European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 24, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse A amps photos by Ken George he s everywhere Bob Sipchen the Young Counselor listened carefully to the desperate Call. With the Calm compassion of a radio psychologist she offered her advice a you have to squat Down on All the coloured blocks and when you squat on a really unusual one something strange is going to the Calls for help come at All hours to Nintendo of americans Headquarters in Redmond Wash. A 4 . Plea from a shy child in los Angeles. An afternoon Call from a frustrated housewife on new Yorkus upper East Side. More than 50,000 times a week one of the 140 Counselor Manning the phones in this labyrinth of cubicles offers Comfort and guidance to someone who has reached out to them. A zeus is the father of the gods a cautions an older Counselor stroking his Chin. A you have to talk to a big balding Counselor with tattoos explains a what you do is go Back to the present and find gun Mecca a robot who is translating Peke Peke into to the uninitiated such advice itself might need translation. But for someone lost in the subway of a boy and his Blob or floundering in any of the other 342 Nintendo video games on the Market the Counselor Are a last Hope for salvation. For three years Nintendo a intricately programmed computerized game cartridges and the Nintendo entertainment system that links them to the family television have been americans Best Selling Christmas toy. With Nintendo in almost one third of americans households no one disputes that Nintendo which Rose from the ashes of the mid-�?T80s video craze crash and last year sold about $2.7 billion Worth of games and cartridges a has suddenly become a pervasive possibly even significant cultural Force. The company expects to control about 80 percent of the $5.1 billion video game Market this year despite aggressive marketing by rivals of games that look better on the video screen. In Europe cafes stores carry about 150 different Nintendo games and according to a store spokesman All sell Well. The biggest Sellers Are the super Mario series a including super Mario 3, which Sells very fast whenever it is in Stock a Mission impossible super c and Bayou Billie. The spokesman said these Are not necessarily the most popular games but rather the ones the system has the most Access to. Nintendo a super Mario Brothers King Hippo Mega Man and other characters now appear in morning cartoons a live action Mario Brothers film is being shopped around Hollywood and last Christmas film a the wizard has been criticized As a thinly veiled commercial for Nintendo. Just Why the games Are so seductive has been discussed by researchers and scholars. A the misconception is that video games arc a mindless activity a said Robert Kubey an assistant professor of communications at Rutgers University. A i think by and Large they Are the Best games Kubey says elicit in players a a flow state similar to what psychologist Abraham Maslow termed a speak or. Michael j. Streibel an associate professor in educational technology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison sees another plus. He says that video game players learn a a body knowledge. Its like bicycle Riding except you re dealing with symbols. As a player gets better and better the a better Ness is actually translated to the neurological game players learn to think in a new Way said Streibel a Way that will help in the future. Unless americans learn to navigate the games ethereal realm a where hand Eye coordination and abstract visualization skills replace the familiar feel of a Hammer on a Nail and the whine of a Drill press a they will be left behind by european and japanese computer whizzes he argues. At the same time Streibel is concerned that kids who spend too much time in this rational electronic reality May have trouble dealing with the mundane less than rational world have to return to on occasion. Already some teachers have complained that the slow Pace of the chalkboard and textbook can to compete with the Whiz bang gratification of a Uncle festers los Angeles times
