My girlfriend (soon 27) expressed a desire to get into video games recently. She's not a natural by any sense of the word and we've had some trouble finding something we both like. Super Puzzle Fighter Turbo is great, and she even beats me sometimes. Unfortunately, one can only play that game so much. I've gone so far as to try The Adventures of Cookie and Cream on the PS2 with her, but the results were disastrous. Always running out of time from falling in the water too much or whatever.

Her sister bought her husband a Wii and I think they've been pretty happy with it. We haven't had a chance to try out a Wii yet, we will this summer when we go to visit them. Anyway, I'm thinking Mario-like games wouldn't be good for her? But I have no idea about the Wii games out there for two people that would be.

Anyone else in this situation? Any game or console advice would be much appreciated

im not in that situation but i would recommends a wii and im sure the wii sports will keep u both sync. =]

I would probably recommend the Wii. There are some basic sports games that comes with it (it guess it might depend on which of the bundles you buy). The boxing game is pretty good, I get a good workout from it.

If she likes dancing (like most girls/women) then she should like Dance, Dance Revolution. She can have fun and exercise too.

I bought my friend Guitar Hero for the Wii and she loves it.

I would suggest getting a Wii for starters... it includes Wii Sports and that should give you an idea if she'll really be into games. There are plenty of interactive titles both of you can play. There are also the Nintendo-specific games like Super Mario Galaxy (single-player), Smash Bros. Brawl (multiplayer), Zack & Wiki and so on. Mario Kart Wii hits the streets on the 27th. If she';s into action, there's always Metroid, No More Heroes, Resident Evil 4 and Bully.

I guess the question to ask is this: what games does she really get into. If she's an action-packed kind of girl, maybe you need to look into the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. If she'd enjoy carnival games or bowling, the Wii might be the ticket. If she likes the older classic stuff (Street Fighter etc), you could always download them from the Wi-Fi Marketplace.

Wii is a good idea, it's mostly targeted at casual gamers after all. Wii sports, the game that's included, is family friendly which even a grandma could manage to play.

Of course getting Wii means you must get Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which tons of people like. There's cute fighters and all, if your GF is into that.

I got my balls kicked in by a 6 yr old playing Wii boxing. Actually...I don't even think he was 6....I am still ashamed...

Anyway...I know a lot of girls that like to play the Wii. It is more of a social game where you don't have to be an expert to have fun. ^ I agree with evilonigiri...get SMB for sure but depending on your GF's taste, it might be too involved for her to like but that game is like Mario Kart...instant classic.

As a side note, my GF loved Kingdom Hearts. Pretty much just because it was Disney and stuff but it ended up getting too hard for her to finish. She is definitely not a gamer either...I was shocked that she liked it. She also likes to play Mario Kart and even Guitar Hero. Girls love the "cute" and social type of games though from what I find.

Try to get her hooked on WoW, the best contraceptive tactic out there.

mmorpgs are what got my wife into gaming. Of course now I get nagged to log in and help her with x,y,z

I feel your pain!


Wii is definately a good start. Also. in my experiences, point and click adventure games are also quite good for non gamers to get into gaming. Might be best to avoid anything first person as I've had people get motion sickness in FPS's and especially Portal.

Wii's are awesome. My fiance and I (I'm 27, her 26) are always playing mario and guitar hero. But she also really likes DDR and super monkey ball. I would HIGHLY recommend Wii play for the women. I can't get my girl to stop wearing the batteries out on Tanks and the wii version of Duck Hunt. They are a total blast. And wii sports rules too. Bowling is alot of fun. And Zelda is a blast. The Wii is just awesome and perfect for casual pick up the controls and game for a bit type of game play. And the Wiimote batteries do last forever. I play the CRAP outta my wii and only charge the batteries about twice a month.

Monkey Island?

The Wii has some of the best (all in the same room) multiplayer games around. It helps me keep off the drink!

My g/f switches off a the mere mention of anything even remotely connected to computers, gaming or technology. So I do kinda envy someone who gets to jam and find something fun together.

Never going to happen for me but I recommend the Wii for its ease of use and successful results of a mixed target audience ( even though I have and always advocate the 360 ).

I would be wary of trying to get your g/f hooked on a MMORPG like WoW etc as some of my mates have had pretty disasterous results in terms of actually losing them to the MMO. Google gamerwidows & Ihatewow before embarking on that journey

Wow, I didn't really expect any replies! Thank you all, so much

Hahaha. Well, getting her hooked on a MMORPG is definitely out of the question. Thank you for the warning, dannyboy, I've heard all about the Wow addiction. This girl, despite being gorgeous and smart, loves to cook. And she's so good at it that we don't even go out to eat any more. I'd prefer not to get her pathologically hooked on WoW and to keep her happily cooking dinner for us everyday Besides, she's not into that sort of thing. According to her, and I just clarified this now, she only really played games when she was little and those were on the computer. These consisted of a Pac-Man rip-off called CD Man (? something indigenous to her country I think), Prince of Persia, Super Mario, Electro Body (? another probably only found in her country of origin) and King's Quest. She says that she didn't get far in King's Quest because the game was in English, she didn't have instructions, and that was before she really started learning the English language in any kind of depth.

I'm looking more towards recreational use of video games in our lives. For those times when she finishes whatever she has to do in the evening and says "I'm bored, want to do something with me?" Then, rather than slaving through another game of Scrabble I can say "well, how about we turn on the Wii?" Meanwhile, the Wii will probably already have been on for the past several hours because I've been playing Zelda or Super Mario Galaxy or whatever

I think what jaguarskx said hit it exactly. Girls love to dance, mine included. I wonder if they have a Salsa game for the Wii? God, we'd have to buy two Wii's if that was the case or I'd never get a chance at using it. I also think a sports pack would be great. She always talks about taking up boxing and tennis. Also, I saw some videos about old-timers' Wii bowling leagues that were hilarious. I bet that would also work well.

I think that these are more of the types of games that I'll be playing. She doesn't like shooting at all and makes me put on the headphones when I'm playing pretty much anything from Valve

That's sort of what I'm thinking too.

Haha, I'm really looking forward to the boxing then. But, like you, I'd be completely shocked if she got into something like Kingdom Hearts. I'm not sure she'd be into Guitar Hero either, but we're definitely going to find that out damn it. As for Mario Kart, I'm getting it regardless. She wouldn't try Crash Team Racing when I put it in a few months back.

I'd rather she get a total hysterectomy as prevention. That game goes nowhere near us!

Is there anything like King's Quest out there now that she can try? I was going to get her the Myst series because I saw the quadrilogy cheap a few months back, but personally I like KQ better. Looking forward to trying the new Sherlock Holmes when it comes out.

Ooooh, Monkey Island. I wish there were an updated The Curse of Monkey Island for her to try. I was thinking Grim Fandago after I saw it in the bargain bin...

I hear you on the correlation between decreasing alcohol use and increasing video game play. In school, I helped a buddy recover from steatorrhoeic hepatosis after many years of drinking before it progressed to cirrhosis by playing PS2 multiplayer games instead of going out

Sad....

Just put it in her, it's much more fun than videogames.

Seconded.

I have funded a feasibility study on the effects of video games on getting laid, and according to the BLAND corporation, it should not get you any.

Perhaps she just doesn't like videogames. And 'mario' games seem too condescending, unless, like, you're into that.

good luck finding a wii =]
i found one