Now I know this is probably one of those stupid old questions thats always super tough to answer but I just wanted to see what you guys think. So heres the story: My girlfriend knows I am kind of nerdy and play a lot of games and she wants to play games with me as well. The most experience she has is with things like the Sims, ipod touch games, or the wii/kinect so its not like she hasnt played anything before but she would also be put off by something too complicated. Id love for her to try to play starcraft or halo or call of duty with me but i think she would just get extremely frustrated and give up or just think it boring. I got my sister to start playing games by telling her to play things like Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Kingdom Hearts, Persona 3, and other games that have a significant story or arent the hardest games in the world but also arent stupid and overly simple and she really enjoyed them. The problem is my girlfriend only has an Xbox 360 and I'm not exactly sure where to start. Should I have her play a story based JRPG like Eternal Sonata, or Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts, or Limbo, or ilomilo? I'm just not exactly sure where to begin, what games would you tell someone who hasnt played many games to try?

 
costume quest maybe?  cheap investment and very simple to play, while still being fun.  i remember some guy posting not too long ago that his non-gamer girlfriend really hit it off with CQ and y'know, you're asking about your girlfriend, so they must be exactly the same in every regard...

My sister doesn't play a lot of games but one series she LOVES and has played all of are Assassin's Creed. Try those on her. Another one my sister loved was Lost Odyssey because it wasn't all anime and stuff like 95% of JRPGs out there. 
 
I'm just basically stating what my sister likes, but she doesn't like a lot of games because she gets confused so it sounds kind of like your girlfriend.

Nuts and Bolts is a pretty good candidate. Also have her play Bulletstorm. (heh)

Try Braid or Limbo. Costume Quest might be another good suggestion. The LEGO games are very good beginner choices. Maybe get her to try Deadly Premonition on easy. The game isn't that hard and is most defiantly interesting and memorable.

@DoctorWelch
 
I think she should play whatever she wants to play.  Ask her what type of game she's interested in (or, if she doesn't know, give her some examples of different genres out there) and show her some of the games out there for Xbox 360 and let her decide.  You shouldn't decide for her.  You should just be a reference.

Going to take full advantage of that rule whereby it's somehow socially acceptable to stereotype a group if you're part of it 
I'd say a lot of girls tend to enjoy RPGs with high levels of character customisation/engaging storylines? Also probably character romance options (there I said it)   
So given the above, I'd actually probably recommend the Mass Effect games? Not really sure where they'd fit in so far as a learning curve for her as I've been gaming for a very long time, but they don't strike me as something really all that difficult to get a basic grasp of when set at the easiest difficulty level - especially if you just sat with her for the first hour or so. Don't underestimate her, she's a woman not an imbecile 
Also possibly Oblivion, if the open world doesn't blow her brain. I find a lot of people only vaguely familiar with gaming are absolutely enthralled by the free will element, &the first three hours they spend frantically stealing every fork &spoon in sight helps familiarise them with the game before having to dig into anything serious/complex 
Otherwise I'd just say a shooter, though you mentioned being concerned she'd find it boring. The F.E.A.R games are actually quite simple on an easy difficulty level &the supernatural/scare element might keep her interested? My old roommate didn't consider herself a 'gamer' per se but I got her into F.E.A.R &she loved it, mostly in that strange way people love to terrify themselves, haha she outright screamed once

It depends.  Women in general like Co-op experience, so any game where you two can play on the same side seems good.  Don't do that if you tend to get frustrated with your partners, though.

I played a game called Castle Crashers which seemed pretty fun, and it was on the XBox (some kind of XBox).

"Maybe get her to try Deadly Premonition on easy. The game isn't that hard and is most defiantly interesting and memorable. "

While Nuts and Bolts might sounds like a good call at first, remember that most of that game's humor is reliant on the playing knowing about games, and how they're structured and such. 
 
 You mentioned you got your sister to play Persona 3, you should find a way to play that game PS2s aren't too pricey these days, and if she likes story based things, she might relate to this... not many RPGs have a modern setting and characters. And you can help her during the more RPG intensive parts.. could help her get into games. 
 
Depends how open her mind is really. You can never go wrong with something that's about co-operative problem solving, and less about competition and conflicts. I'm sure there's a few XBLA games like that.

If you want to ease her into the whole dual-stick thing I would recommend a game like Mass Effect, as it lets you pause to aim. It was the first real dual-stick shooter I ever played, and I had relatively few problems moving on to faster games once it was all done.

If she has a 360 tell her to buy her own damn games. Just go with her and make sure she doesn't pick out shit shovelware that's not worth the price tag. 
 
Think of it this way: women love shopping, and you love games. So it's a win-win. And women really love dragging other people along on shopping trips (I don't know whether it's a masochistic thing or what), but this one you'll enjoy, so I guess it's a win, win...win? 
 
Yeah, that's it. 
 
EDIT: also probably don't coddle her, she might get pissed off at that. At least most of the women/girls I know do.

A PS3 and Flower.

Whatever she takes interest in. It's probably not best to stick her in front of Starcraft II if she's never played before, but just play whatever, offer her the controller and see how she takes to it. I have a friend who took interest in Braid. Another one took interest in Peggle. Others like Halo or Call of Duty. 
 
