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A L S O__T O D A Y [ 2 1 S T__B O O K S ] This is just between us, right? By Matthew DeBord Two new books get confused about online privacy - - - - - - - - - - T A B L E__T A L K Is the Net doomed to be a white village? Weigh in on race and the Web in the Digital Culture area of Table Talk - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y Gun mad By Andrew Leonard While the oldest, nastiest debate online remains deadlocked, gun rights activists on the Net get organized (04/20/98) Black and white and Web all over By Janelle Brown African-Americans aren't flocking online -- a new study puts the numbers together (04/17/98) 21st Challenge No. 8 By Charlie Varon and Jim Rosenau Phony Microsoft support letters (04/16/98) Let's Get This Straight By Scott Rosenberg For Microsoft's PR machine, "innovate or die" becomes "innovate or buy" (04/15/98) Let my software go! By Andrew Leonard Netscape was desperate for a new strategy against Microsoft. Eric Raymond had one (04/14/98) - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE 21ST FEATURE ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - - _______

ROYAL TREATMENT FOR GAME REVIEWERS | PAGE 2 OF 2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - Smith was flown to Cleveland last year by Accolade to see a World Series game, as a promotion for its "Hardball 6" baseball game. But the crème de la crème of his junket experiences, he says, was the trip to Versailles. Though the trip seems lavish on the surface, Smith reasons that the company would have spent more by taking a promo road trip through the U.S. with an entourage of PR people and developers. Shortly after taking the boot camp trip, I was given a chance to ride in a stunt plane during San Francisco's Fleet Week air show. Electronic Arts and its Jane's simulator subsidiary had hired a stunt pilot to take reviewers up for loop-to-loops, barrel rolls, the whole stomach-turning thing. Though the stunts are getting more outrageous, gamemakers try to be sensitive to criticism from consumers or game designers who might see junkets as a waste of money. "We try to make it fun [for press people], but you want to keep it on a certain level, and not appear inappropriate," said Noreen Dante, promotions manager at Electronic Arts. "You don't ever want it to come back that a bias on a game was due to the activity instead of the actual game itself. Consumers appreciate that. They're very savvy these days." Angela Edwards, formerly Sega's PR manager, is now director of PR at MicroProse, a PC game publisher. She thinks things have calmed down a bit in game promotions recently, with greater accountability to the bottom line. But with a more competitive industry, companies still have to do eye-catching promotions to get noticed. "There are a lot more players [in the industry] now," she said. "So the pie is divvied up into smaller pieces. Everyone's done the big party and spent big money, but now they say, 'What am I getting out of this?' There's a lot of competition, so you have to really target your marketing money." Edwards helped Sega put on one of the most storied parties in the history of E3, the gaming industry's biggest annual convention: a House of Blues bash in Los Angeles in 1996. People were scalping invites on Sunset Boulevard, Brian Setzer played and Sega spent a minimum of a "few hundred thousand dollars" for everything, according to Edwards. She sees the extravagant events still serving a purpose for companies that can afford them, like Sony and Eidos, building a hip image among the younger convention-goers. At last year's E3 in Atlanta, while the usual big parties drew well, a MicroProse river-rafting event made a lasting impression. James Glave, former editor at GameSpot, remembers the event fondly. A few dozen editors were taken by bus to the Chattahoochee River near Atlanta. They were instructed to leave valuables behind and sent outside, where they found stacks of super-soaker water guns. Beer was served; a big water fight ensued. Everyone piled into rafts and the battle took to the river, with some filling guns with murky river water or beer, according to Glave. Then, they pulled around a bend and came upon a restaurant. They changed into dry clothes and received hot towels with MicroProse logos; waiters arrived with silver platters of hors d'oeuvres. An amazing array of food -- Southern-style ribs, risotto, oysters -- awaited guests under a big tent on the lawn. Night fell, and a mist formed on the river. Then, almost on cue, fireflies came out, dancing in the night. "The party put everything else to shame," Glave said. "Trent Ward, who's been covering the industry for 10 years, said it was the ultimate party for him." Nobody who recalled the party mentioned a particular game, but everyone called it the "MicroProse party." It was an experience -- and a company -- they won't soon forget. SALON | April 21, 1998 Mark Glaser is a San Francisco freelance writer who writes for the Los Angeles Times, Playboy, the San Jose Mercury News and NewMedia. - - - - - - - - - - - -