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NEXT@CNN
A Look At The Hot New Videogames Coming Out This Summer; Terrorists Use Internet To Spread Message; A Look At Women In Gaming Industry
Aired May 15, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Checking the headlines. Tragedy on a highway in Colorado, three people was killed today when a girder from an overpass collapsed onto Interstate 70. The incident happened near Golden and 16 miles west of Denver. The overpass was under construction and it blocked eastbound interstate traffic.
Authorities in Brazil say there are no survivors in the crash of a domestic airliner. The plane with 33 people onboard went down yesterday in a dense jungle in the Amazon. The rough terrain made it difficult for rescue workers to reach that site. There is no word on what caused that crash.
Just a month and a half before Iraq gets its severity back. Violence remains a serious problem in that country. Dozens of insurgents and civilians and coalition forces have died in weekend attacks. At least three American troops have been killed in combat in the last day.
President Bush is saluting men and women in uniform. Earlier today he paid tribute to police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Mr. Bush spoke at the Peace Officers' Memorial in the nation's capitol. And in his weekly radio address, he saluted troops in Iraq and other parts of the world. He also vowed to stay the course in Iraq.
Secretary of State Colin Powell's focus is on the Middle East, and getting the peace process back on track. In Jordan today, he held talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei. Powell calls the meeting constructive. Later he headed to a Dead Sea Resort to attend a world economic summit.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat calls on his people to "terrorize your enemy." the comments came as Palestinians marked the 56th anniversary of the founding of Israel, while Arafat called on Palestinians to remain steadfast in their struggle, he also said he is ready to make peace with Israel.
I'm Betty Nguyen at CNN Center in Atlanta. More in the bottom of the hour. NEXT@CNN begins right now.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN ANCHOR: Hi everybody. I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN terrorism and the Internet age. More and more terror organizations are using the Web to spread their message. So why can't authorities do something to stop them. Put on your game face, it is time again for the annual tech fest from the video game industry. We'll hear big announcements in portable gaming, and tell you about sequels to old favorites, and we will get little serious about the issue of women and gaming, but not too serious.
And we'll tell you how tricky major surgery can be when the patient is a 400-pound gorilla. All that, and more on NEXT.
Yes, we're here in Los Angeles for the tenth anniversary of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, as it's known. The annual video game extravagancies. Now, for a tenth anniversary, they say you're supposed to give tin or aluminum. But the video game industry is raking in gold. Game sales have more than doubled since the first E3 in 1995. Now we'll see what's hot for 2004 later in the program.
But first, our top story this week, terrorism and technology. Increasingly terrorist groups are using the worldwide Web. We saw a disturbing example of that this week with the beheading of an American in Iraq. More from Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Far beyond the gun fire and bombings in Iraq, this video may represent one of the most powerful and growing weapons in the terrorist arsenal. Easy access to the Internet. Terrorist groups, which once had to rely on mainstream media to try to get their messages out, now reach around the world, instantly spreading images and information.
GABRIEL WEIMANN, U.S. INSTITUTE OF PEACE: The Internet is probably the ideal medium for modern terrorism. It provides free access. It's cheap to maintain. There is no selection, no regulation, no laws, nothing limiting them.
FOREMAN: A study by the U.S. Institute of Peace says nearly all active terrorist groups now maintain Web sites, up dramatically from a few years ago. They move the sights around, change their names, but use them constantly to recruit followers, raise money and share information. Including this current offer of gold for the assassination of, among others, the American administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer.
WEIMANN: It's a medium that enables them to target many at the same time. Many of them are using more than one Web site in more than one language, there are different Web sites targeting different audiences.
FOREMAN: Americans may find these latest images of terror simply revolting. But --
CHRIS SIMPSON, AMERICAN: The people who committed this murder did it in video -- videotaped it and put it on the Internet in order to gain a political effect that they wished to gain among the audience that they're mainly interested in talking to. And frankly, it's not the people in the United States, nor is it the people in Europe. It's the people in the Middle East.
FOREMAN: Where terrorists are clearly betting such images will convince others to join their fight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: So why don't the major governments of the world do something about all of this? Well, the simple truth is, with more than a billion Internet users worldwide and the numbers still growing, they can't.
