The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 50

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2002 6D THE PALM BEACH POST MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2002 Acclaim counting on sex to spice up game sales Acclaim's Mr. Fischbach says the new BMX game isn't aimed at children but at 17- to 35-year-old men. BMX XXX will be rated "mature," or suitable for people ages 17 and older, by the nonprofit Entertainment Software Rating Board, which gives ratings and descriptions of games. Acclaim is spending $3 million to $4 million to plug the game with an ad campaign that starts next month. The campaign's catch phrase: "Keep It Dirty." By KHANH T.L.

TRAN The Wall Street Journal Just in time for the holidays: a video-game with nudity, all wrapped up in controversy. Acclaim Entertainment Inc. of Glen Cove, N.Y., a longtime player in the videogame industry, is preparing to introduce BMX XXX, a game centered on the extreme sport of BMX biking that includes scenes of prostitutes, strippers and other seamy stuff. The game industry has long used skimpily dressed animated female characters, but industry executives say BMX XXX is the first major title to include live-action footage of nudity. And if the game sells well, consumers will see a lot more games like it, says John Inada, general manager of the U.S.

unit of Japanese game maker Tecmo Ltd. Some retailers don't plan to help boost sales. KB Toys of Pittsfield, won't carry the game in its 1,300 stores, a KB spokesman says, because some content is "not appropriate." Wal-Mart Stores the nation's larg- restrict the games their children play, and "we know that not all games are for all consumers," says John O'Rourke, director of world-wide Xbox marketing at Microsoft, Redmond, Wash. The game reflects the maturation of the video-game business, explains Perrin Kaplan, a vice president at Nintendo's U.S. unit, also based in Redmond.

"I equate it to R-rated movies." The game software and hardware makers argue that they have a legitimate clientele in older game players. Video games have long used skimpily dressed female characters, but 'BMX XXX' is the first major title to Include live-action footage of nudity. est retailer, hasn't seen BMX XXX but doesn't anticipate selling it, says a spokesman for the Bentonville, retailer. Sony Corp. may ask for some of the nude sequences to be cut for the version running on its PlayStation 2, in addition to other changes, says Greg Fischbach, Ac claim's chief executive and co-chairman.

(A Sony spokeswoman declines to comment on any potential changes.) But the game is getting a vote of confidence from Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo which say they will sell it without modification for their machines. Xbox lets parents 4D THE PALM BEACH POST Many new games about to hit market mm tMMtf mm tomtom Smik ma. I JHLi Nintendo built its fortune making games for kids such as Alar-tin plant team a 'clear winner imnfimm-nr Plugged in The top 10 selling videogame titles of 2001: Mirtu pmi tmtt mm ftm I. Kraft hrti WpK I ham Dk.

MOO nfKMUtifcfCymtflttimMVH hutfpewtrphtfVUwt. tonri of mm nrm. Award-winning performance at FPDC I (Hrto Rank Title Platform Publisher Rating 1 'Grand Theft Auto 3' Playstation 2 Take-Two Interactive Software Mature (17) 2 'Madden NFL 2002' PlayStation 2 Electronic Arts Everyone 3 'Pokemon Crystal' Game Boy Color Nintendo of America Everyone 4 'Metal Gear Solid 2' PlayStation 2 Konami of America Mature (17) 5 'Super Mario Advance' Game Boy Advance Nintendo of America Everyone 6 'GranTurismo 3' PlayStation 2 Sony Computer Entertainment Everyone 7 'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3' PlayStation 2 Activlsion Teen (13) 8 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2' PlayStation Activision Teen (13) 9 'Pokemon Silver Game Boy Color Nintendo of America Everyone 10 'Driver 2' PlayStation Infogrames Teen (13) I 3 i 1 1 I Oimtiwi'1 (M partem. WW ftVt mil mhM and hMmt. Uinub OKI Ml Hn Ml "DciM wtoanrtBwvi 1mrtr-lM JL IhvttrvmwRWihiltamX wheukMlwilrwanMM4 If Mtm oimwdrn Enngy 1 toaiMuaM pom Dhnti.

