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September 30, 2005
The Case of the Mysterious Mystery
For some reason--perhaps appropriately, as Halloween is close at hand, we've been seeing a lot of mystery games lately. Even better--they're all pretty good, and all very different from each other. Here's a little taste of our recent trip down mystery lane.
Indigo Prophecy (PS2, Xbox, PC)
We reviewed this game a while ago, before it had any real critical buzz going. Now that it's finally been officially released, everyone seems to have jumped on the IP bandwagon.
Indigo Prophecy, formerly known as Fahrenheit, is an inventive adventure/mystery game that combines a gripping story, above-average voice acting and great production values. During the course of the game, you play as several characters, but are mostly concerned with Lucas Kane, a (sorta) typical New Yorker trying to solve a murder he may have committed while under some kind of spell.
Read our full review here: Indigo Prophecy
Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock (PC)
The game is based on the very first Nancy Drew book ever, and unlike the other games in the series, is actually set in the 1930s. It's a refreshing change to see Nancy in a period story, instead of updating her -– the other games in the series have modern-day Nancy solving mysteries with her WAP-enabled cell phone.
Read our full review here: Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock
Trace Memory (DS)
Trace Memory is perhaps best described as Resident Evil without the zombies. But wait! That's actually a compliment. The somewhat obtuse puzzles from the Resident Evil series, involving animal-shaped keys, locked cabinets and secret doors, would all feel at home as you search a mysterious island and the spooky mansion on it for clues to your father's disappearance. Even better--you carry a PDA-like device around with you that happens to look exactly like a Nintendo DS. How's that for immersion?
Read our full review here: Trace Memory
Posted by gamegal at 06:04 PM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2005
Girl Gaming News Roundup
Lots of nifty links from the past few days to tell you about, so we're just gonna wrap them up in one giant link-happy post.
Weekly news mag Newsweek has a big feature on female gamers, called "A Female Sensibility." In it they talk to a lot of people, but only a couple of women in the gaming industry. Weird. Here's a clip:
What do women want? Men have been asking themselves that question since time immemorial. But for the huge male-dominated electronic-games industry, fueled as it is by the high-octane testosterone of adolescent boys, the supposed mystery of female tastes is more than a rhetorical conundrum; it's the key to the future.
Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9378641/site/newsweek/
Next, game blog Kotaku takes on a Street Fighter gamepad that shows off digital brawler Chun-Li's undies. Worth seeing just for the ridiculous pics.
Link: http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/capcom/i-can-see-your-underwear-126888.php
Here's a Game Insider forum topic on girl's gaming. Kind if interesting, if slightly shallow.
So, it seems to me that boys tend to approach games as a method to compete and to define how to "win" the game and ensure fairness, one needs to have rules. Girls on the other hand view games as another opportunity to socialize among each other with very little emphasis on beating their opponent.
Link: http://gameinsider.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=584
Finally, here's a hilarious post about how the Xbox 360 ad campaign shows you what kind of lifestyle improvements owning the console will bring gamers.
Our new girlfriend. The one we have now is pretty good, but she only likes boring adventure games and Bejeweled. Our new one will play co-op Gears of War with us and be all "Did you see that headshot, sweetie? *giggle*". We'll miss you, baby! :(
Posted by gamegal at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2005
Bloggers Love Media Center PCs
GameGal's resident game guy Dan has been busy at his, ahem, day job at CNET reviewing high-end Media Center PCs. The roundup of super-expensive living room systems is right here, complete with videos, but the real reason I'm posting this is because we're pleased the story, titled Elite Entertainment PCs, was highlighted on such popular tech blogs as Engadget, Gizmodo, PVR Blog, HTPC News and HD Beat.
