Women who do play video games say there's just not much on the market that appeals to them.
Jaime Hood, for instance, is a self-proclaimed "geeky gamer girl" who has been hooked on video games since she was 4 and her parents brought home a Nintendo device. Though the 27-year-old from Bel Air has a number of game systems and about 300 games to go with them, even she will say gaming is a man's domain.
"I always felt like a loner; not many other girls I knew liked video games," she says. "I just don't think they appeal to most girls. It's racing and cars and big-breasted women, a lot of fighting games and a lot of testosterone."
Hood complains that when she wants to play a fighting game, she's usually forced to choose from about 20 male characters, or, if she's lucky, one or two women, both of whom will probably be overtly sexy.
Worse yet, she says: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
"Have you every seen it?" she says. "It's all huge-chested women. They have slow-motion replay and it's ridiculous. It shows the women diving for the ball and breasts bouncing up and down."
On the bright side, Hood and others have noticed companies reaching out to the them. Nintendo in particular with its Wii and its portable DS (the one that comes in metallic rose and has the partnership with the online purse business From Bags to Riches).
In a recent campaign for Nintendo DS, the company featured Carrie Underwood, America Ferrara and Liv Tyler playing the game.
At the Minnesota gaming company Destineer, the CEO essentially ordered his staff to create with women in mind.
To that end, the company plans to release Iron Chef America Supreme Cuisine for the holidays, a game for Nintendo's Wii or DS based on the Food Network's competitive cooking show. The game's lead designer is a woman.
"If you've ever stirred something, you can play this game," says Lisa Mason, the designer. "It's very accessible. There's no buttons. It's very easy to pick up and play. And food is completely universal. What I'm hoping is [there is] no segment of the population that is unable or doesn't like playing this game."
For Mason, a 28-year-old who also plays games in her free time, almost worse than being ignored by the video game market is being condescended to by it. She feels as if a lot of the games made for women are either sparkly, pink and fuzzy or the equivalent of competitive shoe shopping.
