Getting the girl into gaming.

Does the following ring true for you? (If you're a dude.)

Dude is gaming. Girlfriend / wife enters room, flustered. Dude's tongue is hanging out 'cause he's focused and obviously havin' fun.

Girl: Can you focus on me and not the games?

Dude: Sure. Lemme just get to the next save point. (Does not show any indication of quitting.)


Twenty minutes later.


Girl: Ummm. Stop playing, please.

Dude: Almost there.

Girl: Okay.


Girl gets up, walks over to the console nonchalantly and hits power.

Dude thinks to himself, "Whore."


Okay, maybe not quite as bad, but maybe your girl isn't into gaming, which leads to less game time for you. First of all, is it really that important? For me, it's relaxing. In the past, I'd watch movies rather than game. That became too time consuming after graduating college, so I slowly went back to gaming.

Now I prefer gaming to movies. Luckily, I introduced my wife to gaming in a good way.

First, it was the DS. For her graduation, I bought the DS with Clubhouse Games and Elite Beat Agents. Two games that are fun and cooperative.

Then she noticed UNO on the 360. Not only are most girls familiar with playing UNO a lot when they were younger, but it requires no clean up and you can play together or by yourself along with others through Live.

Another thing happened as she played on my profile for the first time. It was a sound we all know and love for 360 owners.

The achievement blip.

"What was that?" she asked. I told her she accomplished a challenge in the game. Achievements sucked her in. Now she plays Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Halo, Madden and most recently Left 4 Dead.

Yeah. Left 4 Dead. She hates horror films, but loves LOVES shooting zombies cooperatively. She even had a blast playing multiplayer as well.

Mostly, make it a rewarding experience for her. Don't just hand her a controller, and definitely don't shut her out entirely either. She may just enjoy it, which will also guarantee more game time for you too.

If you own a PS3, LittleBigPlanet is a huge draw for her as well. I believe we have our most fun gaming with moments like swinging from one ledge to the next as she is clinging to my character for dear life.