On a recent trip up to Chicago, I attended an event called “A Girlfriend’s Guide to Gaming” — a sweet little cocktail soirée aimed at twentysomething women and introducing them to the Nintendo brand.

Champagne + snacks + Wii + DS sounds like a fabulous time for me, but many of the other ladies in attendance (1) weren’t familiar with the Nintendo brand and (2) weren’t interested in gaming. And some of them still weren’t at the end of the night.

Obviously, the disconnect between girls and gaming is something that marketing people have been studying for quite some time, but I wonder what’s so different between gamer girls and our non-gaming peers?

Let’s break things down into the fundamental reasons women might say they’re “just not that into” games. I snagged these basic categories from the marketing types at that event, although this list is by no means a complete profile of non-gamer girls. I’ll throw my initial responses in, but I’d love to see where this goes in the comments.

Don’t have time.
Gaming can be time-consuming. It’s extraordinarily easy to lose track of five or six hours while you level grind/build a franchise/work your way through a story. And who are we to tell anyone how to spend their time?

Okay, so maybe some of us spend more hours every week playing games than we do sleeping, but shopaholics spend tons of time in their favorite stores, and foodies devote many hours to tasty treats — people make time for things that are important to them.

It’s a given that gaming isn’t going to be a priority activity for everyone. But what about those minutes and hours when there’s nothing to do? Like train commutes, bus rides, long lines, waiting rooms? Perfect gaming opportunities. Handheld and mobile games are still real games, after all. Bonus: you can play video games on the train or in waiting rooms; you can’t shop or eat.

Aren’t familiar with gaming systems/games.
Shocking as it may be to those of us who grew up with a controller fused to our hands, there are plenty of women who do not have a clue what FPS and RPG stand for. They can’t tell the difference between a PSP and a DS (is that a portable DVD player?), and Halo is an accessory for angels.

Something drew us into gaming. I’m sure it was something different for all of us — maybe we grew up alongside the industry and had consoles during every generation, maybe we played pen and paper games and video games were a natural next step, maybe we had boyfriends who were really into World of Warcraft — but there was some thing that brought us into gaming culture, and there was a reason we stayed.

Guitar Hero, Wii Fit, and the like are definitely a great step towards bringing more women into the market. They truly invite participation in a way that many other console and PC games aren’t able to do. Casual games like Bejeweled and TextTwist are doing a great job of capturing women’s attention, even if they’re not as “hardcore” as most retail games. There’s still room for growth, but I think it’s key that women can find at least one game that resonates with them. After all, the girl who tries out Mario Kart might decide to check out Wii Sports. And after that? Maybe she’ll be picking up a copy of Madden.

Don’t think it’s fun.
Shooters, sports, and sci-fi/fantasy (and action/adventure, strategy, sim, etc.) really deliver on fun for hardcore gamers, but they’re not necessarily interesting or fun to girls who aren’t already into gaming. And besides that, there’s still a very present “nerd culture” that surrounds games.

Breaking the “fun” barrier is tough, because you really just can’t educate someone in regards to what they will or will not enjoy. It’s doubly difficult if they have preconceived ideas that something will not be fun. I think the solution here is similar to what I said above regarding casual games and music games. In order to dispel the “games are for nerds” idea, girls have to encounter a game that they enjoy. Maybe they have to play a game without realizing – per se – that they’re gaming, to break that stigma.

So, gamer girls: what are your thoughts on the disconnect? Non-gamer girls: is there something I’m missing, or do you have a different take on why you’re  just not that into games?

The World of Gaming can be a difficult one to live in at times. We encounter many challenges that we find very hard to overcome. Sometimes we push ourselves to out limits and prevail, but there are times in our Gaming World where we must wave the white flag of defeat, hang our heads in shame and slowly slide the Unfinishable to the bottom of the pile.

This isn’t a list of the World-Wide Unfinishables, because we all have different skills and talents. I know people who can get a headshot while eating a sandwich, I know others who can create amazing characters who seriously kick-bum. This Top 5 is my personal Top 5 – They are games I have spent hours with, pulling my hair out, screaming at the TV and (eventually) throwing to the back of my cupboard.