SIEBERG: Turning now to environment news, the government has launched an attack on pollution from off-road diesel engines, that is everything from ferryboats to construction equipment to farm tractors. The new EPA rules are aimed at reducing soot and sulfur emissions, and cutting chemicals that cause smog. This is the final phase of the government's clean diesel initiative, and as Julie Vallese reports some think this initiative could some day put a diesel vehicle in your garage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Think of diesel and think of this. Big trucks, big buses, black smoke and a lot of noise. But new federal rules may change the way consumers look at diesel.
MIKE LEAVITT, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: This is a big deal. We are changing the way the world works in a fundamental way. All of us remember the transition that we went through moving lead out of gasoline. Now to move sulfur out of diesel. It will change the way people live.
VALLESE: And maybe change what Americans drive. About 40 percent of new car sales in Europe are diesel, compared to less than 1 percent in the U.S. for the first time since 1999, Mercedes is introducing a diesel into the American car market. Even Dodge has a diesel prototype of its Ram.
ALLEN SCHAEFFER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DIESEL TECHNOLOGY FORUM: 2007 marks a very important milestone with the introduction of cleaner diesel fuel and new heavy-duty engine emission standards. Which will be 90 percent lower in emissions than those built today.
VALLESE: To demonstrate how clean these vehicles are, consider this white hanker chief test. Place it over the exhaust, rev the engine, and it's as clean as when it started. Even environmentalists are giving thumbs up.
FRED KRUPP: We're pleased that they've taken a problem that public health experts knew was very serious, that the public understands is serious. The problem of diesel exhaust. Ad done the right thing.
VALLESE: Historically Americans haven't embraced diesel. But if gas prices remain to be high, that could change. Diesel is 30 percent more fuel efficient than gas-powered vehicles, gets more miles to the gallon, and now it is also cleaner.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SEIBERG: Well environmentalists are also happy about another announcement this week. On Monday Monsanto said it's dropping plans for selling genetically engineered wheat. The wheat is resistant to Monsanto's roundup herbicide. This would allow the farmers to spray plants without harming them. But eco groups, farmers, consumers and food companies worldwide oppose the plan since wheat is generally used in bread and other foods for human consumption. Monsanto will continue to work in biotech corn and soybeans that are more often used as animal feed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming up if you're tired of paying late fees for movie rentals, you might be interested in movies that self- destruct. We'll explain.
Also ahead, a look at what's making gamers go gaga at the E3 Videogame Convention.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: You know, here at E3, there are about 800 gazillion video games. So joining us now to help sort through some of them is a man's whose license plate is actually Game Guy. Mark Saltzman you know we're seeing a lot of sequels again this year. Why so many sequels?
MARK SALTZMAN, CONSUMER TECH: Well video games cost millions and millions to make these days, sometimes upwards of $25 million. So publishers don't always want to take a chance on a new idea. The good news however unlike Hollywood, video sequels are often better than their predecessors.
SIEBERG: A lot of anticipation with "Halo 2" the initial "Halo" it helped to sell the X-Box for Microsoft. What can we expect from "Halo 2?"
SALTZMAN: Right. Well you are right; 4 1/2 million copies of "Halo" have sold. The biggest X-Box game that they've got. So in the sequel, the biggest difference now is you can log on live, by X-Box live. This is what gamers want to do, so you can play competitive with your friends.
And again its humans versus aliens in these beautiful lush environments, great vehicles that you can jump into and hijack. And lots of great weapons. A lot of fun. Coming out November 9, for the X- Box.
SIEBERG: All right, well we have a few more 2's to get to. Another one, "Half Life 2," a big title from Val. This is talked about for a long time. Is this going to be a lot different from the original "Half Life?" Because that came out quite a while ago.
