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Connect 3 HE EWS BSERVER WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 102030405060708090 102030405060708090 3F, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 ADELAIDE EDITION FILM 0 last year. of the and games each sold millions of copies, at about $50 each. Overall, sales of video game software and hardware reached $10.3 billion last year, rising 10 percent from 2001 even as other industries slumped, according to market research firm NPD Fun- world. gaming has reached the said Kathy Vrabeck, an executive vice president with Activision, publisher of the game. another form of entertainment competing for the same entertainment Merely slapping a movie title onto a video game offers no guarantee of success, however.

Through much of the 1990s, publishers would pay millions of dollars to license forthcoming films, then skimp on development costs or rush games to completion. Game players are not easily fooled. game license provides you with more instant brand recognition, and you can ride on the Vrabeck said. if, at its core, the game is no good, wasted your And vice versa. Even a strong game is usually doomed by a flop.

Microsoft announced in 2001 that it had licensed the rights to make three Xbox console games and a PC game based on Steven film But the movie disappointed at the box office, and Microsoft never released the games. sold poorly, which many analysts blame at least partially on Activision being unable to secure a license to use Tom likeness in the game. Yet games based on movies turned a corner last year, with the success of many titles, including Potter and the Chamber of which sold 9 million copies across all game platforms. Game publishers are willing to pay more money for licensing rights for major films, and filmmakers are sharing more of their early scripts, shots, and creative plans with game producers. new generation coming in grew up playing video said Steven L.

Kent, author of the book, Ultimate History of Video many of the biggest actors have a PlayStation 2 in their dressing room, and playing it between The increasing cooperation is evident on the cluttered walls of a studio in the Redwood City, office of Electronic Arts, the largest game publisher. Story lines plotting the paths of the main characters in of the stretch 15 feet down the hallway. In a work room, gruesome creatures called Orcs and Uruk-Hai snarl at hobbits from photos sent from New Line New Zealand production rooms, where editors are completing the final film in the of the trilogy. Across each carefully guarded photo, the name of the executive producer, Neil Young, is stamped in red. the security price you pay so clear who New Line would come after if any of this stuff found its way onto the said Young, an EA vice president.

During his decade-long career, Young, 32, has created games based on such films as and But the cooperation he received from the director and producers of of the far surpassed any of those projects, he says: countless visits to the film sets in New Zealand, hours of chats with director Peter Jackson about the direction he planned to take the film, and unlimited access to the technical data used to create the computer-generated worlds in the film that won it an Academy Award for special effects. By manipulating the elements of the computer-generated images, EA created a game whose story line closely mirrors the first two of the films. is composited together in the mind during the film, we actually bring to life as something that you can explore in the Young said. The game won critical acclaim and sold 3 million copies, but its makers were bound by the vision set forth by Jackson. In the Matrix game, however, the visionaries behind the motion picture and the video game are the same people.

Andy and Larry Wachowski, the brothers who wrote and directed allowed the producers to use the state-of- the-art equipment to digitally capture the movements of each actor. Characters can replicate some of the most distinctive fighting techniques from the first film, including slowing down time, dodging bullets, and climbing walls to kick foes in the face. were just as intense on what they desired for the video game as for the said Pinkett Smith, who arrived at the game premiere with her movie star husband, Will Smith, and 4-year- old son, Jaden. respect their creativity, and how I felt about the game. No matter what, I know going to take it to a whole other In addition to the added movie footage, Pinkett Smith spent months using motion-capture technology to help create her digital jumps, kicks, punches and facial expressions.

just thought it would be cool to see myself as a video game she said. was surprised to know how extensive it was going to be. This was much more difficult The Wachowski brothers also wrote a 244-page script for the game that made it not just a playable version of the film, but also an important piece of their storytelling canvas. Though the characters played by Reeves, Fishburne, and Moss affect the game, it centers around Niobe, played by Pinkett Smith, and Ghost, played by Anthony Wong two relatively minor characters in Matrix and the third installment, Matrix due this fall. The game lays out a parallel story line to the film, with the two intersecting at times to explain elements of the film.

are things you can learn in the game that help you with the Silver said. Video game technology still has major strides to make before games become the visual equal of film. Infogrames, the publisher of the footed most of the bill for the party at Warner but its game faced a tough comparison against the third element in the Wachowski ambitious storytelling medium. the followed a clip for a nine-part animated series of short films telling the history of the Matrix. The exquisite details in the skin and their fluidity put their counterparts in the video game to shame.

