Girlfriend Not A Gamer? No Problem

Quite a lot of females these days have played a game or two when they were younger, a bit of Sonic here, Mario there and a few others in between. Well I thought to myself the other day how can I get my girlfriend to play a few games every so often (Mainly so I don't have to watch shitty soaps on the TV) Sure she enjoys the odd game of "Buzz" every so often yet surely if she enjoys that then she can enjoy a few more games.

Well it turns out that while talking the other night I found out that some of the games she remembers playing with fond memories are the Mario Bros, (What a surprise) Sonic and the Alex Kidd games So I decided to see if she would like a few other games on the Wii. Upon turning the Wii on she saw that I had Alex Kidd in Miracle World and her face lit up. The reason being that she used to play this with her brother as a kid (It's an awesome game that SEGA really should have built on instead of shitty follow ups that made Alex just vanish into history) So we had a quick go on that before resetting the Wii. (For some reason the Wii won't display the game correctly so it's not as enjoyable to play on there)

Next I put New Super Mario Bros into the Wii so that my better half could see how games can be just like the ones she played as a kid except a lot better as well. (She also commented on how the graphics were really bright and colourful, always a good thing to catch your girlfriends eye and try to hook them in) Before we knew it about 3 hours had passed before we turned off the Wii and went to sleep.

The next day at lunch Sam started talking about Mario again and saying "Can we play it again tonight?" So basically that's what we did for a few hours last night. Slowly but surely she is now getting the gaming bug, ok she wants to play a few games that aren't exactly what I would pick to play (although Cooking Mama is fun) Yet it is a start, so all I now have to do is just try and get her to try a few more games and really hook her in. Let's face it gaming is always more fun when 2 people play (although I will have to remember not to use some of the Call of Duty expletives some players use when I win)

So basically here are my tips to turn your non-gaming girlfriend into a gamer:

• Try to find out if she has ever played any games, and if so which games she enjoyed (ask her brothers, sisters, friends)
• Start of with Wii games as the controller is more girlfriend friendly (as she will still ask what does she press with only 6 buttons on the Wii-mote)
• Try and get updated versions of anything she enjoyed (New Super Mario Bros, Sonic Colours)
• Make sure you put the brightest and most colourful game on first to try and hook them in (Most females like colour and pretty things)
• Try and get something with short mini games as well, so she doesn't get bored. (Wario Smooth Moves, Cooking Mama or something like that where 5 minutes is enough for a game)
• Remember she may not be ready for generic shooter x or any other games for a while (You have to ease her into gaming)
• Be prepared for the fact that she may never like the same games as you, not everyone wants to play Call of Duty or Final Fantasy XIII
• Lastly if she does enjoy playing then just let her choose when she wants to play (Let's face it she will always want to watch shitty soaps like Coronation Street and East Enders)

If you follow those steps then you may just end up with another gaming partner, just don't ge

t pissed off when she starts beating you. Well I am off to see if I can get her to play Tatsunoko Vs Capcom, I highly doubt that she will, but I figure it's worth a try.