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October 30, 2005
Austin Games Conference Wrap-up
Whew -- just got done with the Austin Games Conference, in -- you guessed it -- Austin, Texas. The Conference is mostly for developers and tech people, but it also includes the Game Writers Conference and the Women's Game Conference.
GameGal editor Libe Goad was on a panel on marketing games to women, and in her capacity as AOL.com s Senior Editor for video games, wowed the crowd with her sharp insight and crazy theories, like how game makers should follow Hollywood’s lead and make games that appeal to wide audiences, not just teen boys. (sarcasm intended).
Even though it was a small conference, there were plenty of highlights, like seeing a panel with the pretty funny Red vs. Blue guys (dudes who make mini-movies using different game engines) and probably the best-attended part of the show – the Sex in Games presentation.
Link: http://www.gameconference.com/
Posted by gamegal at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2005
Crazy Lawyer-on-Cartoonist Action!
In case you haven't been following the story of anti-game lawyer and media talking head Jack Thompson and the guys from the Penny Arcade comic strip, here's the latest. Thompson – widely regarded as a crackpot these days, is trying to get the Seattle police to arrest the real-life Gabe and Tycho for "criminal harassment" based on their back-and-forth e-mail and phone arguments (oh yeah, and the "I Hate Jack Thompson" t-shirt).
The $10,000 donation the guys made in Thompson's name to charity probably didn't help matters much.
If you have no idea what we're talking about, check out the latest below, or more details on Slashdot or GameTab.
Link: http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php?date=2005-10-17#2837
Posted by gamegal at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2005
Xbox 360 Aimed at Girl Gamers, Too
The about-to-be-ubiquitous Xbox 360 is apparently getting a marketing push towards women gamers, according to a New York Times report. Here's a clip:
The point, said Bill Nielsen, who oversees marketing for the Xbox 360, is to help a game player convince the women in the family that "this is for you, too, not just for me to play Madden,'" referring to the John Madden football game. The brochure even says, "Here are some things you might want to tell your wife this thing does."
Pretty funny stuff, but, Microsoft does take the women's gaming market seriously -- click this link to check out a girl's gaming mini-mag they put out last year, with GameGal founder Libe Goad on the cover. Check out the Joystiq commentary, too. It's fun (and contextual) to note that since Libe is the Editor of AOL's video game site, and AOL just bought out Joystiq's parent company, we're cross-linking to ourselves in all kinds of amusing ways.
We're checking out the official Xbox press event in NYC today, so we'll let you know how female-friendly it was.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/11/technology/11soft.html
Posted by gamegal at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)