My girlfriend has just started to play games. What is best to start her on?

[Nocta-Aeterna]

Portal an LBP have already been called, so..hmmm
Not very familiar with the PS3. Perhaps Journey, or the Team Ico collection box when they come out?

FarmVille

HERETIC!

 

[Canadish]

The Assassin's Creed games got my girlfriend into games, so I'd recommend them.

Controls are fairly simple.
The graphics are great, and without many glitches.
In 2, Ezio swaggers onto the scene with his "fabulous" boots.
And we're all confused about the story together...

Other then that, the obvious candidates are Little Big Planet, Mod Nation Racer, Heavy Rain etc...

Portal 2 would be another great one. No murdering involved, Co-op, and you can learn to play it properly together

 

[Smooth Operator]

LBP and Sims, pretty much all she will ever want, sounds silly but people get obsessed over Sims and won't ever put them down.

Oh and maybe Uncharted 1 & 2 , if she likes Indiana Jones then it's right on the money.

 

[Sovvolf]

Cooking mama might be a good game as it will teach her to sta- OWWW!! did someone just throw a joypad at me.

Okay, casual sexist parodies aside... I'd say that the threads pretty much covers it. LBP is probably a good place to start, it has a decent difficulty curve, its cutesy and there's plenty to play around with. Simple to use hard to master. Then move her gradually on to more complex games from there, if you have all the consoles, the Zelda games might be a good idea. It all really depends, is she into the cutesy games or do you think she'd be able to handle a shooter at this stage of gaming.

Someone mentioned the Fable games and well they could be a good place to start. They are pretty simple control wise however they can actually be an hard place to start off from so I'd probably recommend those games after a few more of the simple ones. Its not the controls its more the whole buying houses and making money, the rpg system that can be a little scary for outside gamers to start from.

Little big planet probably is the better game to start from because of its simplicity.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

Portal 2 co-op? Or maybe Fable 2/3 co-op? Yeah I'd go with those. Fun, not-too-intense games which are pretty easy to pick up.

 

[Shintsu2]

Ugh...I will never understand why people think LBP is so great. I didn't bother buying it, so given the bleh selections Sony offered for free with their "We're sorry our service was out for over a bloody month" deal I picked LBP. When I started playing it again, I remembered why I stopped. To all the serious gamers out there, who play complex games with relative ease given time to learn - how do you not just get sick of LBP? The cheesy kiddie style just annoys me, plus it's just jumping around from here to there. Oh look, a wonky contraption - it's so adorable...if I were 5.

I liked platforming when I was playing the original Mario Bros, and the iterations on the SNES and N64 - but eh I don't see the thrill with these new ones. Maybe I'm too complex to be entertained by such simplicity - after all a large majority of my games are slow RTS games or turn-based strategy games. To the person who was going on about how no one could not like it, I would hate someone for buying me LBP - as I can think of countless better titles. The PS3 exclusives just don't do it for me, chock it up to owning a 360 first or personal taste but I never much cared for most of them (Killzone I do like somewhat though).

For suggestions, I'd think of some good big titles (This would be far easier if you had a PC for gaming since that opens the selection up a ton). They tend to be the most accessible. While I personally am not a fan of Call of Duty that would probably be a good intro to FPSes. Bioshock is a classic of course. Only you will know how your girlfriend will respond to violence and atmosphere of the games, but I wouldn't baby her - just show her some stuff gamers tend to love and give a brief synopsis. Probably wouldn't recommend Dead Space unless she likes horror movies. The Orange Box would be an excellent choice since you have HL2 and all episodes of that as well as Portal and Team Fortress 2 - she's sure to enjoy something out of that bundle. I would recommend MGS4 (A personal favourite) - but uhh...convoluted jumpy story, and weird goings on - probably not going to make a good first impression. I've played almost all the MGS games and I still don't always know what is going on...

Just be happy she enjoys playing something besides Facebook games...all the girls I've seen play FarmVille and other ilk (*ahem* Rubbish) from Zynga.

 

[johnnnny guitar]

Portal or Portal 2 with both games I had non gamers laughing with me and they were working and could not stop watching
start with Portal one with its length it will almost be like a tutorial

 

[rs101]

Introduce her to gaming review sites, suss out what turns on her on, and get her something from that genre. Stay the fuck away from the Sim franchise, it'll make you a poor man.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

Demon's Souls...

Only messing. If she's looking for mature games then try Heavy Rain. From what I hear it's suitable.

