Girl Gamers Australia

Animal Crossing Let's Go to the City fraks Australian gamers

Oh dear, Nintendo what have you done! We're hearing all manner of reports Aussie gamers can't transfer their Animal Crossing character from the DS to the Wii. Apparently Nintendo Australia are "looking into" the issue which has plageud the many.

After waiting on this title for what seems like years, it has to be said the fact they've stuffed up such a huge release is a little telling of Nintendo recently. Even their "PR", which is meant to work WITH us writers don't respond. Oh you you can email to your hearts content, phone them, but if you're not on their 'special' list you might as well be trying to call god.

This sort of elitist view of us on the ground is really starting to irritate, not only us here, but also many other gaming sites and bloggers. PR is by its very essence meant to work WITH the people, not above them. Maybe if they spent more time with the people on the ground, these sorts of issues with Animal Crossing wouldn't occur... ya think?

Angelina Jolie talks video games and educates her kids

I adore Angelina Jolie, there I said it. Now that we have that out of the way, let's say that unlike these a-holes that keep trying to censor our video gaming hobby, Jolie takes an approach that perhaps all of these whiny parents / politicians that blame video games for things should do...

Jolie talks to her kids about the difference between reality and fantasy. She educates them.

Now maybe if all these whiny little right-wingers would try that with their kids there'd be a domino affect of things that occurred.

1. There would be no more money pumped into changing or re-doing video game ratings. There would essentially be one or two ratings (region dependent) and we wouldn't need peer reviews to 'tweak' them because parents would know what they meant and educate their gaming kids properly. I mean FFS how frakking hard is it to tell a 15+ rating means your kid must be 15+ to play it... no I know let's spend more money and put frakking traffic lights on game boxes for stupid people!!!

2. Australia would get the 18+ rating so that we were actually up with the rest of the world rather than being the laughing stock of the gaming community because government officials here might actually realize the average gaming age at the moment is around 30 and not 10.

3. Kids would know why they can't play an 18+ game if they're 13 and they'd feel comfortable talking to their parents about just why that is and shock horror, parents would feel comfortable talking to their actual offspring about something other than cleaning their room!

“My kids play video games. I let them play with toy soldiers. We don’t take war and violence lightly, but we don’t hide it from anybody,” she said. “We say, ‘Mommy and daddy have movies where we play these characters, but there’s real death and violence in the world.’”

Via [MSNBC]

Sexist game review and 'gossip' sites

It has to be said their are certain online gaming sites I avoid. Why do I avoid them? Usually because of the sexist overtone of their "mature" writing staff, which by the way usually consists of 8 or so guys and perhaps one woman they might get in one day a week to cover the more academic side of gaming.

It sickens me people with sway in the industry hire more and more sexist twats to write their 'News', news which usually consists of things they've been sent in as tips and not true journalism work at all. Oh and let's not even begin to cover typos or content that has about as much to do with gaming as say peeling an orange might have to do with fishing.

Can we truly expect gaming to grow up and get over the "boys club" feel, when those that should be putting it forward as a mature hobby are essentially just spouting a lot of sexist shit - either in an obvious manner or in an ongoing subtext - in the direction of their readers?

I think its a fair complaint when tits and ass shots seemingly take precedence over gaming news or booth babes take precedence over development and other issues.

No boy babysitters thanks!

Remember that babysitting game we mentioned a few days ago. Well we decided to contact the developers and ask a very simple question. "could you confirm whether or not it is possible to play a male babysitter in the title: My Dream Job: Babysitter". We got the response back today, and of course it was just as we'd suspected:

"Unfortunately it is not possible to play as a male babysitter in My Dream Job: Babysitter. Thanks for your interest in our title."

Well no surprise there really is there and for the record I have ZIP interest in this title. God forbid a boy should accidentally load and play a game in which he might be taught some sort of social responsibility for a baby. So it was more sexist gaming drivel. Despite the press release stating 'player' and 'kids' rather than 'she' or 'her', being as how it's looking after babies, you don't even get the option to play a male character, so why not just be friggin honest in your presser! Let's guess what the reason would be shall we "too much development time"... "too many additional costs"... YAWN!! Kind of annoying you don't even get the choice should you actually be a kid of the male variety that likes the idea of sim baby care.

Babysitting game... Frak me.. here we go again!

FFS.. WTF.. Holy mother of f... oh you get the picture, I'm irritated again... more sexist gaming drivel. This time we have "My Dream Job: Babysitter" which is out this week stateside. What is it, well it's a babysitting simulation, though we suspect it doesn't have kids being smart mouthed little brats or overbearing parents that think your five bucks an hour should make you Martha Stewart mixed with Supernanny!

Oh no you see, according to the presser, in this game you "will take care of adorable infants and toddlers while learning about time management, responsibility, and even personal finance. My Dream Job: Babysitter allows kids to take control of all aspects of their new "business" and have fun doing all kinds of activities with their charges."

The only real upside of the presser is it says 'player' and 'kids' rather than 'she' or 'her'... thanks heavens for small mercies. Of course this comes crashing down with the boxart which features a female babysitter. You can 'Create Your Own Character' though, so we'd be interested in learning whether that includes the option of a male character... no we're not shelling out hard earned cash for this tripe.

The presser should have probably said "take care of adorable infants and toddlers while learning about what will inevitably be your responsibility as a woman when you grow up. Run your own business girls, so long as it still involves nurturing children and not wearing a suit!"

