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XBox (Games) Businesses

Microsoft Looking For Xbox Moms 95

Posted by Zonk from the quite-the-demographic dept.
WillAffleckUW writes "In a New York Times article republished here in International Herald Tribune, Microsoft says it is desperately seeking moms to play XBox games, and has a marketing campaign for women gamers. Apparently not satisfied with its target audience of 17-24 yo males, they are even giving away thousands of free consoles on the radio. Most analysts doubt that the FPS and combat-heavy XBox gaming selection will sell well to women though." From the article: "This time, Microsoft is planning a wider attack. Brochures being sent to major retailers like Best Buy prominently describe the 360's ability to double as a DVD player, play music from an MP3 player through a television's speakers and even display digital photos on a TV. Its game functions, while impressive, are only part of the message."
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Microsoft Looking For Xbox Moms More

Microsoft Looking For Xbox Moms

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  • Brochures being sent to major retailers like Best Buy prominently describe the 360's ability to double as a DVD player, play music from an MP3 player through a television's speakers and even display digital photos on a TV.

    Didn't Sony do this with the PS2 when it first launched and a huge majority of users just ended up using it as a DVD player or PS1 playing machine for the first year?

    • I did that, but it was due to a lack of games in many ways. I bought the PS2 at launch as a PS2. It just happened to get FAR more use as a DVD player (didn't own one before that except my computer) and as a PS1 (because there were still MANY games coming out for the PS1) than as a PS2 (great games were fewer and farther between when the platform just launched, as when any platform first launches).

      I don't remember Sony every specifically advertising it as "It is a DVD player that does games" or something li

      • I thought the Saturn was reverse compatible, and it was the same generation as PS1. So how was it 'the first home console in a long time that was backwards compatible'?
        • I thought the Saturn was reverse compatible

          Huh? The Saturn was not backward-compatible. The PS2 was the first home console that was backward-compatible out of the box since the Atari 7800 in 1987. (The Sega Genesis had an add-on that made it SMS compatible, but it was not standard equipment.)
        • I thought the Saturn was reverse compatible, and it was the same generation as PS1. So how was it 'the first home console in a long time that was backwards compatible'?

          It wasn't backwards compatable. The Gameboy Color was though!
        • I thought the Saturn was reverse compatible, and it was the same generation as PS1. So how was it 'the first home console in a long time that was backwards compatible'?
          Actually, Atari made the first backwards-compatible console - the 7800, in 1986

          I don't think the Saturn was backwards-compatible at all with the handful of Sega-CD games that were produced.

          • The Atari was the reason I put "... in a long time" (or something like that) in my original post. I wasn't sure, but I suspected the 7800 could play 2600 games (the fact that it wasn't successful isn't exactly relevant, but I could have put "first successful backwards compatible...").

            As others have mentioned the game boy systems have been (why I added the word "home"). The Genesis could play Master System games (if you bought an adaptor, as could the Game Gear). And there have always been after-market thi

    • Didn't Sony do this with the PSP when it first launched and a huge majority of users just ended up using it as a movie player or emulator playing machine for the first year?

      Fixed your sentence to point out that they didnt stop at the PS2.

  • Jail? (Score:3, Funny)

    by turtled ( 845180 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2005 @04:10PM (#13767799)
    I think that one mom went to jail for stealing money from people thinking they were donating... oh, wait, that was a Playstation mom.

    Do they have the game Calgon (take me away)?

  • Nintendo Leads Again (Score:5, Insightful)

    by OpMindFck ( 204177 ) <edkearns.edkearns@com> on Tuesday October 11, 2005 @04:13PM (#13767829) Homepage
    There's been much talk of the declining video game market. Especially from the folks at Nintendo. Until now their plans for expanding the market have been just talk. With the revolution controller revealed, It looks like Nintendo may just be able to snag the "mother/grandparent/people-that-don't-play-FPS-gam es" market.

    Could this marketing campaign just be a result of Microsoft's recognition of this threat from Nintendo?
    • I'm not quite sure how the revolution controller may "snag" a demographic that has never been interested in console gaming? If anything it seems more likely to push them further away as it's yet another "new" technology that they've never encountered before.

