Week of October 9, 2005

The No. 1 story in kid-tech news this week, no doubt in anticipation of the holiday shopping season, was games. All aspects, from what sells so many editions of Grand Theft Auto to new games for the soon-to-be-sold, next-generation Xbox 360 to a new law in California concerning violent videogames games.

"Generation GTA"

An alternate headline might be, "What is it with GTA, anyway?" Now, as the sixth Grand Theft Auto first-person-shooter game ("GTA: Liberty City Stories") is about to hit store shelves, there is a "Generation GTA," the Washington Post reports in a fascinating cultural look at "the GTA franchise, worth about $1 billion in US sales alone." The Generation GTA members profiled in the article are Brendan (16) of suburban Fairfax County Va. and Tito (17) of South Central L.A., the world after which "GTA: San Andreas" is modeled. As different as these boys' worlds are, they both represent this "generation" "deemed too young by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board to play 'GTA' [because of its "Mature" rating] but too resourceful not to get their hands on it anyway," as the Post describes it.

Just what is the appeal of these games, so realistic as to make Tito in South-Central L.A. talk about "C.J.," the key "street thug" in "GTA: San Andreas," "as though he's referring to a cousin or a next-door neighbor" (even though "San Andreas" was developed in Scotland!)? The Post asked that question of players and researchers, and the answers say something about all immersive, alternate-reality games, especially those with story lines, I think.

The three basic answers are control, role-playing, and escapism. The games give players varying degrees of control over their environments (control they probably don't have in real life) - and those powers grow as they spend time playing. Also, they get to try on new, more powerful personas (something teenagers do in IM and chat too) and in completely new and different environments (they get transported, as most of us do at the movies). But read the last page of the Post piece, where all this is spelled out more personably.

Gaming's Latest News

California's new game law: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law last week a law that bans sales of violent videogames to minors. The gamemakers' trade association announced shortly afterwards that it would file a lawsuit to strike the law down, Reuters reports. The law's fate is uncertain. "Federal courts have ruled against similar legislation in Washington state, the city of Indianapolis and St. Louis County in Missouri, finding the laws violated free speech guarantees in the U.S. Constitution," according to Reuters. But Illinois and Michigan have passed similar laws (the Entertainment Software Assoc. is fighting these too), and US Sen. Hillary Clinton is working on federal-level legislation.

Games for Xbox 360. Microsoft this week unveiled a passel of games for its new Xbox 360 console, available next month, Reuters reports, including "Perfect Dark Zero," which it hopes will be the "Halo" of this next-generation Xbox (standard version for $300, souped up, including a hard drive that'll allow it to play some original Xbox games).

Sneak peek at 360. A handful of reporters got a preview of the console itself in San Francisco the other day, and CNET's writer raved. He and the rest of the privileged few got to play with the 13 consoles on display. They spoke with a wizard in the world of "Kameo" (the "stunning graphics . brought even the blades of grass to life") and raced Ferraris ("the things I did to that poor Ferrari were a shame"). Halo goes mobile. "One of the biggest video game franchises in the world" - being made into a movie produced by Peter Jackson of "Lord of the Rings" fame, the BBC reports - is also moving into cellphones (ringtones and games), IGN.com reports.

Videogame school: The latest from the Washington Post on university-level game-design programs.

2 signs of games' power: 1) Nickelodeon's "Jungle Boy" will make its debut and build its franchise in videogames, then be a TV show, rather than the usual other way around, the New York Times reports. 2) A new study found that "in-game ad campaigns resulted in a 60% increase in awareness of new brands," CNET reports.