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D e c e m b e r 1 5 ,1 9 9 9
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MTV’s marriage of computer and TV: ‘webRIOT’ is game
A ssociated P ress
My final score last Thursday: 2,692
points. Not so good. Especially
compared to frontrunnerHedStand,
who by then had racked up 4,045.
But I was happy just to be in the
game.
That’s the charm o f “webRIOT,”
MTV’s new on-air/online music
quiz. As the latest leap forward in
the race toward media convergence,
“webRIOT” lets everyone, on- and
off-camera, play.
Well, not exactly everyone. But
anyone. A nyone with a TV, a
personal computer and Internet
access _ plus the forethought to log
on early enough to be among the
maximum o f 25,000 who get to
compete with the studio contestants.
“We wanted to do the definitive
music-trivia game show,” explains
B rian
G ra d e n ,
M T V ’s
programming vice president. “Then
we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it great if
everybody could play in their own
living rooms?’
“Then we thought, ‘This is the age
o f the In tern et. It M U ST be
possible.’”
Then they spent two long years
thinking up how.
“WebRIOT” premiered last week.
Airing weekdays at 5 p.m. EST
(and at 5 p.m. Pacific in a separate
edition for M TV’s W est Coast
feed), it’s fun just to watch in couch-
potato mode.
What you see is four players in a
high-tech setting with TV monitors
and silvery hoses that look like
heating ducts. They are known only
by th e ir o n lin e nam es (on
T h u rsd a y ’s show: C heriStem ,
D aD ream , B ru ja and the
aforementioned HedStand).
The host is Ahmet Zappa _ he with
the shaved pate and rubber face _
who keeps things moving at Pentium
velocity. And to reinforce the
“virtual” flavor, Zappa interacts
with the players not in person, but
from a large video screen.
The game is simple. Two rounds of
multiple-choice questions pop up
during clips from music videos.
Then a speed round between the
two finalists determines the day’s
champ. The winner o f this Los
Angeles-based show gets a neat
prize ... like maybe a trip to New
York City.
Fine. But what if watching from the
sidelines isn’t enough for you? What
if you want to put yourself online
and on the line, as a real-time
competitor?
Well, MTV wants to serve you.
Rick Holzman, vice president of
MTV Online, explains that when
the network’s online division was
launched five years ago, “we knew
we had the audience that was media-
savvy,
early
a d o p te rs,
multiexperiential. We said, ‘We
need to be in this.’”
TV /PC program m ing hybrids
followed: an auction with bids made
online; a music-video show with
online chat; and, of course, MTV’s
popular “Total Request Live,” in
which video requests are submitted
via e-mail.
Then “w ebRIO T’ was fomented:
“The world’s first interactive online
television game,” as Zappa puts it
at the top o f the show.
But to go interactive, you must first
go to the webRIOT W eb site
(w ebR IO T .M T V .com )
and
download the necessary software.
Forme, “downloading software” is
the 1990s eq uivalent o f that
dismaying phrase “some assembly
re q u ire d .” But in this case,
everything went smoothly for both
me and iny computer.
So I was ready the day “webRIOT”
premiered and I logged on a good
half-hour before airtime. Not good
enough. A lready 25,000 other
viewers had shut me out. The next
day, I was there a little earlier, but
ag ain the ship had sailed.
Wednesday, I got in, but through
some sort o f glitch I was cut off
before the show began.
But last Thursday, success! After
logging on an hour beforehand, I
was part o f the In Crowd when
“webRIOT” hit the air.
As the game began, my PC screen
cued me what to do and kept a
running tally o f my score. I typed
my answ ers on my keyboard.
Meanwhile, my eyes and ears could
remain fixed on the TV. As someone
who can walk and chew gum at the
same time, I found it was a snap.
The questions weren’t.
Sample: In addition to the 1996
inauguration, LL Cool J also
performed at Bill Clinton’s (1)
impeachment hearings; (2) White
House Christmas party; (3) 30th
wedding anniversary; (4) 50th
birthday party.
Not that I knew it, but the correct
answer was (4).
During the commercial break, I
found m yself in a chat room with
other online players. I had very little
to contribute to their m usical
discussion and my game score was
nothing to brag about. But I did type
a jeering response to a commercial
for a department store we were all
seeing on our respective TVs.
FRAZIER: “Who shops THERE?”
POLO2743: “No one!”
Then I understood, ifl hadn’tbefore.
“WebRIOT,” with its “convergence
experience,” is kind o f silly. But it’s
pretty cool. And it’s the future.
‘Pokemon’ fr o m p a g e 2
definitely the dominant force in the
toy industry.”
Nowhere is that more obvious than
at the Pokemon Center behind
Tokyo Station, which is easily
identifiable by the lines outside _
stretching 400 people or so on
weekends.
Along with the standard software,
trading cards and action figures, the
store carries Pokemon mouse pads,
Pokem on c o o k ie s, Pokem on
spatulas, Pokemon chopsticks.
There are 151 Pokemon characters,
ranging from Diglett, a tiny mole
like character, to Onix, with a face
that looks like a rock.
Each monster_a misnomer actually,
since most o f the characters are
deliberately cute _ has its own
powers, which can be enhanced or
changed to battle its opponents.
That means kids have to strategize.
And therein lies a large part o f the
gam e’s appeal: It makes kids think.
Pokemon is expected to account for
20 percent o f all Christmas toy sales
in the United States this year. Its
star, the cuddly but deadly Pikachu,
has graced the covers o f both Time
and the New Yorker.
Sales o f Pokemon stuff in Japan
alone added up to $5.85 billion last
year _ but its true significance may
transcend mere sales figures.
Japan’s economy_just now getting
out from under its worst slowdown
since World War II, _ has lost the
shine it once had. So Pokemon’s
invasion o f America is seen by many
as evidence that Japan may be down,
but certainly isn’t out.
CHICKEN
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