      • There are plenty of orchestra conductors out there, and they have that market locked.
      • Which "new" technology (they're all new to someone who hasn't used any of them) do you think is more approachable for the average non-gamer:

        1) Remote control-type device that you hold in your hand. When you want something to move, you move it. When you want to shoot at (or in some other way affect) an object, you point at it and hit a button.

        2) Strangely-shaped (though somewhat nice ergonomically) device with what looks like several ways to move your character; you have to figure out which to use for wh

        • Neither sounds particularly approachable. The only thing that would make the Revolution more approachable is ridiculously simple games (like the fly swatting one shown in the video). Otherwise you still have to learn buttons, you still have to remember certain motions, you still have to deal with an onscreen interface, you still have to deal with some kind of 'moving scenery'. The Gamecube controller wasn't particularly intimidating, but that didn't seem to make it any more accessible to traditional nongame

      • Bow Before Your Nintendo (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Blakey Rat ( 99501 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2005 @06:50PM (#13769404)
        This is Slashdot.org, in case you forgot. Just the subject line "Nintendo Leads Again" is enough for a +5 Informative or Insightful... anything beyond that is just filler.

        I think I'll name this reply "Bow Before Your Nintendo" to get the same moderation response.
    • I see the Nintendo controller being less approachable, like a sibling poster said, because even if non-gamers don't play games, they understand what the activity of playing video games involves. People associated video games with a controller, similar to the PS2. When they see people in best buy playing a demo system that has them making crazy looking motions with a DVD remote, how do people think that is going to make a non-gamer think fun? It seems to me like Nintendo said it will attract non-gamers, so e

  • Maybe... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11, 2005 @04:15PM (#13767855)
    If they start developing Soap Opera.... or even.... Orpah-themed games!

    Dr. Phil Live?
    • Maybe the Hallmark Channel should come out with a games division. A while back I watched a movie on the Hallmark Channel with my mom (or maybe it was a 2hr long season opener show). It was called Jane Doe and it was about how a suburban housewife that secretly (even to her family) was a retired analyst for a secret government agency. Of course she gets pulled back in, and becomes so busy finding clues and evading bad guys that she nearly misses her daughter's cheerleading tryouts.

      I was laughing pretty hard

  • I can see it now (Score:5, Funny)

    by Joe the Lesser ( 533425 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2005 @04:19PM (#13767885) Homepage Journal
    You come home from school. The house is a mess, the dog needs to be walked, the dishes are dirty, and your mom is playing Halo screaming "What the fuck, I shot him three times!!!"
    • Don't quite know about that, but I know of a couple women in my clan that are mothers, and make sure their kids go to bed on time so that they can hop on and play Halo. :)

      I'm suspecting that when I get to that point, the kids won't be playing games until the homework is finished - because I'll be playing instead.
    • 1) Market videogame system to 40-year-old Moms

      2) Have all technical support lines flooded with thousands of questions like "How do I plug it in?" and two hour sessions which end with "Oh, so you mean I have to put the disc in before it will work?"

      3) Face a mountain of returns from women who thought "wireless" meant no power cable or connection to the TV.

      3) ??

      4) Profit!!

      -Eric

  • Translation (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Tuesday October 11, 2005 @04:19PM (#13767901) Homepage
    Translation:

    You didn't buy our last console because the games were terrible (as far as things to appeal to Moms)

    You wouldn't buy our new console because the games will be terrible (as far as things that appeal to Moms)

    So we are firing a shotgun-blast of pointless features we tacked on for the sole purpose of marketing bullet-points and "but Sony and Nintendo don't do ____" at you in the HOPES that SOMETHING will stick and might get you to look at buying our console.

    Because you NEED a $400 DVD player (which has inferior quality to true $400 DVD players, I bet). You NEED a $400 box to listen to your iPod on your TV (because that $3 headphone->RCA cable won't work well enough). You NEED to be able to view your photos on the TV (because every digital camera in the last 5 years won't let you do that... no... wait...).

