In the world of "Hey Baby", hordes of men call out pickup lines that range from tame ("Excuse me, do you have a boyfriend?") to perverse ("I wanna lick you all over"), and game players get to decide if they want to ignore the comment or shoot. Finally, feminists can play video games!
Released in June, and available to play free on www.heybabygame.com, the game has raised some controversy on gaming blogs, as both sexes debated the validity of its message about street harassment. Must have been a short debate, especially when the tagline is "It's payback time, boys." Designed specifically for women, it's a not the typical female lead character that has been action oriented like Lara Croft (from Tomb Raider) or Samus (from the Metroid series), but more in line with the gritty violence Grand Theft Auto...and it may be the first in a new wave of games.
A study released this summer by Ghent University (in Belgium, folks) looked at 1,000 gamers between 16 and 24 to determine the difference in gaming preferences between women and men...and eventually market the shit out of some games to them. Women make up 40% of gamers and 42% of online gamers. Of the 344 females polled in the study, more than half said they didn't mind shoot-'em-up gameplay.... as long as the violence had a humorous undertone. Not surprisingly, realistic battle scenes tended to put women off.
Released in June, and available to play free on www.heybabygame.com, the game has raised some controversy on gaming blogs, as both sexes debated the validity of its message about street harassment. Must have been a short debate, especially when the tagline is "It's payback time, boys." Designed specifically for women, it's a not the typical female lead character that has been action oriented like Lara Croft (from Tomb Raider) or Samus (from the Metroid series), but more in line with the gritty violence Grand Theft Auto...and it may be the first in a new wave of games.
A study released this summer by Ghent University (in Belgium, folks) looked at 1,000 gamers between 16 and 24 to determine the difference in gaming preferences between women and men...and eventually market the shit out of some games to them. Women make up 40% of gamers and 42% of online gamers. Of the 344 females polled in the study, more than half said they didn't mind shoot-'em-up gameplay.... as long as the violence had a humorous undertone. Not surprisingly, realistic battle scenes tended to put women off.
Sure, it's crudely animated and fairly simple, but so was Doom when it came out. And like all video games, it's a good release and safe outlet for those more...aggressive impulses.
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