Sony Corp. is releasing a new safari game this week for its PlayStation 3 videogame console that purposely steers clear of attributes found in most popular videogames: It has no shooting, little action, no winning or losing, and not even an ending. Players simply observe wild animals in the savanna and take virtual photos.
But Sony is hoping that the game, called Afrika, will impress players with its advanced graphics. The developers, who spent nearly four years creating the game -- including two visits to Africa -- packed a fictitious national park with photo-realistic zebras, elephants, lions and dozens of other exotic animals.
Afrika, which goes on sale Thursday in Japan for about $54, is an important test for Sony, which is seeking to broaden its videogame sales beyond a core audience of young male players who love action-packed games. The electronics giant is hoping the game could lead to a new genre of nature-exploration games.
'This is a different approach to interactive entertainment, and some people may not see it as a game,' said Kazuo Hirai, chief executive of Sony's videogame unit.
There is no doubt that Sony is trying a new approach. Because it costs so much to develop games for today's technically advanced consoles, videogame companies often stick to sequels of popular games or surefire hits along familiar themes.
But whether a different tack will succeed in drawing new players to the PlayStation 3 is unclear. 'I prefer games that are a little more challenging and [have] some kind of thinking element rather than just observing,' says Jeremy Howard, a 32-year-old in Tokyo.
PlayStation 3 sales recently have accelerated after a slow launch two years ago, but they still lag behind rival Nintendo Co.'s Wii, which has been more successful at capturing casual game players with innovative, easy-to-play games. Mr. Howard, for example, says he mostly plays Nintendo's Mario Kart racing game with his three small children.
As of June 30, Sony has sold 14.4 million PS3s cumulatively world-wide, compared with 29.6 million Nintendo Wiis and more than 20 million Microsoft Corp. Xbox 360s.
Sony officials say they hope to sell at least 100,000 copies -- respectable in an industry where unit sales must be more than 500,000 to be considered a hit. They hope the game will trigger purchases of PS3s by first-time game players. If the game sells well, Afrika could also help persuade independent publishers to develop newer games that take advantage of the PS3's technological capabilities more fully, says Sony. The company declines to say how much it spent to develop the game.
David Cole, an industry analyst with DFC Intelligence, says most PS3 owners are serious game players who could find Afrika too tame. 'It has a lot of potential, but a lot of the consumer base that might really like that type of game may be tough to attract,' Mr. Cole says.
Another challenge: The PS3 has the ability to render images more realistically than ever before, and developers took extra care with the smallest details like the way muscles ripple when they move. But the digital renderings may not be enough by themselves to impress players, who likely have seen the real thing in zoos or through ubiquitous nature programming on television.
To keep things simple, the game doesn't have features common elsewhere. There is no online capability other than being able to put up a single photograph to share with others. Players also can't customize the character beyond choosing a man or woman, and they never die, though they can faint and get sent back to the base camp if they get too close to dangerous animals.
Nevertheless, some longtime industry observers say the game could draw game players looking for something brand new. 'The graphic quality in this one is so high that it could be fun to watch what the zebras are doing all day,' says Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Enterbrain Inc., which publishes Japan's foremost videogame magazine.
Afrika is a single-player game. The player takes on the role of a photojournalist, exploring and watching the way animals behave. Players can see cheetahs hunting, a band of hyenas stealing another animal's kill, or other scenarios. 'I think there's room for a gorgeous game that can be lazily played,' says Katsumoto Tatsukawa, who created the game with just 25 developers, far fewer than the 100 or more developers that would typically be assigned to a high-profile game.