    This is a STUPID marketing tactic. It's like trying to sell pickup trucks to women because they include a makeup mirror. Who would buy a pickup truck not because they needed a car of some sort, but because of the makeup mirror. No, worse: it is selling fridges to Eskimos because you can use the top of it to collect dust.

    You want female gamers? Make good, fun, nice, games. There are other genres than Sports, Xtreme Sports, FPS, and Fighter. Look at Nintendo. They have the Mario games (even the Mario sports ones can appeal to women), they haver other games like Animal Crossing, and they also have things like Nintendogs.

    Has it occured to you that you have pushed so far to towards 18 year old males that you no longer don't appeal to women, you are actively driving them away? I wouldn't be surprised if that was true.

    It is now, and always will be ALL ABOUT THE GAMES.

    • Re:Translation (Score:3, Interesting)

      by cgenman ( 325138 )
      To be fair, all of game development involves firing buckshot in hopes that something will stick. You whip up 50 ideas, and throw them at publishers. Publishers twitch a finger when you describe 10 of them, so you go off and develop those ideas. You come back, and they're interested in 3. You make 3 full fledged demos, and 1 gets picked up for a full build. They shotgun blast you with features they're thinking about, and you pick the dozen that sound the least painful. You run off to make your E3 Demo.
      • I'll aggree wholeheartedly with you, but I think the big picture is even more baffling than that.

        See, the full "story" is that in the beginning, a.k.a., in the days of Pong and PacMan, the industry had a pretty good 50-50 gender distribution and they knew it. Then somewhere along the road they somehow decided that "chicks don't play games", making games only for horny 16 year old males is all that's needed, and using women as sex objects to sell to games to those males is perfectly ok.

        What's fascinating is
    • Eskimos(or any other natives that live in extreme climates) buy refridgerators to prevent their food from getting freezer burn. They insulate the food from the extreme cold outside.
  • that it's good for storing recipies, and dad can do the family taxes on it. After all, it helped put the PC where it is...
  • I hope it doesn't run into any TiVo's along the way. That could spell bad news for Microsoft if the RIAA catches wind of this.

    It's okay, however, becaues you can go to any electronics retailer and get a stereo (male) to stereo (male) headphone jack and plug your MP3 player directly into almost any device that plugs into a wall and has speakers. If not, just get a stereo to component sound... It's going to be okay.

    Honestly, if you can afford the 360 and your television has the best speaker in the house...

  • X Moms (Score:2, Funny)

    by lbmouse ( 473316 )
    I have something in common with Microsoft... I'm always on the lookout for soccer moms.
  • Between tending home, taking care of the kids, I'm sure moms have to time to relax after a long day to go frag someone. Oh yeah I mean there's so many girls who were there to buy Halo on the first day wasn't there? Maybe in Microsoft land but not in the real world.

    I'm in IT, I'm like their "typical gamer" and I barely have time to play games anymore, I get in a couple hours a day if I really look for it. If I find a girlfriend that time will be cut to non existant.

    So either they expect single mothers to f
    • Sure not the majority of women game but many do both in the younger and older sets. In World of Warcraft for example the average age of a female player is over 30. We have a 38 year old mom in my WoW guild (and no her kids don't play).
      A lot of younger women play games as well. Genres that attract women in general tend to be different (i.e. RPGs and puzzle games) but plenty of women even enjoy FPS (see www.pmsclan.com for example).
      Gaming can replace TV watching as family entertainment and can provide a more
      • you are correct in the short run. But the problem is this is the exception not the rule. Especially when you look at the numbers of women to men in most games, or even online stuff.

        I'm not saying NO women will get this, or no women play games, but they are called a minority (gamer girls) for a reason. I think this is a big mistake for Xbox 360 because targetting that category is hard, and they are trying to make it sound like a entertainment "unit" rather then a game station for these women (more focus
        • I think the marketing is typical brain dead Microsoft marketing. Just like thinking the stupid MTV hour long launch show/advertisement.
          Keep in mind though that there is a difference between someone you might call a "gamer" and a casual player. There are a lot more casual gamers, playing Bejeweled or Scrabble online. Stuff that is quick to get into and quick to put down. I think it would be possible to pull some of these people away from Yahoo games and the like onto a service like Xbox live - but I doubt MS
          • I completely agree. Of course I did make the mistake of sorta skipping the casual gamer, one must remember the money from a casual gamer will not help a company to riches. if a cuasl gamer buys a couple games for a system the system barely breaks even, if one buys a system just for dvd playback or such, or gets bargain bin games, the system never will break even.