SALTZMAN: Right, it came out in 1998. And in fact it won more than 50 games of the year awards that year. The sequel is similar in the since that you once again play Gordon Freeman, a scientist who vows to save the world from an alien invasion. But this time around the graphics are absolutely jaw dropping. Real physics, you know a pebble is going to have different physics then a two-ton truck and we're seeing characters, virtual actors, if you will, with more than 40 facial muscles. And with real animation. And so we're going to see a lot of fun, a lot more multi-player games and tools that allow people to create their own mini games as well, built into the platform.
SIEBERG: Now the Sim series from Electronic Arts and Maxes. There have been so many Sims titles. The Sims 2 coming out. But a little twist, right with the characters in it?
SALTZMAN: Right. There is a lot buzz on the show floor about this Sims 2 from Will Right, this time around, not only do you get to play around with the lives of these little Sims, or simulated people and take care of their house and their careers, but there's actually what they call Sim DNA this time around. Two
Sims can mate and have offspring. And you're now going to follow a Sims life from baby to toddler to adult to death. They hope it will evoke emotion on to the flair. Because you'll grow attached to these characters. So a very ambitious game, but it looks amazing.
SIEBERG: We were speaking about movies earlier, there are a lot of movie tie in's with games. Spider-Man big game, big movie. Spider Man 2 coming out. What's going to be different this time?
SALTZMAN: Right, well we have to give credit to the actors, and they do great with their movie-based franchises. Spider Man 2 which is losing based on the movie it is the same name, it's going to now allow characters to play, of course, as Spider-Man, but in a huge, huge New York City. I mean the first game is pale in comparison to how large this interactive city is going to be.
You are going to be able to swing around from building to building. You're going to take part in many mini-tasks, like throwing purses snatched. Of course Spider-Man will catch that and zoom down and take care of that. And there's of course a much bigger epic story. So gamers, especially fans of the film are going to love this one.
SIEBERG: All right, Mark Saltzman, thank you for joining us.
SALTZMAN: Thank you.
SIEBERG: In other tech news, getting a rental movie back to the video store on time is, well, mission impossible for a lot of busy people. Now there's a new option for some procrastinators, disposable DVDs and as John Zarrella reports they have one catch. They really do self-destruct.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Belle Gonzalez is a movie fanatic. Every weekend she leaves Blockbuster with an armful of rental DVD. Like many people the only thing Gonzalez doesn't care for is making sure the movies get back on time, and who in the family is going to take them.
BELLA GONZALEZ, VIDEO CUSTOMER: We sit around the table, which's going to take them back this time. You know. Mostly it's always me bringing them back. But if I let someone else, that's when I get charged with a late fee.
ZARRELLA: Now for Gonzalez and everyone who would prefer a toothache to a late fee, there's an alternative. Playing at select convenience stores and pizza delivery outfits, the easy-d a no-return disposable DVD, distributed by Buena Vista Home Entertainment, part of Disney. The easy-d is being test marketed across Florida and in several other cities around the country.
ALAN BLAUSTEIN, CEO FLEXPLAY: Consumer will find the product in this type of package. When they remove it from this package, the disk will be red. After 48 hours, the disk will have turned black. Once the disk is black, the DVD player will no longer play the disk. It is that simple from a consumer standpoint.
ZARRELLA: The disposable DVDs cost $5.99, compared $3.99 for a rental. And the number of titles while growing is still limited, about 45 has been released so far. Rental giant Blockbuster doesn't see the disposable DVD as much of a threat to its market. With the ez-d, Blockbuster officials say you don't get what they offer. "You don't get the directors cuts or the deleted scenes or interviews with the stars. Those added features that you get if you were purchasing or renting the product." At this point, the ez-d is not a threat to run rental companies out of their $9 billion a year business. It's just an alternative for consumers who like one-stop shopping and don't like to play beat the clock to the drop box.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ahead on NEXT@CNN meet a man who makes your commute safer by taking risks with his own driving.
But next, how Nascar is helping American troops in Iraq.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: You know, sometimes speed is a good thing. In Iraq, quick action can save lives. Marine helicopter crews training in battlefield tactics are getting advice from some very speedy people, the folks of Nascar. Paula Zahn explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA ZAHN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The high speed, high stress, and high stakes world of Nascar. No place on the track is more stressful and critical to the driver than the pit stop. Here a well choreographed ballet of coordination and teamwork can save .01 of a second, the difference between winning and losing. Off the racetrack, no one understands this need for speed better than marine helicopter crews. Like Nascar pit crews, they race against time in the battlefield to service combat helicopters. ROB WINCHESTER: We have the pit crews that come in and will service our car on the track, and everything's known for speed. And the same thing is for here in a combat situation, with these helicopters rearming and refueling.