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索尼公司(Sony)本周将推出一款新的PS3探险游戏。该游戏有意避开了大部分热卖游戏中的元素：没有枪战&#12289;只有很少的动作&#12289;也无所谓输赢，甚至连结局都没有。玩家只是在热带草原上观察野生动物，然后拍些虚拟照片。
不过索尼希望这款名为《非洲》(Afrika)的游戏能凭藉先进的图形处理给玩家带来强烈的视觉冲击。开发者花了近4年的时间完成了这款游戏，甚至曾两赴非洲。游戏中一个虚构的国家公园中随处可见画面逼真的斑马&#12289;大象&#12289;狮子和几十只其他奇异动物。
《非洲》于周四发售，每套单价54美元，可以说它是索尼的一次重要尝试。索尼寄希望于这款游戏来推动电视游戏突破核心玩家市场（这类玩家主要是热爱动作游戏的年轻男性），同时创造一种以自然探索为主题的新游戏类型。
索尼电视游戏部门首席执行长平井一夫(Kazuo Hirai)称，这款游戏提供了一种与众不同的互动娱乐方式，一些人可能都不会将之视为游戏。
毫无疑问，索尼正在尝试一种新的方式。由于为先进的游戏机开发游戏软件的成本是如此高昂，电视游戏公司往往都固守那些热卖游戏的续集或是十拿九稳的熟悉题材。
不过索尼是否能依靠“标新立异”来为PS3吸引新的玩家则还是未知数。32岁的杰里米·霍华德(Jeremy Howard)生活在东京，他称，“我喜欢那种比较有挑战性和需要动点脑筋的游戏，而不仅仅是在那观察。”
PS3两年前发售时成绩不甚理想，虽然最近销售开始加速，但仍然落后于对手任天堂(Nintendo Co.)的游戏主机Wii。而后者凭藉创新和易于上手等特点更成功地吸引了休闲玩家。以霍华德为例，他说他最近主要是陪自己的三个小孩玩任天堂的《马里奥赛车》(Mario Kart)这款游戏。
截至6月30日，索尼在全球已经销售了1,440万台PS3，任天堂的Wii销售量为2,960万台，微软(Microsoft)的Xbox 360销售量为2,000多万台。
索尼的管理人士称，希望这款游戏能至少卖出10万份，对于一个至少要售出50万份才算热卖的行业而言还算不错了。索尼希望这款游戏能吸引那些初次接触电视游戏的玩家购买PS3主机。如果《非洲》的销量不俗，那还会有助于说服那些独立游戏发行商开发出能够更充分利用PS3先进技术能力的新游戏。不过索尼拒绝透露这款游戏的开发费用。
不过DFC Intelligence的行业分析师大卫·科尔(David Cole)认为，玩PS3的人大部分都属于“重口味”玩家，对他们来说，《非洲》可能太平淡。虽然这款游戏有很大潜力，但在真正会喜欢这种游戏的消费群体中，或许大部分都不属于那种能被轻易打动的人。
另一个问题是，虽然PS3能够赋予游戏前所未有的逼真画面，游戏开发商也尤为注意画面的细节处理，例如游戏角色移动时的肌肉收缩。但是，仅仅依靠数字影象本身可能不足以打动玩家。在动物园里，或是通过电视上的自然探索节目，他们很可能都见过真的动物。
为了省事，这款游戏缺少了其他游戏中的常见元素。除了能把一张照片放到网上和他人分享外，就没有别的网上功能了。除了性别，玩家不能更改其他角色设定。还有就是游戏角色永远不会死，如果太接近危险的动物，角色会晕倒，然后被送回营地。
不过，一些资深行业观察人士称，这款游戏可能会吸引那些喜欢新鲜玩艺的玩家。Enterbrain Inc.总裁滨村弘一(Hirokazu Hamamura)称，这款游戏的图像质量是如此之高，哪怕是观察斑马整天都在做些什么都会觉得有趣。Enterbrain Inc.是日本最有名的电视游戏杂志的发行商。
《非洲》是一款单人游戏。玩家在游戏中扮演一名摄影记者，探索和观察各种动物的行为。在游戏中，玩家可以看到猎豹捕食&#12289;土狼劫掠其他动物杀死的猎物，或是其他情节。与其他25名开发者共同打造这款游戏的Katsumoto Tatsukawa称，我认为华丽的游戏也有休闲的玩法。与其他游戏大作动辄上百人的开发团队相比，《非洲》的开发人员要少得多。
