NPD Group Reports Substantial Increase In Female Gamers

For the most part, I think videogaming is in a very healthy place, commercially and creatively. It’s easy to find stuff to gripe about — in fact, I could argue that it’s my job — but as a guy who’s been deeply into videogames for 20 years, I’m thrilled with the state of the industry.

So if I were pressed to come up with one issue that I find most troubling — the #1 Worst Thing about Videogaming, if you will — it would be the way we exclude women. And I’m not just saying that because I really wanted to find some excuse to use that picture up there. I’m saying that because I think it’s an important obstacle to videogames growing up. We need to stop reducing women to sidekicks, damsels in distress, or just breasts.

We make too few games that reach beyond our boyhood fantasies. And when we do, we partition women into their own separate category. Many women look at us and shake their heads and go about doing whatever they were doing. They see us for the silly boys we so often are. Although it’s getting a lot better, it’s still a big problem with a lot of room for improvement.

But that’s why I consider the NPD Group’s recent report really encouraging. According to Gamespot:

The industry-tracking group revealed new figures that show 28 percent of all console video gamers are female in 2009, up from 23 percent last year. NPD attributed the five-point rise to the Nintendo Wii, which it believes has attracted a large number of new female gamers.

You go, girls. Because the next step after more women playing games is more women talking about games, followed by more women writing about games, finally followed by more women making games.

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Skype 3.0 For Win Mobile Leaves Beta Testing Phase

Skype 3.0 for Windows Mobile has left beta testing and has added SMS capabilities and file transfer. The two new features, which require Skype Out credits, can be accessed through the contact menu on the Skype client.

Additional upgrades to the 3.0 release include a contact list wizard and a new interface for the status, chat and history tabs, according to CNET. The new Skype client was downloaded more than 250,000 times from CNET’s site by 10 a.m. EST, showing the high demand for the full release of the product.

For more:
- see the CNET article here 

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Space Station Gets Room With A View - A Bigger Window!

Installing windows in the International Space Station is tricky, especially with that complete vacuum and radiation-tinged solar wind outside, not to mention all the space junk flying around. All are good reasons why the biggest window on the station is currently 20 inches. That’s about to change with a 31-inch window in the Tranquility Node, headed for the space station early next year.

Julie Robinson, the ISS Program Scientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center:

"The Cupola’s 80-cm diameter circular top window is the largest window ever built for space. Rather than peering through a little porthole, the Cupola will allow a stunning look at the cosmos and unprecedented panoramic views of Earth. Astronauts will share these views with the world through photographs taken through the windows and posted online."

Whao! We’re about to see some breathtaking photos from space, or maybe even webcam views. Now if the airlines would catch on to this idea of being able to see a magnificent view out of a speeding tin can, we can all benefit.

NASA, via Boing Boing

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Blizzard Talks About Lack Of LAN Support In Starcraft II

Well, it’s definitely true. Blizzard has killed LAN support in the upcoming StarCraft II, and here’s the official word from Bob Colayco at Blizzard PR:

"We don’t currently plan to support LAN play with StarCraft II, as we are building Battle.net to be the ideal destination for multiplayer gaming with StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games. While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II and safeguard against piracy.

Several Battle.net features like advanced communication options, achievements, stat-tracking, and more, require players to be connected to the service, so we’re encouraging everyone to use Battle.net as much as possible to get the most out of StarCraft II. We’re looking forward to sharing more details about Battle.net and online functionality for StarCraft II in the near future."

So, let it hereby be noted that pirates killed the LAN parrrrrty.

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Palm Sells 300,000 Palm Pres In June Alone

We’ll see plenty of "Pre sells X units in Y amount of time; not as many as iPhone" stories in the next year—in fact, we already have. That may be the wrong way to look at it.

Charter Equity Research is now saying that Palm has pushed over 300k Pres into sales channels in June alone, setting them on a pace to sell a million units in the first quarter. Set in the context of the iPhone 3G and 3GS’s million-in-a-weekend sales pace, this doesn’t sound like a ton. Set in the more meaningful context of Palm’s sales last quarter, it’s huge. As John Paczkowski points out, the company sold just 351,000 phones total in the quarter preceding the launch of the Pre.