K) it ttetMefpi'atTRmMftgtto ift Mfprotf or pvMti pvn i IL KM -B lowflj Sources: Interactive Digital Software NPDFun-world and Entertainment Software Rating Board; www.nintendo.com; www.gamerankings.com; (Tie Wall Street Journal FPL workers say fyl plus is their favorite company reading material, Paper newsletters can reach fields, warehouses NINTENDO from id started to roll out more adult-style games for its GameCube console, with titles like Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, a psychological thriller featuring bleeding walls and "bone thieves" that can enter a human body and take it over. This month, Viacom Inc's Simon Schuster unit will release Outlaw Golf, a tongue-in-cheek golf game featuring rappers and strippers, for the GameCube, following the game's release for Microsoft Xbox this year. During the next two months, Nintendo says it will spend $140 million to market video games to American teens and twentysomethings, including promotions in nightclubs and tie-ins with brewer Heineken NV and others. To boost sales to the older crowd, Nintendo might offer a rebate to gamers who buy both a GameCube, priced at $149.95, and the company's $49.95 Metroid Prime space-themed shooting game, according to people familiar with the plan. Nintendo' declines to comment.

Nintendo's adult game push is part of a brewing battle in the video-game world: The three console makers Nintendo, Sony Corp. and Microsoft are converging on the holiday season with big marketing budgets and a huge battery of new games. The next few months will bring a barrage of titles, including Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 by Electronic Arts Inc. for all three gaming systems, and Stars Wars: The Clone Wars from LucasArts Entertainment Co. for GameCube and Sony's PlayStation 2.

Leading up to the holiday season, Nintendo says there will be 80 new games representing a broad array of genres for the GameCube. During the same period, Microsoft, will get more than 100 new games for its Xbox console. Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, is selling, for $199, its Xbox console packed with a smaller hand control and copies of Sega Jet Set Radio Future in-line skating game and the Sega GT 2002 racing game. How Nintendo weathers this storm could determine whether the company sur- 'Pokemon' (left), but it's now courting mature audiences with 'Eternal Darnkess' (right) and 'Resident part due to losses on investments. The announcement pummeled share prices of Nintendo and game makers around the world.

As Nintendo pushes into the older market, it thrusts itself into direct competition with Sony, which has a stronghold among older players. The most popular game last year on Sony's PlayStation 2 was Grand Theft Auto 3, where players can gun people down, steal cars and have trysts with prostitutes. The game's maker, Take-Two Interactive Software has taken more than 4 million orders for the sequel, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, due out this month, according to analysts. But a deeper challenge for 113-year-old Nintendo is how to field the violent titles, like the forthcoming Blood Omen 2 from Eidos PLC, without harming its reputation among parents as the game platform that's "safe" for kids. Nintendo helped pioneer the video-game business with whimsical, nonviolent characters such as the tenacious gorilla Donkey Kong and mustachioed plumber Mario.

They became huge franchises that drove the growth of the industry and Nintendo for years. In 1993, when Acclaim Entertainment Inc. introduced a popular fighting arcade game called Mortal Ko-mbat to home video-game systems, Nintendo opted for a less gory version than the shows another possible downside: the unpredictability of celebrities. 'The Rosie brand is changing because Rosie is changing," said David Abra-hamson, an associate professor at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. "If someone buys a certain brand expecting one thing and gets another that can make the entities she's a spokeswoman for nervous." GJ expects ad pages for the last Rosie to fall sharply from the same time a year ago.

But the fallout could be more long-term: Even if a court finds in O'Donnell's favor or the case is settled, experts say any future business partners are likely to think twice before signing a deal with her. So far, though, it's hard to tell how much consumers really care. Circulation figures, particularly newsstand sales, have slipped this year at Martha Steviart Living and Rosie magazine, but they're also lower at Oprah Winfrey's magazine, which has been trouble-free. iiirinni Owm VJ (town at MirtA wNtt 1 m) 1 wd Hit IBM of pptBrimmty 1 JOO pMly-ht WOC up with an vmhI-winning 'Normaly out Mr to htd pmUMtn at ttw ptmb Mo Gmtnl Mmtpv PWt HolnpM 1M now and wpwlwnt Ttaft what tyjpprnacl Montfa Stpt. whtMhwHf atlif onrw th Ut anu to MM vUm Hri Ikb.

