Net Asia Co. Ltd. recently performed a poll, misleadingly showing Japanese gamers' handheld preferences by gender. The reason that we consider this survey misleading is because the DS Lite and DS Phat were split up into two different categories. Why not, then, split up the PSP-1000 (the original) and PSP-2000 (the newer, slimmer one)? Okay, so no one would actually pick the 1000 over the 2000, but splitting up the two DS models (and GBA models, for that matter) just doesn't make sense to us.

With that rant out of the way, though, the poll (in which 401 mobile phone users partook) shows that 42% of Japanese men prefer the PSP, while 30.3% prefer the DS Lite and 16.8% the Phat. As for women, 52.2% picked the Lite and 27.4% chose the Phat, while only 8.8% prefered the PSP. (Note: In case you're wondering why these numbers don't add up to 100%, the unlisted percents were split between the Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Game Boy Advance SP.)

Here's an interesting little nugget we stumbled across: according to a recent study, girls prefer 2D over 3D when it comes to games.

To reach this conclusion, author Tina Ziemek offered a pool of 34 13- and 14-year old students a selection of six Nintendo 64 titles (Yoshi's Story, Bust-A-Move, Mischief Makers, Banjo-Kazooie, Wetrix, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time), and noted down which of the games each subject preferred to spend time with.

As it happens, the females in the group opted to play Yoshi's Story most of the time, while the males chose Zelda. Ziemek also notes that a lot of the kids commented on the easiness and accessibility of the 2D games in interviews, and that the females "disliked the confusion in the 3D video games, whether it was unclear directions, objectives, camera perspectives, or not knowing how to control the character."

Ziemek's final conclusion? That the majority of females would rather play games that are "easy," while the majority of males would rather play games that are "challenging." If Ziemek's findings are correct, this may partly explain why so many females pick up a DS -- after all, which other platform has such a delightful array of 2D software?

[Via Kotaku]

In some deeply weird alternative universe, perhaps one in which Japanese people actually bought Microsoft consoles and England's footballers weren't quite so irredeemably rubbish, we might never have experienced Super Mario Bros. as we know it. Instead, we could have been playing Super Mario Sisters.

Alas, Nintendo of America never did follow through on a trademark application it filed in February, 1990 for a game called "SUPER MARIO SISTERS." The application was abandoned almost two years later, depriving us all of an estrogen-fuelled version of the world's favorite platformer.

Go past the break for a grab of the application.

Recent scans from the Japanese magazine Coro Coro have revealed a few new game details on the mysterious Pokemon: Diamond and Pokemon: Pearl. Among the translated information is the return of the day/night system, with four distinct periods (dawn, day, dusk, and night) that will affect Pokemon behavior and appearance. In addition, male and female characters will now look different in-game; one of the genders might be larger, be missing certain features, or have different skin patterns. The traditional Pokedex will also be upgraded to include more than twenty features, including time management, type charts, monitoring of Pokemon in the breeding center, and more.

The Pokemon games have no confirmed release date in North America, but it shouldn't be too long before the market drops ten gajillion dollars on this tried-and-true franchise.

[Thanks Nushio, you tip-crazy fiend you]

[Update 1: clarified unknown N. American release date]