I was surprised (in a mildly misogynistic way I fear) to learn in today's Online section that Jenny Colgan is a keen gamer. Colgan, as you may know, is the author of novels like Amanda's Wedding and Looking For Andrew McCarthy in which scatty thirty-something heroines tipsily navigate the London social scene and generally cause embarrassment at dinner parties. Colgan listed her favourite titles as Half-Life, Super Mario, SimCity and Theme Hospital - a great selection, and then berated the industry for not doing more for girls. Her suggestions? "I want a game based on Gosford Park, or Sex and the City".
Fantastic ideas, both of them, and I'm amazed no one has at least considered the latter. For Gosford Park, I envisage something like Resident Evil, replacing 'survival horror', with 'etiquette horror'. You're the harrased butler overseeing a dinner party for an aristrocratic employer in uptight thirties England. Instead of zombies coming at you with axes, there are guests brandishing overcoats - quickly, what is the correct way to address an earl?! Too late, you have committed an unforgivable faux pas, wiping out half of your self-respect gauge!
Sex in the City creates an elaborate fantasy world as alien and unattainable as anything from the Final fantasy series. Imagine if our worries really did revolve around getting hold of Manolo Blahnik's limited edition Carmine re-issues, or whether, say, dining at Alain Ducasse on a first date creates impossible expectations for the rest of the relationship. And naturally, a game based around Samantha would make Hot Coffee look like the grim nerd fantasy it so obviously is.
In fact, is there any glamour in videogames? And I don't mean Rumble Roses XX...