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000663059901/
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/pcs/uber-media-center-roundup-127010.php
http://www.htpcnews.com/
http://www.hdbeat.com/2005/09/21/cnet-media-round-up/
http://www.pvrblog.com/pvr/2005/09/elite_entertain.html
Posted by gamegal at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2005
Libe on Women's Game Conference Panel
GameGal founder Libe Goad is heading back to her home state of Texas next month to be a panelist at the Women's Game Conference -- part of the annual Austin Game Conference, a gaming industry trade show now in its third year.
The show is October 26-28 and you can check it out at the links below. Libe's on the "Games for a Diverse Audience" panel, you can see the details on the conference site.
Link: http://www.womensgameconference.com/speakers/libegoad.html
Link: http://www.gameconference.com/
Posted by gamegal at 11:48 AM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2005
Random commentary on the Revolution Controller
The Nintendo Revolution controller has finally been revealed, and I think its safe to say pretty much everyone was surprised. It's kind of a remote control with a wired thumb-stick attachment. Will it work? Who knows, but from our day-job vantage points at AOL and CNET, we've heard a variety of comments, some thoughtfully transcribed below.
[Listening to a webcast of a Tokyo Game Show presentation] "So, that's what a company getting out of the game hardware business sounds like.""Could be cool. I like the old peeps who are conducting with them. That's freakin' funny."
"This is going to be Nintendo's Dreamcast – groundbreaking, but it'll leave them a software-only company in the end."
There you have it – initial overheard comments from our unsuspecting co-workers about the revolutionary new Revolution controller. Stay tuned for more musings!
Link: http://www.nintendo.com
Posted by gamegal at 03:58 PM | Comments (1)
September 08, 2005
Death Jr. and Kirby: Canvas Curse Reviewed
We must be in a handheld mood these days, 'cause the most recent batch of GameGal reviews are of Nintendo DS and Sony PSP games.
PSP fans have been waiting a long time for Death Jr., the quirky action/platformer. We dug the graphics and characters, even if the controls were bit iffy. Meanwhile, Kirby: Canvas Curse has been sitting in its shrinkwrap for the longest time, and we're pretty glad we finally cracked it open, 'cause it just plain rocks.
Check out both reviews below.
Link: Death Jr. Review [PSP]
Link: Kirby: Canvas Curse Review [DS]
Posted by gamegal at 02:41 PM | Comments (0)
Girl-on-Girl Gaming
Occasional GameGal contributor Bonnie Ruberg has a great article up on the Killer Betties website, about the lesbian gaming community. "If women gamers are a minority in the video game world, then lesbian gamers are a minority among women gamers," writes Bonnie. Here's a clip:
"Just what do lesbians play? Those interviewed cited The Sims as a unanimous favorite. After that, however, the answers were very eclectic - ranging from sports games to fighters to first person shooters. It is, of course, impossible to make blanket statements about lesbian likes and dislikes. They may have in common that they seek out game environments where they feel comfortable as homosexuals, but they’re still individual people with individual interests. You can’t have fun without feeling welcome. And like everybody else, lesbian gamers are playing, in the end, to have a good time."
Check out the full article at the link below. Also check out Bonnie's recent GameGal story, I'm the Pink One: Women on Xbox Live. Also, Bonnie's blog is at http://www.heroine-sheik.com/.
Link: Girl-on-Girl Gaming
Posted by gamegal at 02:33 PM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2005
The Shirts Off Our Backs
Here's a cute blog entry a few other game sites have linked to already. A girl gamer named Alice complains on her Wonderland blog about some cool Nintendo-themed tee-shirts that are sadly only available in Large and/or Xtra-Large. Of course, knowing the gaming demographic, that might not be the worst marketing decision of all time, but we agree with Alice, we'd like to rock a Yoshi tee, too! She says:
"I would usually be bemoaning the fact that boys get all the cool stuff at this point, except, ner ner, DoA bikinis. Wohoho."
Link: http://crystaltips.typepad.com/wonderland/2005/09/on_the_clothing.html
Posted by gamegal at 02:55 PM | Comments (0)