If You're A Female In Japan, Then The Nintendo Girls Game Museum Is For You

I can sense some controversial comments coming

@Tsuzura And the best answer to be given to most of them will be, "Japan being Japan"

Good.... keep their cooties away from me

and here goes...

if nintendo boys game museum existed, it's discrimination against females.

nintendo girls game museum, probably also gonna get slammed as discrimination against females, or maybe it'll be praised as equality. one of the two, but boys version is always sexist

FINE! Girls are icky and have cooties anyways! I'm gonna go play with monster trucks!

Sexist

If I lived in the 1950s this might have been relevant. Might still be relevant in Japan today. But, no, as "of the female variety" this does not endear me to gaming. A cultural irrelevance, certainly in the UK, at any rate.

I thought the game selection would be a lost worse.
At least "Yoshi", "Puzzle and Dragons", "Rhythm Heaven" and definitely "great ace attorney" interest me. The other three things not so much.

I have a feeling some really big and controversial arguments is going to happen here, so I honestly think it best to disable the comments before everything gets out of hand.

Ouch...

Fine i'll make my own Museum with Black Jack! And hookers!

I'm just glad it is a nice mix up of games. Not every girl likes pink, fashion games and puppies (ok I like puppies but still). The more events that help girls realize that gaming is a hobby that they can do too and it doesn't make them less of a girl is great.

"... testosterone-fuelled shooters..."

Nintendo has those games?

I can smell the Kotaku article already!

" testosterone-fuelled shooters and the like."
Hold it. I actually find that insulting. If I decide to play a shooter it doesn't make me or any other girl who plays shooters "testosterone-fuelled" for doing it.
That stereotype really bothers me.

@LUIGITORNADO yeah Splatoon...oh wait that's ink...ok I got nothing.

If I were a girl I'd be offended by this. I don't need a company to tell me what is or what is not appropriate for me, I'll make my own mind up. This is so stupid. Yes, there is a market for female gamers. All Nintendo needs to do to get them on board is to make good games.

@Ryu_Niiyama Exactly. Ink... Testosterone-fuelled shooters... geddit? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

@Vilinision Maybe because we live in a world where female Gamestop managers are told "bring out a man, girls don't understand games". Or my favorite "umm, girls don't play games, why do you work here? Is it to meet men?"

Or, where a girl on Call of Duty voice chat instantly gets hit on by 60 people.

Or, where a friend with a mildly popular Twitch stream playing Destiny uses voice chat for once- and the following day, had over 200 facebook friend requests, 2 proposals for marriage, and over a dozen photos of men's junk.

There's a reason girls don't always want to go to guy gamer events
When they do, they better bring mace, a stun gun, and hand sanitizer.

I personally don't have a problem with a campaign targeting a specific demographic exclusively. My issue is how the media are going to spin this as equality when it clearly isn't nor should it need to be. Being free to cater to a target audience, whoever they may be, is definitely in keeping with freedom of speech.

@boidoh I see what you did there. :3

not a fan of gender segregation of any kind even if the intentions are good natured. but whatever. just another thing that exists to not care about.

@May_Nyan
http://blog.ihobo.com/2009/10/testosterone-and-videogames.html

women have testosterone. competition is pretty much fueled by testosterone.
it's not a stereotype, it's scientific fact.

so, this is really to reach out to ladies who aren't interested in competitive games. nothing saying that all women are averse to competitive games, but this thing is specifically to those who are.

Sexist as hell !!!

Come on boys, let's show those girls by making our own Nintendo Boys Game Museum, and not invite any girls! : P

@SheldonRandoms Let's call it the Nintendo Treehouse... oh wait.

So, sexist overtones aside...how is this a 'museum'?!? These games are all pretty new...I was expecting some retro games with a word like 'museum', but...

@EmmatheBest
japanese like word salads. it doesn't have to make sense, just has to sound fun

@khaosklub It's irrelevant because the stereotype doesn't get used in a scientific way in my experience, just in a "girls like fashion, men like guns" way.

Gender segregation in the 21st century? Really, Nintendo?

@May_Nyan
in that case, then it is used also in a smart way, because those stereotype accurately describes the majority of the market. if you appeal to the women who don't like fashion and men who don't like guns, then you're appealing to a smaller market than either women who like fashion or men who like guns.

in closing, not being part of the flock sucks.