ZAHN: For the marines, it can mean the difference between life and death. So the Marine Corps teamed up with Nascar's best to learn how to take their high-speed track tactics onto the battlefield and shave precious seconds off their time.
WINCHESTER: Every second counts in either losing or winning. It's the same thing in the battlefield.
ZAHN: Marine helicopters can only travel between 100 and 300 miles without refueling. In combat, aircraft can't always fly back to base for refueling and rearming. The solution? The Marine Corps version of the pit stop called a faarp (ph) forward area arming and refueling point. A helicopter low on fuel or ammo can land at a mobile station, get refueled, and rearmed and be back in battle in a matter of minutes.
CAPT. PETER BELEJ, HELICOPTER PILOT: The team leader, usually a staff sergeant or senior sergeant, will go ahead and make sure the truck is up and running. That there's pressure in the hose. And that everybody's ready to plug in and go.
ZAHN: Unlike Nascar, this Marine crew has to deal with uneven terrain, equipment clogging dust and high winds, and more importantly, enemy fire. Helicopters on the ground are like sitting ducks. The same kinds of challenges facing the Marines daily in Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we can't provide a good, on-station time for the aircraft, the aircraft can't support the troops on the ground.
ZAHN: The purpose of the exercise is to improve the performance in the field of battle, especially in Iraq. It now takes about five minutes to refuel and rearm a combat helicopter in a war zone. The goal is to shave a minute off the process, so the crews will spend one less minute sitting on the ground and one less minute in the line of fire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: Well there's a man in Connecticut who has what a lot of people might call a dream job. He test-drives cars. Everything from mini's to Hummers. And his opinions influence car buyers across the country. Fred Katayama reports in this week's edition of "Getting There."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My mother thought I had 10-W-40 in my blood and put antifreeze on my cornflakes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He does love cars. FRED KATAYAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): David Champion does homework as he drives to work on the hot youth mobile Toyota's Scion XB.
DAVID CHAMPION, "CONSUMER REPORTS:" One of the things that really peeves me is this radio. The power button is sort of over there.
KATAYAMA: David may have had a say when you bought your car. He directs the auto-testing center at "Consumer Reports" that puts out the bible for car buyers. He tests cars for a living.
CHAMPION: It's a really fun job, you know, to get to drive 50 or 60 cars a year. You know, who couldn't love that job.
KATAYAMA: He won't disclose how much he gets paid, except to say, not much. He tests the bumper. To see how much damage the Scion would suffer if it struck another car.
CHAMPION: Took it pretty well.
KATAYAMA: One sign of just how sweet his job is, David has been director of this center the world's largest auto testing facility of its kind for seven years. But he's only the third director in the center's 68-year history. What drives him is the open road. He takes verbal notes as he takes the Mazda 3 for a spin.
CHAMPION: It is relatively noisy. But overall, in terms of noise, not too bad. Give it a score of 3.0.
KATAYAMA: On the wet day we visited, he pushed the Subaru to the edge and hydroplaned.
CHAMPION: No caffeine necessary after this one?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no. Maybe a new pair of underwear.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: Sounds like a fun job, a tad scary at times. Of course we're also having a lot of fun here at the e3 Gaming Convention. When we come back, we'll check out the buzz around the next generation of portable gaming gear.
And later in other news archaeologists are uncovering a t-rex skeleton in remote part of Montana. Find out how you can get in on the dig.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: Welcome back to NEXT@CNN.
