Sex, guys & video games
Two raunchy titles might herald new frontier in gaming
By Scott Sloan
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
Move over mild-mannered Mario.
See ya Sonic, you heroic hedgehog.
BMX XXX and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball introduce a new breed of video-game hero, oops, heroine, this holiday season.
Meet DOA stars Helena, Hi-tomi and Kasumi, the scantily clad and buxom blonde, brunette and redhead challenging the notion that video games are children's toys.
These women leave Tomb Raider's Lara Croft, and her exaggerated figure, back in the 20th century. In at least one game, the female characters' tops will drop as successful video-game companies market the sexuality that already heats up movie screens and music videos.
Still focusing on fighting video-game violence, some peeved parents and politicians aren't even aware these bombshells will soon hit stores.
Video-game industry followers said the games' developers look to cash in on an older audience looking for racier content. However, parenting groups, citing numerous studies, fear young children will still be able to obtain the games.
"Both of these publishers are courting controversy for a reason: because controversy sells," said Matt Helgeson, senior associate editor at Game Informer, a monthly video-game magazine.
Those older gamers grew up with the Mario Brothers and Sonic the Hedgehog series, and some now yearn for the companionship of a sexy redhead instead of a mustachioed Brooklyn plumber.
"It used to be we visualized a bunch of high schoolers when we made and marketed a game. Now we visualize 24-year-olds and 28-year-olds," said John Inada, general manager and marketing director at Tecmo, the producers of Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
Some members of that target demographic don't buy the hype, though.
Lexington's Rod Givens, 26, who bought the Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo Gamecube gaming systems even before they premiered nationwide, remains loyal to the heroes of old like Mario and the Legend of Zelda's Link.
"I'm not attracted to video-game women. ... I like volleyball but I don't like it that much," Givens said.
To try to appeal to even the dissenters, Acclaim, which will release BMX XXX (pronounced "BMX triple-X"), mixes low-brow comedy, topless female bike riders and actual video footage from inside a New York City strip club.
"It's stuff you've seen in PG-13 movies for the last 20 years. The disconnect for a lot of people is video games are a kid's toy," said Acclaim spokesman Alan Lewis.
'You never know ...'
To be released for all gaming consoles Nov. 26, just days before the onslaught of Christmas shoppers, BMX XXX sends gamers biking around cities and parks, hanging out with a crowd most people steer clear of.
At some points, players can spend collected coins to see strippers from a popular New York City strip club perform. Players also have the ability to customize, including dress or undress, their own female riders. Customizable breast sizes have been suggested but are not yet a finalized feature.
"You never know what will be in the game," Lewis said with a laugh.
Add in prostitutes and a few other low-brow comedy elements and you've got the game that worries the people at Children Now, an Oakland, Calif.-based children advocacy group that released a December 2001 study condemning video-game violence.
"It may be a little scary that they're now turning that sport into a more adult-oriented game," said Christy Glaubke, a Children Now spokeswoman, who said she had not previously heard of BMX XXX and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
"Sports-oriented games have been considered a safe zone for parents," Glaubke said. Those games typically imitate professional sports and lack gratuitous violence or sexual situations, earning them "E" ratings, meaning they're suitable for everyone, from the Entertainment Software Rating Board. The ratings are voluntary; companies are not forced to participate.
Riding alongside BMX XXX in breaking the sexual barrier is Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, a spawn of the successful series of Dead or Alive fighting games.
The game takes out the hand-and-fist combat and drops a volleyball in bikini-clad women's hands.
The design team in Japan, a country that in many ways views sexuality differently than the United States, will decide whether the games get topless characters, sheer bikinis and wet T-shirt contests, Inada said.
Sex sells ... or does it?
Though he praises the realism and stellar game play, Inada acknowledges nudity could hurt retail sales.
Mega-retailer Wal-Mart, in particular, hails its efforts "to exclude mature-rated games that are sexually explicit." A Wal-Mart representative said the company has not yet reviewed the games.
"We have to be sensitive to their needs," Inada said. "If they do decide not to carry this product, that would deliver a major blow. I wouldn't say some of the same things about other retailers."
Lexington's two FuncoLand stores plan to carry the games that likely will be rated "mature." But Charles Jackson, a game adviser at the Hamburg Pavilion store, said gamers younger than 18 will be prohibited from buying mature-rated titles.
Glaubke said studies show children still buy the games because retailers don't face consequences for violating the voluntary rating system.
Watching what children bring home with them is a parent's best bet for keeping children away from the games, said Elise Wallace, co-director of Lexington's Parents' Place, a non-profit parent education resource center.
"A steady diet of these things along with television and music could be harmful," Wallace said.
Video-game supporters fear a parental backlash could revive the late-1990s political debate about censorship that led to a Clinton White House summit. The summit asked for companies producing violent games to reduce advertisements geared to children; no conclusive studies suggest the goal has been achieved.
Inada isn't worried.
"Within the game industry, we've shifted from violence to sex. But since politicians are so slow, I'm sure they'll be talking about violence. That's how much they know about the video-game industry," Inada said.
Even if sales aren't brisk, the games will break a barrier by diving into a new gaming arena, said Helgeson, of Game Informer.
"For better or for worse, this is where American culture is in 2002. There's a lot of skin out there," Helgeson said. "If the parents don't like it, they can vote with their dollars."
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky...printstory.jsp