@khaosklub I read that article fully now. I think it's a shame that it only talks about first person shooters and casual/non-combat type of games when there are so many other genres out there.
I'm especially interested in what it would say about rpgs and strategy games like Fire Emblem and Xcom since I love those.

If I still lived in Japan I'd go to try out The Great Ace Attorney and Animal Crossing!

Seems like quite a nice idea but I can already see complaints happening over it.

Oh my gosh, Style Savvy 3!!! I heard it has improved mascara mechanics, right on.

Because all girls need stereotypical pink and fluffy cute things that say "you go grrrl!" in order for them to understand or like something, right?

Oh dear Japan. Like a blind hippo trying to cross a minefield.

Wait, the "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney" series are games meant for girls?

Damn it! That makes me a... girl?

i forgotten about nintendo uk release the channel only for girls but i couldn't be bothered to check it out because

@RadioShadow It's just that PWAA and Rhythm Heaven are not shooters. Suitable for girls doesn't equate to meant for girls, but you know that

What's their perception of Pokemon, I wonder?

@SheldonRandoms an nintendo club for boys only!?

seem like a good idea

the idea that women are not interested in violent games is sexist itself

@russellohh OMG my favorite question from male gamers was "do you play video games?" they would never ask the guys that. No dude I just work here for the great pay... Funny thing the staff was 80 percent female (the first gamestop I've ever worked where I was not alone and I've worked in 8 of them) and we all played more games that the guys that worked there.

I had one guy come in, bypass me and go to the manager who was in the back of the store on a ladder to talk about a few fighting games. My manager looks at me like a deer caught in headlights (he hates fighting games and even sucks at smash while I build arcade sticks and fighting games are my favorite genre) and stated "um you need to ask her". The customer looked annoyed until I started to break out frame rate data and he realized that I gave him more info than he was looking for.

It sucks but women still get either harassed, ignored, stereotyped when it comes to gaming. It isn't a bad thing to have a space that allows girls to ease into a hobby that is still not accepting of them or accepted by their peers for them to enjoy.

@Ryu_Niiyama Two female friends work at Gamestop, and have never had questions/customers like that. Another couple of friends have had dozens. My favorites are where the male cashier doesn't play CAll of Duty, but the customer REFUSES to trust the girl's opinion, since girls "only play cooking mama". So, the male cashier gets asked the questions, turns and asks the girl, who gives him the answer, that he must THEN turn around and repeat to the customer. There are websites dedicated to these, and sadly i've seen it happen once or twice.

My maid-of-honor actually, has on more than one occasion been cornered at a bar while wearing her Bioshock and Portal shirts, asking why she was wearing it, why doesn't she admit she only plays farmville.
One guy demanded she explain the relationship between Comstock and Booker.

And people wonder why girl gaming museums are needed...

@RadioShadow ASKED THE TALKING PURPLE PONY GIRL.

Hehehehe

Something geared toward women, or what Nintendo's statistics suggest for an average woman? Yeh, okeh. But my first impression is, "That's hella pink, innit?"

Its Kawaii type stuff I think, different culture, different nuances.

Surprisingly, Yoshi's Woolly World, Rhythm Heaven, Puzzles & Dragons and Ace Attorney are a lot better than I was expecting. Style Savvy is the only 'eye roll' choice (maybe the other two are too? I justdunno what they are).

I'll be quite honest as well, whilst girls don't JUST play 'cutsie games' but a majority of the ones I know who play games DO play games like the ones in this girls club (well, maybe not Style Savvy). They're good games, I don't see the problem.
It would be like a 'no gurlz alowd' club where boys sat around playing Fallout and CoD. Not all boys like that but a majority do...Yet it wouldn't be sexist in that case (it would be sexist, it just wouldn't get called out).

I always hate these sort of things where certain groups of people are banned from taking part in. If they instead targeted this museum at girls but let everyone attend, then I wouldn't have minded it as much.

@khaosklub I think the intention is to give girls a springboard to jump into gaming. Girls that like more action games are going to play those anyway (raises hand), however many girls shy away from gaming because they don't see other girls playing and gaming still suffers from the "blue boys toys" syndrome.

I got lucky, my mom is a gamer "my nes" was really hers but that was the excuse she used to get it into the house and not have my dad complain. I grew up playing with my mom, and even when our tastes began to diverge I pretty much associate gaming as almost a mother/daughter bonding (like learning how to put on makeup properly). Many girls still don't get that acceptance.