You know, for many gamers, there's no off switch, there's no pause button, they want gaming on the go, they want it all the time and these days with PDAs and cell phone gaming, you can have that. And here at E3, several companies have announced that they are going venturing into the hand-held market, Sony being one of them. They unveiled their PSP or PlayStation Portable, this week. The idea behind the PSP is you can combine a number of different multi-media files so you can play movies on the go, music on the go, as well as having that gaming experience. And Sony says it will be coming out in North America sometime early 2005, end of the year in Japan. But again, gaming on the go and they did show some of the games they will be offering when PSP hits the market.
Now, Nintendo, they have been in this business for a long time with hand-helds, with the Game Boy, very recognizable brand, and they are not sitting back while Sony comes out with its PSP, they are talking about the Nintendo DS. Why DS? Well, dual screen, if you can see here there's a screen on the top and a screen on the bottom. You can close it up here, it's sort of a clamshell design. Nintendo saying they can have sort of a map, for example, on the top screen and game play on the bottom. A lot of different possibilities even touch screen capabilities. And they're saying they're going to come out with this by the end of the year. Also backwards compatible so you can play all of your Game Boy games on this, as well.
Now, speaking of touch screen, there's a device from a company called TapWave. This is the Zodiac. TapWave is a startup company was formed just a couple of years ago. The Zodiac is actually also -- it's a palm-based device, like a PDA, so you can play your games on here and have it as an organizer, as well. There are a couple of different Zodiac designs. But, you can see here it sort of has a different type of form than the DS. Looks a little bit like Sony's PSP. So, this is the TapWave Zodiac.
Now, Nokia came out with its Engage device a little while ago, and the critics weren't necessarily wowed by it, so they came out with this for North QD, this is coming out in North America in June. You can see here it's also a phone. It's one of the only hand-helds that's also a phone, in addition to being able to play games on it. You put the games in the back. Nokia saying they are trying to capture that social element of gaming, so you can play online with somebody. And, that's the Engage QD coming out in June.
Now these are not the only companies venturing into the hand-held market. I think I counted more than half a dozen companies all coming out with a new hand-held device in the next year or so. And there are also, of course, new software companies who are putting out new games for your cell phones and your PDA, so really there's no excuse for not being able to game on the go.
Outside of E3, Coca-Cola has come up with a different sort of game. Over the next couple of months, more than 100 special cans will be hidden in packs of Coke. Now, these cans are really cell phones equipped with a global positioning system transponder. You press the button, the can calls Coke, and the soft drink company tracks you down to deliver a prize. The ads show a helicopter delivering an SUV. Who needs the postal service? I guess for Coke, things go better with GPS.
I game titles like Pitfall, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Packman, if they make you reminisce for the videogames of days gone by. Well you know what? You're not alone. Because retro is cool again. We're here at E3, in the classic gaming area. And I'm joined right now by Chris Morris from CNN "Money."
And Chris, we both grew up during the '80s when videogames were just getting a foothold in the industry and becoming popular with people. But, why are they so popular for people now?
CHRIS MORRIS, CNN "MONEY": Well, the fact of the matter Daniel, is that the gamers are getting older, the average player is 29 years old, today. The average buyer of games is 36 years old, and this is a part of their life, this is something that they hold dear to them. Just like classic '80s music and '70s music has had its time to cycle back, now we're seeing that with videogames.
SIEBERG: A lot of people reminiscing about videogames. Now, one thing about older videogames or classic games is that they're very easy to play, aren't they. There's no -- you don't need to know a history of the game or understand anything about how the controller works.
MORRIS: Right. They're also something that you can just play for a little bit and go away. But, if you look at X-Box or PlayStation controllers today, they have a lot of buttons on them, they have a couple triggers and they can be real intimidating. But, if you have something like, we have the classic Atari 2600 here, it's pretty simple, it's a joy stick and one button. It's real easy to pick up and learn to play.
SIEBERG: All right, this is the Atari 2600 system, here. I actually grew up playing, I should say first of all Commodore -- what are some of the other ones that you can remember when you were growing up?
MORRIS: Well, some of the big ones were the Intellivision, which was one of the first to come out. There was also ColecoVision, there was the NeoGeo system, also. But when you get down to it, the games that people think of when they think of classic games are the big cabinets that stood in the pizza parlors and places like that.
