Women
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Seiko Watch shows off e-ink model for her
Proving that it does not actually favor one gender over another -- despite the fact that these two models were introduced nearly two years apart to the day -- the Seiko Watch corporation has finally taken the wraps off a female version of its original Spectrum Electronic Ink watch from 2005. Although both watches sport a distinctly bracelet-like shape, this new timepiece for the ladies is a full wraparound design that could easily be mistaken for a piece of jewelery, especially if the display is set to loop animations in so-called "mystery mode." With the male Spectrum still difficult if not impossible to come by -- only 500 have been made so far, supposedly, priced north of $2,000 -- it's not clear when the average consumer will able to get her hands on this, but at least you protesters can stop picketing Seiko headquarters and go back to your jobs if you still have one.[Via I4U]
Girl Gamer Award nominations for 2006 -- 2007 out today
Several different girl gaming networks and groups have pulled together a mass of games from different sites, forums, and other networks devoted to female gamers, and have put together this list of the final nominees. While they encourage female gamers to log in and vote, it doesn't look like they'll be screening for X or Y chromosomes at login.We've recently been talking about developing and marketing games for females, and this is a great example of how to do that -- find out what they're playing, not tell them what they should be playing. However, in all honesty ... this looks like a list of games that could have been pulled together from sites populated by only male gamers. Further proving that the line between girl gamers and guy gamers is something created by PR and marketing, not the people who play the games.Our advice? Open up the voting to everyone, but have them identify which sex they are (Austin Powers: "Yes, please!) from the outset. Once the awards are done, give us the winners, and show us how the demographics break down by sex, age, toothbrush color, favorite type of pizza, etc. That way the marketers will see we're all just playing games.
SXSW: Getting Girls Into The Game: Designing and Marketing Games for Female Players
Boyfriends aren't the only ones facing dilemmas. Publishers and developers have been struggling to develop games that appeal to women, because they represent a huge demographic who haven't traditionally been associated with the video game market, and that translates to lost dollars. But how do you begin to approach making a game for girls, or is it even a mistake to set out to do that from the beginning, rather than just making a game that's fun?The panel first asked the question, "What constitutes a female gamer?" Jame Pinckard said, "Women aren't just this monolithic block of 'gamers', they all want different types of games. Just because a Barbie video is made for a 12 year old girl, doesn't mean a 26 year woman has to play it." Sheri Graner Ray took it a step further, adding "There is no definition of a female gamer, and trying to tack a label to them does a disservice. The female gamer is simply a female who plays games. She's just a diverse as any other market out there."
Ray finds her first line in a GDC women's restroom
Today game developer and pro-girl consultant Sheri Graner Ray encountered something she'd never seen before in all her years at GDC: a line in a women's bathroom. Ray says when she first started coming to the conference, women only made up 3% of attendants. Now there are enough of us skirt-lovers to fill at least a dozen bathroom stalls.Her potty experiences aside, Ray was part of today's panel on the future of women in the games industry. Unsurprisingly, panelist predicted more female gamers, more female industry members, and more all around gender-y goodness in times to come. And for the first time since Monday, I was actually in a room with more than five other girls. Now let's just hope we don't all run for the bathroom.