Guys when you were growing up (or now given some of your ages), your friends play games or your dad (maybe mom?) plays/played games with you. That made it an acceptable hobby, and people that have acceptable hobbies sometimes forget what it feels like on the other side of the fence. That is why most hobbies are social. That's why we converge upon sites and discuss (or bicker) about gaming and play with others. A big part of being social creatures is validation by peers and community.

If a girl finds something she likes in a game then she may branch out and play others that are more "mainstream". She may find other girls that like games like her. Don't get me wrong it is great playing with guys, but sometimes you really just want to talk about stuff and have fun with those of your own gender.

Plus many people males, included don't really realize how many genres there are out there. If you can think of an idea, there is at least one game out there most likely. It may be rare or not in your native language, but it exists. Which means that more girls realize that gaming isn't just one way, be it barbie games or Halo and instead see it for the kaleidoscope of ideas that it is.

@Ryu_Niiyama

This is kinda relevant, I'm a guy and my mom got me into gaming in the early 80s when she took me to the arcade so she could play Centipede, BurgerTime, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Galaga, and pinball machines. As a result, I got into gaming and she bought an Atari 2600 in 1983 and then an NES in 1986. Our favorite games to play together on the NES were Adventure Island, Mega Man, Metroid, Contra, Donkey Kong Classics, Blaster Master, Ms Pac-Man, and Gradius. Yes, she beat each one of those (I did beat Blaster Master and Adventure Island before her though ) and we continued to enjoy shmups and run n guns well into the mid-90s.

I always thought it weird that more girls/women didn't enjoy gaming at the time but they were there sprinkled about in their own homes, arcades, etc. It wasn't until I went to a couple local fighting game tourneys in 1999-2002 in Flint/Detroit/Chicago that I saw some women bringing their own arcade sticks and getting into the competition hardcore.

Its funny though, I actually enjoy the cutesy games that are sometimes aimed at girls. Then again, I'm not ashamed to admit that I like cute stuff as a guy in his 30s.

I forgot about this though, I've been a huge MMO gamer since 2000, and that is the genre I see a crap ton of women get into and play hardcore. I play female miqo'te in FFXIV and its one of the few toons I gave a fictional female name I made up and I've had a few women in guild actually think I was a woman until I spoke on mumble one night. they were kinda disappointed, lol. One of them turned into a hardcore dungeon/daily/shoot the crap buddy though.

Honestly, I like the cutesy stuff more than hardcore. I loathe FPS genre in general but love Kirby, Yoshi, and yes, Mario-anything. Fact of the matter, I like colorful, imaginative worlds over the gray/brown hyper-violent FPS crap that seems to be mainstream on PS/Xbox. On Nintendo, things are different. Heck, even Bayonetta is awesome. Yes, I'm a dude. My fiance thinks games are dumb, but I appreciate that people are different, and couldn't give a crap about the male/female ratios. Female gamers tend to liven up forums and game rooms though. But I have respect as well. I'm also the biggest Rosalina fan on the planet so take everything I say with a grain of salt. I would like to visit a girl gamer museum, but can't, because I'm male. Descrimination is still that, even in Japan.

I'm pretty jealous to be honest, if only because they'll get to play Rhythm Heaven 3DS

This event is catered more toward girls who are not 'core' gamers, and is intended to introduce them to core gaming experiences that may be able to broaden horizons past games like angry birds and just dance.

You know what I am not going to educate anybody about culture anything.

Look Nintendo is reaching out to the women because most of the loyal male fans are probably older who are playing H-games, while the younger fans are girls. Nintendo is probably looking at the amount of female players and do not realize it is just the housewife/single mother who is signing up the service for there sons. Or sons using there parents credit cards. Another idea is the people who live in the country side of Japan where schooling is lesser as they depend on fishing and farming for there income. It is an possibility that "women" are playing videogames at home most of the time.

Another thing is the woman's Olympic football tourney in USA. Which had an ticker tape parade and plenty of exploiting images, and videos of players, who are partying like crazy over it.

So this news could be like Disney when they had the "black princess" animation. Which the animators ripped up the drawings of this film on camera ( racist jerks they are ).

@TwilightAngel wouldn't that be a night club?

and I'd rather have Jack black not black jack...

Here is the thing, people LIKE being targeted. They like feeling included. They like being represented. Thats why we have people asking "why cant we play as a girl in this game?" " as a black person?" and so on.

And in other news, over 50% of male readers completely miss the point.