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Computer games reach new levels in popularity

mattel.car

July 26, 1996
Web posted at: 7:40 p.m. EDT

From Correspondent Marsha Walton

(CNN) -- From high-powered, fast action fantasy to the hottest fashions from Barbie, the new generation of multi- media entertainment must meet a lot of demands.

Locked in combat on one of many computer games at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, veteran games producer "Wild Bill" Stealey of Interactive Magic says that people really want is to feel powerful while playing the games.


movie(1MB QuickTime movie of multimedia games)

"In every one of these simulations, you're the cool fighter pilot, you're the great general, you're the great president, tank commander, submarine captain," he says before turning his attention back to "bad guys on the horizon."

"Apache," a combat helicopter simulation from Interactive Magic, sold more than 200,000 copies worldwide. But Stealey says gamers these days don't just want to beat "the machine" -- they want to beat each other.

men.computer

And they can, through real-time on-line flight simulation like "Air Warrior," where combatants re-live the battles of World War II.

Stealey, a pioneer of the computer game industry, started Microprose in the early 1980s and brought hundreds of successful games to market. He sold the company several years ago, but couldn't stay away.

The overwhelming market for Stealey's type of game is men over 30 -- but with kids now practically born with cyber in their chromosomes, there's plenty of demand from the younger set as well.

After bailing out of the failing video game business in the early 80s, Mattel has decided it's time to get back into interactive entertainment. The toymaker wants to capitalize on its successful line of toy hardware with software that's fun to play.

barbie

So "Hotwheels" is now a driving simulation with its own "car" mouse, and Barbie makes it to the PC screen later this year.

"Our challenge is to make sure that the computer toys that we bring to the market are as much fun as the traditional toys that have made us a three and a half billion dollar company," says Doug Glen of Mattel Media.

Mattel's Fisher-Price division is even getting into the act with educational and "how to" multi-media software and made- for-kids computer peripherals.

And board games are making the jump to interactivity as well. Hasbro's Interactive Division is bringing out computer versions of its most popular games. From the aircraft carriers, missiles, and submarines of "Battleship," to the less dangerous "Water Works" and the ever-popular "Monopoly," there will be real-time play across the Internet.

battleship

But the new generation of computer games won't be all updated versions of old favorites. AnyRiver Entertainment fuses storytelling with action and fantasy. Its current projects, which include an alien abduction, tap the skills of actors and comedians.

"The quality of the audio and the quality of the visuals now allows us to create a medium that competes with TV, and with feature films, for leisure time activity," says company spokesman Stewart Bonn.

With more companies, old and new, tackling the new technology, the future for computer games promises a real explosion of choices.

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