Yet the next round of game consoles, expected in 2005 or 2006, will pack more processing might and support games that move even closer to resembling films. Sony has said that the next-generation of PlayStation will be 1,000 times more powerful than PlayStation 2, which could result in game characters that are indistinguishable from movie characters. The success of games such as the will help decide how closely those games resemble the films that spawned them. are the people who make movies happen, and they are all here supporting this video Dave Perry, director of Shiny Development, the Infogrames studio that made the game, said at the Matrix party, sweeping his hand toward the producers in the crowd. on radar like never GAMES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1F Tom Cruise, above in the movie, above, and game version below, which did not do well.

One reason might have been that Activision was unable to get permission to use a likeness of Tom Cruise for the game. Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, above, in of the and below, the virtual Aragorn. Electronic Arts worked closely with New Line Cinema on the project. With a new version of having recently premiered on ABC http://abc.abcnews.go.com/prime- it seemed a good time to look at the best fan Web pages for famous police shows of the past and present. Walk the beat again with Rick Hunter, T.J.

Hooker, Frank Drebin and others at the following sites. LAW ORDER: REPEAT OFFENDERS FILE Who are all those actors who play guest roles as criminals and lawyers on This site has done the research and found that many of the actors have appeared in different episodes of the series in different roles.Or check out main page on the hit series and its various spinoffs. http://members.tripod.com/~Mi www.nbc.com/Law_&_Order/ POLICE SQUAD a crime that the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker spoof cop show lasted only six episodes. But, of course, the creators would later bring Capt. Frank Drebin back to life with Naked movies.

This will introduce you to all the characters and locations in the episodes. If you like what you see, sign the petition at www.peti- tiononline.com/zazfan/ petition.html to pressure Paramount to release on DVD. www.xs4all.nl/~mrrob/ FRED DRYER You have to love celebrities who have home pages. Fred Dryer, who played the titular detective on tells us his life story here (he was born 7 8 21 inches long) and clues fans in on his latest movies and TV appearances. www.freddryer.com/ HAWAII FIVE-0 First things first: Yes, you can listen to the theme song here.

You can also read many articles about the show and its star, Jack Lord, above, as well as find out where the cast members are now, review the plots of every episode and get the scoop on parodies. www.mjq.net/fiveo/ CHIPS the only old cop show making a comeback. Here find a link to a story on a new version of now in development. This site is mostly concerned with the incarnation, and it features an episode guide, tons of photos, video and audio clips and more. www.adequate.com/CHiPs/ TJ HOOKER This fan site has higher production values than the show ever had.

find video from the show, audio clips from Hooker The an extremely detailed episode guide, and much more. www.tj-hooker.com/ NYPD BLUE The gritty, butt-baring cop show is enjoying its 10th season now and will be back again next year. This fan site is the best place on the Web to visit if you want to know everything about Andy Sipowicz and his various partners in crime-busting. www.nypdblue.org/ MIAMI VICE The U.S. and German governments might not be in agreement right now about international affairs, but people across both nations can at least be united in their love for Check out this German site devoted to Crockett and Tubbs.

An English-language version of the site is coming soon. www.miamivice.de/ 21 JUMP STREET Jump introduced the world to Johnny Depp and helped launch Fox as the fourth major TV network. http://cglass.vinu.edu/21JS/21in dex.html DRAGNET This fan site goes the extra mile, posting newspaper and magazine articles about from the 1950s, providing plenty of links, and even interviewing an executive producer of the new series. www.badge714.com/ TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES SITES sites THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Gone are the days when playing video games online meant simply playing a hand of poker or battling your buddies to the death in a giant arena you control. Many games are now about role- playing, and some players participating to escape terrestrial life.

getting on virtual soapboxes and organizing all manner of protests in cyberspace. Gamers have protested the impending war in Iraq, started newspapers, gathered charitable donations done myriad things they already do, or wish they could do, in the real world. The line between online gaming and the real world a lot thinner than people give it credit said Raph Koster, creative director of the Austin, Texas, office of Sony Entertainment. At the new online community There.com, gamers can clothe their in-game marionettes and socialize with others. Already, some players angry with the U.S.

policy on Iraq have organized a peace rally and clad their characters with the peace symbol. Players of EverQuest, the most popular online game in the United States with about 85,000 playing at any time, held in-game candlelight vigils after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Such games have become petri to show how far people will go in wedding their real and virtual lives, said Amy Jo Kim, an online-games designer involved with There.com. Free-lance writer Tony Walsh like a deal Electronic Arts made to insert a kiosk into the game, so he orga- nized a protest.

