For all of you gamers who are planning on attending WisCon this year, Girl-Wonder.org and Cerise will be co-hosting a party, “Capes and Consoles,” on the 24th in room 623. We plan to have games available to play, including some Nintendo DS games for multiple players (such as Metroid Prime Pinball). So if you’ve got a DS, and you’re planning to stop by Capes and Consoles, be sure to bring it to WisCon with you!

Have you ever wanted to enter the field of gaming journalism, but didn’t have the time or the confidence in your writing skills to submit an article? Does the opportunity to interact with industry professionals appeal to you? If so, then consider becoming an interviewer for Cerise magazine!

What we’re looking for:

1. Enthusiastic people who want to conduct interviews with industry professionals and game-related bloggers by e-mail, phone, or other media.
2. Reliable people with enough time to conduct (at most) one interview a month.

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! You will be working with an Interview Co-ordinator (right now that’s me) who will help you with the preparation and post-interview process.

While much of the co-ordinating will happen via e-mail, we recommend that you sign up for our forums. There, you fill find a number of resources that will help you form your interview strategy, including guidelines and suggestions for future interviews.

This is not currently a paying job, but it is excellent experience for anyone interested in journalism and/or the gaming industry.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in this thread, or alternatively contact me via e-mail. All those interested in the position, please e-mail me directly at andrea [at] theirisnetwork [dot] org.

Cerise, the Gaming Magazine for Women, releases its March issue: The Older Gamer. 

Check it out for great articles on making your own quick miniatures, an interview with costumer and sculptor Victoria Lamb, reviews, gamer stories, and more!

And don’t forget to hit the submissions page to see how you can contribute to the April issue, devoted to queerness and gaming: Do You Game With Dorothy?

Cerise, the Gaming Magazine for Women, is open for submissions for the April 2008 Issue!

Submission deadline: March 20th, 2008

Theme: Do You Game With Dorothy?

Any group whose members commonly use the word “gay” as a synonym for “foolish” or “undesirable” undoubtedly has some pretty serious heterosexist biases. Queer gamers face challenges ranging from lack of representation in many games to objectification or outright hostility from some corners of gaming culture.

What’s it like to be a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender gamer? Which communities, game designers and companies are serving queer gamers well, and which are failing to consider them at all? What can be done to improve representation for queer gamers? While we here at Cerise welcome discussion of queer concerns in gaming at any time, our April 2008 issue will be specifically devoted to giving the spotlight to marginalized sexualities – if the preceding questions are important to you, don’t miss this issue!

 As always, submission guidelines and categories can be found here.

Check out the blog of Cerise magazine editor Robyn Fleming right here on the Iris Network! Robyn Can’t Jump follows the fun and foibles of video game playing from the point of view of a woman who loves gaming, but really can’t play video games:

 Once, when I was in college, a guy I had a serious crush on invited me to join him at his apartment one evening to “play some video games or something.” Believing that this must be code for “fool around together,” I put on a cute skirt and a fitted t-shirt and prepared myself for an evening of semi-reclining fun.

To my surprise, he actually did want to play video games – specifically, ports of classic arcade games that would run on an emulator for his desktop computer. I did my best for a miserable half hour while he encouraged me by shouting things like: “Jump! Jump, damn it! HIT THE B BUTTON.”

I can’t believe I shaved my legs for this, I thought. But at least it will make for a funny story later. Once it stops being mortifying.