# 5 – The Godfather

I’m a HUGE Godfather fan. I have seen the movies more times than I’ve eaten Yorkshire Puddings (that would be a lot for people who aren’t aware of us Brits ‘n our Yorkie obsession!). When a game was released for the 360 I pounced on it and set about conquering businesses, blowing up drug dens and generally working my way to Don status. However, there is this one section of the game where you need to storm a room full of men with shotguns. Now these weapons aren’t unbalanced, but take a few hits to the head and you’re done for. I cannot seem to get past that section no matter what I do! There are four men as I enter the room packing heat. I manage to take the first two out, but by that time my health has been drained from four multiple rounds from four shotguns being pumped into my body. I have tried different combinations of weapons, I’ve tried storming the room spraying, I’ve tried to lead each guy out of the  room one-by-one to pick off individually, but no matter what weapon or tactic I try to use, I fail. That level, for me, makes The Godfather Unfinishable and has caused me to put that game aside until I feel strong enough to take on the shotgun bandits once again!

# 4 – Final Fantasy VII

Hi, my name is Elysium and I think Final Fantasy VII is Unfinishable.

Don’t laugh.

Stop it.

…Please?

I just cannot finish this damn game! It’s the final boss battle, really, it is! I have struggled with it so damn much and I’ve just gotten so tired of levelling up that I’ve thrown in the towel. I know the ending of the story through reading it online, I just.. I can’t do it anymore guys! I have spent so many hours of my life on this game and I am genuinely disappointed with myself for being unable to complete one of the most completable games out there! It’s a Final Fantasy game, it’s not rocket science!

# 3 – Overlord

In 3rd place is Overlord. I don’t want to bad mouth this game because I love it’s little cute quirks! The minions are downright adorable when they scream “For the Overlord!” and they smash up pumpkins to wear on their heads! I also love the overall uniqueness of the game. The only downside is I get lost very very easily in this game and if I return to it after a few weeks of not playing it, I have absolutely NO clue of what I am meant to be doing or where I am meant to be going. It’s because of this that I’ve placed this game near the bottom of my pile – I’m not done with it just yet, but I’ve owned it for well over a year and a half now and I’ve not picked it up in at least a year.

Overlord, you’re Unfinishable to me. We will change this one day my love, but you must be patient with this poor little impatient, forgetful gamer.

# 2 – Eternal Sonata

When I first started playing this game I was quite smitten with it – I loved the use of music within the game and thought the voice acting was really good. The gameplay wasn’t bad and although the battle system wasn’t anything to write home about, I found myself enjoying the game. However, and that’s a BIG “however” – The puzzles in this game are stupid. I’m not saying that because I spent a few hours trying to solve one, but because I have seen bunch of people also struggling with the puzzles. Now, it’s not the fact that the puzzles themselves are difficult, they’re not, they’re quite simple, but it’s because there are ZERO hints saying that a) you’re in the middle of a puzzle and b) what the hell you’re even meant to be doing. It’s is absolutely ridiculous!

My second bug about this game is the boss battles. I am currently stuck quite early on in the game on a Pirate ship. Yup, I can’t defeat the skinny little Pirate Wench. She just wipes my team out in one go. Unfortunately I don’t have enough healing potions, nor are my healers strong enough to do multiple heals. It’s such a pain in the arse and after 15 attempts at the battle, I’ve given up. Unbalanced Pirate Wenches make the beautifully crafted Eternal Sonata Unfinishable to me.

#1 – Ninety-Nine Nights

The Most Unfinishable of the Unfinishables is Ninety-Nine Nights – The most annoying hack-and-slash game of 2006! This game involves moving through maps tearing away are hundreds, if not thousands, of enemies (ala Dynasty Warriors). The only problem with Ninety-Nine Nights is the majority of maps require you to sit and work at it for at least 45 minutes plus….. with no mid-map saves. That’s right, so if you get right to the final huge battle of Map 1, you will be royally fucked (and royally pissed off) if you die because you then have to re-do the WHOLE BLOODY MAP FROM THE BEGINNING! There are no words in existence to describe just how much I want to hurt someone for creating a game like that without save points. I managed to finally pass the first map, only to be thrown into a BIGGER map that requires more hours of my life AND STILL NO SAVE POINTS!

I don’t think I need to continue describing why Ninety-Nine Nights is at the top of my list. It is just one of those games I truly despise and yet I find myself coming back to it every so often to see if I could muster enough skill to finally make it Finishable.

The Conclusion!

I would like to think that all of the above games are ones I will eventually be able to complete, but I really doubt that I’ll have the patience to really give any of them another go. So, because I don’t want to look like the only gamer here who is unable to complete games - What are your Unfinishables?

I’m in the middle of packing up my life and moving to a new city, which means that my consoles and gaming PC are packed away on a moving truck somewhere in Midwestern USA.

