Video Games Going Casual

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Critics may fume about violent killer video games, but top manufacturers are starting to beat some of their swords into beauty tips, the New York Times reports.


By fall, software developers will start introducing offerings aimed at nudging players to bond with Grandma, balance their hormones and eat their peas.


Ubisoft, the French manufacturer known for its top-selling Rayman game and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, is betting on a vocabulary-building exercise game called My Word Coach.


Also in the works is My Life Coach, which will be packaged with a pedometer and a portable Nintendo DS player that analyzes walking and rewards exercise and a hearty breakfast with game play.


Konami, the Japanese manufacturer of rough-and-tumble sports titles like Pro Evolution Soccer, is poised to offer a beauty care guide on DS consoles. The game player dispenses customized advice based on the player’s basal body temperature and hormone balance.


Those steps reflect an intensifying effort to attract a global mass market for portable video games, which are expected to hit $10 billion in sales this year, according to DFC Intelligence, a game research company in San Diego.


The strategic shifts in the game industry come as critics and government authorities are growing impatient with violence in video games. The justice ministers of the European Union vowed last week to press for stricter regulations on the sale of “killer games” to children.


Read the full New York Times story

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