SIEBERG: Well, the good news here at E3 in the classic gaming area, you don't need any quarters for these arcade machines. So maybe we can play some games in a bit.
Researchers with NASA and the National Science Foundation say they have found a huge impact crater 100 miles off the northwest coast of Australia. They believe a meteor four to seven miles across created the crater when it hit 250 million years ago. At that time the area was dry land. But, even though it was long before the dinosaurs lived, the earth was still teeming with life. The researchers say the impact caused the greatest extinction in the history of the earth known as the "Great Dying."
Well, a new civilian altitude record was set this week. Thursday morning, a strangely shaped craft called "White Knight" rolled onto a Mohave Desert runway carrying under its belly, "SpaceShipOne." Fifty minutes after takeoff, "SpaceShipOne" separated from "White Knight" and rocketed 40 miles above the earth. Now, the ship is designed to go 62 and a half miles high. That's the edge of space. Aviation pioneer Burt Rutan and his company scaled composites, created the craft in their quest to win the X Prize. That's $10 million to be given to the first privately funded group to send three people into space and then repeat the feat with the same craft within two weeks.
Well, something else up in the sky has folks in Mexico talking. The Mexican air force released pictures of 11 objects flying by a drug surveillance plane in March. The crew turned on an infrared camera after spotting the objects on radar. Mexico has a long-time fascination with UFO reports. As of now though, there's no further info on this one, no abductions, no alien invasion, no TV mini series, at least not yet. Well, we'll be sure to keep you posted.
Scientists explain most reports of little green men as space debris, missiles, weather phenomenon, or just good old-fashioned hoaxes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Still to come, a look at the videogame industry from the women's perspective. Our characters like Lara Croft good role models?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: Here at E3, there are mostly male gamers and editors in attendance. But you know, there are some women here, as well. And we have gathered together five female editors from Ziff Davis to learn the finer points of the female perspective in gaming. Hope you guys can help us out.
Is it tough for women to get into gaming? Is it intimidating with the men around -- Jennifer.
JENNIFER TSAD, "ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY": Well, I mean, I think the biggest problem is the stereotypes people have about women gamers. People think that women only like to play -- you know, puzzle games and Barbie games, I mean, it's true that a game like the Sims, which is sort of a doll house game does appeal to women, but women also like -- you know, first-person shooters and fighting games and racing games. All I can say is, a woman can play any kind of game, and any girl out there should just pick up the controller and go for it.
SIEBERG: Zoe, I'm going to ask you about a fitness game that we saw here at E3, targeted for women. In fact, it says it's for mommy is she is sick about kids buying games, maybe it's a game she can play. Do you think that kind of idea will work?
ZOE FLOWER, "OFFICIAL PLAYSTATION MAGAZINE", Well, I think going on what Jen said, it doesn't really help with the stereotyping, you know, I mean, none of us here are mommies, so I can't really comment on that. But what I can say is that I don't think it is supporting losing that stereotype about what a girl gamer is, and maybe there is a casual market for that kind of a product. SIEBERG: Jeanne, we were talking about the Sims earlier. Are there a lot of women interested in the idea of playing in a simulated world?
JEANNE KIN TRAIS, "COMPUTER GAMING WORLD": It's actually extremely popular with women, they're finding and what's so great about the Sims is that it doesn't -- first of all, you don't die. Women are afraid of playing a game and dying. Well, in this game, all you have to be is be yourself, or you can role play and do a lot of things in social situations that you normally wouldn't do and it allows for a lot of interesting situations, to say the least.
SIEBERG: Lara Croft is always a reference. Is she a fair icon for women gamers?
KRISTENE SALVATORE, "COMPUTER GAMING WORLD": I'm not sure if there's any such thing as one particular icon for women gamers. I mean, it's like any media, you know, when you see a good role for a woman on a television show or in a movie, that's what's really exciting. I mean, for me, what would be compelling about picking a game up would be the game play, and would really have very little -- I mean, a compelling character is great, but I wasn't interested in checking out Tomb Raider because of Lara Croft, I was interested in checking it out because it's an interesting game.