Walshbelieves playersshould have the same freedoms in cyberspace that they have in the physical world. Issues of how far gamers can push have yet to be fully tested. Like movies, games are often based on brands, and designers necessarily willing to have their brands co-opted. Likely to push those limits is the forthcoming Wars which will put players inside the George Lucas popular universe. That creates a problem, because the world is one of the most cherished creations in the history of fantasy fiction.

saying something in the game and being witnessed by somebody else can reflect not just on the game but on Lucasfilm and George said Koster, a lead designer for Galaxies, which is due in April. someone started walking around in the San Diego Zoo screaming profanity or handing out Nazi leaflets, the park would remove them from the premises. We need to be able to do that Game players carry their convictions to cybercharacters Games help advertising EFF REEN BLOOMBERG NEWS TOPEKA, Greg Pert looked at the steep rock ledge and prepared to push the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon he was test- driving up the slope. He flipped a switch to lock in four-wheel drive, and the sport-utility vehicle clambered to the top. Pert was sold.

The climb led the stay-at-home father in Topeka, to later buy a $25,000 Wrangler Rubicon, even though the ledge and vehicle existed only in a computer game he played while sitting at home in his bathrobe. He was one of 85 customers to buy a Rubicon after playing the free game he found on a Web site for Chrysler. only real test drive came after signed the said Pert, 29, one of about 48,000 potential buyers to try the game in the first six months of last year. was a lot of confidence in a computer game, but I was pretty familiar with the Jeep Companies including Daimler- Chrysler, Kraft Foods, U.S. phone unit and Miller Brewing are using give 145 million U.S.

computer- game players a closer connection to products than traditional television or magazine advertising allows. They say it works. another way to connect to people and a more positive message than just an said Charlene Li, a marketing, media and gameanalyst at Forrester Research. expect more and more marketers to use Advergames could be a $1 billion industry by 2005, said Wyeth Ridgway, president of Seattle-based Leviathan Games, whose clients for games include Hyundai Motor, Sony and Visa International. Leviathan expects its first-quarter sales to exceed full-year 2002 revenue as ad- vergamebusiness increases, he said, declining to give figures.

Development costs for the games are as little as 99 cents for each time a product appears on the screen, less than the $15 per time a consumer sees a product in a television ad, said Joel Schlader, the executive in charge of computer- game effort. But the games have glitches. For example, the Jeep detailed graphicswere too complex for some older computers to run, Schlader said. Companies say the games are only intended to be a minor part of their marketing, and compete with television or print advertisements for audience appeal. The games, offered free through the Internet, can reach millions of potential customers.

Software design company Block- dot, the developer of games for Nokia phones and created a game last year for the candy company Marsin which players had to line up similar colors of candies. It was played about 7 million times, said Jack Dearnbarger, director of business development. Nickelodeon, the popular cable network, wanted to draw more attention to the start of its series last year. So during the summer it workedwith Quaker Oats, among others, to create the Neutron Gotta online racing game. To play, children needed a code from inside a cereal box to access Web site and build their own rocket.

To sweeten the offer, Nick promised that some of the rockets would be chosen at random to race on the air. Miller Brewing is preparing for a third season of a virtual racing lets players create a team of driver and chief mechanic, said Gina Shaffer, the beer senior digital marketing manager. Players who plug in codes from actual NASCARraces broadcast on television or from cans of beer sold in stores have a better chance of winning. definitely found that playing the game improved impression of our Shaffer said. games are part of a bigger marketing advergame Web site, candystand.com is among the most-visited game sites, saidLi, the analyst.Kraft, which collects voluntary information from players, uses logos from Life Savers and other candy in games such as billiards and puzzles.

Sites vary on how much personal data such as names andages are required for users to play, and some use codes sent to personal computers that track other sites players visit, analysts say. For less than $1 million, computer-game maker Terminal Reality adapted the Jeep game from an earlier incarnation that the company created involving off- road vehicles, said Brendan Goss, who produced the game. A full computer game can cost $2 million to $5 million to develop, and take three years to complete, he said. The games are designed solely to advertise a product, making them a more explicit marketing technique than product placement, where companies pay to have products appear in movies. Ford, for instance, paid Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer an undisclosed amount to have British spy James Bond tool about in Aston Martin in the movie Another released last year.

The games can prove useful even after a sale is made. For Pert, the demands of caring for two preschoolers often means he has time to go four-wheeling only via computer while his Rubicon sits in the driveway. when the girls are asleep, I sneak off to he said. cheaper than TV Greg Pert bought a $25,000 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, although he only it via an online computer game. BLOOMBERG NEWS PHOTO BY ED ZURGA.