One of my favourite observations from the Women's Game Conference in Austin last week came from keynote speaker Kathy Schoback, VP Content Strategy at Infinium Labs, and ex-EIDOS and EA. In her rousing presentation titled "On Courage", she said, "In 1998 Salon.com featured an article called 'Gaming Grows Up'. In 2002 The Economist featured an article called 'Gaming Grows Up'. In 2003, Chickz.com featured an article called 'Gaming Grows Up'. And in October 2004, Playboy's centerfold piece was called 'Gaming Grows Up'."
Yes, the likes of Nina Williams from Tekken, Blood Rayne from the game with the same name, those crazy Singles, and Mileena from Mortal Kombat have stripped off for the glossy top shelf-er. How ironic that the mag was released while I was at the first North American conference to celebrate the contributions of women to the games industry. Doncha think?
Find out more from boing boing and CNN.
Sex in computer games is nothing new - it's been around since before Sam Fox Strip Poker and the little-known Commodore 64 "simulation" Stroker. There's an interesting overview of the subject, albeit brief, at GameCritics.
If anyone has anything to say on the subject, please pipe up. I'd like to know more.
