Video games take aim at family entertainment

Drug Store News,  June 26, 2000  by Jennifer Kulpa

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Computer and video game makers are widening their selections of drug store-appropriate products, according to a survey of exhibitors at the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo, the key trade show for the interactive software business, held May 11 to May 13 and sponsored by the Interactive Digital Software Association. Of the more than 2,400 new titles that debuted, 63 percent were specifically developed for families and children, confirming the increasing popularity of video and computer games among mainstream audiences.

While action games still topped the list as the most popular category, according to the survey, children's, puzzle and family games beat out other popular genres, such as sports and adventure.

Themed "Beyond Imagination," E3 2000 also featured the release of a survey by Peter Hart Research Associates, which had promising news for the electronic game industry. The survey found that 60 percent of Americans age 6 or older, or about 145 million people, say they routinely play computer or video games. Nearly half of these game players (43 percent) are female, and 61 percent of all game players are age 18 and over.

"It used to be just the boy next door, but the profile of today's gamer can't be so easily typecast. It could be a housewife relaxing between car pools, a professional sneaking in a few levels flying cross country, teenage boys and girls in friendly after-school competition and even senior citizens," said IDSA President Douglas Lowenstein.

The business had a record-breaking sales year in 1999, reported the association, whose members account for more than 90 percent of the entertainment software sold in the United States in 1999. Using data provided by the NPD Group, Lowenstein said that more than 215 million computer and video games were sold last year, a 19 percent increase over 1998 sales levels. That represents the fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth for the game industry, and an increase of more than 100 percent since 1996.

Lowenstein also noted that, on a dollar basis, entertainment software sales topped $6.1 billion in 1999, an increase of 11 percent from the $5.5 billion sales in 1998. Specifically, video game sales grew to $4.2 billion, a 13.5 percent increase from 1998. Personal computer games sales increased 15.5 percent, from $1.8 billion in 1998 to $1.9 billion in 1999.

This year's best family title, as chosen by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, was "3-D Ultra Lionel TrainTown," developed by Dynamix and part of the Sierra Attractions Casual Entertainment Division. The game was honored for creative product design and depth of gameplay. Other new games unveiled at E3 included:

* games created by THQ for PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color such as "Scooby-Doo! Classic Creep Capers," "Rugrats in Paris-The Movie" (scheduled for release in conjunction with the feature film of the same name), "Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue," "The Simpsons: Tree-house of Horror" (working title), "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Championship Motorcross 2001 featuring Ricky Charmichael," and several MTV Sports and WWF Wrestling-themed games;

* games developed by several software companies through licensing partnerships with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment based on popular characters such as the Powerpuff Girls, Tom & Jerry, The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, the Dukes of Hazzard, Batman and the family of Loony Tunes characters;

* from Scholastic, "Clifford the Big Red Dog" stars in his first CD-ROM;

* from Interact, the new Shark MX Game Boy cartridge that gives users the ability to write, send and receive e-mail from their Game Boys by inserting a phone line into the jack at the top of the unit;

* from eGames, "Bible Ball," in which players are encouraged to "blast your way through multicolored blocks to reveal Bible verses";

* from Radical, "Girl Tech" diaries protected by voice-activated passwords and "Laser Chat" futuristic walkie-talkies that transmit recorded messages via infrared beams;

* "Black & 'White," in which players become good or evil gods, attempting to rule over villagers who do not trust them;

* Additional "Sims City" versions, including "The Sims," which places players in charge of creating the most peaceful and prosperous relations among a few families by controlling their daily activitie, and "The Sims Livin' Large," which incorporates love and romance;

* Two Dreamcast releases--"Ecco the Dolphin," in which the player is a talking dolphin saving the world from ecological disaster, and "Banjo-Tooie," which features a bear who, with the help of a bird in his backpack, can fly; and

* from the partnership of NewKid International and Disney Interactive, "Tigger's Honey Hunt," featuring a running, bouncing adventure through the woods to collect honey.

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