But women are sometimes the ones getting beat up. There's violence against women. And Dana, how do you as a woman respond to that, especially with say, a game like grand theft auto where women can be beat up in the game? Do you find that offensive?
DANA JONGEWAARD, "OFFICIAL PLAYSTATION MAGAZINE": You can question a Rock Star why they chose to include that, but what it comes down to is that it doesn't have to be part of the game. That's up to the gamer's choice, so if people in the game are choosing to beat up the women, then it kind of says more about the gamer than it does the game as a whole. I've played Grand Theft Auto, and I didn't run around beating up women and the game was still just as fun.
SIEBERG: All right you guys, thanks so much for joining us here. Have you guys heard of the "Playboy" game, have you seen it?
CROWD: Yeah.
SIEBERG: Are you -- so the jury's still out on that one?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a great game for boys.
SIEBERG: All right. Well we did get a chance to look at, and in fact, coming up, we're going to have more about this "Playboy" game, which is based on the life of Hugh Hefner. You can slip into the slippers. You're not going to want to miss that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID KIRKPATRICK, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE EDITOR: The internet started out as a way for professors and academic researchers to communicate with each other. Then in the very early '90s, the worldwide web was invented. And soon after that, the browser was invented and that really what was led to the incredible explosion that we now think of as the internet. You're seeing the internet change communication in increasing number of ways. E-mail was one of the first killer aps of the internet. The next one is instant messaging and now we're moving towards telephone calling and voice communication, and even video calling.
The Internet has also had an enormous impact in how we conduct commerce. How we buy and sell, both as individuals and as businesses. The people who originally invented the internet had no idea what it would end up being used for. It's changing so fast, and as compute are power grows and software gets more efficient, we're going to be able to use the internet for so many amazing things, that we can't even possibly imagine it today.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEMI OKE, CNN CORRESPODNENT: For an owl, a bird's eye view has got to be sharp and focused. These predators must see and snatch prey in a split second. But cataracts in both eyes left this great horned owl, Minerva, helpless because she couldn't hunt. A wildlife rescue group and the University of Wisconsin Veterinary School worked to return her to the wild. They say that because animal rehab centers are all full up with injured owls, if this bird could not go back to the woods, she would have to be euphonized.
DR. CHRIS MURPHY, VETERINARIAN: It had one chance at survival and that was to be released.
OKE: Donating their services, surgeons removed the cataracts and implanted custom lenses restoring Minerva's sight to normal.
MURPHY: She looks good...
OKE: The group Wildlife of Wisconsin paid for the anesthesia and other drugs, as well as care for Minerva following surgery. After a few weeks of rehab, and some practice hunts, Minerva was fitted with a radio transmitter so she could be tracked and returned to the woods of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, named after the goddess of wisdom and war, Minerva also displayed some serious attitude during her time with humans.
JERRY THEYS WILDLIFE OF WISCONSIN: We've had quite a few great horned owls. This is by far the orneriest great horned owl we have ever had.
OKE: It was a less than spectacular takeoff, but mice beware, the bird with a whole new view of the world is back in the hunted.
I'm Femi Oke, and that's "Cool Science."
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SIEBERG: Well, another majestic bird is back from the brink of extinction. Just 40 years ago there were fewer than 500 pairs of bald eagles in the continental United States. Their numbers began declining more than a century ago because of hunting and loss of habitat. But, a couple of actions, the banning of the pesticide DDT and the addition of bird to the Endangered Species List, has helped restore them to more stable numbers. A new report from the group, Environmental Defense says, today, more than 7,600 pairs now nest and soar in the lower 48 states.
Well, a nasty cough and a 400-pound gorilla is a scary thing. When Kooby's caretakers at the San Francisco Zoo checked him out, they discovered the long-time resident would need major surgery. Rusty Dornin has more on how this great ape got through it.
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RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kubi may not be the king of the jungle. But this gorilla is the great ape at the San Francisco Zoo, and one that had very bad bronchitis.
MARY KERR, KUBI'S KEEPER: When it gets very bad, he gets quite lethargic, goes off his food. And you see, he just coughed then. See, he's coughing again.
DORNIN: A cough that worried his keeper of 26 years, Mary Kerr.