Also, what I would do is:

A) If you have a PS3 yourself show her your collection of games and let her choose something that appeals to her.

Or

B)If you don't own a PS3 then go to Gamestop or somewhere that sells games and let her choose something that she finds interesting.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

The Assassin's Creed games got my girlfriend into games, so I'd recommend them.

Controls are fairly simple.
The graphics are great, and without many glitches.
In 2, Ezio swaggers onto the scene with his "fabulous" boots.
And we're all confused about the story together...

Other then that, the obvious candidates are Little Big Planet, Mod Nation Racer, Heavy Rain etc...

Portal 2 would be another great one. No murdering involved, Co-op, and you can learn to play it properly together

Portal 2 co-op is a great way to break down any relationship. The infuriation at times, especially when you start dropping each other off ledges.

 

[captaincabbage]

LittleBigPlanet is freaking awesome. May be slightly too "childish", but that is no bad thing.

Ratchet and Clank is also a good series to start on. It's not too challenging, and the games are very well made and funny.

How dare you say a foul word against LBP! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go ride my pink bunny-mobile.

OT: Definitely Ratchet and Clank and LBP. Also a word of warning, if you want to keep your girlfriend, I suggest keeping her away from Ezio. That suave bastard completely mesmerized my girlfriends and now she's obsessed.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Well, what kind of games is she interested in playing?

Portal/Portal 2 is a good start for most people anyway, the pace is relaxed, and it's less about physical dexterity.

Aside from that, all I can really give info on are the games my girlfriend liked: Bioshock, Super mario galaxy (not on ps3, but still great), Batman: Arkham Asylum, Fallout 3/New vegas, World of goo (again, not on ps3, but even a really basic laptop could play it.)

 

[andersgeek]

No one has mentioned Beyond Good & Evil yet? Seriously?!
Strong but believable female character, compelling story, funny and earnest moments alike. The controls, camera, and stealth moments can at times be a bit too much for someone just starting with video games, but if she can handle this game, anything is possible.

If she likes it, Psychonauts should be the next pick.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Try something 2d first, then simple 3d, then you can start getting to the complex stuff. Use a logical progression of complexity. Avoid sandbox games at first, if you don't know what you're doing, they get disorienting quickly.

*SNIP*

Am I the only person who managed to miss out on the fact that his girlfriend recently got out of a coma and has severe braindamage?

Seriously.

Female does not mean retarded.

Lizzie started on Portal and within a week was thinking with Portals better than I ever had. And other than the sims that is the first game she had ever played (I am making reference to my ex-fiance here). And hell, she got further into Hellgate: London than I ever did.

I have thrown in my bit and I am now avoiding this. So much of this is about dumbing things down for the girlfriend with down-syndrome.

No, but not everyone will immediately be able to grasp the idea of thumb-sticks and how to properly use a controller. It really is best to start off simple to find out. I've known people who couldn't figure out you had to use both thumb-sticks at once. To me this seemed plain stupid as hell, but I've also grown up with video games, so it's second nature to me.

It won't be to someone who hasn't played them before.

 

[Vault Girl]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf2iGG9uTZY


evidence of how much LBP can bring people together.

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

Little Bit Planet. That easy, or even Alice Madness Returns since it should come with the original. Ratchet & Clank as well as maybe Parasite Eve off of the PSN?

 

[legendp]

PORATL 1 AND 2 (get portal 1 with the orange box)

PORTAL 1 (the orange box) and PORTAL 2. volume is very important and they can be tricky but they have a gentle learning curve and if you can finnish them it is an amazing story and feeling. co-op games could be good because then you can work as a team (would recommend halo but you said PS3). depends what type of games she is into. game's like bioshock, crysis 2 and mas effect 2 are great but not for every one. I heard killzone 3 has co-op but she may not like the gore or FPS's at all, theres also uncharted and she might even be interested in tomb raider (have not played one in about 12 years but the new one looks cool). I would recommend the orange box (comes with portal 1) and portal 2

 

[Slash Dementia]

Get her to play Demon's Souls. It's always good to dive in at the deep end.

Do this, and record her playing.

Ask her what kind of games she likes. Also, I'd say Little Big Planet because it's just so simple and fun to play. If she has a computer, maybe you can get her The Sims 3--if not, maybe she'll like it for PS3. Maybe try Assassin's Creed or Mass Effect?

Asking her would be the best bet. She may be just starting, but it doesn't mean that she needs help picking the games she would want to play. Take her to a game store, let her decide.