Bonded in Bytes

The old adage that the family that plays together stays together certainly looks like it will ring true this year as spring gives way to summer and TV shows go into repeat mode. Families that game together could be playing well into the fall if TV studios are faced with a prolonged actor's strike, which could possibly delay the launch of the new television season. While the TV may be repeating those same shows over and over the nuclear family may still be in front of them, in this case playing video games.

Many of today's parents grew up as part of a generation that experienced the original video game revolution of the 1970s and 1980s and possibly the post-boomers even spent their adolescent years with an early home PC or first generation video game console. Those same parents, armed with their Palm Pilots and other PDAs, at least understand the attraction of handheld video games, which continue to be hot-selling items.

This year will also see the launch of the latest next generation handheld with Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, which arrives in early June. With an anticipated price under $100, and the fact that the unit will be backward compatible with existing Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles, the Game Boy Advance could be the system to watch this year. Game Boy Advance will be available in three colors: Arctic (white), Glacier (translucent blue) and Indigo (violet).

Of course Nintendo wouldn't be releasing its new system without signature character Mario, who will return for yet another new adventure in Super Mario Advance. The 20-year-old lead character has become a generational bridge. "Today, adults who grew up with Donkey Kong and Mario are sharing their love of video games with their children and making video games a family affair," says Beth Llewelyn, Nintendo spokeswoman, who confirms that Nintendo is committed to making and marketing games that appeal to all players—young and old.

Nintendo's Game Boy Advance should also be able to build on the success of the Nintendo 64 game system, which generally provides content that parents and children can enjoy together. "Nintendo has always been very family friendly, more so than the PlayStation," explains Kevin Bertram, CEO of Game Express in Falls Church, Va. "They have continued to provide family titles, and they have support from other game makers too."

Third-party offers for the new handheld system will also be strong and include 3DO's Army Men Advance and High Heat Major League Baseball 2002, Activision's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Kemco's Top Gear GT Championship and Ubi Soft's Rayman. Third-party publisher Majesco is also releasing four titles that will make their U.S. debut in June including the arcade classic Earthworm Jim, Iridion 3D, Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure and the highly anticipated Fortress, a game that could be a worthy successor to the addictive family classic Tetris.

After launching with far fewer numbers than expected last fall, Sony's PlayStation 2 is also finally starting to show up in greater numbers this spring and Alan Myer, vice president of purchasing at the Family Toy Stores chain in Carnegie, Pa., agrees that console systems like the PS2 are becoming standard family fare and no longer relegated to a youngster's bedroom. "We're seeing it happen with PlayStation 2 and with the other systems that will be coming out this year including Microsoft's (Xbox)," he says. Although video game sales dropped more than traditional board games in 2000 vs. 1999, video games accounted for $5.13 billion in sales compared with $1.66 billion in sales of board games. But Myer adds, "board games are still a very important part of business."

Video and computer games have garnered quite a bit of media attention in the last few years and were even part of the subject of senatorial hearings last fall, but it is clear that there are still many family-friendly titles to be found. "There are lots of good, safe-oriented games out," states Bert Balliet, director of merchandising for Zany Brainy, a retail chain that carries only E-rated console titles. He says he understands the appeal and adds that he enjoys playing Game Boy with both his 5- and 7-year-old children and sees that there are many excellent titles that families can play together. "It isn't just Candy Land board games that kids want to play, and more and more are asking for PlayStation type games. Our feelings (at Zany Brainy) determined that there were more than just education titles out there that families could enjoy. What we wanted to do was make it possible for parents and grandparents to find titles that are safe for them to buy for children. We carry E-rated titles, but we don't carry every E-rated title because we still feel some are not appropriate." (Graded by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, an E rating, which stands for everyone, is suitable for persons ages 6 and older. EC-rated titles—early childhood—are suitable for ages 3 and up.)

Today's digital youngsters of the new millennium expect more sophisticated content but they also want it to be fun. The most educational of programs won't teach very much if it isn't enjoyable and captivating. "It is all about having good content," emphasizes Eve Seber, director of Tivola Publishing, a software publisher based in New York. "As publishers, we are thinking beyond the early learning titles and presenting gamey titles that smuggle the learning to the back of the book. (These titles) look like and feel like grown-up games, which is what makes them popular."

