10 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 13, 2000 A RTS Mature audiences only: Nintendo grows up ,A,- The Associated Press Even Nintendo Corp., home to such kid- friendly games as "Super Mario" and "Poke- mon," says it's feeling the pressure to produce more adult-oriented games, a company execu- tive said Monday. With the video game and entertainment indus- tries under fire by the government for marketing such games to children, Nintendo recently released "Perfect Dark," an action thriller in the "first-person shooter" genre -- meaning that the player usually must shoot his or her way out of danger in the game. Nintendo defends "Perfect Dark" - rated "M" for mature by the industry's own Entertain- ment Software Ratings Board - saying that more than half of today's video gainers are 18 or older. "This is the way the demographic's been going for some time," said Perrin Kaplan, vice presi- dent for corporate affairs at Nintendo's subur- ban Redmond headquarters. "But we are very careful in marketing this game to adults and adults only." Kaplan said Nintendo abandoned its usual television advertising in promoting "Perfect Dark," instead relying on well-placed ads on the Internet and in print. The Federal Trade Commission issued a report Monday, claiming that the movie and video game industries are marketing R-rated movies and M-rated video games to children, circumventing the independent protections that each industry has in place. Kaplan defended the ESRB's ratings system. According to Nintendo, up to 85 percent of all games are purchased by adults for children. She said the key was to educate adults on the ratings systems. "We're a young industry, but I believe we can enforce these ratings without having the govern- ment do it for us," Kaplan said. "Perfect Dark" is the only game produced by Nintendo that has been rated "M," though there are some 20 other M-rated games produced by independent studios for Nintendo's game con- soles. Most of Nintendo's games are rated "E" for everyone, while there are another 25 or so games for the Nintendo 64 that are rated "T" for teen-agers 13 and up. Kaplan said the company does not have con- tent guidelines for the studios that publish games for the Nintendo 64, though she said there was some "informal review" of products as part of quality control and testing. Most of the video game industry's most noto- rious M-rated games, including "Resident Evil" and "Quake," are available on the Nintendo 64. E Pdoto courtesy d' fNintendocorp Joanna Dark, the digital heroine of Nintendo's "Perfect Dark," Is rated "M" for mature. I SINISTER ONLINE RETAILERS LURE MILLIONS OF TRUSTING SHOPPERS INTO PURCHASING INFERIOR PRODUCTS. 'F.X. Toole' hits literary paydirt Los Angeles imes LOS ANGELES - Up until a few weeks ago, if you ducked into the L.A. Boxing Club asking aftr a certain "F.X. Toole," you migho rebuffed with a blank stare. A lifted eyebrow. A beat of silence. In the warren of sky-lit rooms overtaken by blue-canvas boxing rings, men and women who hit the bags and dance the canvas hre don't know jack about an FLX. Toole. They've seen neither hide nor hair of this so-called legendary, year-old Irishman clairing kint in "the fancy." This storied, picaresque cut man, who with his magic bag of tricks stops the 'flow of a boxer's blood. This man w~o has written a much-lauded new,- lection of documnentary-harsh yet poetic boxing fiction, "Rope Burns: Stories From the Corner" (Ecco/Harper Collins) set in a iutIr- tet of L.A.'s spirit-proving boxin gyms. F.X. Toole? Doesn't ring a bbl. But they can tell you an earful about another Irish cut man, trainr and gym rat, Jerry Boy d. Everyone knows Jerry Boyd: Tall and lean with silver hair cut brush short and neatly trimmed whiskers and round tortoise-shell spectacle. Looking more professorial than pugilistic, today he's touring 3 busy rooms in a polo shirt, khAs and running shoes; the only clus giving away his fighter's life are a badly banged nose and a missing piece of right ear. "Hey! Jerry! I didn't know you wrote a book!" says a boxer known as "Samson." He ambles over with a photocopied semi-bound manuscript curling at the edges. "I'm working on a book too. Trying to get these kids offa the street. And ou f gangs. Inta the gym." "Good for you!" booms Boyd - Toole - over the blare of warring boomboxes. The real-life cut man, born and baptized as Geraldum Boydspeaks of this unveiling as "opening the curtain." "I really wanted to keep all this separate," says Boyd, leaning bck in his folding chair. He looks Ira man at home with the world _ wher- ever it may take him. "There's zny training partner over there. There's Dub Huntley." He points out a trim, muscular man studying the action. "He's my daddy in boxing. He's iy mnan. Though they're all close, though they're family, he kept all this tight- ly under wraps. So he understands the shock. And figures that he an handle some of the head-scratcg that's bound to go for a while'in each opposing corner. This writer who has appeared to come outo nowhere; this expert cut man wvh is an elegant writer. But the truth of the matter: The writer has been at it 30 years, and this born fighter has been sparring in one world or another for more than twice as long. He's no o much a late-starter as a ae- bloomer. The nom de plume, Francis Xavier Toole, is a nod to the lth century teacher, philosopher an Jesuit saint, and the rapscallion CYBERIZEI" THE SECURITY YOU NEED ON THE NET. * ONLINE ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT lets you keep track of your account anywhere, anytime. ' J * REFUND GUARANTEE* means you won't get stuck with unsatisfactory e-purchases. , * $0 FRAUD LIABILITY so you won't pay a penny for unauthorized e-charges. 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