OunMUt fMd more meaty," he said. That change is partly a reaction to the early '90s cutbacks that left many employees learning of layoffs from their local newspaper instead of from their employer, Swift said. Indeed, several local companies are using their employee publications to invite workers to ask about rumors circulating through the office. For example, U.S. Sugar's newsletter has a section called "You Asked for It which answers questions from employees.

In the May June issue, a worker submitted this question: "There are rumors that we are selling Southern Gardens Citrus. Is it true?" An executive answered: "These rumors were not true a year ago, and they are not true now." Similarly, Nabi and Del-ray Beach-based Office Depot both feature question-and-answer sections in their employee publications. Office Depot eliminated its business sales division newsletter this year and folded it into its new 40-page, monthly magazine, WYN2K (which stands for "what you need to The magazine, launched in January, goes to each of Office Depot's 45,000 employees worldwide, including the 2,600 at its Delray Beach headquarters. "Rather than have all these divisional newsletters, it has turned into one communications vehicle," editor Mary Wong said. Although these publications may have become more "meaty" over the years, they have not abandoned the down-home content many find appealing.

Nabi invites workers to write about out-of-the-ordinary vacations in a section called, "Employee Adventure." And U.S. Sugar's newsletter includes a feature called "Sweet Stuff," which showcases employees' accomplishments. That's proof that the traditional company newsletter can still serve a dual role: communicator and morale booster. In addition, the beauty of the newsletter is that it's a "me-to-you medium," Swift said. That's why, Swift said, many people aren't interested in searching for the publication on their computer.

"That's them going to it, instead of it coming to them. At least for the foreseeable future, the print newsletter still has a place." juliewjreshpbpost.com ftay "ftKMM Om MwW unm T71 STAFF GRAPHIC one that was available for then-rival Sega's console. Even after Sony's entry into the business in 1994, and its success in surpassing Nintendo as the top console maker, Nintendo successfully stuck to its kids-focus strategy- On all its games, Nintendo is using the video-game industry's rating system, which calls for branding the letter on games such as Capcom's Resident Evil that are appropriate for "mature" players, those 17 years and older. (Other ratings include "Everyone," 'Teen" and 'Adults Nintendo also offers tips for parents on what's appropriate fare for different age groups on its Web site. Some industry executives say Nintendo is neglecting its childish side.

Shipments of the latest installment of its Mario game series, Super Mario Sunshine, are lower than for previous Mario releases. Nintendo also has been slow to develop games that exploit the ability of its Game Boy Advance handheld machine to connect with its GameCube console, a function that was expected to be a hit with kids, industry executives say. But that may be a necessary sacrifice for Nintendo to win back gamers such as Doug Herbert, who grew up playing Nintendo games but recently bought a PlayStation 2. "I'm 20. 1 don't want to chase little frogs around" in a kids' game, he said.

celebrity also continues to show an increase in ad pages from last year. And Stewarfs problems did not stop Kmart Corp. from running TV commercials recentlywith her promoting the home goods product line she sells at the discount chain. Some readers of her magazine say it isn't all about her, anyway. "I don't really see myself canceling my subscription," said Kristen Gustafson, 26, of Bangor, Maine.

"I have managed to separate the product from her, and look at it as Martha Stewart the brand. She's just the label on the magazine." "I don't look at it that, if I go to Kmart and buy sheets, that they're ones she made. They just have her name on it," Gustafson said. It also doesn't mean the strategy won't continue to be tried, either, if a publisher sees enough potential from another famous name. 'The shine is off until the next big star comes along," said Steve Cohn, editor in chief at Media Industry Newsletter in New York.

