The Gamer Girl

Not literally, domestic abuse ain't cool.

Stereotypes are rife in gaming. The average gamer used to be typecast as a male, teenage shut in with little - no social interaction at all and with all the perks that come with such a lifestyle(weight, spots, etc). Now, there are no stereotypes - or at least there shouldn't be. Now games are aimed at all kinds of demographics. I've seen children as people ranging from 5-65 playing games in recent years, but above all, one stereotype reigns supreme.. The gamer girl.

Yes, the gamer girl. This often thought fictitious creature is the object of many a man's desire but is so rarely found it remains just that, a desire. But why? Why are there so few girls picking up and playing as opposed to their male counterparts? Well, perhaps its reverse stereotyping. I asked a few of my friends who are girls (yes I have real life friends too..) who DON'T play games and they said it was classed more as a guy thing and that they had no interest in it. When I pursued this further it's because they classed all games as 'Fifa' or 'CoD'. Ladies; let's get one thing straight. There are millions of games out there, they don't all revolve around kicking a ball round a field or pointing a gun at someone. Though I would be willing to play a game where the character points a gun at people kicking a ball round a field for a living, but I digress.. The point is, there are games out there for everyone, all interests and play styles and now more than ever you are likely to find something to suit you if you just give it a try.

But as we all know, there are Twoface(s) to every coin (If you get it, good for you). Just as there are girls who don't play games, there are girls that do. A few close girl friends of mine (No really, I DO have friends!) and even my girlfriend actively enjoy gaming. Sure my girlfriend pretty much just plays the Sims, but so what? Its a game and she plays it, she doesn't have to be playing 24/7. But again, there are girls who are really heavily involved in their games, and there's nothing wrong with that. That's why it's nice to see groups like [GIRL]'s of PS3 popping up, actively attempting to get the girl gamers out there for the world to see. Its something that everyone should be proud to do, if you enjoy something why not let everyone know about it? What we do helps define us, and you never know - you might even meet new people and make some good friends because of it. So if you are a girl, go ahead and give them a twitter add

Except if you're into like hardcore S+M, or peeing on people while they sleep.. Keep that to yourself.

Branching out!

A cop out, maybe! But worry not valued readers, I shall be giving you a proper and full blog post tonight / tomorrow :) In the mean time, be good little minions and go and like / follow our Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr pages! I'll give you many kisses if you do.

Try before you buy

Today's blog is all about demos. I remember the old days, the good days, when I'd go to the corner shop or Newsagents and spend my entire weeks pocket money on a magazine. For the most part I didn't read the magazine at all, I bought it for one thing - the ps1 demo disc. Several little playable snippets of games that were to be coming out soon. As I grew up I noticed these discs became less prominent, and I realise now that demos in general are less prominent within the gaming industry.

This confused me a little but admittedly I can see the sense in it - think of how many games you've bought in the past that have been either not what you expected them to be or just utter shite that you wouldn't waste 5 minutes even bothering with. However, it could go the other way; you could demo a game and that demo could push you to eagerly awaiting a release date and have you queueing outside your nearest Gamestation 'til some ungodly hour in the morning so you can fork out your hard earned cash for it. So, are demos a good thing? A bad thing? Or just.. demos.

For the consumer

For you and me, the average (viewtiful) Joe, game demos are undoubtedly a good thing. What could be better than having the opportunity to test a game before you buy it. A game that you either are unsure of, think is going to be awesome, or maybe a game you've never seen or heard of at all. Expectations can be raised, lowered and created from simply trying out a sample of the game. Think of it as tasting a cake before you commit to buying it, it lets you know what you're letting yourself in for.
Recently, the Asura's Wrath demo hit the PSN (SEN?) store. Out of sheer boredom alone I decided to download it and was very pleasantly surprised. as a result of playing the 10 minute demo which showcased the games gameplay, visuals, a look into the story - I now can't wait for it's release and will definitely be picking it up. Demos get a thumbs up!

For the company 

Now this can go either way. If a games company have made a bad game and a demo is released, everyone could play it, realise its crap and then no one would buy it. From this point of view, demos are bad. However, there's 2 sides to every story, 2 faces to every coin, 2 balls in my pants. Just as a demo can squash any hopes a company has of releasing a blockbuster, it can also catapult a game into peoples must buy list (ala me and Asura's Wrath) and from this point of view, demos are definitely a good thing. AGAIN WITH THE HOWEVER. Now, a different slant.. Not releasing a demo at all is probably the best thing a company can do (in regards to sales). Not releasing a test version of the game to the general public means that they can't be harmed by it. It can't fall short of peoples expectations, it cant show people just how bad your game may be, and it means that people may buy the final version out of curiosity if nothing else. So from a company's perspective, there's no real reason to release a demo.

The final verdict
My stand on this one is simple ladies and gents, i'm not a games producer and quite frankly if a game is awful I want to know so i dont waste any money on it. Demos are a good thing, companies should be good to us, the gaming masses, and more demos should be released. Also, everyone should go and download the Asura's Wrath demo free from the PSN store right now - if for no other reason than to see the sheer SIZE of one of the enemies.