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This week at GDC, I attended many talks. Many of them included lessons I’m still trying to unpack and digest, especially where it comes to my development work. One of the talks happened to be on the topic of Women in Games initiatives. It was given by Mare Sheppard, who was a supervisor for the Difference Engine Initiative, a games incubator focused on female-only development. During her talk, she explained her misgivings about the initiative, discussing problems she felt existed with woman-only game development projects.

It’s that time of year – the spooky time of year – when people’s thoughts are occupied with monster movies, horror games, and dress-up.  Halloween! I accidentally stumbled in to a discussion this weekend with a friend about a segment of this annual topic: the dreaded “women’s costume.”  First, some background: I was in line …

This is a belated quickie: Bits ‘n’ Bytes Gaming, a fellow gaming site that Tap likes to flirt with now and then (and home to Tap regular Armand), have recently posted up a collection of top 5 female game characters lists as selected by the BnB Gaming staffers as well as a few guest writers. …

A recent article on Jezebel got my attention – “Superheroines Always Get Superboobs.” Iris Ophelia quite rightly rails against the limited selection of body types for female avatars in the upcoming new MMO DC Universe Online, which are limited to “tall and busty,” “medium and busty,” and “preteen and busty.” Where’s “athletic?” Where’s “lean?” Where’s “pear-shaped?” Admittedly, …

Last night I saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (oh, sweet sweet Netflix auto-streaming to Xbox, how I love thee). It was pretty brutal – not quite as brutal as the book, which spent pages exquisitely describing sexual torture – but pretty brutal. Michael Nyqvist was great, Noomi Rapace was a revelation; Niels Oplev …

Kotaku reports on Stephen Totilo’s experience with an incomplete, pre-release build of French developer Quantic Dream’s upcoming Heavy Rain, a PS3 exclusive that lots of people are watching, not only as one of the games that really leverage the inherent power of the PS3, but also as one of those exclusives that might tip the …

Hello all, and please welcome back Steerpike’s older and more successful brother as a Celebrity Guest Editor! Marcus Sakey is a famous crime novelist – complete with awards and movie deals – and a wonderful guy to boot. His latest novel, The Amateurs, just came out in early August and is already garnering rave reviews.

Unfortunately the transition from FFC to Tap somehow ate up Marcus’s first Celebrity Guest Editorial, and he graciously offered to do another one. A lifelong gamer like his brother, Marcus is always looking for ways to integrate his beloved hobby with his increasingly complex life. Today he discusses the challenge of finding a good game to share with my kickass sister in law, who is hardly opposed to games but doesn’t find much appealing in the mainstream stuff. Marcus visits Tap often under the moniker “Marquez,” so be sure to leave some comments and suggestions for the lad. Thanks Marcus!

— Steerpike

Tap-Repeatedly’s Week Old News Service continues (I’ve been busy) with the alert that long-time Ubisoft producer and Assassin’s Creed project honchette Jade Raymond has been tapped to run the company’s new Toronto studio. Here’s the frustrating thing about Jade Raymond – no, not that Assassin’s Creed was a crappy game, the other frustrating thing: despite …