            However the sort of game that one can play very casualy isn't found easily on the xbox.. or for that matter any console. While Super Smash Broth
      • If Microsoft is planning on attracting Mom Gamers they need to get WoW ported to their console. Previous to this game the only games my Mother, who is in the 40+ age group, would touch is Freecell, Spider Solitare and any other little puzzle games she could find (usually just whatever comes with Windows).

        But over the summer my Mother started playing WoW on my account at the urging of my brothers. Now I have to fight with her over game time. Since I no longer live at home I find myself being kicked off WoW a
    • Between tending home, taking care of the kids, ...

      Or is it the married woman, who takes care of a husband..."

      Dude, is it suddenly like, 1953 in here?

      You realize not every woman is a housewife or a spinster, don't you?
      • Dude, is it suddenly like, 1953 in here?

        You realize not every woman is a housewife or a spinster, don't you?

        Very True.

        But the ones who have their husbands drive them to work, or take the bus/train to work can't be expected to lug around a 360 and a tv with them. They end up buying DSs to play Nintendogs on their rides.

      • I also meantioned those who worked, who have even LESS time than those who don't. But thanks for pointing out that you only see black and white. You really have proven you care about women so much that you'd rather just complain about a couple lines I wrote instead of actually consider the stuff I said.. Good for you.
      • You know there are, in fact, women who continue to do those sorts of things, and enjoy it?
  • I understand why this is on slashdot (technology article in a major newspaper), but why oh why did NYT feel they needed to print this story? After reading it, it seems like the MS marketing director decided today's theme was "women gamers" and then looked over the X-Box marketing points that would fit the theme (as opposed to like, actually design a console with a larger audience in mind).

    I thought the reason for advertisements was for MS marketing to communicate with the public. But...this is an actual a

  • Kind of pricey just to do these things. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by L. VeGas ( 580015 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2005 @04:58PM (#13768314) Homepage Journal
    .. ability to double as a DVD player, play music from an MP3 player through a television's speakers and even display digital photos on a TV

    I have a DVD player that cost me $30 that does all this.
    • I have a DVD player that cost me $30 that does all this.

      I have XBMC that cost me $0 that does all this...and more! :)
      • Cor what an intelligent responce.

        XMBC is free.

        Yeah free and there is no need for and xbox, mod chip and wireless network adaptor. (cables look messy in your living room).

        Great so I'll just go to PC World and take home a free PC to run linux on then shall I?

        Bah some people should think before spouting random drivel.
        • > Yeah free and there is no need for and xbox, mod chip and wireless network
          > adaptor. (cables look messy in your living room).

          Already had an xbox in the lounge room, the adsl + router + wi-fi ap is also in the lounge room (close to phone outlet to reduce db), I have wi-fi from PC to AP and ethernet from xbox to router, cables don't have to look messy if you design your environment correctly.

          So for me, yes the XBMC was free to get MP3,OGG,AVI,DVD,streaming content from PC (windows or linux), weather,x

  • the xbox peripheral most moms want... (Score:3, Funny)

    by evilmousse ( 798341 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2005 @05:10PM (#13768421) Journal

    is some kind of remote-control/egg-timer that could completely lock the xbox from booting up more than X hours a day or between the hours of Y and Z.

    (just a wild guess...)

  • Wtf is this... an astroturfing campaign? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nathanh ( 1214 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2005 @05:26PM (#13768624) Homepage
    Its game functions, while impressive, are only part of the message.

    And it sounds like an advertising message.

    We've been inundated recently with Xbox stories and they're suspicious. For a start, the spelling and grammar has been too good. Look at that sentence above: the word "its" doesn't have the customary (yet incorrect) Slashdot apostrophe. The paragraph cuts to the point and is coherent. It is entirely unlikely anything I normally read on Slashdot.

