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USA TODAY

USA TODAY

May 15, 2000

Female sports, fins and a saucy squirrel

ByMike Snider and AndrŽ Montgomery

Section: LIFE
Page: 3D
Estimated Printed Pages: 3

Index Terms:
CONVENTION
VIDEO GAME

Article Text:

e-world: Living with technology; eworld@usatoday.com

LOS ANGELES -- About 62,000 video game developers, publishers and
retailers descended on the city last week for the Electronic
Entertainment Expo trade show -- E3 for short. Headlines were made by
Sony's announcement of the Oct. 26 U.S. launch of PlayStation2, a $299
DVD-driven system, and by Microsoft's X-Box game system, due next year.
But there was a lot more to see.

USA TODAY's AndrŽ Montgomery and Mike Snider report.

Women pack a punch

Move over, Lara Croft. There's a new lineup of female protagonists to
compete with the comely Tomb Raider star.

With more girls taking up games, developers have found a reason to
create female main characters (beyond their obvious appeal to the core
audience of adolescent males). Microsoft is using such a combatant,
Raven, as an early standard-bearer for the X-Box.

And watch for more sports entries. ''It's great to have a competing
female sports game out there,'' says Mia Hamm, who has Mia Hamm Soccer
64 (SouthPeak, for Nintendo 64, due in September, $49.95). EA Sports is
adding female boxers, including Playboy model Mia St. John, to Knockout
Kings 2001 (for PlayStation, PS2).

Girls in games are ''not just there to look at anymore,'' says Ann
Donahue, new-media reporter for Variety. ''They still have double-D
cups, but they can beat the crap out of people and kill them, too.''

More cases in point:

* Beautiful secret agent Joanna Dark is the hero of Perfect Dark
(Nintendo, for N64, due May 22, $69.95). This much-anticipated game
from the makers of GoldenEye 007 involves aliens, espionage and plenty
of firepower in a first-person shooting perspective.

* Aliens also play a role in Space Channel 5 (Sega, for Dreamcast,
summer), but there's music, not mayhem. Space news reporter Ulala
discovers that aliens are using dance moves to control hostages; she
must use her skills to outdance the aliens.

* Another female agent, Konoko, must make the bad guys pay in Oni (from
Bungie for Windows and Macintosh; from Rockstar for PS2; both due later
this year), a futuristic animŽ-style gangland adventure with
martial-arts combat and plenty of gunfire.

* Danger Girl (THQ for PS, by summer) boasts beautiful spies Abbey
Chase and Sydney Savage, who bring a James Bond-G.I. Joe twist to
gaming. Based on the DC Comics series.

Action with attitude

Some games seem to offer new twists, often with attitude, on
traditional genres. Others defy categorization.

Sega, in particular, is determined to revive its tradition of
innovative games. In Jet Grind Radio (due this fall), featuring music
from Rob Zombie and stylish animation, players skate their way through
Tokyo, performing tricks, spraying graffiti and evading the police.

Seaman (due this fall) is half-man/half-fish, with an artificial
intelligence that goes beyond virtual pets and Tamagotchis. After
gamers answer a battery of questions (through a special microphone
add-on), the screen turns into an aquarium. You can tap the glass and
talk to Seaman about everything from dating to homework. You feed
Seaman, control the water temperature and keep him company -- at least
10 minutes a day -- to earn his companionship and to help him evolve.

Sega also moves to a different beat in Samba de Amigo (due in winter),
with two orange maracas that players hold and shake to Latin music.
Depending on the screen patterns, you must shake the maracas at various
levels (high, medium or low) and rhythms; it's evidently a hit in
Japanese arcades.

Irreverence comes to the N64 with Conker's Bad Fur Day (Nintendo, due
Dec. 4), from a company better known for the innocuous Mario and
PokŽmon than for pushing the taste envelope. Conker, a squirrel with a
hangover, wakes up in a fantasy world, lets swear words fly when upset
and can urinate on enemies. (It's intended for mature audiences, the
company notes.)

E-mail msnider@usatoday.com

Caption:
Conker: A Nintendo squirrel for mature audiences. In this corner:
Seaman is more talkative than your average virtual pet. Mia St. John,
at left, is a Knockout in pink.
PHOTO, Color; PHOTO, Color, Sega; PHOTO, Color, EA Sports

Copyright 2000	Gannett Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

Record Number: 677883