The Times Herald from Port Huron, Michigan • Page 11

I TIMES HERALD, PORT HURON, MICHIGAN 3B Fun Tech 4 Computing with kids GANNETT NEWS SERVICE Ratings guide parents on violence of games UtSDAY, OCTOBER 17.2000 li IT 9 ratings and above. They explain such things as the kind of violence (from "mild animated" to "realistic blood and language used which includes the use of or kind of sexual themes, comic mischief that includes "gross vulgar humor," use of drugs or alcohol in a glorified manner, and other general information. Last month, the Federal Trade Commission released the results of a yearlong study that concluded the movie, music and electronic game industries were engaged in "pervasive and aggressive marketing" of violent materials to children. Parents can counteract these tactics by paying attention to a rating system used by most of the software industry. Just by looking at ihe software box, parents can make a judgment if a software title is too violent or contains material they deem inappropriate for their child.

The voluntary system is conducted by the non-profit Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). Since its inception in 1994, the ESRB has rated more than SCHOUtflTC SOFTWAflE PMOT0 One of four Earth children in Animorphs: Know the Secret, based on the books for pre-teens by K.A. Applegate. Children in the game can transform into different animals. Elite iui puis These are the ratings found on entertainment software and video games.

Players take on roles of favorite characters from pre-teen books BY A S. BERMAN USAT0DAY COM ust as adults leapt into the Harry Potter book series to rediscover the joys of I imaginative storytelling, the gaming industry occasionally retreats to the "young adult" section of the neighborhood bookstore in search of inspiration. In the case of Animorphs: Know the Secret, they found it. Maybe it's just our Quake-induced post-traumatic stress syndrome talking, but when a game comes along that emphasizes an intriguing concept and mold-breaking ingenuity over the blast of the ol' antipersonnel cannon, you can't help but be impressed. Animorphs, based on the popular series of books for pre-teens by K.A.

Applegate, lets the player 7,000 products. Arthur Pober, president of the ESRB, said "80 to 85 percent of the software industry voluntarily submits their products for review" to the ESRB. The ESRB chooses three individuals from its panel of independent raters to analyze the content of the softw are. Once rated, the software company places the rating symbol on the front of the box. More information, called "content descriptors," is on the back of the box if the ESRB thinks consumers need more information.

EARLY CHILDHOOD nrrri EVERYONE noli TO Platform: PC CD-ROM Genre: Educational Developer Gigawart Studios Publisher Scholastic Score (out of 5 stars): ed janitor's closet, for instance, gives you the perfect opportunity to extract the insects' DNA for future "morphing use." You never know when transforming yourself into a creature that small may come in handy. Although it seemed as if morphing into different animals would grow old quickly, there's something, well, liberating about turning oneself into a wolf or bat or, heck, even a goldfish (up to 14 animals in all) whenever the mood strikes you. Throughout the game, your other "personalities" helpfully chime in with morphing suggestions if your initial animal choice is not ideal. In fact, the game's only major stereo's cassette player (www.ijam-world.com). Creative Technology (www.nomad world.com) has released step-up versions of its Nomad P3 player.

The $329 Nomad II has a 64MB SmartMedia flash memory card plus a voice recorder and FM tuner. The $399 Nomad IIMG comes in a silver magnesium case. It has an FM tuner ith 20 station presets and can record music directly from the radio. In addition to MP3. it supports the WMA format.

Scheduled to arrive this fall is the $499 Nomad Jukebox. The unit has a six-gigabyte hard drive enough to hold 1 50 CDs in a case about the size of a portable CD player. After getting a good response to its Lyra pocket MP3 player. RCA (www.rca.com) is following up ith four new MP3 products. The $299 Lyra II is smaller than the original but has more features: an FM tuner, remote control, a 64MB Compact Flash memory card and a universal serial bus connection for faster downloads.

At 2 inches by 2 12 inches, RCA's $149 K(a zoo is one of the smallest and lowest-priced MP3 players. It has 32MB of built-in Beats don't stop with latest Suggested Price: $29.99 Rating: for everyone Pentium II with 64 MB RAM recommended weakness is its occasional lack of these helpful suggestions. Animorphs' "Hint" key doesn't always deliver when pressed, which means you sometimes find yourself wandering aimlessly around a room or clearing until you experience an epiphany or the hint function kicks in. The book series' target audience of 9- to-1 2-year-olds must be a more tenacious lot than your garden-variety game reviewer. True, the game's graphics are somewhat crude, and the on-screen morphing less than impressive, but players aching for that same glimmer of imagination that drew them to gaming in the first place will want to sharpen their claws on Animorphs.

MP3 gear memory, a USB link and equalizer. The $169 MP3Personal CD Player is RCA's entry in the growing combo market. The portable device will play standard audio CDs as well as CDs of MP3 music. RCA's home-stereo offering is the S399 RS2538. The five-disc, bookshelf audio system has a 200-watt amplifier, a digital tuner and can read standard and recordable CDs.