There will be no gaming hiatus. I’m just switching to handheld.

For the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be making friends with a pretty pink Nintendo DS Lite. So far, my random collection of games includes the following: Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy V*, WordJong, Brain Age 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and the Opera Browser. Okay, maybe that last one isn’t a game, but I’ve been using it to check email and whatnot at various wi-fi hotspots, and it’s pretty spiffy.

So, gamers, help me out: Which DS game should I try out next?

* Some of the games are actually GBA games. Hooray for backwards-compatibility!

So while it is not quite end of the year, it’s close enough in my book.  And I’ve decided that with the holidays coming up, we could all use something light and enjoyable.  So here are my picks for the year.  Some have 2 winners, one for the 360 and one for the PS3.  You may respectifully disagree, but I stand by my decisions.

Now on to the mashed potatoes with soap and apples!

Most Addictive Game Ever:  Fallout 3

Best Campaign Co-op: Left 4 Dead (360), Resistance 2 (PS3)

Best New Concept: Mirror’s Edge (360), LittleBigPlanet (PS3)

Best Online Multi-player:  Unreal Tournament 3 (360), GTA4 (PS3)

Most Anticipated Game: Fable 2 (360), Bioshock (PS3)

Best First Person Shooter: Far Cry 2

Best XBL Game: Castle Crashers

Game That Required the Most Thought: Braid

Creepiest Game: Dead Space

Worst Game Money Spent On: Devil May Cry 4 (PS3), Golden Axe: Beast Rider (360)

Best Movie Spin-Off: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Worst Movie Spin-Off:Wall-e

Most DLC: Rock Band (or Rock Band 2)

Game People Complain the Most About and Yet Still Play: Gears of War 2

Most Hyped Up Game: Call of Duty: World at War (360)

Game That Made Me So Mad I Almost Threw the Controller: Viking: Battle for Asgard

Game That I Want to See More Of: Penny Arcade Adventures

Game That Made Me Glad I Own Both a 360 and a PS3: Soul Calibur IV

Game You Will Never Catch Me Playing: Jumper

Game That I Really Really Hoped Would be Good but Wasn’t: Turok

Game That Made Me Wonder What the Developers Were Thinking: Lost: Via Dominus

Most Underrated Game: Kung Fu Panda

Guitar Hero: On tour is a new game for the Ninendo DS. It comes with coloured fret buttons that plug into the Game Boy Advance slot to create a mini guitar. Even though I hardly play my DS and I have a M3 Simply card to download games onto I am considering picking this up in the near future as I think it would be a great game to pass the 2 hour journey to work and back.

Gameplay is really simple, players strum the onscreen guitar by dragging the pick shaped stylus across the screen while holding down the fret buttons to score points.  After the player has successfully hit a selected series of notes, they will gain star power which doubles their score until the meter has run out. The star power is activated by blowing into the DS’s mic. 

I’ve managed to find the track listing on the internet which I’m quite excited about as some of my favourite songs are on there. Here is a full track listing below:

* Ok Go – “Do What You Want”
* No Doubt – “Spiderwebs”
* Jet – “Are You Gonna Be my Girl”
* Blink 182 – “All the Small Things”
* Twisted Sister – “We’re Not Gonna Take it”

* Nirvana – “Breed”
* Smash Mouth – “All Star”
* Rick Springfield – “Jessie’s Girl”
* Pat Benatar – “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”
* Maroon 5 – “This Love”

* Los Lonely Boys – “Heaven”
* Bloc Party – “Helicopter”
* The Doobie Brothers – “China Grove”
* KISS (cover by Line 6) – “Rock and Roll All Nite”
* Daughtry – “What I Want”

* Steve Miller Band (cover by Wavegroup) – “Jet Airliner”
* Santana (cover by Line 6) – “Black Magic Woman”
* Stray Cats – “Stray Cat Strut”
* ZZ Top (cover by Line 6) – “La Grange”
* Skid Row (cover by Wavegroup) – “Youth Gone Wild”

* Ozzy Osbourne – “I Don’t Want to Stop”
* Incubus – “Anna Molly”
* Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Knock me Down”
* Stevie Ray Vaughan – “Pride And Joy”
* Lynyrd Skynyrd (cover by Wavegroup) – “I Know A Little”

* Freezepop – “I Am Not Your Gameboy”

Watch out for a full review in the next few weeks. Detailing gameplay modes, wifi and other features.