"A Katie Couric magazine, for vives as a game-console maker. Nintendo is battling cash-rich Microsoft to remain in second place after Tokyo-based Sony, which has roughly a three-quarter share of the console market worldwide. But the video-game industry has never supported more than two profitable game platforms for very long. That's pressuring Nintendo to strengthen its lineup of games from outside developers such as Electronic Arts and Capcom which makes a GameCube version of its zombie-bashing game called Resident Evil. "We should prepare for a wider range of software for a wider range of consumers," said Nintendo President Sa- toru Iwata.

Many outsiders endorse the strategy. "For any platform maker to be successful in the mass market, they cannot narrow themselves to one demographic," said John Taylor, an analyst at Arcadia Investment Corp. in Portland, Ore. The challenge now is whether Nintendo can successfully win a large mass of older players without losing its foundation of kids. Nintendo executives say they can do it.

But one sign of trouble came in early October when Nintendo cut its forecast for shipments of GameCube to 10 million units from 12 million units for the year ending March 2003, and it said it expects both sales and profits for the fiscal year to be lower than initially projected, in On Thursday, the entire staff of Rosie magazine 120 people was laid off, killing any chance that the magazine would live on in some form after the departure of O'Donnell. The December issue of the magazine, which will be on newsstands Nov. 12, will be its last. No new magazine will be created to replace Rosie, which had a paid circulation of around 3.5 million. The magazine was barely a year old when rumors began to leak out of problems between O'Donnell and GJ.

The reports followed her announcement that she is gay and her decision to end her TV talk show. In quitting the magazine last month, O'Donnell complained that she was denied the editorial control she was promised. The publisher responded by saying she acted irrationally and unprofession-ally, overstepping the bounds of what their business arrangement had allowed. While the Stewart case illustrates the risk of seeing a name tainted, fairly or unfairly, O'Donnell'Sj situation NEWSLETTER from id Mark Soufleris, spokesman for Nabi, which employs 650, including about 200 at its Boca Raton headquarters. Employee preferences aside, there are even more practical reasons for businesses to continue publishing newsletters on paper.

For example, many companies, including U.S. Sugar FPL and Office Depot have workers who don't always have access to a computer because they work in the field or in warehouses. "A lot of our employees are at remote locations they are not sitting at a desk or a computer terminal," said Judy Sanchez, a U.S. Sugar spokeswoman. The Clewiston-based company, which has about 3,000 employees, prints its bimonthly newsletter, USSC Today, and posts it on both its internal and external Web sites.

"In our business, there is still a need for printed publications," Sanchez said. That's true of business-related newsletters in general. LRP Publications among the largest newsletter publishers in the nation, produces more than 90 business- and education-related newsletters. Although the company provides online newsletters and maintains a number of custom Web sites and private online databases for companies, most of its clients want to receive their newsletters on paper. "We've found that a very small percentage wants them electronically," said Ken Kahn, president of LRP, which employs about 200 at its Palm Beach Gardens headquarters.

"I think part of it is the ability to take it with you," Kahn said. "Most of our material is need-to-know type of information, and if somebody is traveling or commuting and stuffing it in their briefcase at night, it's a lot easier to read than electronically." At the same time that companies have supplemented the number of ways employees can read their newsletters in recent years, they've also changed the Icontent Most are doing more to keep their employees informed on substantive issues, said Paul Swift, editor land publisher of Rhine-beck, N.Y.-based The Newsletter on Newsletters. The old traditional president's letter has gotten Some consumers separate product, CELEBRITY from id The magazine's monthly ad page count is up from last year, but analysts caution against reading anything into that. Because magazine ads are bought months in advance, they say it could be next year before the real effect of the scandal can be measured. Some are skeptical about whether her company can shift focus away from her.

"It would seem to be a stretch to think they could run it without her or with her in a lesser role," said Peter Appert, a media analyst at Goldman Sachs. 'There are certainly plenty of competent people around her who could run the business, but from a marketing and PR perspective, this company is about her." O'Donnell's situation is different: She quit her magazine, citing editorial disagreements. The magazine's publisher, Gruner Jahr Printing and Publishing is suing her for breach of contract and more than $100 million..