More girl game makers (pls?)

It's a perennial topic because, you'd never know it, but girls and women represent 43% of the $10 billion industry's customers. (The 43% figure comes from Greg Palmer, producer of PBS's "The Video Game Revolution"; the $10b figure is from USAToday.) But the anecdotal evidence just doesn't stack up. To wit: USAToday's piece led with Jennifer Canada's experience at Southern Methodist University. She is one of two women among the 100 students enrolled in SMU's Guildhall school of video game making. And women represent 10% of game developers. But there's hope, at least at SMU. "Guildhall has partnered with the online female job recruiting Web site Mary-Margaret.com and the game review Web site WomenGamers.com to create what's believed to be the first video game scholarship for women in the nation," according to USAToday. "The scholarship will provide about $18,500, or half the cost of an 18-month certification program." Maybe this will eventually mean a lower percentage of first-person-shooter games - or more "thought-provoking, story-driven games with more female lead characters and less carnage." For reviews of games girls like, see also Games4Girls.com.