Videogames, and the systems they are played on, are genderless. And yet, a great divide regarding the woman gamer has existed for some time now. You've got the men who are in full support of women gamers; men who say sexist remarks to women gamers; you've got women who say that including "women" before gamer should be used to show that they are indeed a market and a presence in the gaming community; and then you have other women who believe that women should just game and leave it alone. In this three part feature, we here at Killer Betties want to look at the issue of women gamers, and to show that women gamers aren't a new demographic exclusive to this generation of consoles, to see how a big time videogame company is actively pursuing the female player, and to look at one woman who grew up playing games and is now on her way to shaping the games of the future. In this second part, we interview Amber McCollom, senior manager of corporate communications for Nintendo, to see how women today are being looked at as the legitimate market in the gaming world that they are.

In our first part of this series yesterday, you would've seen that through established data statistics that women gamers have been around for longer than many think, and they are only now starting to get noticed because of the Internet and its ease of use letting people have their voices and opinions heard. The amazing thing though is that regardless of the fact that there have been women gamers since videogames first started, rarely are they marketed appropriately to them to garner their attention. The fact is even more surprising when you have the ESA releasing facts such as, "Parents are involved when games are purchased, with players under the age of 18 saying their parents were present at the point-of-sale 89 percent of the time" and "Thirty-five percent of American parents say they play computer and video games. The typical gamer parent is 37 years old, and almost half of this group (47%) are women." If you know that many parents buy their games for their children and women rank up there just as high as the men, how come they aren't being more appropriately targeted as a demographic.

Oh sure, women gamers are being marketed to in a way, but it usually ends up with silly promotions, such as one recent Gamestop promotional display that infuriated many women gamers, who felt that when the videogame marketers looked at them, all they saw were women who enjoyed seeing cute and pink boxed games more than quality. One would argue that the only good game on display there was Cooking Mama, perhaps the only game on there to appeal to both women and men gamers.

However, slowly steps are being taken to acknowledge women gamers, and properly market to them. For instance, many of the most recognized and known women gamer clans are being used to promote women gamers in general as well as big time companies. You've got the Frag Dolls representing UbiSoft well with such things as their recent win at the Rainbow Six Vegas competition at Winter CPL. You've got Verizon FiOS teaming up with the PMS Clan for promotions, as well as the girlz of destruction promoting VIA Technologies, Inc., a leading supplier of high definition PC silicon for the gaming market. Besides the women gamer clans, you've also got big conferences such as the Women in Games International half-day conference entitled “From Production to Profit: Creating and Marketing Games for Women," which will have WIGI representatives and industry figures discussing the future of game design and game marketing as the female player marketplace matures and expands.

One company making bold steps to attract the female demographic buyer is Nintendo, who with their recent hit console the Wii, even went so far as to have Alpha Moms - tech savvy women – hold parties meant to show off the new system to women perhaps unaware of the joy that can come from gaming. With Nintendo's attraction to garnering more women buyers, we chatted with Amber McCollom, senior manager of corporate communications for Nintendo, to see how women today are being looked at as the legitimate market in the gaming world that they are and to see what Nintendo is doing to reach that market.

Flip on over to Page 2 to read the interview with Amber McCollom