Families can look forward to another episode of mystery and intrigue from Tivola, this time with the action centered in a chocolate factory with TKKG: Deadly Chocolate (the game is based on a series of German books centered around four kids named Tiger, Kevin, Katie and Grunter). Once again players will have to help find clues, ask questions and solve a mystery while taking the role of one of the four members of the TKKG gang when the PC and Mac title arrives in the late spring.

From Tivola's Play and Learn Series will also come Max and the Magician, the sixth CD-ROM from Tivola featuring Max, where players will enter a world of witches, sorcerers and magic. Designed for ages 3 and up, the game mixes subtle education content with imaginative text, drawings and animation.

Parents with even younger children won't need to wait for the magical adventures, as Disney Interactive rolls out its newest arrival to families of the 21st century with Disney's Winnie the Pooh Baby CD-ROM. Designed for babies from 9 to 24 months, this title allows parents and babies to be able to bond over a shared computer experience as it gently introduces an array of age-appropriate activities. This title concentrates primarily on the fundamental relationship between cause and effect, and is meant to allow 9- to 24-month-olds to experience the realization that they are affecting what is happening on screen by striking keys on the keyboard. The gameplay unfolds in the familiar Hundred Acre Woods with popular characters from the Winnie the Pooh universe.

Other electronic entertainment aimed at younger audiences, including the pre-tweens, consists of a new adventure from Kutoka Interactive's award-winning edutainment (educational entertainment) adventures with Mia: Just in Time!, a time travel adventure designed for children 6 to 10 years old. Time away from television is what Richard Vincent, president of software publisher Kutoka Interactive, hopes these edutainment titles will offer to children, "we're seeing that children are spending less time in front of the TV and more time with interactive activities."

And while children might be willing to travel virtually, Vincent is seeing that the family is less inclined to move very far from the television. "Families don't want to leave the living room," he states, adding that their line of titles is much more edutainment focused. He also spots a potentially worrisome trend. "We're seeing that people who made commitments to edutainment are starting to carry more pure entertainment titles. It is validating entertainment where there was once only edutainment. This is blurring the market and could mean that some PlayStation titles could be confused with educational software."

The line for parents in distinguishing between entertainment and education can be a very fine one when it comes to children's software. It comes down to whether a product has any educational value, explains Billy Pidgeon, an analyst with Jupiter Research. Managing to be both entertainment and educational is where he sees the real issue. "Edutainment has education value, but it is difficult to do pure education because kids won't want to play it. It is a matter of putting in educational content so kids will want to play it and parents will want to buy it."

Doug Lowenstein, president of the Interactive Digital Software Association, sums it up more succinctly, "Edutainment software is software that teaches while it entertains, while entertainment software is pure entertainment."

Where the line blurs even further is in how the products are carried and often reviewed by the mainstream consumer press. "Entertainment software does better," Pidgeon says, "and it tends to get better reviews. Of course there are many edutainment titles that are light on education but also light on entertainment, too."

While the education vs. entertainment debate wages, much of today's interactive entertainment doesn't really involve enough activity. Toymax combines exercise and interaction with electronic entertainment via the company's new Laser Challenge Gotcha Extreme Mini Mayhem. The game consists of gear packs that allow for all the excitement of a laser tag arena to be brought home where teams can face off and play together. Amy Weltman, vice president of marketing for Toymax also stresses that social interaction is an extremely important factor to consider when judging a toy's play value.

"Our Laser Challenge Gotcha Extreme Mini Mayhem gear offers kids a safe and fun physical activity," says Weltman, adding that it, "combines the perfect balance of technology and group play." Every household may not be suitable to the rigors of this style of play, but it does offer the possibilities for interactive family fun outdoors.

Older kids—and even parents—also have loads of electronic fun to look forward to, and even if some favorite family shows like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire are in repeats, the competition can continue as Tiger Electronics releases an electronic table top version, which allows up to six players to offer their final answer. Additionally, Tiger will be rolling out their new Harry Potter and Jurassic Park handheld games and old friend Furby will have a new pal with Shelby, an interactive clam that adds more ways for the robotic toys to interact. "These are toys that can be played alone," says Lana Simon, a Tiger spokeswoman, "but kids can take them to their friends or play with other family members because they interact so well together."

