It: If you're not that fashion-minded or don't wear cloth and are lucky enough to find this, by all means, put it towards that epic mount, and drop it on the AH for mucho moola. A vendor will give you 1g, 25s, 66c for it when you're ready to start wearing the next season's fashions.Update: And if you like the style but can't wait for the drop (and have a raid of 40 going into AQ), commenter Spyder points you to the Robes of the Guardian Saint, a drop from Fankriss in AQ40.
EveR-3, EveR-4 female androids on the way by 2010
If you thought EveR-1 (pictured) and EveR-2 were pretty human-like bots, (they talked and could sing, respectively) then you'll surely love the next iterations, the EveR-3 and EveR-4. Our friends in Korea are currently working on the upgrades to the female-like bot, and the new versions are expected to walk, sing, dance and have "substantially improved intelligence" -- the whole package is expected to be ready by the end of the decade. We expect that the EveR-4 will be able to sing harmony with Korean heartthrob Rain and do a corresponding dance number without getting stage fright, or else we might have to hop on over to Seoul and figure out what's going on for ourselves. [Via Far East Gizmos]
Samsung E428 aims for the mobile-minded princess
We're not exactly sure how many princesses these days actually carry cellphones, but this handset may be just the phone for the young female royalty-wannabe set. Or at least that's what Samsung is hoping for with its latest model, the E428. This newcomer brings an elegant white case with lace-like designs on the front cover, sports a camera (we've got conflicting info on whether it's a 0.3 or a 3.0 megapixel version), and shines with a 65,000-color OLED 1.8-inch screen that supports 128 x 160, GPRS and IrDA. That's the good news; the bad news is we're not sure what upstanding, self-respecting woman would want to have a phone without Bluetooth, but perhaps there's something about royalty that we don't understand. If our information is right, the Samsung E428 should hit the streets of Taiwan sometime this month, for an unknown number of Taiwan bucks.Read - SlashphoneRead - Hand Cell Phone
Draenei Female Dance Leaked
If you haven't seen it yet, here you go. Shake that thing, girl, but watch the hooves! Is it just me, or does this one look... boring? Anyone have a source on where it's from yet? The male comes from that crazy Mehndi video, so I assume the female is equally Indian in origin.
Life of a SOCOM Player: females FTW!
This video is described simply as such: "This is the life of a Socom: FTB Player."That's all you really need. It captures the life of one girl (yes, gaming girls do exist!) and her obsession with SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo. Watch as this pretty professionally made video makes fun of suburban female life, full servers, and lag. Any more details would spoil the fun, so start watching!
Women do the lion's share of mobile gaming, sez study
Cellphones seem to have a way of busting gender stereotypes. First we hear that men are more likely than women to buy a phone as a fashion accessory (Nokia probably wishes they'd caught wind of that before showing the decidedly feminine L'Amour Collection), and now we're being told that some 59% of all mobile gamers represent the fairer sex -- at least that's what research firm Parks Associates has concluded in surveying some 2,000 Internet-connected gamers. "Women are the foundation of the gaming market, and as an industry, we need to cater to their preferences," says Parks Associates' director of research John Barrett. Of course, if this means more games like Spore dropping on our phones, us boys say, "bring it on."
Oblivion's gender bias: the official word
If you haven't heard enough about the ladies of Oblivion recently, this tidbit is an interesting look at gender and gaming. While the female characters manage to score bonus points on the "lack of scantily clad armour" scale, it seems that there are some inherent gender-based stat advantages under certain circumstances.Gamers with Jobs have spoken to Bethesda about the perceived gender bias, and it seems that the differences are subtle, designed so that players have more choice when it comes to gameplay. While it may seem a little old-fashioned for male Redguards to have a higher strength, while females have a higher personality, the balance is all in the name of game diversity. For anyone wishing to experience the game free of any gender concerns, there's already a mod which equalises stats irrespective of gender.[Thanks, SickNic]
