New play patterns, new focus

Every year, a flood of new video games hits retail shelves. They're either washed away by a tide of consumers or marooned in the discount bin.

Game publishers and developers are focusing on new play patterns to keep their titles fresh. "You can't play the graphics race," says Robert Nashak, executive producer at Knowledge Adventure. Consumers have such high expectations of graphics quality that John Koller, a product manager at Sony Computer Entertainment of America, has received comments from focus groups such as "Every game has to have top quality graphics, or it's not worth purchasing."

"There are more video games on the shelf than cereal boxes," notes Helene Sheeler, Midway's vice president of marketing. In such a competitive marketplace, Koller adds, game makers must develop unique gameplay and environment elements to stand out.

Sony's Frequency mixes gaming, music and music videos to create not only an innovative game but a new way to appreciate music. Players move across individual tracks in the songs and hit notes within the tracks to unlock phrases of particular instruments. Music video elements flash in the background. When a song is completed, players can freestyle and create their own mix. A head-to-head option ensures extended gameplay.

Midway, meanwhile, will expand the sports genre by running counter to the slew of hyper-realistic titles scheduled for fall release. Arctic Thunder is, of all things, a snowmobile racer. Ordinarily, the fact that players dash down a dozen courses on custom snowmobiles (instead of skis or snowboards) would be quirky enough. But this is hardly a gentleman's contest. Players can stock up on an arsenal of weapons including atomic snowballs and proximity missiles. Midway will also introduce NHL Hitz 20-02 for the PS2 this fall and Xbox next winter. This four-on-four brawler takes the joke, "I went to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out," quite literally. "We are going to attract not just the hardcore hockey fan," says Sheeler, "but the action/fighting fan, too."

Knowledge Adventure's Nashak has been looking for ways to "move kids away from the computer and then back to the computer." Looking for a play pattern that could merge real world elements with the computer screen, he and his team noticed bar codes. "We wanted to find a way to personalize a game: Bar codes are everywhere," he notes. The company's Jurassic Park III: ScanCommand gives kids control of a small army of dinosaurs to fight through an evil scientist's equivalent dino brigade. The twist is the game's DNA machine. Players use the included bar code reader (pictured) to scan everyday items, which become DNA bits. The bits are configured (in limitless fashion) to give dinosaurs more speed, power or attacks. In true Pokémon style, DNA may be traded among friends.

Eidos puts a spin on puzzle games with Herdy Gerdy (pictured). Players use their character to herd cute critters from pen to pen while avoiding carnivores and other obstacles.