High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle 
The Last Moments Of GAME 
How Bad User Interfaces Are Ruining Video Games And Other Wonderful Things 
She Tried To Make Good Video Games For Girls, Whatever That Meant 
The Story Of Doodle Jump: Brotherly Love And Digital Snacks 
Sunday Comics: Dead Island A new Next-Gen Screen Digest piece takes a peek back into console market war history to see how Nintendo seems to have won out in the quest for that most elusive of goals: bringing a broader audience of women and girls into the gaming fold.
In the last console generation, Nintendo’s GameCube appeared to lag behind as Sony and Microsoft battled it out for the twenty-to-thirtysomething male demographic – but time has shown that Nintendo’s patience in luring a more casual audience has brought in ladies’ loyalties, as well, with the cute lil’ DS as strategic lynchpin:
I’m really fascinated by the success of MMOs aimed at kids — both in terms of their current (and potential) earning power, as well as the attachment people have to them. Club Penguin has been a massive success, and GamesIndustry.biz chatted with Lane Merrifield, one of the co-founders and current general manager, on Disney, the business model, MMOs for kids, and the birth of Club Penguin. Asked whether or not the success of CP was a surprise, Merrifield had this to say:
Second Life may pull in big numbers, attracting furries, virtual real estate moguls, corporations desperately appearing to appear “hip” and Something Awful forum goons raining penises down upon the unsuspecting, but it’s online worlds targeted at kids that are drawing attention from executives. Take Webkinz, for example, the online world that sees wee lads and lasses logging on to the tune of six million uniques per month. That’s three times the amount who logged on a year ago. Similarly, according to the New York Times, Club Penguin, which involves dressing up penguins platonically, has seven times the traffic of Second Life.
Everyone’s getting into it, for those of you not aged in the single digits, including Disney, Lego, and Mattel. The goal? Shill wares to kids while they play free games, establish brand recognition, then help them “graduate” to the next-generation of online worlds, whether it’s Pirates of the Caribbean Online, World of Warcraft or simply fantasy baseball. Oh yes, it’s quite dastardly. Good thing I’ll be raising my kids with good Quaker morals and no electricity.
Web Playgrounds of the Very Young [New York Times - thanks, Duane!]
Club Penguin is a kid’s MMO that features ridiculously cute and chubby penguins. It’s gotten some press in the past couple of months, especially back in April when there was speculation over acquisition by a number of much bigger companies. Well, speculation is over – Disney has shelled out $US350 million, and when the dust clears, that number could reach as high as $US700 million over the next 3 years if profits increase. Not bad for a kid’s MMO with limited advertising and a user base consisting entirely on kids dependent on their parents to cough up the monthly subscription fee.
