The focus of this article is the language of computer game previews and guides in the magazine Sega Mean Machines. I examine the presence of conflicting discourses within these texts, and discuss the possible effects they may have on the construction of gender-specific identities for the reader. Through a stylistic analysis of these texts, I will argue that entering the computer game-playing world means essentially a shift for the female readers/players into male-centred discourses.
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