"Despite the fact that sales of Barbie dolls have steadily declined for nearly a decade (with some analysts estimating a 27 percent drop between 2001 and 2004 alone), Barbie recently ranked first on the NPD Group's list of top-selling toy licenses. The doll's reincarnation as a media brand is a big driving force behind her continued longevity. In addition to a highly profitable series of direct-to-DVD animated movies, top-ranking websites and a stable of videogames, Barbie is now at the center of one of the most successful children's virtual worlds to date."

"Walk down the hallway of any maternity ward and you'll hear the beeping of a multitude of machines accompanied by anguished cries of pain. If you had walked into my unit, however, you would've been surprised to find the beeping coming from a videogame and my anguished cries caused not only by contractions, but from the near misses and hard-fought victories of the videogame I was playing. Videogames are a part of my everyday life, and my pregnancy did little to change that."

"For some, it's a phenomenon. For others, a controversy. And for others still, it's a simple fact of life: girl gamers, the 'other half' of the gaming community. According to the ESA, 40 percent of all gamers are women. Yet there's a curious lack of a female presence in places where gamers traditionally congregate - internet forums, online multiplayer games, conventions. They're the silent minority - but not by much."

"The only contact I'd had with anybody from TFF was a few conversations over MSN Messenger and the TFF forum with Sally. Sally, one half of the couple who runs the event, assured me that she was going to look after me. TFF LANs currently run every six weeks in the Barnsley, South Yorkshire, with attendance varying between 25 and 40 people per LAN.

"Unfortunately, from the few conversations I had with her before the event, it appeared that there would be a distinct shortage of female gamers attending: a possible six out of around 40 people."

"Erin and I have known each other for 10 years, and we've been married for five. We take part in so many activities together that it's difficult to list them. We spend plenty of afternoons at the beach soaking in the deliciously harmful sun. We enjoy trying new restaurants in our Brooklyn neighborhood. Theater is in our blood, and we love to see crappy Broadway musicals whenever we can.

"But throughout our entire relationship, there's been a rift; there are some things which we never share. And those things always seem to involve elves, dragons, spaceships, swords and the occasional magic ring."

"Envision an alternate reality we might call 'Gamer America.'

"In Gamer America, every home and office has 20MB/s broadband that's cheaper than milk. The coolest kids in Gamer America high school go out for the StarCraft team. And there's a Gamer America network TV channel (not cable, network) broadcasting online game tournaments round the clock. No, wait, there are two channels.

"Sounds like an EverQuest fever dream? A console fan's Robitussin high? Okay, Gamer America doesn't exist - in America. But it lives for real - right now! today! - in the Republic of Korea."

"For three days Lee played StarCraft in a public computer cafe in Taegu, South Korea. He left his computer only to use the washroom, sleeping nearby on a makeshift bed.

"Lee had recently quit his job in order to spend more time playing games, presumably so that he could eventually "go pro" and compete in South Korea's popular gaming competitions. It was a life choice that would ultimately prove fatal."

"Imagine an auditorium filled with eager fans, many of them young women holding up signs and screaming themselves hoarse. Huge screens display images capturing different angles of the action as commentators attempt to analyze the performances and excite the crowd. Imagine two television stations broadcasting 24 hours a day, devoting themselves to this sport.

"In Korea, this sport is StarCraft."

"In this world of World of Warcraft, to be labeled a Korean MMORPG is to be branded with a scarlet letter of inferiority. It conjures images of countless internet advertisements for free, online roleplaying titles, each with their own anime-inspired take on war. The current crop of Korean-developed MMORPG titles like Dream of Mirror Online, FlyFF and Rappelz are living relics of a time long forgotten. This is the climate facing Aion:The Tower of Eternity, the latest from the original Korean MMOG creators at NCsoft. Not only are they looking to wash away the sins of Korean MMOG hell with this new game, but their own distorted image as well."