    Only 24 hours ago was another story where Allard was saying there would be shortages. The very unsubtle message from Allard was "Buy your Xbox 360(tm) immediately because otherwise you'll miss out". Another uncharacteristic story that reeked like a hidden advertisment.

    24 hours before that, another Xbox story. I don't even recall what it was about, I just know that each day I open Slashdot and there's another fucking Xbox story. This looks to me like an astroturfing campaign. Microsoft has done this before and I wouldn't be surprised if they're doing it again.

    • You could say the same about all the Google stories we get.

      I love Google, I'm just sayin'...

    • I don't know, that doesn't sound like the title of an astroturfing effort to me.

      There's definitely probably a little astroturfing going on by MS. But it's also pretty likely that we see a lot of Xbox360 news because there is a lot of Xbox360 news right now. Most gaming forums I visit have a lot of discussion about it because of the inpending launch, so it doesn't seem weird to me that you would have a lot of focus on it on Slashdot. You can only have so many articles about the PS3 and especially Revolution
  • It would help if you TARGET that audience. Nintendo [nintendo.com] [PDF] puts it nicely. Learn (AKA Copy) a thing or two, thats how the XBox came out in the first place, right?

  • M.I.L.F (Score:4, Funny)

    by CountZero117 ( 921222 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2005 @05:52PM (#13768898)
    this might get me modded down, but, how about a new definition of milf by microsoft, Mom I'd Like to Frag?
  • A while ago my brother and I tried to get our mom and dad (both in their early 60's) to play the PS2 game Burnout 3 for the PS2. My dad got through maybe a quarter of a lap, but he was prepared for the rapid button by such racers as Tetris and Columns. However, I believe this was the first and only experience that my mom has had in PLAYING video games.

    My mom in real life is definitely not an agressive driver or even a driver with a focused attention. She would sign notes to our teachers while driving us kid
    • Casual gamers can be into very different kinds of games than us hardcore folk. Hardcore gamers want a challenge, danger, and spectacular ways to fail or to defeat someone. E.g., when I won a race in a game by pushing my opponent to crash directly into a bridge pillar, it made my day. It was _the_ ultimate victory. When I tried getting mom to play the same game, she wasn't even interested.

      Additionally, yes, you've noticed a very real phenomenon, non-gamers and casual gamers tend to show more empathy towards
  • I'm not a mom (yet - might be by the time xbox 4 rolls around, never know). But as a 20-something woman who plays video games a decent amount (not constantly, but a couple times a week), I have never had any desire to own an X-box. Nintendo has done a great job of giving me exactly the kind of games I want, from Mario to Zelda to Nintendogs. Is the 360 going to have those kinds of games? And there's no way in hell I'd ever spend over $300 on a console. Heck, I don't even spend over $100 on consoles. (Which
  • Okay, first off, I'm a gamer girl. I own an XBOX, a PS2, an alienware laptop, and a Sega Saturn.

    I am not a Mom.

    MS - you want gamer girls? Fine. You can successfully market to Gamer Girls. But don't insult us by going for 'Gamer Moms'.

    I don't know any "Gamer Moms!" And that just offends me, as a non-mom Gamer Girl, to be lumped in the same category as the Moms. You do know that some women choose not to have children? Or don't have them yet?

    The women I know who are moms don't play video games anymore. It's th
    • In the nicest way put, your post is offensive to the gamer moms. I can understand why you stated what you did, but did you re-read to see if what you wrote would be offensive to any others, the actual post answers no. I am a gamer, and I am a mother, now you know one. I was a gamer first and a mother second. You have no reason to be offended if they are targeting 'gamer mothers' when most of the time its the parents who are freaking out over the differant rated games their child are playing (think back to
      • Holy shit it's the paragraph from hell.
        • haha on the Holy Shit...... I agree with the one that stated "I think Microsoft is aiming for two things. First, is convincing those mom's to buy Xbox360 for Christmas. Spending $400+ on your son for Xmas sounds a bit extreme but if you convince the mom it's a family gift, it's not so bad." But for the length in the post'........I do use the enter key, look its right here but sometimes even with massive space between, it still comes out looking like I dont know what the enter key is real
      • Sometimes I just don't read post because... well... look at your post, man!

