Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 61

REPUBLIC At The Arizona Republic Wednesday, October 6, 1982 vS? and the arts Agenda Hardy Price Like Pac-Man, home-video manufacturers race to gobble the most profits 3 new products provide programs to hide from kids 'Billboard' rates games people play Associated Press LOS ANGELES At first glance, Custer's Revenge seems to be just another home video game, but the difference is revealing. It and two other video games about to reach the market have blatantly sexual themes. In Custer's Revenge, Custer wears only boots and a hat, and his intentions toward an Indian maiden are not those of an officer and a gentleman. The player earns points by coupling the male figure with the naked Indian maiden as often as possible without being hit by an arrow. "Our object is not to arouse; our object is to entertain," said Stuart Kesten, president of American Multiple Industries, which will market the games under the brand name of Mystique Retailing.

"When people play our games, we want them smiling, we want them laughing." Kesten said the games are neither pornographic nor sexually explicit. Rather, he said, they are cartoonlike. The video games, which are marked "Not for sale to minors," will retail for $49.95 each, about $10 to $15 more than the costliest conventional video game. All are designed for use on basic video-game systems. Kesten, a former cosmetics marketing executive, created American Multiple Industries about a year ago in partnership with Joel Martin, who is executive vice president and who has a background in toy manufacturing.

Kesten said he hopes to have 750,000 units of the three games on the market before Christmas. 4. Frogger, Parker Bros. 5. Pac-Man, Atari 6.

Pitfall, Activision. 7. Star Master, Activision. 8. Chopper Command, Activision.

9. Yar's Revenge, Atari. 10. The Empire Strikes Back, Bros. 11.

Demon Attack, Imagic. 12. Atlantis, Imagic. 13. Kaboom, Activision.

14. Star Strike, Intellivision. 15. Night Stalker, Intellivision. New York Times Billboard magazine, which charts best-selling records and videocassettes, has decided that the home video-game industry has become big enough to be charted.

The magazine's list of best-selling cartridges for the two weeks that ended Saturday follows. The first five titles are adapted from successful arcade games. 1. Donkey Kong, Coleco. 2.

Berzerk, Atari. 3. Defender, Atari Actor signs stars for tennis tourney Actor Bert Convy is still busy as a beaver lining up at least 50 of his closest friends for his tennis tournament next weekend at the Registry Resort. The tournament, which benefits the Arizona Spina Bifida Association, had about 26 confirmed stars or almost-stars booked as of Tuesday. Among the new names on the list are Ed Ames, who will likely be visiting with brother Gene Ames, a designer for Mehagian's Interiors; actor Dabney Coleman, who made Jane Fonda's life difficult in the Nine to Five film; Abby Dalton, best known as Joey Bishop's TV wife; Chad Everett of Medical Center, and actor-producer-writer-director Tom Laughlin, who made those awful Billy Jack movies in Arizona a few years back.

Missing from the original lineup are comic Marty Brill, Taxi driver Tony Danza, suntanner George Hamilton, Real People's Sarah Purcell and Beverly Sasson and constant companion Erik Estrada. But such is the nature of celebrity tennis tournaments. Stars come and go, but Convy appears to be making a sincere effort to put on the best possible tournament. And you can't knock that. Pinafore Majestic Patchwork, the English sheep dog who plays Horrid, faithful companion to flaky King Pellinore in the Arizona State University Lyric Opera's Camelot, is no stranger to show biz.

In 1978 Patches, as he is known to the Camelot crew, starred with magician David Copperfield in a Civic Plaza show. Patches, owned by the Valley's own Nancy Smith, formerly was nationally ranked in the top 10 in his breed. Yes, yes, that was singer Rosemary Clooney taking in the Fagen-Peterson Fine Art opening last Saturday night on Scottsdale's Main Street. Ms. Clooney, in town for a Sunday night performance at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, went to the gallery to check out the work of her son, Gabriel Ferrer (daddy is actor Jose Ferrer).

Gabe, who is married to singer Debby Boone, is an artist and showed a couple of charcoal and pastel drawings. Gabe and the Mrs. were not in attendance. Later, Ms. Clooney and friend Dante DiPaolo moved over to Steven for a little dinner.

Now for some radio news because our man on that beat, Bud Wilkinson, is on vacation back East. For the faithful fans of Frank Pollock whose Vintage Show on the old KXIV was a must, you can now hear the sounds of yesteryear on KLFF each Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to noon. LINER NOTES Art mavens, note that Evenings on Marshall Way start Thursday along the trendy Scottsdale street. All the galleries and shops will be open late for strolling and shopping and things like that.

On Friday, the Phoenix Zoo's Phelps Dodge zoomobile will be at Park Central Mall with education-keeper Debbie Evers and a bunch of birds and reptiles. Debbie will probably be tickled as all get out to answer your questions. On Thursday afternoon at Park Central you can stop in and check out the new wine bar at Miracle Mile Delicatessen. Can you believe Miracle Mile has been there 25 years? Also, the deli is staying open late, if you consider 7:30 p.m. late.

