Game industry finally notices girls

Pink for girls, blue for boys. Those are the traditional colors assigned to either sex after birth, be it paint on a nursery room wall or the 11th identical onesie given at a baby shower. 

From there, it could be sheriff stars and dinosaurs for boys, dolls and tea sets for girls. But what about video games? 

Stereotypes aside, the booming video game industry is becoming less male-oriented.

With the release of Nintendo DS and Wii, "we're starting to see a much higher influx of female gamers," said Rich Valiquette, director of development for Tornado Studios in Tulsa. And major publishers are starting to take notice.

Tornado Studios is a new company based off an old one called 2015, which produced popular games like "Men of Valor" and "Medal of Honor: Allied Assault," Valiquette said. Now, they're working on a game that's geared largely toward girls. He couldn't give more details than that, but it's expected to come out this year.

A recent study showed that game usage among girls jumped from 50 percent in 2006 to 57 percent in 2008, said Ann Hamilton, a senior brand manager with game publisher Ubisoft. The forum for girls has doubled in the past two years, so they're playing even more now.

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