Palm may be waiting to release official numbers until supply issues are sorted out and they can claim a more flattering number, but this right here? Pretty impressive. If there was any lingering doubt that a single phone could salvage this ailing company (and assuming these numbers are right), it’s gone now.

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An iPod Touch Birthday Cake…Yes!

If you’re going to have a chocolate cake with raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream filling, you might as well have one shaped like an iPod Touch. The cake was made for somebody’s 16th birthday party by out-of-control baker April Julian. (props to Make)

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Marvel Digital Comics - Free Mondays (6/29/09)

Welcome to FREE Mondays! Each week we focus on all of the newly digitized books you can read for FREE inside the greatest collection of Marvel comics available online: Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited! Plus, we’ll let you know what’s coming up next week for FREE, too! With each book, not only are you getting a free peek inside Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, but each free Digital Comic either gives you a look at a book featured in a recent collection or a comic that’s in stores now.

How would you like to have five free digital comics to help get you through the school and work week? Here ‘ya go!

MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR (2005) #39
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #21
CIVIL WAR:FALLEN SON -THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA #4
SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #3
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1999) #568

Find out what next week’s five free digital comics will be below!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1999) #130
CAPTAIN AMERICA (1968) #431
X-MEN vs. HULK (2009) #1
MARVEL 70th ANNIVERSARY (1994) #1
DOCTOR DOOM AND THE MASTERS OF EVIL #1

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‘Twilight’ Actor Michael Welch Talks About ‘New Moon’

FROM MTV.COM: It’s a beloved moment in the “New Moon” novel, a rare moment of comic relief as Bella Swan attempts to get over her Edward Cullen-induced heartbreak by going on what becomes a three-way date with the love-struck Jacob Black and Mike Newton. Recently, actor Michael Welch made big news by assuring Twilighters that the scene would be in November’s “Twilight” sequel — and now, we’ve got the scoop on the key tweak masterminded by director Chris Weitz.

“I really should’ve checked with someone if this is information I can give away or not,” grinned Welch, the fan favorite who plays puppy dog-like Mike Newton in the blockbuster series. “But, whatever — here we are.”

Welch stopped by the MTV studios to discuss such far-ranging topics as his concern for Robert Pattinson’s safety and the “three-way date,” a scene that has Bella, Mike and Jacob at a movie theater, watching a horror film. But, in the grand tradition of such films as “The Player,” “Bowfinger” and “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” director Weitz is inserting his own mini “movie within a movie” into the mix.

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Mili Pro Projector Turns Your iPhone Into 40 inch TV

Any iPhone can play video, but that little 3.5 inch screen just isn’t going to cut it if more than a couple of people want to watch your latest magnum opus. By plugging your iPhone into this Mili Pro LED projector, you can create a picture as big as 70 inches across. Although as with most of these tiny projectors, the limited light output means 30-40 inches is probably a better size if you want a reasonably bright picture.

The clamshell design folds open to reveal a built in dock for an iPhone or iPod Touch, or you can use its VGA and AV ports to connect external sources such as a DVD player or computer. There’s even a tiny pair of built in speakers to give you some audio. Resolution is 640×480, so don’t expect this to magically become some kind of spectacular home theater in your pocket.

The Mili Pro should sell for a little under $300 when it arrives in September.

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Stan Lee’s ‘Iron Man 2′ Cameo Revealed

There have been a few interesting casting choices for Iron Man 2. Forget about the three-headed hydra of villainy comprised of Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, and Scarlett Johansson, and for the moment, don’t even consider the decision to dump Terrence Howard as Rhodey and replace him with Don Cheadle.

While those are all worthy of the many headlines they’ve received, consider, for a moment, the smaller roles: Garry Shandling as a senator, the hot-as-blazes geek girl Olivia Munn as a player to be named later, and now Stan Lee.

Yes, Stan the Man is a common sight in these Marvel movies; he appeared as Hugh Hefner in the first movie. But now he’s throwing on the suspenders and portraying Larry King.

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