By Aljean Harmetz New York Times NEW YORK Electronic trolls, monsters and visitors from space have intensified their invasion of the United States to such an extent that, by 1983, nearly 15 million U.S. homes will have video-game modules plugged into their television sets. Those television sets are being turned on by people who would rather play Pac-Man and Tron than watch situation comedies and hour-long detective shows. Five years ago, video games hardly existed. Now, arcade and home-video games form an industry with annual sales of $7 billion.

The Consumer Electronics Group, an industry association based in Washington, D.C., estimates that 8 million video-game machines (called "modules" in the trade) and 55 million game cartridges will be sold in 1982, about twice the number sold last year. International Resource Development, a market-research organization specializing in new electronic media, estimates that home-video games alone will earn revenues of $1.7 billion in 1982 and $3 billion in 1984. In comparison, Hollywood sells about $3 billion worth of tickets to U.S. moviegoers each year. The implications for the entertainment industry are enormous.

Hollywood already has begun licensing its successful movies to game manufacturers, and most movie studios have started divisions to create and design games. Furthermore, lagging sales volumes in the recording industry are attributable, in part, to the time and money siphoned by video games. Reacting to that change, record stores now are supplementing their disc sales with video games. "The home-video-game industry still has a long way to grow," said Raymond Kassar, chairman of Atari. "Maybe we have a 10 percent penetration of television households now.

Saturation won't come until we have 50 percent penetration. The maturity level of video games will be beyond anyone's wildest dreams." Although video-game and cartridge advertising continually praises the "play-ability" and graphics of one manufacturer's games while denigrating the graphics and games of others, no one disagrees with Kassar's assessment. The result is intense competition among established vendors and new companies. Game cartridges designed for one manufacturer's module cannot be played in a competitor's module, and the majority of games are sports or space oriented. However, many of the newer, best-selling games combine action with a sense of humor.

Donkey Kong, for example, requires the player to rescue a maiden in distress; Frogger to hop a frog across a crowded highway and an alligator-infested river. Until now, about 70 percent of all video-game modules sold have been Atari's 2600 VCS. Mattel's Intellivision Master Component accounts for another 18 percent to 20 percent. North American Phillips' Odyssey has limped far behind in third place. The stiffest new challenge to the three for their young children and add the new, more sophisticated 5200 as a toy for teenagers and adults.

Ken Bosomworth, president of International Resource Development, thinks it "entirely conceivable" that major computer companies like International Business Machines Corp. and chip manufacturers like Texas Instruments and Intel will join the crowded video-game hardware field. "Their entrance would be logical," he said. However, the greatest profits and the real marketing battles come in the field of game-cartridge sales. Cartridges that cost approximately $6 to make sell for an average of $34.

Three years ago Atari made cartridges for Atari and Mattel made cartridges for Intellivision. Now 16 companies including 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS Games, Emerson Radio and Parker one of the most successful manufacturers, with "Monopoly" and other classic board games are making or have announced they will make video-game cartridges. Most of the new companies will be making cartridges for Atari, though several also will manufacture Intellivision cartridges. Mattel has formed M-Network, a division that started shipping Atari-compatible cartridges in July. "There will be between 8 million and 11 million Atari units in the marketplace by Christmas," said Mike Doepke, director of marketing for M-Network.

"Why shouldn't we make software for a hardware base like that?" leaders, Colecovision, is being introduced this month by Coleco, a 50-year-old company best known for its above-ground swimming pools. Colecovision will sell for approximately $190, about $20 less than Intellivision. Arnold Greenberg, Coleco's president, said that it took one year and between $3 million and $5 million to develop Colecovision, and that Coleco already has an order backlog "well in excess" of 500,000 units. Coleco also plans to market a converter that allows use of Atari game cartridges in the Colecovision module. The converter, planned for release in 1983, is an attractive option, since it instantly triples or quadruples the number of games that can be played on Colecovision.

Neither Mattel nor Atari is standing pat. Mattel is introducing an $80 Intelli-voice option, which enables games in which the player must respond to oral information. In B-17 Bomber for example, a voice continuously gives information about fuel, altitude and enemy fighter planes. Odyssey also will offer a voice module this falL Kassar said Atari will not introduce a voice option until 1983 or 1984, but will offer the 5200 HES, a new module with what he calls superior, "arcade-type" graphics. Cartridges for the original Atari will not be compatible with the new module; what company executives hope is that families will consider the old 2600 as a toy Malaysian regulations tilt electronic arcades Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Malaysia has joined other Southeast Asian nations in suppressing video games, contending they breed violence, damage eyesight and raise blood pressure.

Deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam told reporters Monday that a customs order has been signed that immediately bans importation of video-game machines. He also said video-game amusement centers in Malaysia have been ordered to close within a year, and that the government has forbidden students to bring pocket-sized video games to school. The number of video-game amusement centers in Malaysia is unknown, but the number of arcades in Kuala Lumpur, a city of 1 million, is' estimated at 100. The Philippines and Indonesia already have taken steps to suppress the computer-game boom, and in August the Singapore government ordered all game centers in the city-state to close within a year. lr Today MYSTERY MAN Tonight Bridge PBS presents a documen- Calendar tary on the famous detec- Cinemafare tive-turned-writer, Dashiell Namesfaces Hammett.

H5. Television H2 H4 H6 H3 H5 Evil triumphs over goodness again in Arthurian legend's staging 'Camelot' merits praise despite weaknesses Theater Michael Maza CAMELOT A musical play with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe, directed by Brian Wayne Hall, musical direction by Jerry Wayne Harkey, sets by Keith Bryan Shaw, costumes by Esther Turner, lights by Paul W. Estes. A Lyric Opera Theatre production at 8 p.m. today, Friday, Saturday and 3 p.m.

Sunday at the Arizona State University Music Theatre. Cast: Merlyn Jackson D. Fisher Arthur Michael Briney Guenevere Brenda Strong Lancelot James Spltler King Pellinore Michael Sokol Mordred David Matis Morgan Le Fey Sarah Tattersall These seem to be tough times for King Arthurs, Gueneveres and Lancelots. In the two most recent Valley productions of Camelot it is Mordred, that chilling personification of evil, who all but walks away with the show. Mark Hendel's puckish leaping about the stage as King Arthur's son provided the most memorable moment of Scottsdale Community Players' version last year.

The current Lyric Opera Theatre production is spicier in every respect But once again it is Mordred, more subdued this time as played by David Matis, who stands out Making a churlish entrance well into the second act, he plops disdainfully onto his father's throne, the seat of a civilization built by King Arthur out of high ideals and personal sacrifice. Curling his body into a head-to-toe amplification of the sneer on his lips, the young scorpion destined to plunge Camelot into chaos sings The Seven Deadly Virtues with utter conviction. It's a smashing moment, an oasis of brevity in an otherwise unwieldy, mood-hopping musical As staged by director Brian Wayne Hall, the scene is direct, simple, effective. Merlyn himself might have found a way to bring these qualities to the production numbers that skirt, as often as they tell, the story of Guenevere's defection from Arthur to Lancelot Hall, alas, is a director, not a wizard. His visions of Merlyn's James Spitler, who certainly looks the part of Lancelot, sings the role less well.

C'est Moi is a defeat as decisive as his romantic and jousting victories. Brenda Strong is beautiful and often touching as Guenevere. But like every woman I've seen in the role, she is unable to convey what moves her from genuine love for Arthur in Act 1 to genuine love for Lancelot in Act 2. Apparently, simple folk and rich Hollywood stars aren't the only ones who fall in and out of love inconveniently; the exhalted do it, too. Ms.

Strong's solos also suffer from softness. But when she is joined by Arthur, in the title song and in What Do the Simple Folk Do? or by Lancelot, in If Ever I Would Leave You, a strange thing happens: Everyone can be heard. Keith Bryan Shaw's set is spare but effective. Esther Turner's costuming is good from the start and gets better; Morgan Le Fey's elaborate dress is a knockout Unfortunately, we can see little of it, or of Sarah Tattersall'8 performance. Paul W.

Estes' lighting, elsewhere effectively moody, is just dim for this scene, which is set toward the back wall of the deep Music Theatre stage. Dimness and distance produce an effect much like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. Friday's opening-night audience was more than appreciative. Like Briney, Spitler and Ms. Strong, Michael Sokol, as the comic King Pellinore, won loud applause as he took his bows.

As the cast filled the stage, about a third of the audience stood to continue the applause. 9 Tim Rogers Republic Romantic quarrel If the principal performers had scenes as succinct' as Mordred's, and if in their solos they could be heard as well as his over the 33-piece orchestra, we might love them more. Michael Briney, whose Arthur is sometimes regal, sometimes fluttery, is best when recounting how he pulled the sword Excalibur from its stone. Briney sings more precisely here than he did as Lancelot in the Scottsdale Players' Camelot. But volume escapes him.

His curtain-raising song leaves us wondering what the king is doing tonight Playwright Jason Carmichael (John Sankovich) confronts Phoebe Craddock (Christina Sergeant), his collaborator and lover, in Phoenix Little Theatre's production of Romantic Comedy. Show times are 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; Tuesday through Oct. 16; Oct. 19 through 23; and a 2:30 p.m.

matinee Oct. 17. Performances are at Phoenix Little Thfcatre. disappearance, of Lancelot's rescuing Guenevere, of Mordred's meeting with witch Morgan Le Fey, are satisfyingly ominous. But they still refuse to mesh with the musical's more upbeat minipageantdt 10?.