The world of the gaming industry is shifting, trying to reach new and broader markets, such as women.

I do not think the issue is that women are new to the gaming world. As some of the articles listed below demonstrate, girls and women have been playing games for a while. This is more about game publishers finally realizing that women do play games, that to target them it is not simply a question of making the consoles pink, and that different women want different games (i.e. many women do break gender stereotypes: they do not simply want games about house cleaning and love (like the Sims where you can get married and have a perfect little hubby), but actually enjoy beating the s*** out of monsters/enemies/whatever).

Here are some interesting articles and websites about this:

Women in Games Conference http://www.womeningames.com

1-UP (A magazine about gaming culture) http://1up-zine.com

All women gamers, please stand up http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5407490.stm

Girl gamers who shoot first, love later http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4254259.stm

Women taking on the gaming world http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/6529615.stm

Conference debates women in games http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tees/5135182.stm

Games industry is 'failing women' http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5271852.stm

Women gear up for gaming invasion http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4634519.stm

Girl gamers strike at the boys http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3496963.stm