Entertainment

By Phil Stauskas
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ― Move over, guys. You have dominated the video game industry for decades, but recent studies show an increase in girl gamers. And naturally, game developers are crafting titles, even full franchises, aimed at the feminine audience. You can spot them easily in stores -- the cases are bright pink and show teen girls walking down the runway or shopping with their friends.

The new series "Charm Girls Club" continues that non-subtle tween girl stereotyping. Four "CGC" titles have been released across the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS, with a promise (threat?) of more to come in the near future.

The "CGC" series even has its own theme song, with lyrics included so little girls can sing along with their friends. "I love fashion, I love dressing up. I love hanging out with my friends and having fun," the song begins, while Bratz-style characters do each other's makeup and watch scary movies.

The song asks, "Don't you just love being a girl?" But I'm a nearly 30-year-old man. I was prohibited from enjoying this game before the opening movie ended, and at least half of the game-playing population will feel left out. "CGC" is almost too girly. But I channeled my inner tween to give the series a fair shot.

The Nintendo Wii gets "Pajama Party," a collection of mini-games built around some common sleepover activities. You create a character and play against BFFs to bounce highest on a bed, tease hair the tallest or change clothes the fastest. It is just a silly party game, and the controls are not nearly as polished as the graphics. But, I could see how a little girl and her BFFs would enjoy this one while goofing off at their own slumber party. Of course, they would probably prefer to bounce on the bed for real.

Meanwhile, the Nintendo DS gets "My Fashion Show," and the basic idea is the same. You create your own character (Characters cannot be transferred between games, which is disappointing.) and employ your BFFs as models for the fashion ensembles that you arrange. The game gives situations (outdoor event at night with a blue theme) and players dress up their girlfriends in appropriate attire. That part is easy. It uses the character creator all over again… and again… and again.

But during the actual fashion show, players are given a series of microgames in order to snap pictures of the models. These are simple things consisting of one tap or one swipe of the screen. Nothing fancy. But they are broken up by distracting breaks. You spend more time watching animations than you do playing the game. And when I was done, the picky fashion judge kept suggesting that I try again, although it was never required. In fact, I'm not sure failure is an option in any of the "CGC" games.

There are two other Nintendo DS games available: "My Fashion Mall" and "My Perfect Prom." Neither of these titles were available to me for review.

Ultimately, the goal of "Charm Girls Club" is to earn charms, which act as little trophies showing off your accomplishments in the game. Each title comes with a poster-sized checklist of available charms, letting players keep track of the ones they have earned and those they lack. It reminded me of Pokemon (gotta catch'em all) for little girls.

And although you cannot share your created characters between games, you can use codes from each version to unlock extras in the other versions. Those same codes can be entered into a special website where girls can gather to show off their virtual charm collection. The site is a very tame attempt at social networking, and could be fun for those not old enough for Facebook. But the code system feels archaic and cumbersome, especially since both the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS can connect to the web themselves. There should be a way for linking your website account to the games, so the content can be transferred around with little effort.

Overall, I can understand how the "CGC" series might be fun for the girls-under-12 crowd. Some kids will develop an obsession with wanting the latest games and playing hard to earn the coolest charms. But the games themselves seem to aim at the lowest common denominator, bunching all young women into a group obsessed with fashion and shopping and taking care of Chihuahuas. There's little variety in the themes and even less variety in the gameplay, turning charm collecting into an unnecessary chore.

At least, it was a chore for this adult male. A tween might argue otherwise.

The four "Charm Girls Club" games are all available now at suggested retail prices ranging from $29.99 to $39.99 for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS systems. Registration for the accompanying website is free.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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