LucasArts frak female gamers! - Again

LucasArts have frakked us female gamers with their new characters for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. They're releasing new downloadable characters you can play in the single player campaign... GREAT! I thought with a Star Wars fangirl excited yelp, "I'll get to play through as a female character" especially given their are 4 characters incoming. No screamed LucasArts, you get 4 male characters so frak you! The new characters include Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Kit Fisto - ALL male! Apparently these skins were decided on based on what they heard from fanboys... sorry... "fans", that being the very vocal fanboy contingent.... FFS common sense LucasArts!! Is it really that difficult to assume perhaps some of the people to have purchased Star Wars: The Force Unleashed are FEMALE?!?!

Honestly, sometimes I just want to burst into these board room meetings, jump on the table and start singing I AM WOMAN! Well, not really... but you catch my drift.

Games for Girls and other ridiculous notions

Games girls play are apparently all the same, you see it all the time, in marketing, design and also conversation. We 'girls' as a species - set apart from the boys - have a strange chromosomal freaky thing happening wherein it is only the Y chromosome that allows you free thought and the idea of choice in gaming. Women gamers you see ALL like the same thing, we all love the EXACT same titles and we all loathe the exact same titles. It's a scientific fact, argue as you might this baby is cast in stone and it was handed down to Moses on some mountain someplace.....

 

And if you believe that you're as big a knob as the guy I had the displeasure of conversing with recently about the 'Games Girls Play' topic. For whatever reason the assumption by "Mr X" was that we girl gamers will only play simplistic puzzle titles, sim titles or at a push the odd RPG. Mr X couldn't conceive that a female gamer might like to frag and bag an opponent and held the opinion that a girl using smack talk in the same way guys do online is a "bit of a slag".

Well Mr X... you're a bit of a dick, which is fine, it takes all sorts. Please do be aware however that girls are not restricted to gaming genres based on gender, shocking I know... but just like guys, girls have differing tastes. There is no hard and fast LAW that states all girls like certain genres and not others. To suggest such a thing borders on the ludicrous... do all humans eat meat? Like pumpkin? Enjoy Bungie on the weekend? Weigh the same? Have black hair?

Wake up.

RockBand release in Australia

Finally the original "RockBand" game has some release details for Australia. Yes folks we only had to wait a year or so longer than our US gaming cousins for the game, gives you the warm fuzzies doesn't it.  "Rock Band" will release here November 7.

On the upside at least we haven't been royally screwed on price like our UK gaming cousins were when it was released there many months ago. Seems because we're getting the short end of the stick release date wise, we're not going to get shafted price wise. "Rock Band" will retail in Australia for $250 AUD ($208 USD), for that you'll get the "all-in-one" set.

If you just want the drums, you'll be able to grab the drums and the game together for $180 AUD or if you want the guitar and game, you're looking at $140. The game alone will be one hundred bucks, so it falls inline with game pricing overall. The cynic in us thinks this pricing kindness is less to do with appeasing the long - and ridiculous - delay and more to do with the release of "Guitar Hero World Tour" being just around the corner (November 12).

We imported the game many moons ago and can say, you'll love it, it just sucks most Aussies had to wait this long to get to play it and that it's launch falls after the launch of "Rock Band 2" in the States. No word on that here needless to say.

Playing the "C-Word" game

We like to think we have an open readership of all ages and our feedback attests to this fact, so for that reason we'll be using "C-Word" in place of, well... the actual "C" word.. know what we're saying? If not hopefully all will become clear.

The feminist gamers are upset... again... and this time in the firing line is the rarely spoken (lest you get a slap from your mother) "C-Word", a flash game published by Newgrounds. We're not linking to it because frankly, why give them more direct links than they already have, but suffice to say the 'game' revolves around a small penis firing balls at a giant wizened (and rather disturbing) vagina, which gushes blood when hit. If that isn't disturbing enough for you there's also germs you must shoot too.

Feminist gamers take on the game comes down to a fairly simple premise "issues with female sexuality" and that "it represents a very real and tangible culture of hatred of women that exists within the gaming community".

My Little Baby - Another 'baby' game

Ugh, CDV Software Entertainment USA are getting in on the Baby Game thing Ubisoft seem to enjoy battering us with as a species! CDV has announced their newest Nintendo DS title -- "My Little Baby". A "family-friendly" - and by that we think they mean little girls - game, My Little Baby gives players the opportunity to raise and care for a baby – all without the real-world messes, sleepless nights, or “terrible two’s.”

Cool kind of like "Nintendogs", but with a human, Neato!! Just what we girl gamers wanted (sarcasm was truly on there on the offchance you missed it!). Players start by choosing virtual parents’ traits – eye color, hair color, skin tone, etc. – that determine the baby’s physical features. Once the baby arrives, it’s up to the player to care for it – cradling, feeding, cleaning, entertaining and dressing the baby. As the baby grows through four distinct developmental stages, it will learn to crawl, then walk, and through interactions with the player via the microphone, can even learn to talk!

A helpful virtual nanny offers feedback and useful tips for raising the baby; while an easy-to-use menu system helps players navigate the world of raising a newborn – from shopping for unlockable food, toys, furniture and clothing to changing diapers. Many of the day-to-day tasks are presented through enjoyable and intuitive mini-games, with mastery praised and rewarded. Doting parents can also take photos of their beautiful new baby for the scrap book, or enter them into an in-game beauty contest! My Little Baby is slated to ship to North American retail Spring 2009.

Well better a virtual baby for young girls than a real one... still these games just leave us with one word in our heads and that word is "Meh!". On the upside at least their presser wasn't specifically aiming the title at girls, not that that makes much difference.