PMS-clan, professional women gamersYahoo news, reports that more and more women are getting interested in the world of videogames that still is largely dominated by men. But this is about to change as a group of women called Pandora’s Mighty Soldiers (PMS) - a clan of about 500 female gamers aged between 9 and 58 – strives to shift the balance. According to it’s clan-members, PMS is a very supportive environment for women-gamers and they often lack understanding in their own social environment. The clan-members can take part in professional game-contests on a regular basis and have to adhere to a 30-page conduct-code. An important part of the code is the rule that fellow-gamers nor opponents may be put down or belittled in any way – unless this is part of the game play of course.

The South Korean mrs Kim Hee-Jung is currently drafting a law that should protect the South Korean youth from spending too much time playing online games. If the bill is passed, parents will be able to easily set a time-limit on the games their children play. Software developers will have to implement this capability in the games they create and will run the risk of having to pay huge fines if they don't. Mrs Kim Hee-Jung will present her bill to the South Korean parliament next month.

Egypt-themed games animation Having just returned from Egypt - which was amazing by the way - made me wonder about the use of ancient Egypt as a theme for videogames. I've seen FPS games, and a lot of puzzle games, Lara Croft has stumbled through some Egyptian tombs. Often I've just been irritated by its use because the theme had nothing to do with the gameplay.