Dinosaurs will also roar onto the PC and Mac this June with Knowledge Adventure's Jurassic Park III: Dino Defender, where members of the Dino Defenders emergency task team must restore order and save the day, and Jurassic Park III: Danger Zone! where players are in a race to recover DNA and successfully clone a dinosaur. Saving smaller and often more cuddly creatures is the key to Knowledge Adventure/Mattel Girls' Barbie Pet Rescue for the Game Boy Color. For the Sony PlayStation, Mattel Media's Rock Em Sock Em Robots Arena is a knock off the old block and a blast from the past. Based on everyone's favorite boxing robots, this console action title lets players rumble in a 3D slugfest, complete with commentary by robots Red Rocker and Blue Bomber.

The monstrous following of NASCAR currently rivals the biggest Hollywood blockbusters and this summer Infogrames rolls out NASCAR Heat: 2001 Season for the PlayStation 2 and the youth focused NASCAR Racers for the PlayStation. Both officially licensed titles are aimed to take advantage of the huge popularity of the sport, with Racers including characters featured on the FOX KIDS TV show, while Heat: 2001 includes 19 real world Winston Cup tracks and 25 drivers. Sports titles generally do very well on the PlayStation and this should factor well for the NASCAR titles. Game Express's Bertram believes the success of the genre will continue, "a lot of fathers and sons are playing sports games together on the PlayStation. That is one of the really strong areas with that system."

Sports titles are also the type of games that are released in regular intervals and usually arrive to coincide with the real world seasons. Electronic Arts has dominated in this area for years with the popular Madden football and FIFA soccer titles, but the software giant still faces fierce competition from the likes of Sega, which is making the transition from hardware manufacturer to third-party software developer.

Infogrames will continue to look at niches, including sports, when it comes to producing interactive content for children and their parents. "Families are always looking for fun ways to spend quality time together and interactive entertainment is an increasingly popular choice," says Alyssa Padia, senior vice president of corporate evolution for Infogrames. "With home computers being used more and more to deliver home entertainment options, Infogrames has focused on developing original content and adapting quality licenses that appeal to people of all ages and skill level."

While console systems like the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 continue to sell and will be replaced by the next generation of devices from last year's PlayStation 2 to Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox, both of which will debut this fall, there remains a more affordable alternative for those looking for the digital experience without the high-end expense. Less flashy electronic entertainment systems have gained consumer interest due in part to a lower price point, but also because many of these devices really focus on one game but in a way that easily matches the more expensive consoles.

The virtual fishing experience is just one example, and this spring players can cast off with Radica's Sport Bass Fishin', a handheld game of skill that allows players to make lure selections based on water and weather conditions while trying to bring in the catch of the day. From the Girl Tech brand Radica rolls out HearSay, a wacky handheld memory game with three different modes of play and skill levels. The company will also be continuing with its Play TV line, which allows for simple yet challenging handheld style games to be plugged directly into a TV or VCR. While not as flashy as the current crop of console games, Radica's Director of Marketing Chris Wilson believes that these are titles that are easy enough that younger children and their parents can play together. "We think our Sport Bass Fishin' is a nice father and son activity and we feel that our upcoming snowboarding title for Play TV will be easier to play than a snowboarding game for the PlayStation and just as much fun."

The lure of these systems is that they are much more affordable and compact than the standard consoles. "They are less expensive for that type of game and just as much fun," describes Family Toy Stores' Myer, who confirms that the retailer did very well with last year's line. "We're also looking forward to their snowboarding title, which really impressed us at the toy show."

Electronic games can also help pass the time on those epic cross-country treks and bringing the right game can make all the difference. Sony introduced a slimmed down version of its popular PlayStation that can be used with an optional yet portable LCD screen and car adapter, but most summer vacations probably won't involve taking living room style consoles on the road. Game Boys and other handheld games tend to offer take-turn experiences in the car, but there are still plenty of other electronic toys that can help pass the time while encouraging family time on those long drives. Chuck Harper of Explorations!, an Indiana toy store for those with a curious mind, even suggests Mega from Ravensburger and Geosafari Extreme from Educational Insights.

"These games invite more parental participation as the questions may involve facts not known by the child," Harper explains. Sound advice for the summer time blues.