How to get your girlfriend to play video games
Speaking from years of experience, we know how hard it can be to get your girlfriend interested in playing video games. Granted, it might be impossible to drag her into play-til-dawn Halo 2 sessions online, but dropping into casual gaming with a Wario Ware: Smooth Moves round or two is entirely doable. Need some tips? Wikihow has an entry up on how to get your girlfriend to play video games, which offers up some gender stereotypes like this: "Don't get games that involve things like strippers, prostitutes, and sex. Unless she has a really good sense of humor about such things, she probably won't like it." Well, where's the fun in that? Oh, we keed, we keed. True, most of the article is common sense, and it might actually be helpful to some of you out there who have had a hard time getting your significant others interested in jumping into the game with you. However, some of it is just plain whacked, like explaining to your girlfriend how to stretch and uncramp her hands. If your girlfriend doesn't know how to do this already, then you've got more serious problems.For those of you who need a girlfriend in order to find this article useful, check out Wikihow's hilarious "How to get a girlfriend if you're a nerd" entry. We're not sure whether to laugh or cry. For all of you female gamers out there, let us know how they could improve this entry, and don't worry about being gentle ... blast away.[Thanks, WebPimp]
Cosmo isn't down with the Wii
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Cosmopolitan_magazine_doesn_t_like_the_Wii'; We mentioned this yesterday, and now look! There's a helpful scan to illustrate our point. While some female-oriented publications are all about Nintendo's new console, it looks like the good folks at Cosmopolitan aren't quite convinced.Cosmo's take on the Wii craze? Guys assume girls might want one, because the guy really loves the Wii. That's some deep psychologizin' they've got going on there. And in referring to the Wii as the "wrong gift," Cosmo is insinuating that the modern woman just isn't interested. Are they wrong? With all the stories and videos of nongamers embracing the hands-on experience that Wii provides, we're not sure that Cosmo's on the right side of the fence with this one. Can't the modern woman want to decode weird male behavior, agonize over not-so-harmless habits,* and then play a game of tennis after work?The Wii is perfectly poised to help gamers break down some of these walls that we've created to keep the interests of men and women separate. The DS broke some of that ground, but the Wii brings the fun and ease of gaming into the open, making it a social experience that anyone can get into, even if you have to kick off your stylish shoes first.*Actual stories in the same issue.
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.
Criticism of racial stereotyping in games
A piece on BlackVoiceNews explores blacks playing and portrayed in video games. The two part piece (1 and 2) by Ricard O. Jones expresses his views on the harm to blacks by racial stereotyping and obsession with gaming. Based on a 2006 Kaiser Family Foundation study that revealed black youth play video games 90 minutes a day, 30 minutes more than white youth, that "it stands to reason that blacks are the most negatively effected" by the game media's portrayal. Jones uses the "poor self-images" from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to illustrate his point. In all fairness though, the first two GTA's had a generic white guy and an Italian mobster stereotype as the anti-hero. The question being: Would it have been better not to have Carl Johnson at all? Take-Two took a bit of a risk using a black protagonist nestled in the Cali gangsta' culture of the early-'90s.Portrayal of diverse characters in video games is a simple issue of marketing and numbers. Jones states this in the first piece's closer, "The video game industry is all about money. No one really cares about your skin color or gender if you are a well-trained video game designer or illustrator. The problem is that [black] youth and adult players see themselves as players and not designers or illustrators. Therefore unless they're motivated to get on the business end versus the player end of the video game phenomenon they will continue to be portrayed in a negative light and also miss out on a ten billion dollar a year industry."The impact, influence and potential of minorities will certainly be part of the discussion at the Game Developers Conference's Diversity: The Window of Opportunity headed by Joseph Saulter. A similar session last year pointed to more blatantly offensive games like 25 to Life, which were crass compared to the more refined GTA: San Andreas.See also: Jade is Latina, Asian, Black ... who knows?[via GamePolitics]
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].
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
Just how girly is the Wii?
Apparently, pretty girly. 'Cause, you know, women only care about cute packaging and accessories. Tee hee!It's hard to understand why someone would write a piece like this on GameWorld Network. Who's likely to read it -- a gamer who happens to be female, or one of the super girly-girl types whose only encounter with Nintendo occurred during third grade? The article seems to be written toward and about the latter, but the former is more likely to read it, considering the site ... and it seems a little, what's the word here -- oh yes. Insulting.Sure, the Wii is "girly." It's girl-friendly. Why? Because it's fun. Because of the intuitive nature of the controls. Because even the games that involve what are considered male things -- like shooting, though there are many women who will burn your ass in any FPS -- make sense, with logical control schemes and interesting actions. That's what makes a game appeal to girls. Fun. If you want to pull in more non-gaming women? Great, hand them a Wiimote. If the game takes advantage of the new-gen controls, it probably won't matter what you have inside, whether it's Trauma Center or Madden. In fact, it's likely that non-gamers are going to be more taken in by the unusual controls, because while some of us gamers view the whole process with a raised eyebrow (we have to ... move?), the Wiimote is less daunting than a traditional controller.The Wii is likely to be something that will, in fact, interest your non-gamer friends -- yes, even the girls. But don't limit them to "girly" games. You never know what will interest someone, or what they'll be good at, and it seems somewhat limiting to assume only certain Wii games will appeal to non-gamers, regardless of gender. Maybe all grandma needed was something to aim with, or she'd have been beating you down all these years.