Whatever you do, let it happen organically. Don't force it upon her and don't make her frustrated by telling her what to do, where to go, who to shoot, etc.

Get her started with an easy, co-op XBLA game.  So you can show her how to play while you both play together.  Maybe Lara Craft Guadian of Light, Feeding Frenzy 2, World of Keflings, or Aegis Wing?
 
Or, if a solo experience is necessary, get her Zuma, Kingdom of Keflings, Bejeweled 2, Peggle or Luxor 2 on XBLA.  You probably already have Hexic.  All causual, easy to pick up and play titles that women generall like (full disclosure: my sample size is only 1 - the wife).    

Viva Pinata of course!

Get her kinect, and fitness games...
she can wear spandex, and you can sit back and relax.

Import We Dare

Start off with arcade games as people have said before, or maybe some co-op enforced games that you can help her with. The best example would be Resident Evil 5. Easy to play, awesome co-op, not complicated. Don't try to push multiplayer games in her face just yet or complicated games in that sense. Maybe some easy button mashers? Fable perhaps?

Mass Effect have gotten a lot of my lady friends onto the Xbox. 
Otherwise do what ptc said. You can never go wrong with co-op.

your dick

Either Costume Quest or Stacking would be a great first choice.  Regardless of what you choose, make it something you'd want to play.  Otherwise it's just not gonna be very healthy for your end when you try to help her out.

COD with a headset.

Pacman Championship Edition DX

Any Double-Fine game besides Brutal Legends, Beyond Good and Evil HD, Castle Crashers, and Alan Wake (if she is okay with slightly scary games.)

Not sure if she would be interested in this at all, but my little sister seemed to enjoy playing Forza 3. Really gentle learning curve.

My wife almost never takes interest into my gaming, but she really liked watching commander shepard. Apparently he is the ultimate polygonification of hotness. So yes, go with Mass Effect.

My GF enjoys sort of cutesy / quirky games, so ones that have worked:
 

• Costume Quest
• Beyond Good and Evil HD
• Psychonauts
• Stacking
• Ilomilo

I got asked this by a couple of friends a while ago. 
One girl wanted to play some game but she asked me what she should play and I just said "whatever you find interesting" 
Nothing I had seemed to interest her at first so we went to gamestop and bought two games she thought looked like fun, turns out she liked them! 

" I got asked this by a couple of friends a while ago. 
One girl wanted to play some game but she asked me what she should play and I just said "whatever you find interesting" Nothing I had seemed to interest her at first so we went to gamestop and bought two games she thought looked like fun, turns out she liked them!  "

" @ZeForgotten said:

" I got asked this by a couple of friends a while ago. 
One girl wanted to play some game but she asked me what she should play and I just said "whatever you find interesting" Nothing I had seemed to interest her at first so we went to gamestop and bought two games she thought looked like fun, turns out she liked them!  "

This is exactly what I said. Only shorter, and with a personal experience. "

Whatever she actually finds interesting.  You could show her examples of what's out there but let her decide what she'd like to play.

" My GF enjoys sort of cutesy / quirky games, so ones that have worked:
 

• Costume Quest
• Beyond Good and Evil HD
• Psychonauts
• Stacking
• Ilomilo

 For intro games, it seems like those that don't require a lot of manipulation of both analog sticks worked best for her.  "

" If she has a 360 tell her to buy her own damn games. Just go with her and make sure she doesn't pick out shit shovelware that's not worth the price tag. 
 
Think of it this way: women love shopping, and you love games. So it's a win-win. And women really love dragging other people along on shopping trips (I don't know whether it's a masochistic thing or what), but this one you'll enjoy, so I guess it's a win, win...win?  Yeah, that's it.  EDIT: also probably don't coddle her, she might get pissed off at that. At least most of the women/girls I know do. "

" Whatever she actually finds interesting.  You could show her examples of what's out there but let her decide what she'd like to play. "

My girlfriend very rarely plays games and is completely uninterested in most of the games I play. However, she has really enjoyed Castle Crashers, Stacking, Costume Quest, Psychonauts, Limbo, ilomilo, Viva Pinata, and a few others. She seemed to enjoy the co-op in the lego game demos I've downloaded, but I haven't picked any full copies of those up.
 
edit: Oh! And Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light. There's a demo up and it's on sale right now. I would definitely try that. The controls might be a little more complicated, but my girlfriend and I had a blast playing through it.

Thanks for all the advice. I think I might try the asking her/taking her into game stop and letting her pick thing but at the same time I feel like she might not really have any idea what she likes or what she wants. I'm not necessarily trying to force her to play certain games or anything I'm more just trying to find some good games that she may like if she hasnt really played much before. I think I'm going to get her a Costume Quest, Mass Effect, other cheaper a little older yet quality games, and a couple co-op games to play with her and then basically "advise" her on what other games she might want to play.

ilomilo
Winterbottom
Pinball FX2
Lego  anything
 
All hits with my gf.

Cloning Clyde is a great and simple xbla platformer, you could also try saints row 2 or red faction on easy because those games are fun to just run around and watch stuff blow up.

I have given up on trying to get my girl to play games. I was really hoping that getting KINECT would get her going. Sadly I was wrong..... I wish I hada girl that loved to play. Guess Ill have to have a kid to live that dream, lol!