deathtoll

Oh well, as long as it entertains. This first post will now go VIRAL!

Recently? Would probably have been Fallout3 at around 150hours. But I lost my savegame when my PS3 DIED! Unfortunately I can't remember the number of hours spent playing Zelda in the past, but I'm guessing it would be pretty high.

OMG! This is quite a coincidence and just too freaky for me. I did a Google search on "Games and Girls: Video Gaming’s Ignored Audience", the title of the article Deanb posted, and sure enough there's been a whole lot of articles across the web about this exact same issue. And, no, I never knew about this article at the time I created this thread. http://www.left4deadforums.com/33365-women-remain-ignored-audience-gaming.html http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/06/22/0322226/Women-Remain-the-Ignored-Audience-In-Gaming http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/do_video_game_developers_ignore_women_gamers.php Judging by the date most of the articles, that appear after a Google search, this report must have been brought to the attention of the press around the 16th of June. Cue the Twilight Zone theme...

Wow! This has been some great input! Thanks for all the comments! It has been good to see how the "other half" plays and WTF made some great points. I didn't even know that the Gears books were written by a woman. This just goes to show how gaming really has matured over this last decade or so. I hope this thread can encourage some comments from female gamers about their feelings about how developers are catering to the female or combined market. As far as I can see the comments have only been from a male perspective.

Perhaps I now need to visit a reverse thread and clarify what I DO like. Sorry. I tired to like Phoenix, I really did. But I just kept failing and failing in the courtroom and it really frustrated me. There's a lot of reasons why all these games series tick me off. I'll have to give a detailed hater post later. I've written a lot of these series off because the basic gameplay mechanics/ideas really either get old or are just remade to quench the thirst of fans of the genre.

Ppl are really hating an odd list of games. My list! God of War series (with a passion) Any FF after VIII, and for that matter before VII Assassin's Creed series Devil May Cry series Grand Theft Auto >2 Almost EVERY sports game Almost EVERY racing game Worldwide multi-player FPS! Esp the current generation FPS that roll off the production line. Phoenix Wright series Crysis FarCry 1 & 2 (honestly what's up with that?) I'll add more later...

Yes, I suppose in the case of GoW3 it may be just down to catering to the female "hardcore" (I hate that word) gamer, and simply trying to grab a few more sales while not endangering the sales to the GoW fans and male gamers in general. My wife has been enjoying playing GoW2 with me, even though she has trouble with the controls due to only ever being a Nintendo gamer, and never once mentioned anything about the graphic violence or any other part of the presentation of the game. I would be interested to see her reaction to DNF. Perhaps I'm turning this into a GoW thread, but I wanted to use it as an example.

Same here with Chrono Trigger. Generally I don't bother looking into the back story. If I do that then it kinda taints the experience. Most games these days seem to be designed to be enjoyed by both n00bs and pros.

With the recent release of Duke Nukem Forever and the sexist attitude it (deliberately) portrays. Does this show us that these publishers and developers are not interested in catering to the female market at all? On the other hand. I have been looking at the development and promotion screenshots for Gears of War 3 for some time now and, with the addition of female COG soldiers, it has become clear to me that Epic Games is looking to tap into the female gamer market. It is plainly obvious that Duke Nukem Forever is clearly not aimed at the female market. I don't think I need to give any details here. Allow me to elaborate on the reason why I believe the GoW3 screenshots gave me this impression. The artwork for the Gears characters is dramatically different from 1 & 2. 1. You'll notice that the models show lots of bare upper arm, as well as showing more of the neck and neckline. 2. The armour on the Gears models is also more streamline and much less "chunky" than previous games. 3. Inclusion of female Gears that are NOT in scantily clad armour. I realise that each game is marketed to different demographics. But with GoW always seen as a man's game these changes seem subtlety different, so much so that most people might not notice the direction the developers seem to have taken.

G'day all! Just a quick post to introduce myself. Started gaming way back. First time would probably back in the arcades, Frogger, Space Invaders, etc. Then moved to the NES and DOS gaming not long after. Then it took off from there! Now you can guess my age... Been enjoying Kotaku.com.au and decided to finally make a post about a topic that might get some interest.