Naked girls that you'll never see playing games
Everyone has a calendar featuring naked folks in it these days. Sports teams, firemen, older ladies gardening in the UK -- everyone is stripping off in order to raise money for one cause or another. The tried and true method of having someone pictured in the buff above February's grid squares has been selling calendars and lining mechanic's shops for years, and now it comes with a fresh scoop of video games.Totally Nerdcore has launched a calendar to try and please gamers and simultaneously line their own pockets. It contains full-on nudity, and the site doesn't come close to being SFW, so surf at your own peril. Yes, you can now own a photo of a naked woman wearing nothing but a Nintendo Power Glove, complete with a convenient, built-in hanging loop. It will really tie your game room together.These girls are clearly models, and just gaming poseurs -- a slap in the face to real girl gamers like PMS Clan and the Frag Dolls. If someone puts together a calendar with those girls in it, for charity or not, it'll pwn all other video game calendars, except perhaps the hot action of Games Shipping This Week.In other news, don't look for the Joystiq: All Nude calendar anytime soon.[Thanks, Michael][Warning: link NSFW]
Women make majority of casual gamers
eMarketer covers two recent studies, saying that casual games make up the most popular genre, and women are the majority of casual gamers. According to a May, 2006 study by AOL, 29% of respondents said that casual games were their favorite genre, with strategy games rating a distant second place at 17%. A survey just released by PopCap says that 76% of casual gamers are female, and 47% are 50-and-older.But marketers can make numbers mean anything; another way to look at the initial survey is to say that 70% of respondents had a favorite other than casual games. (1% said they weren't sure of a favorite.)However you interpret these surveys, we like the idea of games reaching a more diverse audience. Only after that happens can games be as culturally significant as books and movies.[Via: Adrants]
Healing is for the women
Garthar put something out there on the forums that I just couldn't pass up. Healing, he suggests, is for the women. He claims that he's found most women that play the game play healers-- he says most druids and priests he plays with are women. Note that he's not saying that all women play healers necessarily (although that's a conclusion you could take from him), but he's actually saying that all healers are played by women.I'm here to tell you that's not true. I play a resto shaman who heals like a madman (and a shadow priest, although I'm not sure if that counts or not), and while there are some female gamers who play priests and druids in my guilds, the majority of priests are actually guys. In fact, I've played with a surprising (to me) number of women warriors. There's nothing an old-school gamer like me loves hearing more than a female player complaining because the guild is pressuring her to spec out of fury and start tanking. Just more proof that videogaming is a girl thing, too.Sexism aside (of course there are exceptions to every rule), Garthar can't be right, can he? There's no way only women play healers. Is healing as a class more feminine somehow then smashing things over the head with a large weapon? And where do the other classes fall in here? I know a few women that play mages (and play them well), but I have to admit that most of the rogues I know are played by guys. Does our gender have any say at all in what classes we choose to play?
