Really, Nintendo? Check out Wired’s take on new games for girls released in 2009, in which all but one (”The Daring Game for Girls”) is about fashion, boys, princesses, modeling, and more fashion. Well, there is a detective game, but you solve mysteries using your “feminine sixth sense,” so I wouldn’t necessarily put that in the feminist-friendly category. In the post, Tracey John compares games targeted towards girls with typical “boys’ games”:

Some parents worry that videogames might cause their children to become violent and antisocial, but what if the opposite were true? What if games could make kids exceedingly likable and fashionable?

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The weird thing is that you can view these “wholesome” games as being just as bad for girls as Grand Theft Auto’s random bloodshed and rampant criminality is for young, impressionable boys. And while GTA’s influence on boys has been dissected to death, what about the Nintendo DS‘ upcoming avalanche of games for tween girls? What kinds of values do preteens learn from these titles? Valuable life lessons, or bad habits?

While it’s an interesting comparison, I don’t know if I would say the problem is that the games are making girls more likable; it’s that they’re pushing narrow and damaging standards of what they need to be or look like or who they need to like to be liked.

When I was a kid, Super Mario Bros. and Tetris were the games I played. Not to say Mario Bros. didn’t have issues, but still – what the hell happened? Folks finally realized female gamers were marketable and had to feminize the shit out of it? Does anyone know of new games targeted towards younger girls that aren’t completely warped?