Gameworks

DreamWorks SKG is parachuting out of the video arcade business, fleeing GameWorks, the company that Steven Spielberg helped found six years ago as a showcase for his passion for designing arcade games. GameWorks struggled to become a profitable business, quickly expanding and then retrenching. Last fall, the company landed in the middle of a firestorm when Washington politicians chided Hollywood for marketing violent entertainment to children.

DreamWorks SKG is parachuting out of the video arcade business, fleeing GameWorks, the company that Steven Spielberg helped found six years ago as a showcase for his passion for designing arcade games. GameWorks struggled to become a profitable business, quickly expanding and then retrenching. Last fall, the company landed in the middle of a firestorm when Washington politicians chided Hollywood for marketing violent entertainment to children.

The Irvine Spectrum Center just got a bit louder. GameWorks LLC opened its revamped multimedia arcade Friday, hoping that shoppers will want to eat and drink while they shoot and kill. For the past nine months, the company has been revamping its Sega City arcade, which opened in the Spectrum in 1996. Nearly double in size, the new GameWorks site is 28,000 square feet of video-game craziness. Players slide into mini go-carts and zoom around an enormous racetrack that loops throughout the center.

For pint-sized zombie hunters like Tony Ly, a decision to bar minors from violent video games at his favorite arcade Friday was about as uncool as revoking James Bond's license to kill. "It's like, why do we not [get] to play the violent games," griped the 13-year-old Garden Grove resident, as he stood amid the whirl of strobe lights at GameWorks in Orange. "We're not going to do these things in real life. It's just a game. It's just graphics."

Call GameWorks a mini-theme park. Call it a high-tech town hall. Call it an interactive nightclub. Just don't call it a big, expensive arcade. The, um . . . venue--a joint project of Sega, Universal Studios and DreamWorks SKG--clearly has aspirations far beyond that of its ancestor, the simple mall arcade. Sure, they share the same basic component--video games, lots of them. But this is the 1990s, so the games reside only steps away from a lounge, restaurant and coffee bar.

For pint-sized zombie hunters like Tony Ly, a decision to bar minors from violent video games at his favorite arcade Friday was about as uncool as revoking James Bond's license to kill. "It's like, why do we not [get] to play the violent games," griped the 13-year-old Garden Grove resident, as he stood amid the whirl of strobe lights at GameWorks in Orange. "We're not going to do these things in real life. It's just a game. It's just graphics."

Bowing to congressional pressure to stop marketing violent entertainment to children, the Steven Spielberg-conceived company GameWorks announced Thursday a policy restricting youngsters from playing certain games at its arcades. This is the first voluntary action within the arcade industry that mandates an age restriction.

The prophets of high technology have for years been predicting that computers would give rise to wholly new forms of entertainment, and thus Walt Disney's announcement earlier this month that it would launch a chain of regional high-tech entertainment centers had an air of inevitability about it. Who better than Disney to create elaborate "virtual reality" attractions that use advanced computer graphics and motion simulators to create the illusion of being in, say, a prehistoric world?

Your adversary may be a doe-eyed, button-nosed Japanese anime character with moves slicker than John Travolta--and his hair gel--during his feverish disco days. As cherubic as your rival appears, it will taunt you, challenge you, boo you and cheer you on. We're talking, of course, about Dance Dance Revolution, the popular dance simulation video game. GameWorks introduced the game last year in all 13 of its stores, including at the Irvine Spectrum, the Block of Orange and Ontario Mills Mall.

Ron Bension, former head of Universal Studios' theme park unit, was named president and chief executive of Sega GameWorks, a video game entertainment center venture between Universal, DreamWorks SKG and game company Sega Enterprises. Bension replaces Michael Montgomery, who left the 4-year-old company to join Digital Coast Partners, a Santa Monica merchant bank for technology companies founded by his brother Jamie.

