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| VIDEO GAME BOOM | |
 October 11, 2005  |
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A report on recent successes and innovations of the video game industry.
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JEFFREY KAYE: For sheer in-your-face spectacle, few events compare
to the Electronics Entertainment Expo or E3. This is the video game
industry's annual trade fair, where the titans and wannabe titans of
NEIL YOUNG: I think if you sort of measured video games in terms of their cultural impact today and sort of where they fit for the use in young adults of America, it's as valid an entertainment form as music, TV, film, you know, literature.
Young credits the increased complexity and realism of video games for his industry's growth. NEIL YOUNG: When you are building a game really what you are doing is creating a world. You're creating a universe -- one like a film where every shot is carefully orchestrated and the filmmaker really controls sort of what the audience sees from shot to shot.
to develop as a combat training tool for the Army went on to become a critically acclaimed video game. |
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| Are video games too violent? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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JEFFREY KAYE: But critics of the industry say game makers too often create virtual worlds steeped in violence and sex. 16 percent of all video and computer games sold have been rated mature by the industry for violence and or sexual consent.
But for game makers, controversies over content are just speed bumps in a rapidly growing industry. VOICE: What the hell is -- oh Batman! |
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| Developing new video game technologies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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JEFFREY KAYE: One concern is mushrooming production budgets with some video games costing more than $20 million to make.
ANTHONY BORQUEZ: I think USC definitely would, you know, wants to be the leader in game development and game research. JEFFREY KAYE: Anthony Borquez, the director of USC's Information Technology Program, started teaching video game production at the campus three years ago. He admits academic colleagues were initially skeptical.
JEFFREY KAYE: EA is a major patron of USC's video game program. It has donated more than $8 million to the school. Much of that money has gone to found and operate the EA game innovation lab at USC's respected School of Cinema Television. At the lab, researchers are supposed to blue sky developing video game ideas away from business concerns and market pressures.
JEFFREY KAYE: Graduate student Rick Nelson's current project is a game called "Clouds." RICK NELSON: I think that part of our goal here is to prove that you can have a lot of fun, and you can create pleasant systems that people will want to engage with without a lot of violence and without a lot of, sort of the destructive qualities of modern games. JEFFREY KAYE: EA hopes the ideas and innovations that spring from this lab might one day be turned into marketable games, ones which might appeal to women and older people who account for a small percentage of gamers.
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| Creating future gamers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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JEFFREY KAYE: To develop those games the industry is investing in the next generation of storytellers, animators and software engineers.
SPOKESPERSON: I don't know if I want to stop or -- JEFFREY KAYE: EA supports a video game summer camp at USC for high-school students from across the country. At the lab the teens learn how to turn their ideas into to finished and playable games. STUDENT: I'm trying to get Dumbledore to shoot good magic at the JEFFREY KAYE: Student Denise Hong sees a career for herself as a game designer. DENISE HONG: I've seen like so many amazing games, and I feel that I want to contribute to like the production of like a really great game some day. |
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| Video games and the military | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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JEFFREY KAYE: But increasingly video game technology is being used
SPOKESMAN: Tucci, how is the boy? SPOKESMAN: The boy has critical injuries sir.
SPOKESMAN: Sergeant, send two squads forward. JEFFREY KAYE: Dell Lunceford, who used to be the Pentagon's top man for interactive technologies, is the ICT's chief technology officer. DELL LUNCEFORD: Kids that grew up playing games and living in an interactive world, it's just a learning mechanism that they're much more interested in. SPOKESMAN: This is a hostile area; get out of here now. JEFFREY KAYE: In a warehouse space dubbed Flat World, the ICT has created a virtual combat environment. Here, real life visitors make their way through a violent and battle scarred city in the Middle East -- encountering threats that range from quick triggered insurgents to rock throwing youths.
SPOKESMAN: What can you do for the war fighter? SPOKESMAN: Tough, realistic training is the key to building effective teams. My job is to try to make sure that soldiers get that kind of training every time they step into the virtual training area. DELL LUNCEFORD: It will not replace the need for the soldiers to be able to go out in the desert and practice their skill, sitting in a real tank, moving around in real dirt. That will not go away for a long long time. The days of the Holodeck -- of Star Trek -- are not here yet but as a simulationist and a little bit of a futurist I think it is only a matter of time.
A consumer version of Full Spectrum Warrior, a game which ICT helped |
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the
business gather to unveil their latest wares: Games of speed; whimsy;
and combat: Lots and lots of combat. More than an assault on the senses,
E3 is a testament to the growing size and clout of the video game industry.
The business last year racked up more than $7 billion in game sales.
As revenues grow, so do the industry's ties to Hollywood and professional
sports, which are eager to turn their blockbuster movies and best athletes
into lucrative games. 
JEFFREY
KAYE: Neil Young is the general manager of the Los Angeles studios of
Electronic Arts, or EA. EA is the world's leading developer of video
and computer games. Last year it took in more than $3 billion -- thanks
in part to such best-selling series as Madden NFL, The Sims and Lord
of the Rings.
In
a video game, the computer game, really what we are creating is we are
crossing the world. And we're giving the player the tools and the rules
to be able to kind of explore that world in a way that they can see
fit. 
The
latest conflict is over the most recent version of the Grand Theft Auto
series. Already controversial for its digital mayhem, critics are also
complaining about hidden sex scenes that proficient gamers can unlock.
In
their search for new ideas and talent to keep the game industry growing,
companies like EA are increasingly turning to the ivory tower, forming
partnerships with America's colleges and universities. One of them is
the University of Southern California. 
ANTHONY
BORQUEZ: I think a lot of people are mistaken that, you know, you're
playing games and having a good time in the classroom. When it very
much -- it's very different. It's rigorous, probably some of the hardest
technology that we've taught. 
RICK
NELSON: The idea will be that you can grab a whole bunch of clouds and
bring them over and you will be able to start a thunderstorm. 
NEIL
YOUNG: That's the real opportunity, I think, for us as we go forward
in the next five years is answering the question that our company was
founded on which is: Can a computer game make you cry? Can it move you
emotionally? You know, can it resonate with you like a great piece of
art resonates with you? When you put down the controller you know, can
you have learned something about yourself? And that is the potential
ultimately.
SPOKESPERSON:
What were you thinking about doing? 
death
eaters and the death eaters to shoot evil magic at Dumbledore. 
for
far more than fun and games. At USC's Institute for Creative Technologies
or ICT, academics together with experts from the U.S. military and creative
talent from Hollywood have formed a collaboration to create video games
with a deadly serious purpose: The training of soldiers for real world
combat. 
JEFFREY
KAYE: The ICT with $145 million in U.S. Army funding is developing simulations
to try to hone soldier's street level, person-to-person command skills.
The
starring character is a virtual U.S. Army Sergeant who explains in his
own words why he was created. 
JEFFREY
KAYE: Whether or not ICT's work will lead to success on the battlefield
is an open question. But the center has scored one clear success with
gamers. 
