The video game industry is undoubtedly dominated by males, but we do know that gaming is not just a big frat house. Female gamers do exist, and like the opposite gender, they come in different shapes, sizes and forms. If you do your homework, you'll also notice that girl gamers have distinct traits which allow us to divide them into several types (just like guys). In this QuickList, we'll give you a rundown on what these types are. Hit that jump!

A study, commissioned by PopCap Games, showed that women love a good game of Cake Mania, and they aren't shy about it. After media content providers were determined to deliver advertisements catering to the young male bracket on consoles, the study by Information Solutions Group (ISG) reveals that casual gamers are "predominantly female."

Looking for numbers? Try 76% casual gamers that are female against 24% male casual gamers. And even over at Yahoo! Games and Electronic Arts casual gaming bet Pogo, more casual gamers are female.

The non-gamer bracket that included your girlfriend and your grandmother is now blessed with a gamers' edge on Zuma, thanks to the simplistic, yet entertaining casual game. With Miyamoto's previous speech on catering the Nintendo Wii to women, it's now clear that introducing games to the female bracket shows just how big of a market the game industry can tap into.

The games women play may not be "hardcore," but it's a start for toning hand-eye coordination technique and basic game mechanics. Females are entering the mainstream gaming scene, and not as promo girls on the side (mind you).

Even if the hardcore gamers are predominantly male, it's no indication that it should stay that way. There are already girl gamers around in the professional gaming scene, and it won't be a surprise if that increased this year, too.

One such study back in 2006 highlighted that 42% of adult console gamers were female, and the rest were male. In a broader scale, PC and console games were played by more males than females: 62% against 38%. So in essence, the gaming demographics is becoming more evenly distributed as time rolls on.

And with the success of the Nintendo Wii and MMO games, this year could spell the game industry's renewed focus on delivering games to gamers, and not games to males only.

There are people who like spending hours playing PopCap games. We call them the casual gamers. There are also those who would devote a large chunk of their time playing MMORPGs. We can categorize them as the "hardcore gamers.". And of course, let's not miss out people who take gaming more seriously, such that they would study its idiosyncrasies.

Those people really take serious gaming up a notch, and they will be holding the Serious Games Summit, a conference for people who, well, take serious games seriously (this includes serious games creators and commissioners). The said summit will feature talks and forums regarding serious game development and how it could be used to help in healthcare, education, science and social change.

As such, Henry Jenkins was tasked to give the keynote speech entitled, "Serious Games in the Age of Media Convergence and Collective Intelligence." Jenkins is a DeFlorz Professor of Humanities and Director of Comparative Media Studies at MIT, principal investigator for the MacArthur Foundation-funded New Media Literacies as well as co-founder and director of The Education Arcade, which currently looks into the educational aspect of computer and video games.

The said conference will be held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA from October 30-31.