Shoko Nakagawa encourages women to pick up Super Robot Wars W

Shoko Nakagawa, currently the most famous of all Japanese female gaming geeks is being featured in Banpresto’s ad for their new title Super Robot Wars W. Fans of Nakagawa, called Shoko tan by the masses, were treated today when they logged into their mixi accounts (mixi is like myspace but for Japan), only to be bombarded by links to no less than six video ads for the game and an exclusive interview with Shoko tan.
In the most likely paid interview, Nakagawa talks about the game and how she thinks that women, too, should purchase Super Robot Wars W. Despite whether this particular game is one to draw female gamers, there is no doubt that someone like Shoko Nakagawa is a strong symbol for women that play games and are proud of it. I am more than for promoting getting more females on the gaming band-wagon- but it’s hard to say if Shoko tan’s mature dress, which she herself revealed as very uncharacteristic of her actual personality, is being used to attract more female gamers… or just male ones.
On a more game related note, apparently the game is played entirely by using the stylus to choose lots of options and navigate menus, while videos showing your battle progress appear on the top screen. A cool feature is the games ability to unlock new stuff (presumably robots) by having one of Banpresto’s previous Super Robot Wars GBA titles sitting in the GBA slot.