Internet & Interactive

Brazil Bans Violent Video Games. Brazil's Justice Ministry has banned six video games it considers too violent for the public. This ruling comes on the heals of last month's deadly shooting rampage in a movie theater by a medical student. "The games are considered violent and [are] affecting people who play them, particularly children," a ministry spokeswoman said. "As for Duke Nukem, the ministry regulation says its virtual world may have motivated Mateus da Costa Meira to stage the cinema shooting on November 3 in Sao Paulo." All copies of the games Doom, Mortal Kombat, Requiem, Blood, Postal and Duke Nukem were ordered to be removed from store shelves by police. Vendors who refuse will be fined 20,000 reais ($11,000) per day. Police say they have reason to believe that Meira, 24, may have copied a scene from the popular game when he killed three people and left eight wounded in the high-class shopping mall theatre in Brazil's largest city. Meira, who kept three computers and piles of computer disks at his apartment, mimicked the game step by step, including his choice of weapons and shooting position, in the theatre attack. However, traces of cocaine in Meira's blood and past stress-related problems are also attributed to his actions. In the past, Brazil has banned the popular computer game Armageddon for excessive violence. The game allows players to run up points by speeding over innocent pedestrians. The ministry plans to rule on the fate of other "violent" games in 4 months.

Muppets Move To AcmeCity. The Jim Henson Company has made Warner Bros. On-line's AcmeCity its official Internet fansite. The deal may eventually lead to the production of original Muppet-based shows for newly launched Entertaindom.com. Henson will provide AcmeCity users with photos, video clips, and other multimedia elements to create Web pages for Muppet Show's Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, Jim Henson's Muppet Babies and Fraggle Rock. There are more than 8,000 Web sites related to the "Muppet Show" on Geocities, alone. AcmeCity will give Henson control over what is used on future fansites. Other brands that have made AcmeCity their official home on the Web, include Looney Tunes, The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, Rosie O'Donnell, Adam Sandler, comic book icon Stan Lee and Chris O'Donnell, among others. AcmeCity has over 750,000 subscribers and more than 2 million pages of content, policed by Warner Bros. and Time Warner. The Henson Company will share in advertising revenues and receive a cut of the retail revenues.

Cyber Bytes: The Jim Henson Company's MuppetWorld Web site celebrated its first Yuletide with Kermit the Frog lighting an on-line Christmas tree. MuppetWorld offers a compelling interactive environment, allowing fans to play with their favorite Muppet characters. Fans may purchase Muppet merchandise, take cooking lessons from the Swedish Chef who offers weekly culinary masterpieces in the "What's Cooking?" location, and be able to tune into their favorite Muppet clips. . . .shockwave.com, a leading Internet entertainment site, announced the holiday additions to its award-winning site. The additions included new creative applications Toonmaker and Puzzlemaker; new festive greeting cards; and an improved Shockmachine experience. These free on-line gifts can be sent to friends and family. Toonmaker enables users to create personal cards and cartoons using well known characters such as the kids from South Park. Puzzlemaker allows users to turn their own photos into puzzles, add messages and then send them to friends. The improved Shockmachine will make downloading and saving Shockwave content easier. . . .