KERR: Hi, handsome.
DORNIN: And the veterinarians at the zoo. His right lung was diseased. And it was heart and lung surgeons at San Francisco Medical Center who decided it needed to be removed. As far as anyone here knew, it would be a first and Kubi's chances would be 50-50, but without it, the doctors claimed he would not live much longer than his 29 years. So he was drugged, taken out of his cage, and across to the zoo's operating room where an army of medical staff awaited. First, they checked the X-rays.
DR. DAVID JABLONS, USCF SURGEON: All of this hazy white marking and some of this is representative of chronic destroyed bronchiectatic lungs.
DORNIN: Assured Kubi's vital signs were stable, they began. Seven hours later, one gorilla, one lung lighter, and the groundbreaking operation was over.
JABLONS: It went great, really better than expected. He had a very diseased right lung.
DORNIN: But recovery for a 400-pound gorilla can be tricky, especially one that doesn't like his medicine.
DR. FREELAND DUNKER, SR. VETERINARIAN, SAN FRANCISCO ZOO: We have mechanical pumps that will be delivering antibiotics from under his skin. DORNIN: His keepers say for Kubi, like humans, healing can be more than a physical process.
(on camera): One of the most important parts of his recuperation will be emotional, keeping him close to his favorite females.
(voice-over): So he will be kept inside with his favorite consort and five-year-old daughter. Never far will be his ever watchful keeper, keeping her fingers crossed.
KERR: It's just like a wonderful friend, you know, that you've known for a long time. I mean, how many friendships do you have for 26 years?
DORNIN: And one she hopes to have a lot longer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: Do you ever get a desire to go on a dig? But you can't find any paleontology pals to join you? Now you can watch the excavation of a 65 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex named Wyrex is a secret location in Montana from your computer. The real site of the T. rex named It's a secret location in Montana. The website is easier to find, though. That's an unearthingtrex.com. There are daily updates of all the bones found, a bone map, and plenty of details about when and where these giants roamed the earth. The dig is expected to last about three weeks.
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SIEBERG: Yes, we are at the Playboy Mansion, a place where few people get to go. But thanks to a videogame, you can go there as well. The game is coming out in about November 1 for X-Box, PC, PlayStation II, and the whole idea behind it is you play as Hugh Hefner.
HUGH HEFNER, PLAYBOY FOUNDER: What is happening with this game is a kind of a recreation, obviously, in video terms, in terms of my life. The creation of the mansion, the creation of the business, living the life, the life has been a fantasy life. This is a fantasy game.
SIEBERG: Is there going to be elements of Playboy in the game, like nudity and photo shoots and that kind of thing?
HEFNER: There will be limited nudity as presented by the association.
SIEBERG: You'll be publishing a magazine; you'll be responsible for all different elements of the Playboy mansion, and putting it together at the end to try and of course be more successful, you can actually play Hugh Hefner in different eras of his life, whether it be in the '60s, '70s, '80s, or today, as well. And there are just a whole bunch of different places to explore in the game. It looks very much like a sim-based game, or a simulated game where you can wander around different parts of the mansion and who knows, maybe even throw a party like this one.
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SIEBERG: And finally, you know, videogames can be pretty realistic, apparently sometimes too realistic. According to the "U.S. News and World Report" magazine, one day last month the government's threat matrix featured prominently a reclusive and evil millionaire named Don Emilio Fullchi. It seems that someone tipped the FBI that the chemical attacks of London and Washington. The day went on, nothing happened and a White House staffer decided to run a Google search on Fullchi. Well, a lot of you probably know what he found. Fullchi is a character in the videogame in the videogame Headhunter.
Well, that's about all the fun and games we can pack into one show. But here's a quick peek of what's coming up next week.
You've seen unmanned aerial vehicles used in wartime, well now they're used to study a tempest of a different sort: Lightning storms. That's coming up on NEXT.
Until then, let us hear from you, you can e-mail us at any time at NEXT@CNN.com.
Thanks so much for joining us this week, and thanks to all the folks here at E3.
For all of us, I'm Daniel Sieberg, we'll see you next time.
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