I know The Games of Volition from the Summoner franchise. Those are vast, fantastic games that feature playable female characters. I even played the original Descent. So I am hopeful about the newest offering from Volition THQ. I'm glad to see so many women working on this project. Although in a staff of over one hundred, the women are outnumbered 10 to 1.

So much for pedigree and first impressions. I know better, you can't judge a book by its cover, and that goes double for games. Saint's Row will soon be released for the X360 and it is going to be a game that will have to sink or swim on its own game play merits. Like that infamous game that changed the meaning of "hot coffee" forever, Saint's Row is a game that is sure to do alot more than just raise eyebrows. They are going to push the envelope one more time. I saw a developer interview video where he said that the character creation would be "appreciated by the "hip - hop" community", and that the "clothing upgrades would earn the character more respect." Unfortunately this attitude reinforces stereo types and materialistic superficiality, and might offend some people. The game looks so much like GTA, except cloudy in that hazy Xbox graphics fashion that I don't like. I prefer crisp graphics.

There seem to be plenty of customization options. For the cars. For male avatars. You can select everything, except gender. Not cool. Would it have killed them to include a female character? I can't imagine developers and programmers working so hard on customization options but ostracizing women?

Engrossed by the potential controversy I set out to interview the Saint's Row team. I interviewed two of the game's project managers Anne Odom and Rose Hunt. Anne is the Associate Project Manager. She is a self described student of philosophy, linguistics, and computer science. Anne had developed custom software of all shapes and sizes before joining Volition in November of 2004. As a project manager, she strives to keep the morale high, the communication strong, and the deadlines on target. Anne is active in the local community as well, she likes to volunteering with many charitable organizations and activist endeavors as she has time for.

Rose Hunt is also an Associate Project Manager. Rose served 8 years of hard time in the ISP industry before making the leap to project manager for a video game studio. That perilous jump was well worth it because she cemented her role in her nephews’ hearts as the “aunt with the coolest job.” When she is not wrangling schedules or working to keep the project team energized, one can expect to find Rose enjoying the finer things in life. Like classic cars, good wine, gourmet cooking, comic books and professional wrestling(?).

Girls if you want to work in the gaming industry there are many diverse jobs that are vital to the production of a game. In addition to these two ladies on the staff at Volition for example, the office assistant, Human Relations manager, bookkeeper, office manager and one of the Environmental artists are women. You can see that there is a need for women in the games industry in a diverse variety of job skills.

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