"The plan was a simple one: Take a hardcore player of Western MMOGs (myself), turn him loose in an Eastern game for a week ... and see what happens. I found myself wondering what exactly I was getting myself into as I first loaded up Nexon's Mabinogi. Developed out of Seoul by devCAT (one of the Korea-based publisher's internal studios) and released in Korea in mid-2004, Mabinogi hit North America just this past March. Despite being inspired by pre-Christian Celtic mythology, one look at the colorful, manga-esque characters splashed around the official website betrays its Eastern roots. There was no mistake; Mabinogi - proudly termed 'Fantasy Life' - was as Korean an MMOG as they come."

"Magic: The Gathering just celebrated its 15th anniversary. It's awarded millions of dollars on it's Pro Tour. But its greatest accomplishment was also its first: It launched an entirely new type of game, collectible card games (CCGs.) Mash the addictiveness of trading cards with the strategy and competitive spirit of chess and you're certain to find something amazing.

"There are three people who have built their reputations on the franchise. One is the head of its research and development team. The second is its champion, the name every competitive player knows. And the third is our story's 'villain.'"

"More Mark Mothersbaugh than Mick Jagger, Schafer has built a reputation for creating weird, cerebral games that rely more on clever dialogue and witty characterizations than seat-of-your-pants gameplay. Beginning his career at LucasArts with The Secret of Monkey Island, which he helped write and program along with fellow designer Dave Grossman, Schafer has carved out a niche in an industry obsessed with the next Top-40 hit where he and his team can work on something a bit more offbeat."

"On August 6, 2008, after over three years of work, independent game designer Jonathan Blow launched the puzzle platformer Braid on Xbox Live Arcade. Braid marks an inflection point in Blow's career, his first polished product as an indie; before, he had published only a few sketchy prototypes. Some players will eagerly assess how the game embodies the artistic principles Blow advocates. In contrast, a few bloggers, stung by his comments about the shady ethics of World of Warcraft, must secretly hope his game bombs.

"On that count, at least, they're too late. Whether Braid itself succeeds or fails commercially, it had already become famous before launch as a vehicle to highlight Blow's provocative and inspiring ideas."

"As you enter the understated Hunt Valley, MD, studio that houses Firaxis Games, it feels like any other office. Only after you pass the front desk and see the display case overflowing with 30 or so gaming achievement awards does it really hit home: This is one of the pillars of the gaming world.

"The casual feel of the studio mirrors the man responsible for its existence, Director of Creative Development and co-founder Sid Meier. Despite the legendary game designer status and a cult following to every game that bears his name, the man is as down to earth as it gets."

"Steve Meretzky is kind of a crabby guy. Not gloomy or excessively negative, but rather in the world-weary way of someone who's been around the block a time or two not by choice, but because he couldn't find a parking space. He might complain about how expensive the coffee is at Starbucks, or how he doesn't have the time or reflexes to play modern games, yet you can't help but find yourself nodding along in agreement as he makes his grumpy observations. He may be crabby, but talking to him, you also get the impression that he's often right.

Tomb Raider represented a new style of gaming, and helped cement the 3-D revolution in home consoles. Consumers needed a mental anchor to connect us to this new form of gaming. Instead, we got two.

Jordan Deam explores CCP's and EVE Online's groundbreaking Council of Stellar Management with an inside look at the Council's first annual CSM Summit in Iceland.

One of the experiments of the AR Second Life project at Georgia Tech brings avatars out of the virtual world of Second Life and into the real world to interact with real people. Imagine wearing a head-mounted display and checking out that sexy avatar you've had your eye on standing right in front of you in life-sized form.

Our self-contradictions become more obvious as gaming matures and absorbs more people into the fold. The ubiquity of intolerant language and belligerent behavior raises troubling questions about what truly lies behind the mask of online identity.

"A Sidhe is an earthen mound where mythical beings live. It's also an independent New Zealand videogame company that's moved away from the hill-dwelling fairy thing to release six titles in the last five years. I've known about them for a long while: Like fantasy films, Antarctic storms and flaccid politicians, Sidhe has become part of the Kiwi landscape. But I'd never gotten near the source code, the how, why and what-the-hell of growing your very own game development ecosystem at the bottom of the South Pacific. So I called them up, begged my way in and spent a week learning the secret. Here it is, in seven easy steps, complete with magic beans and beer."