Another new RCA product, the Digital Media Manager, is a hard-drive recording dev ice that connects to a user's television and stereo. The unit can store more than 2,000 songs in the MP3 format and play CDs, DVD discs, MP3 discs and Internet Radio files. You also can get a new car stereo to play MP3 files. Kenwood's eXcelon Z919 (www.kenwood.com) plays MP3 files from CD-R and CD-RW discs as well as standard audio CDs. The unit costs about $750.

The Empeg car digital music player (www.empeg.com) basic unit comes with a 6GB hard drive and costs about SI, 500. Spend a little more and you can get one with 36 gigabytes of storage enough to hold close to 7,000 songs. How to use the ratings If a title does not contain a rating, call the ESRB at (800) 771-3772 or isit its Web site at www.esrb.com to see if it has been rated. This system is not perfect. Something that is rated can contain violence that some parents (and this reviewer) think is inappropriate for the targeted age category.

For example, Disney's Tarzan Action Game was rated with content descriptors of "mild animated violence." It features a blade-w ielding Tarzan ho uses exploding fruit to kill cute little animals not something I would want my young child playing. Nonetheless, this system does a pretty good job of flagging titles with troublesome content or providing information to help you decide. It appropriately rated the The Sims game as a for its use of (among other things) polygamy, same-sex couples and death. You may want to talk with your children about the ratings and explain that you don't want them exploring titles with certain ratings. That way you can extend protection beyond your own home and enlist their coopera tion to not explore inappropriate titles while at a friend's home.

And don't be afraid to voice opinions about software ratings to the parents of your child's friends. You might say, don't allow my son to play 'teen-rated' software titles yet." would not perceive this sort comment as telling me how parent my kid, rather as a request to respect the parenting practices of others. Jinny Gudmundsen is editor Choosing Children Software magazine Www.ChooseChildren Software.com Send questions comments to jinny(SCiooseChildren Softwaiv.com OIPENS FREE ROAD TEST and filter) PH: (810) 3854700 FAX (810) 385-9700 Chicken Dish" ta it rti it WE KUUIjH ONLY FDR WBUICAU 985-9838 rrtri TEEN The ratings The ratings, while not completely intuitive, can help you make an informed decision. Here is what they mean: Early Childhood: Defined as suitable for children 3 and older. Everyone: Here's where it gets tricky; "everyone" is not all MATURE ADULT RATING PENDING children; it means ages 6 and older.

Teen: Children 13 and older. This rating usually comes with content descriptors on the back of the box. Mature: Suitable for people 17 and older. Adult: Need I say more? These are not titles you want to buy for children. Rating Pending: The product has been submitted but has yet to receive a rating.

Content descriptors Content descriptors are a very important component of this rating system. They are word descriptions that help explain why a title received a specific rating. You will find these most frequently with teen NOTA7 your "I I of to of or toggle at will between the roles of four Earth children, each of whom has the power to transform or "niorph" into different animals. This is confusing at first because you see all four kids talking to each other until your character actually starts moving. At that point, three of the characters disappear.

With your remaining character, you can explore nine environments in search of clues to the latest invasion plans of the evil alien Yeerks. When you need to morph into an animal such as an agile gorilla to take to the rooftops, for example you first must find a safe place to make the change. With the click of the keyboard, you are presented with several animal options from tiger and polar bear (which give you the strength and ferocity to take on the Yeerks head-on) to squirrels and owls (which are better at reconnaissance work and navigating smaller spaces). You also can add other animals to your repertoire as you encounter them. Investigating a roach-infest- home.com) will move beyond portable devices with the Rio Rack, a home unit that can be hooked up to a hi-fi.

It will have a CD player, a modem and the ability to download music with out a PC. Philips' (www.philips.com) ew $199 Rush MP3 player is smaller than most portables. It uses removable Smart-Media $199 cards to store files. The unit comes with a 32MB card and RealNetworks' RealJukebox software. The $199 Philips Expanium is a combination CDMP3 portable player.

Shaped like a conventional portable CD player, the Expanium reads audio CDs and MP3 files stored on CD-R or CD-RW recordable discs. I-Jam Multimedia's IJ-828 CD player can play a homemade CD containing more than 100 MP3 music files. It has random and repeat play modes, a line-out plug and a kit for playing music through a car Convert Your Drafty Fireplace Into A Heat Producing Hearth Hcat-N-Glos AT-Supreme air rinthi fire place lets vou install a beautiful heat producing tirtptace insert into most masonrv or zero clearance fireplaces. Approved as a wall furnace, the Ar-Supreme. with its standard blower and variable tlame adiuer.

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KY.) COURIER-JOURNAL The court fights involving NapsterandMP3.com parently are hav ing littl impact on the companies that produce digital audio hardware. More than a dozen new MP3 players includ ing CD combos and car dashboard units are on the market or will be available by Philips Expanium, Christmas. Diamond Multimedia's 1 69 Rio 600 sports a curvy design and colored faceplates. The 600 has 32 megabytes of memory enough for one hour of high-quality music or 16 hours of spoken-word programs and can be expanded by 32, 64 or 340MB. It will play music encoded in the Windows Media format (WMA) as well as MP3 files.

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