Babies game too

Imagine the games this cute kid'll be playing when he or she is twelve!

Which brings me to this year's top 10 wishlist for American boys and girls. The inherent gender "preferences" leaves a sour taste in my mouth, but there you go. Either way, the connection between kids and videogames is inescapable; we were delivered this at the BBC in plain-sight statistics from some research we commissioned, and any decent bit of games or media related research is going to tell the same sort of story.

But back to the lists:

Girls

1. Barbie
2. Dolls (generic)
   
3. Bratz
4. T.M.X. Elmo
   
5. Dora the Explorer
6. Disney Princess
7. iPod / MP3 Player
8. Nintendo DS
9. PlayStation 3
10. The Little Mermaid

Boys

1. T.M.X. Elmo
   
2. Cars (generic)
   
3. PlayStation 3
4. Video games
5. Lego
6. Nintendo DS
7. Hot Wheels
8. Xbox 360
9. Remote controlled cars
10. Trucks (generic)

Interesting that music players only show up on the girls' list, and the Xbox 360 only shows up on the boys' list. No sign of the Wii on either - weirdly? I'd love to know what sort of games each group was asking for; unfortunately the list doesn't tell.

Also, except for the lovely Viva Pinata, are there even any games for kids on the 360? Cheeky little sods.

 

Comments

[Jon K]

Hmm...

*Puts on psychoanalyst hat*

Everyone loves Elmo (who wouldn't?)..
the boys love cars...
the girls love themselves...
and everyone loves videogames!!

Videogames FTW. :) I'm actually pretty impressed with that, especially on the girls' side. And not just because the DS beat the PS3.

[kim]

Xbox live arcade has a number of titles that while not aimed at kids, certainly work for them.

My 3yr old son *loves* Marble Blast Ultra & Feeding Frenzy.

My 3yr old daughter, though given the chance to play, doesn't like them so much. She does love watching over my son's shoulder and giving commentary ("WATCH OUT FOR DAT BIG FISHY!").

Make your own gender conclusions here. I'm just saying I have a nice little running control experiement at home :-)

[Trin]

While sitting outside a Walmart on Saturday I overheard a mother telling her son who could not have been older than 6 that she wasn't sure he should be playing an 'M' rated game. Kids want to play the games available, whether their parents or the developers agree that those games are intended for them or not.

Then at a large family party on Sunday, there were kids all over the jungle gym outside with one young girl sitting on it playing a DS Lite ;). (Didn't see which game)

[Vincent]

At least this photo proves that the innate human response to gaming is a fixed stare and slack jaw.