As a decorated Navy pilot who went from Vietnam War hero to Washington lawmaker, Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham is always in demand to speak for Republican candidates on the hustings. But this year, the five-term San Diego congressman is also a top gun where it really counts: raising money to preserve the wobbly GOP House majority. Cunningham, who faces only token opposition in his own district, has channeled $60,000 to other GOP candidates and raised $200,000 for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Bowing to congressional pressure to stop marketing violent entertainment to children, the Steven Spielberg-conceived company GameWorks announced Thursday a policy restricting youngsters from playing certain games at its arcades. This is the first voluntary action within the arcade industry that mandates an age restriction.

Your adversary may be a doe-eyed, button-nosed Japanese anime character with moves slicker than John Travolta--and his hair gel--during his feverish disco days. As cherubic as your rival appears, it will taunt you, challenge you, boo you and cheer you on. We're talking, of course, about Dance Dance Revolution, the popular dance simulation video game. GameWorks introduced the game last year in all 13 of its stores, including at the Irvine Spectrum, the Block of Orange and Ontario Mills Mall.

The Irvine Spectrum Center just got a bit louder. GameWorks LLC opened its revamped multimedia arcade Friday, hoping that shoppers will want to eat and drink while they shoot and kill. For the past nine months, the company has been revamping its Sega City arcade, which opened in the Spectrum in 1996. Nearly double in size, the new GameWorks site is 28,000 square feet of video-game craziness. Players slide into mini go-carts and zoom around an enormous racetrack that loops throughout the center.

Ron Bension, former head of Universal Studios' theme park unit, was named president and chief executive of Sega GameWorks, a video game entertainment center venture between Universal, DreamWorks SKG and game company Sega Enterprises. Bension replaces Michael Montgomery, who left the 4-year-old company to join Digital Coast Partners, a Santa Monica merchant bank for technology companies founded by his brother Jamie.

Digital Coast Partners, a Santa Monica merchant bank that opened its doors last week, said Friday that Michael Montgomery has joined the firm as a co-managing partner. Montgomery was president and chief executive of Sega GameWorks, a joint venture of DreamWorks SKG, Universal Studios and Sega Enterprises that owns high-tech video arcades. He also spent nine years financing deals at Walt Disney Co. Digital Coast Partners was founded by Montgomery's brother, Jamie Montgomery.

Digital Coast Partners, a Santa Monica merchant bank that opened its doors last week, said Friday that Michael Montgomery has joined the firm as a co-managing partner. Montgomery was president and chief executive of Sega GameWorks, a joint venture of DreamWorks SKG, Universal Studios and Sega Enterprises that owns high-tech video arcades. He also spent nine years financing deals at Walt Disney Co. Digital Coast Partners was founded by Montgomery's brother, Jamie Montgomery.

Top MTV marketing executive John Shea is expected to disclose in the next few days that he is leaving to join Sega GameWorks, the fledging joint venture of interactive entertainment centers launched by video game maker Sega, DreamWorks SKG studio and entertainment giant MCA Inc. As senior vice president of marketing at the cable channel, Shea has supervised all of MTV's marketing programs. He joined the company in 1988 as director of promotions.

The prophets of high technology have for years been predicting that computers would give rise to wholly new forms of entertainment, and thus Walt Disney's announcement earlier this month that it would launch a chain of regional high-tech entertainment centers had an air of inevitability about it. Who better than Disney to create elaborate "virtual reality" attractions that use advanced computer graphics and motion simulators to create the illusion of being in, say, a prehistoric world?

Call GameWorks a mini-theme park. Call it a high-tech town hall. Call it an interactive nightclub. Just don't call it a big, expensive arcade. The, um . . . venue--a joint project of Sega, Universal Studios and DreamWorks SKG--clearly has aspirations far beyond that of its ancestor, the simple mall arcade. Sure, they share the same basic component--video games, lots of them. But this is the 1990s, so the games reside only steps away from a lounge, restaurant and coffee bar.