Viz Communications, a leading U.S. publisher of Japanese animation and comics (anime and manga), including titles such as Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, and Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa Of The Valley Of Wind, announced new Internet partnerships and the relaunch of their chief Web sites. www.viz.com will provide the latest news and information on anime and manga series. www.j-pop.com will feature reviews on the latest in Japanese pop culture including anime, manga, games, music and film. www.animerica-mag.com is the official Web site of monthly anime and manga magazine, Animerica. Finally, www.pulp-mag.com is the official Web site for the manga anthology Pulp, Manga for Grownups. . . .MeTV.com, a new Internet video on demand company, has commissioned Sonalysts Studios to produce original broadband promos, trailers and interstitial material for the MeTV.com Web site. The original broadband material will appear as full-motion video on PCs with Internet connections of 350kps or higher running Microsoft MediaPlayer. . . .shockwave.com, One Infinity and Madlab Creative have produced Why2k@large which uses Flash 4 animation and MP3 streaming audio technologies to present an animated, multimedia series focusing on the approach of the year 2000. Live interviews were collected on the streets of New York City, New Orleans and San Francisco featuring what the American public thinks about the approaching Millennium. Why2k@large is featured on the home page of shockwave.com, but One Infinity and MadLab Creative have also dedicated their own resources to produce a sister site to Why2K@Large, linked off of shockwave.com, featuring the director's cuts of shockwave.com's shows, musical remixes, interview outttakes, and an interactive forum and chat room for discussion about the approaching millennial shift. . . .Entertaindom, the Time Warner on-line broadcasting channel, has exercised its option with Brilliant Digital Entertainment, Inc. to add 15 additional new 5-8 minute "Webisodes" for the 3D animated Multipath Adventures Of Superman. This extends the first season of Superman to a full 30 Webisode commitment. Entertaindom has also agreed to give distribution to Brilliant Digital's new 3D animated series based on the character Xena: Warrior Princess, plus eight Webisodes of a new series entitled KISS Immortals (using original KISS music and voices), to be produced in conjunction with the legendary band's 2000 KISS-Immortals concert tour. To accommodate the additional shows, Entertaindom will be launching a new Multipath Channel within its online entertainment complex. . . .Film.com has teamed-up with Troma, the production company responsible for The Toxic Advenger, to bring the stop-motion clay characters of Crapston Villas to the Net. Set in Slumington, a fictional London neighborhood, this ebony comedy is a wild soap opera spoof. The British down-to-Earth blue-collar domestic drama features the voices of Jane Horrocks (Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous and Little Voice in Little Voice) and Alison Steadman (Life Is Sweet). The show originally aired on Britain's Channel 4 and won Best New Program in the 1996 Broadcast Awards (Broadcast is a major British trade magazine). The award signaled the first time an animated series won in an arena primarily dominated by live-action fare.

Interactivity: On December 27, 1999, Activision, Inc. shipped Vigilante 8: Second Offense for the Sega Dreamcast. In this new adventure, players must stop the Coyote terrorist gang that has traveled back through time in an attempt to change the course of events that will allow evil to dominate the world. Developed by Luxoflux Corp., the game features multiple modes of play -- single player quest, arcade and survival mode, two-player versus, cooperative and quest mode and three-four player brawl, team and smear modes. The game also offers multiple play perspectives, i.e. inside the car, behind the car and a split-screen option for multi-player action. The suggested retail price is US$49.95. . . .On January 3, 2000, Activision, Inc. and id Software released Quake III Arena for Macintosh. The on-line multiplayer game features 26 deathmatch and four capture-the-flag levels. The title is available at a suggested retail price of $49.99. id Software offers such titles as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom Ii, Quake and Quake II. . . .On January 5, 2000, Acclaim Entertainment started shipping their South Park Rally for PlayStation with Nintendo 64, PC and Sega Dreamcast to follow shortly. Developed by Tantalus Interactive, the kart-style racing adventure features mission-based game modes and 27 characters from the Comedy Central series. All versions of South Park Rally will include multiplayer modes that feature races and cooperative game modes, including the multiplayer game, Ass Battle. The PC version will support multiplayer gameplay for four players via a local area network and the Internet. The Nintendo 64 and Sega Dreamcast will support up to four-person multiplay and the PlayStation will support two-person multiplay. . . .Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 2 is coming to Sega Dreamcast. In March 2000, Activision, Inc., in collaboration with Disney Interactive, will release Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear To The Rescue for Sega Dreamcast. The new release will be a third-person free-roaming adventure game that uses 3D animation to deliver a unique mix of gameplay elements. As Buzz Lightyear, players take on five big bosses in a quest to save Woody from a toy collector over 15 levels. . . .Hitting the U.S. market April 2000, Humongous Entertainment will bring families their new CD-Rom, Pajama Sam 3: You Are What You Eat From Your Head To Your Feet. Pajama Sam is back to uncover the mysterious disappearance of four Peace Delegates who have not arrived at the Food Pyramid for a Peace Conference. The suggested retail price will be $24.99.