        The "Enter" key is located on the right hand side of the alphabetic portion of the keyboard, it usually shows the word "Enter" on it and/or a big arrow pointing down and left. Pressing it will skip to the next line. Just try it, it's easy!
        See?

        There's a rule-of-thumb that says longer messages contain less information than short ones; they need a lot more obfuscation.
      • Actually, while the GP post _is_ offensive and does have all the tact and style of a 12 year old, I can sorta see how she got that idea too.

        It's not just about women. Since you do ask "what about fathers?", I can say I've seen the exact same thing happen to fathers.

        I have a male co-worker who couldn't even stop from talking about Counter-Strike. Heck, I'm a hardcore gamer myself, but even by my standards that guy was just obsessed. He _lived_ for that one game, and had no other topic than his work and that.
        • While I'm not a hard core gamer at all, I did (and do) enjoy playing regularly. Since I've been married and had a kid, my free time is very limited. Let's face it, even playing on line, being a gamer is a selfish activity. When you have a spouse and kid(s), your time and energy is spent on other people. I think the problem Microsoft faces is that when you have only an hour a week or so to game, you aren't going to spend $400 for a new system. My PC works great for gaming...
          • I see what you're saying and I agree that those who only have an hour or two a week to spend on gaming aren't going to spend $400 for a new system. I don't think that's what Microsoft is trying to do, though.

            I think Microsoft is aiming for two things. First, is convincing those mom's to buy Xbox360 for Christmas. Spending $400+ on your son for Xmas sounds a bit extreme but if you convince the mom it's a family gift, it's not so bad. Sure, mostly little Johnny will play it but you can also use it to play m

  • it's all about justifying the purchase (Score:4, Insightful)

    by truffle ( 37924 ) on Tuesday October 11, 2005 @10:02PM (#13770510) Homepage
    There was extensive discussion of this on the International Game Developer's Association [igda.org] women in the games industry mailing list. The overall conclusions of this discussion were:

    Microsoft is not trying to appeal to Mom gamers, they are trying to provide information to help you convince mom (your wife, your actual mom) that purchasing an X-box 360 is a justifiable expense. Women are often the financial gatekeepers in a household. Unless you're quite wealthy, spending $300-400 on a new console system is going to involve "running it by mom". If you can tell Mom, "it's a DVD player" and "we can view our photos on it" and "we can listen to music on it" it makes it sound like more than just a game machine, it makes it sounds like a home entertainment device. This might be slightly easier to sell Mom on than "it's the next big console!"

    Furthermore these same arguments can help people who are their own financial gatekeepers reach the same conclusion. Living alone? Got a job but not a tonne of money to burn? Research has shown that when purchasing an expensive item, consumers often need to come up with some kind of justification for why the purchase in question is worth it. This is in part why high-end items often have extra arguably useless features. These extra features help you build a case in your head that spending the extra money "is worth it".

    Microsoft doesn't have delusions of halo playing housewives, this is all part of convincing families and individuals that the 360 is more than just a gaming machine so they'll be willing to purchase it.
    • Your post is informative, sometime good to see here as lately its been missing quite abit. I read that article and I understand (Im sure when I was a kid I would have tried to pull that just as well lol). I would so be playing H2 between everything else I do, I tried Halo on the computer didnt like it so, then tried H2 on the 60", made a big differance, but being the typical Aquarian I am, I was bored quickly with it, so tend to jump between games a good bit. If a large company can sell you the idea to buy
  • And what exactly are these moms going to play? Extreme Beach Volleyball? On second thought, I'd be interested to see these moms as well...

