Today I attended that Activision Games for Girls Summit.  It was a great chance to talk about games for families in a positive way.  The event was geared for the typical Mommy Blogger’s audience, and so I seemed to be one of the few in the audience who was not surprised by findings that girls (and kids in general) who game with their parents experience a bevy of psychological and physical benefits.  People are finally getting what we geeks have known all along, video games aren’t going to screw your kid up and not even the movies that show people playing videos games or casino games, that have been something very common in the last years you check more info about at filmdaily.co.

While geek culture has gone “mainstream” it seems that a lot of  parents haven’t followed suit.  The moms in attendance talked a lot about restricting screen time, about not letting their kids play any non-kid games, and some seemed generally concerned about letting their kids play any video games at all.  At one point I asked Nicole Armstrong, the Director of Marketing at Activison to speak to current attitudes on advertisitng to women.  I brought up Battlefield 3’s horribly allienting “99 Problems” ad campaign, and praised her for Activision’s inclusive Call of Duty “Gimme Shelter” ad.  I had to stop to explain the games, the ads, and even the songs.  This was definitely not a room of gamer moms.

Jenny from Jenny on the Spot, Nicole Armstong – Director of Marketing for Activision and Suzanne Kantra – Editor in Chief of Techlicious.com

I was really excited to see industry juggernaut Activision identifying young female gamers as a priority demographic.  During the Summit we were able to try out six of the most recently released games that were developed with young girls in mind.

They were:
Lalaloopsy
Zoobles
Wappy Dog
ZhuZhu Babies
Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo
Squinkies 2: Adventure Mall Surprize!

The most impressive of the games was Wappy Dog.  It comes with a robotic dog that responds to commands through the DS.  It’s freakin’ adorable, I want one for myself! It was definitely the biggest hit with all ages in the group.

To help celebrate the launch of these games, Activision sent each attendee home with a bag full ‘o awesome.  Over the next few weeks I will be giving away several gift packs, which are just in time for the gift-giving holidays!  Stay tuned!