Hey, girls! You like pink things, right? Sure, me and Flynn may have rose-colred DS Lites, but we are men and only men by default. The pink stuff, I mean come on, is for girls. And because men and young boys are busy playing with their manly black and navy DS Lites, Sony thought it would be a good idea to target young Japanese women with Pepto pink PSPs. It even roped in bag designer Samantha Thavasa to do, we assume, absolutely nothing. The handheld hit Japan on November 22, and tonight (I write from the future), Sony held a big bash for the pink portable in Roppongi, complete with women. The shindig commemorates new online shopping site WWCITY. Because women not only like pink things, but buying pink things, right? There was also a fashion show with models and Miss Universe hopefuls. That though wasn't for the women, but for Sony dudes who fancy eyeballing the ladies. Brian Ashcraft

PSP Pink Party [Famitsu]

This spring schoolyards will see an influx of Oshare Majo Love and Berry clothes, sneakers, backpacks and stationary. Starting March 2, LB Style Square will be the official shop for the popular Sega card-based arcade game. Oshare Majo is nothing short of a national phenomena in Japan and has captured the minds of young schoolgals. Sega's trying to appeal not only to girls, but also their mothers' desire to have fashionable children. At the press conference, little moppets danced, sang and paraded about in Love and Berry type clothes, while Sega businessmen in suits lurked around in the background. Creepy.

Full Story Here [Watch Impress]

I swung by Sega's Love and Berry booth, hoping that Sonic had dragged Yuko "Yes My Real Voice Is This Nasally" Ogura along for some good ol' fashioned PR. Ogura was no where to be found. (Rats!) The booth was full of little girls pressing buttons, Love and Berry-branded goods they didn't need and middle-aged men very secure in their own sexuality selling stuff to them.

WHobby [Official Site]

The original pet simulation, Tamagotchi ("Eggy" in English) was a Godzilla-sized hit with teens back in 1996. Last Spring, an infrared breeding version of the toy sold out across Japan.

Even across the Pacific Ocean, you can hear shrieks of delight as the Tamagotchi DS game hits store shelves today. Not longer a simple pet sim, the Dual Screen version is a business game. With the help of the Tamagotchi characters, players open a shop (a bakery, a flower shop, a beauty salon, etc.) and try to expand their operations via a series of mini-games.

The game comes barreling towards American middle schools early next year.

DS Tamagotchi [Official Site]
Infrared Lovin' [Wired Magazine]

Women, as members of a larger video game society, are often considered peripheral; if so, lesbians are the periphery of this periphery. As such, theirs is an even steeper uphill battle, a struggle against stereotypes not just about femininity, but about being gay. Yet they continue to play, if sometimes in the shadows - caught in a complex gaming culture that, in objectifying and over-sexualizing women, calls into conflict their feminist concerns and the interests of their desires.

Well said.

Read the full piece here [Killer Betties]

DVD Vision Japan is hot to start an all girl video game team. We've been hearing about a slew of such teams recently, but there's been little insight on how these ladies make the final cut. According to AnimeNation,

Interested applicants should email with the following info: -Your real name -Your age -Your location -Type of game your best at -Type of game your horrible at -Favorite game title -Least favorite game title -A photograph (340x450) -A friend you feel might be interested in joining and their email (optional). Applicants from Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland are preferred, but applications are open to anyone on the East Coast.

I am willing to let the fact slide that applicants from Virginia, DC, and Maryland are preferred. But, is it me or does asking for not only a photo, but also a friend's email seem slightly suspicious? Call me paranoid.

Looking for a Few Good Girls [AnimeNation]

I just finished reading through Zoe Flower s excellently researched article on the representation of women in gaming. While Flower does an great job of getting comments from game designers and publishers, offering up a variety of voices on the topic, she fails to include the most important voice: Her own. Flower does talk a bit about her own opinion at the end, but really fails to synthesize the information she has gathered into any single, strong opinion.

Sure the game industry is growing and the more women in the industry, the more games will be created to appeal to them. But what s Flower s take on Lara Croft? Was she the best or worst thing to ever happen to women in games? What about Playboy: The Mansion? Can you create a game based on the objectification of women, that is instead a celebration of women?

I m not surprised to read that the designers of these games say they are doing everything they can to be tasteful, but doesn t that sort of fly in the face of Playboy: The Mansion s senior designer talking ad nauseum about breast physics?

Games are still created to make money, not be social commentary. As long as we as an industry are focused on profit and panache, style over substance, then you can hardly expect developers to move beyond depicting woman as an unattainable mix of busty and trim or creating games based on mud wrestling.

Getting the Girl [1Up]

Ashamed to be a Gamer [Popular Culture Gaming]