Wired.com talks about how Japan's game makers are now in the grip of girl fever - scrambling to market directly to women gamers who were once ignored. The success of the Nintendo DS seems to be the main reason, with many of the 16 million sold in Japan so far, having been snapped up by females thanks to games like Nintendogs and Brain Age.

In fact with the upcoming Mother's Day, Nintendo is advertising hard trying to get children to buy their mothers DS's. The article also talks about how there seems to be a general acceptance of female gaming, with it looking more stylish than it used to. Although there are games popular with both men and women, such as New Super Mario Bros. and Final Fantasy III, more and more games are being made specifically for the female audience or taking them into consideration.

On the subway the DS rules whereas the PSP just doesn't seem to appeal to women, with none of them seen playing with one. They are instead regarded as being for "hardcore" gamers and are less accessible compared to the DS thanks with its simple input methods and unique software.

Via N4G

My question is what the hell do these people in Japan do with their ds's? I mean they sell like 150-200,000 a week. Thats really absurd. I want to know how many ds's a single user has in general because selling that many really makes no logical sense, yet it happens every week.

but you have to understand, Japan is packed like sardines with people. you look at the percentage of ppl living in japan per sq. foot, and you'll be surprised. thats why they are able to sell so many each week, there are a lot of ppl living there

im not suprised. with all the girly games coming out for ds. thats the reason i sold mine. all the games have gone puffy. and with all the people in japan thers no wonder they sell so many

No need to be sexist!! Not all us females (can't call myself a girly I'm too old!) like nintendogs and barbie games you know!!! I never bought a DS, stopped at a GBA, and now with the help of this site even that's become redundant!

Im not shocked. I played once with my ex and she beat me at tekken. They really dont know what they are doing. Button bashing

lol hk88. I played my sisters DS. It sucks. Spyro and looking after your own dogs- how pathetic. I dont know how they find those games attractive. And by the picture of that girl, in the first post, we wont like the new geeks.. they seem ugly.

lol girl gamers are welcome though... its a different world now

i think women have shorter attention span for gaming than men... i don't think nintendo are for mom's, i'd say Wii is a more suitable gift for mom's!