Comcast news article

[MeBear]

Disney Steps in With Child-Friendly Game

41 minutes ago

By ERIK STETSON, Associated Press Writer

- Guns and gore are big business for video game makers. They can be big a headache for parents.

War games and gangster-glorifiers like "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" dominate store shelves, making child-friendly titles hard to find.

With "Toontown Online," Disney steps in to plug the shortfall. Violence in the multiplayer Internet game, set in a vibrant and persistent cartoon world, is rarely much worse than a pie in the face, though anvils sometimes fall from the sky.

In Toontown, players must keep the streets safe from Cogs, drab corporate types who want to stifle fun and remake the town's colorful buildings in their monochromatic image.

To beat the Cogs _ who have names like Head Hunter, Corporate Raider and Number Cruncher _ you'll have to pit laughter against their dreary business tactics.

Players throw pies, drop pianos and use squirt guns while Cogs retaliate with ink sprayed from fountain pens, thrown half-Windsor ties and their highly memorable "glower power."

Even when the Cogs win, players don't die _ they get sad and return to playgrounds, which are safe zones located every few city blocks.

There, players can regain good humor and earn more jelly beans, which are legal tender in Toontown. Players enter mini-games like tug-of-war or dodge-the-Cog mazes to get more jelly beans.

Players can use the sugary currency to buy more pies to throw, new clothes to wear or more furniture for the home each Toontown resident gets.

Mingling with other players is a Toontown cornerstone. Players can team up to battle Cogs or just chat.

Disney designed Toontown's chat system with children in mind. Players who haven't designated each other as friends can only communicate with a "speed chat" system, a drop-down menu of common phrases.

In order to freely type with each other, players must exchange passwords outside of the game, giving parents a chance to screen the people who can interact with their children. Disney's staff also monitors the game's conversations and character names for obscenities.

Adults may find the chat system stifling and the round trips from Cog fights to jellybean games repetitive, but at least parents will know the game is safe. Children, on the other hand, are likely to sink hours into Toontown.

Installing it took a few minutes with a broadband connection, and the game is available now as a 3-day free trial. A CD-ROM version for dial-up modem users hit store shelves Oct. 1.

After the free trial, Toontown costs $10 a month. Subscription plans include six months for $50 and a year for $80.

[Bubbles]

Just called my local game store since today's October 1st and....(I'm on hold while they look) nope they don't have it.

[Pinks]

Children, on the other hand, are likely to sink hours into Toontown?!?!?!! Bwwaaahahaaa!!

[PoppyTwnklhopr]

. Children, on the other hand, are likely to sink hours into Toontown.

This is a perfect example of what happens when you don't do ALL your homework! *giggle* someone should e-mail this feller and tell him who REALLY sinks hours into Toontown!