    In all seriousness, I know there are women out there that play Xbox and all, but mothers ain't exactly their target audience, never have been, and likely never will be. All they can hope to find is a mother that thinks and acts like an 18-24 year-old guy, and I doubt that's the kind of person they want to parade around in advertising campaigns to appeal to a broader au

    • Re:Huh? (Score:1)

      by spx ( 855431 )
      No Im not too much for the sports games, once in awhile hockey or football, but rare. http://www.pengi.org/ps2/chix/ [pengi.org] Is what is currently being played (Champions: Return to Arms). We have both ps and xbox, but I prefer the ps (tend to like more games they put out), and the xbox is kinda flakey for us, we need another one I think. I prefer the ps controllers too (their just abit more comfy for me). Your right, their not the target, but alot of mothers (fathers too) will go out and purchase a gaming system f
      • "If a company can talk a parent into 'this is why its good to get for your kid',"

        But most of what Microsoft offers the state of California won't let retailers sell to unacompanied minors. It'd be like Guiness looking to make a good impression on mothers ("The Kid-Friendly Beer!(TM)"). At the very least, most of the Xbox-exclusive games aren't parent-acceptable; it'd make more sense to get a PS2 (like yourself).

        And no, before anybody accuses, I'm not a rabid Sony fanboy, I'm a Nintendo fanboy.

        • Re:Huh? (Score:1)

          by spx ( 855431 )
          When I said the 'this is why..' I was thinking more along what someone else stating with the kid going 'well it can play our movies, etc'.......... I dont think any (possible online w/child using parents cc#) will allow in any state a child to purchase anything over like 100usd (Im pretty sure my state wont). Most of the xbox games I played, like I said, I just really didnt like, I dont think it was anything against the xbox (even though I razz fiance for it being 'mircosoft') but Im all about the PS2....

  • It's the games - stupid! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Tryfen ( 216209 ) on Wednesday October 12, 2005 @04:53AM (#13771826) Homepage
    It's easy to get women to play games. My girlfriend* plays on the Xbox all the time. Her current top games are

    Buffy - great story, familiar characters, easy controls, logical puzzles.

    Lego Star Wars - great story, familiar characters, easy controls, logical puzzels.

    Puyo Puyo - pretty graphics, easy controls, logical puzzels.

    Make games that are fun - not a chore. Games that can be picked up again after a week or month without having to releasrn the ABAXYA button combo. Games that *gasp* are fun.

    TR

    *Who is not my mother - you sicko!

    • Out of curiousity, other than the three listed, have you found any other games for the xbox that appeal to her (and/or the both of you)?

      So far, my xbox is as of yet untouched by my wife. She much prefers the Gamecube, and is always tied up in Animal Crossing. She also enjoyed Pikmin and Eternal Darkness.
  • Do they want moms as in the 14-30 year old demographic? That should be easy enough for them. If they want the 30+ female gamers of today, there is only one solution.

    Buy popcap games. Or clone them. Same with the puzzle type games at yahoo. This might offend some, but the majority of gamers that are female and over the age of 30-35 want puzzle games and pretty much nothing else. Maybe, something like the sims could fly but it's unlikely. Most women I know in that demographic look for something with
    • I agree. Women of that age don't really have this need for a massive entertainment adrenaline rushing blowout. The types of games we males play are stressful, and why we willfully subject ourselves to that stress and intensity goes pretty deep into the male psyche. Not to say that women can't be just as aggresive, I always end up getting hurt playing soccer with my younger sisters. Girls just don't have that primal need to express aggression, dominance, and ego in video games. We're the product of evol
  • I tried, I tried! My mom hates video games because it's either a damsel in distress or chainmail bikini situation. She just hates the way that women are portrayed.
    I showed her Metroid Prime and she exclaimed, "Oh, so she's just fulfilling the role of a man! This game is so sexist."
    So, screw it! Feminists just can't like video games.
    • Try "The longest Journey" a computer game, but a decent strong female lead. I think Beyond Good and Evil falls into the same range of strong female lead who isn't at either end of the spectrum you mention.
  • My wife play video games, just as much as I do (We're both 19 and 20). We own all the current generation systems. We both play FPS, fighters, RPGs, MMORPGs, etc. If you suggested "girlier" games like puzzles and cutesier platformers, she would look at you in disgust and say "I play REAL games." I think it is pointless to attempt to appeal to the non-gaming female crowd. Most of the moms I know refuse to buy a game system for their kids if it has violent games on it. If you dumb down games and make the

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