Snake suspenders and makeup for men
In the most shocking news of the week, Nintendo has announced that they're -- are you ready? -- working to market the Wii toward women and the elderly. You know, like they've been doing for a long time with their Nintendo DS! Who expected that, huh? "We want to appeal to mothers who don't want consoles in their living rooms, and to the elderly and to young women,'' Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said. "It's a challenge, like trying to sell cosmetics to men."But is it so hard? Even more so than with the DS, the Wii sells itself. From the moment the Wii controller surfaced, even non-gamers were considering the vast possibilities the system would bring to the industry. In that same report, Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Japanese research giant Enterbrain, seemed to strike closer to the truth. "Wii definitely could become the most popular console of all time. Non-gamers can see how fun it is to play just by looking at people playing it." We here at the Fanboy offices can attest -- even our mothers and our non-gaming friends (we do have a few) seem interested in the Wii. Perhaps the best thing Nintendo could do to sell the Wii is to simply ensure their demo kiosks are everywhere. All the system needs is exposure, and it will sell. The only factor that is up in the air is how successful it might become. How many people will stop and want a longer look, and end up taking one home? Time for a little holiday sales speculation -- tells us what impact you think the Wii will have outside of the traditional market.
ABC's The View going high-def September 5
One of the two TV shows needed to bring women to high definition is now going 720p. The View will switch to HDTV format September 5 as they add new host Rosie O'Donnell. While Oprah is still in SD, ABC also broadcasts Good Morning America in high def. Jessica Simpson will be a special guest on the episode, in case you needed a better reason to get up before noon other than seeing Barbara Walters (but not Star Jones) in 720 stunning vertical lines of resolution. With MHD, Food Network and now daytime television following primetime programming to HDTVs, the day when your mother/daughter/sister calls you to ask "What do you think about LCD vs. plasma TVs?" draws that much closer.
Incredibly old DS Vs. PSP video
Sometimes, you discover (or re-discover) a piece of internet gold. I searched and search the archives of PSP Fanboy, but I simply couldn't find this video anywhere! This video is a slick depiction of the DS and PSP battle, using two girls dressed up as the systems. Wow! These handhelds are pretty good at attracting women, huh? Although entertaining, the battle makes me recall Sony's awful black versus white advertising. And, I wouldn't necessarily agree with the bias of this fight: the winner in this video is played by the video's executive producer. Hmm.
Technology is a girl's best friend?
It's fairly obvious companies have realized that men aren't the only ones doing damage on the credit card at the gadget store, but recent studies have drawn some perplexing conclusions about just how much the ladies love their tech. Putting a presumably prominent notion about women to the test, Oxygen Network (a cable company owned and operated by females) found that 75 percent of the women they surveyed would choose a plasma television over a diamond necklace (take that, DeBeers). To further substantiate the findings, women were found to own about 6.6 gadgets each, while men sported 6.9 -- definitely not a very macho-sized difference. Not even the closet was safe, as 86 percent of ladies said they would prefer a digital camcorder over a fresh pair of designer kicks. Women said they would likely increase their involvement with digicams, cellphones, email, and SMS over the next 5 years, drawing the gender technology gap ever closer. Of course, studies like these should always be give attention with a grain of salt, but we'll admit that the industry is better off with gals' design concerns and needs in the mix, and besides, how else would we be able to excuse ourselves from rebuying all our gadgets in pink?[Thanks, David]
Women Mac geeks at BlogHer '06
I just finished speaking on a panel -- Primp Your Blog -- at BlogHer '06. The audience was mostly women -- for a change. And here's the really good news: a cheer went up when I introduced myself as a Mac user, and a majority of hands went up when I asked how many in the room were Mac users. Women Mac geeks rule! I've always wondered how many women are out there in the TUAW audience. Make yourselves known.
Alcatel's OT-635a "she" phone earns FCC approval
Apparently looking to reach nooks and crannies of the market that haven't yet been fully saturated, a handful of recent handsets seem to be developing genders; Alcatel's the latest manufacturer to join the party with their "she mobile by Alcatel" OT-635a clamshell. We're not sure whether "she mobile" is a single model or a new series of phones, but for the sake of tech-savvy women everywhere, we're hoping it's a series -- the glossy white 635a is a bit thin in the specs, featuring GSM 850 / 1900, a VGA cam, no external display, and seemingly no Bluetooth. Personally we'll pass, but then again, that's exactly what Alcatel wants the men of Engadget to do.
