My wife has never really been a big gamer. She used to play the NES way back in the day, but things pretty much feel off after that. It picked up again slightly when I got my DS Lite and a copy of New Super Mario Brothers, but that didn’t last too long. Now, she wants to get into playing a bit more since I spend so much time playing and writing about video games.
She’s always loved Tetris and said she would play that a lot if we had a copy for the DS, but I’ve been struggling to find a used copy (if anyone has one and wants to donate to the cause, please let me know). I think she’ll also enjoy a lot of things on the Wii, such as Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart, World of Goo, etc. I’m just not sure what else, outside of Nintendo products, that would appeal to her. The only real option I can think of is LittleBigPlanet. PC gaming is pretty much a non-option since sitting in front of her computer isn’t a way she wants to spend free time.
So, I’m turning to you, our loyal readers. What games do you think are good for getting my wife into the fold? Let me know in the comments.
My wife has never been in to gaming, but since I have gotten littel big planet she won’t stop bugging me to play.
My girlfriend really enjoys Mario Kart (both DS and Wii), but more recently, I was able to get her to play Left 4 Dead (360). It took forever to teach her how to use the right-thumbstick to aim, but once she got the hang of it she enjoyed herself. Although, for the first 10 minutes she kept going “I’m scared, I don’t want to play.” lol
Mario Kart and SIngstar are a good break in. Any platformer is good too, my wife likes to call them “Jumpy jumpy games”.
@ Bob – LOL
She’s not really a fan of karaoke, so SingStar is out. Already tried that one. Same with singing in Rock Band… and she’s overwhelmed by the instruments.
Maybe L4D will happen after a bit of break in… haha.
Try the I Love Katamari and Animal Crossing games. My girlfriend loves those games. Super Monkey Ball too…you know because the monkey is cute.
Get her into some action games that isn’t like L4D, like Street Fighter or something. Try Geometry Wars or something like Animal Crossing, getting some memory blocks right now so can’t think of much, crap.
Try Fable II. My wife likes the dog. I play the main game with her as the henchman.
edit: How about some Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright, or Trauma Center?
Mario Kart,
I am telling you, women love this game.
Also, Any co-operative game is your best bet.
try some games with colorful art styles like Okami, Serious Sam 2, Super Mario Galaxy ,The Orange Box (Portal, team fortress) get the 360 version Team Fortres gets updated unlike the PS3 version . also try to take a day to show her how to play your favorite games . if all else fails find a girl gamer en show her that girls play games like Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 too and their not bad at playing them good luck creating that rare species call girl gamer .
My wife really enjoys Castle Crashers and Rock band. She plays bass on expert all the time now. Gives us a reason to play games cooperatively. I have found out she really hates competitive head-to-head games. Might be a woman thing.
I think most of the games are covered but:
Littlebigplanet is almost a guaranteed hit, my wife loves it, always wants to play it
Rockband/singstar–Karoake man, all women love that
Mario Kart is another good one
Puzzle Games
i think any of the interactive games such as wii fit, wii play, wii music, and of the guitar hero or rockband games,wii sports.Also mabey try games that arnt violent, mabey try to saty away from blood and gore and stuff like that. And sorry no tetris.
Mine had fun with Carcassonne for a while then went on to play Kingdom for Keflings for a few weeks (and since the game makes you use your avatar to play, she liked changing her hairstyle every other day… girls are girls after all!
). And now she started Prince of Persia. She had trouble with the controls at first but she’s improving constantly and gets very proud of herself at times…
My wife loves Viva Pinata
@Asgeir – That’s funny because I purchased the first one for my wife and she ended up hating it. I decided to give it a try and loved the game myself. Her loss is my gain.
my wife has recently gotten into all the lego games we just beat lego batman and are working on indiana jones, both for the ps3, but she is also a big fan of tony hawk. she has recently had the pleasure of watching me play R2, Mirrors Edge, COD5, and Far Cry 2….but shooters make her “sick”
Read my lips. LITTLEBIGPLANET.
My wife is not a gamer and she is not very good at games that require fast reflexes. However she has really warmed to the JRPG genre as the stories are normally top-notch and emotional and the combat is turn-based which most of the time do not require quick reflexes. I say try Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Last Remnant…..etc
has she tried uno on xbla? alot of girls like/play that game..
My wife only plays the music games, Rock Band 1 & 2, Guitar Hero, Singstar, Wii Boogie, stuff like that.
[...] posted an article the other day about getting his wife into gaming. I’ve had a similar situation trying to [...]
I live with my girlfriend and we have a 360 and a Wii, as of yet there has not been anything for the 360 she’s been interested in (she’s very picky) but we recently bought smash bros brawl, on the Wii, and she really likes that. I agree with the comments about women liking co-op games – she likes the co-op adventure mode on smash bros, she’s also played the classic mode on her own… she’s getting there slowly
she likes obscure 2 as well but i honestly thing that is a terrible game, but again it has co-op! I’m hoping to get her into more games, our games room has 2 very comfy arm chairs so she can join me whenever she wants.