COMPANY TOWN : MCA Hopes ‘Jurassic’ Can Keep 3DO From Extinction : Technology: The interactive game, based on the movie, arrives in stores today.

The silhouetted Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, the dramatic musical score, the massive advertising campaign splashing the red, yellow and black “Jurassic Park” logo everywhere. No, it’s not a flashback to last summer. It’s the launch of the 3DO video game version of MCA/Universal’s mega-movie, which arrives in stores today.

Last year, the high-tech dinosaur film broke all box office records. This time around, MCA hopes “Jurassic Park Interactive” will help rescue 3DO, one of its high-profile multimedia investments.

Once the Hollywood darling of multimedia start-ups, 3DO--of which MCA and parent Matsushita own a hefty chunk--has been floundering since the launch of its game machine last fall, in part because of the dearth of good software to play on it. Investors are counting on “Jurassic,” which was developed internally by 3DO, to boost sales of the Redwood City, Calif., company’s “multiplayers,” whose price tag was recently lowered to $500.

MCA’s new interactive division, which is publishing the game as its first product, is also banking on its success to make a name for itself in the competitive field.

But other movies-turned-video games, such as “Cliffhanger” and “Dracula,” have not been the instant hits studios expected. “Jurassic” is being released just as rival video game titans Sega and Nintendo gear up for a summer advertising blitz.

And while the 3DO version is the only one to use music and footage from the film, less-sophisticated “Jurassic” games are already available from Sega and Nintendo.

Like 3DO itself, the “Jurassic” game may also suffer from overblown expectations. “People could be disappointed just because it’s not the movie, because they’re trying to compare it to something that cost $60 million and took 600 people over three years to make,” worries 3DO game designer Greg Gorsiski.

But Rob Biniaz, who runs MCA’s Universal Interactive Studios, says the game will succeed or fail based on its own quality, not how good the movie was.

“Everyone in Hollywood is grappling with this ‘interactive movie’ concept,” Biniaz says. “It grows out of a feeling that making video games is beneath us, that we have to elevate it to an art form. Well I’m perfectly happy to say we’re making video games here, and we know that what really counts is the game play.”

On the video game scale, “Jurassic Interactive” was not low-budget. It cost between $1 million and $2 million and took about 10 people--not all of them full-time--14 months to make. Nor is any expense being spared on the marketing.

A full-color manual accompanies the CD-ROM the game comes on, packaged in a sleek black box with the ubiquitous “Jurassic” logo emblazoned on the front. MCA’s powerful home video and audio distribution unit is taking care of getting shelf space for the product. Biniaz won’t say how much Universal Interactive is spending on the marketing campaign, but it’s “a considerable sum.”

In the game, the mission is to save five people trapped on an island off Costa Rica from hordes of genetically reconstituted velociraptors and the like. The goal, says Gorsiski, is “not to shoot up 17,000 T. rexes and rack up 100 million points,” but to “feel the adrenaline that you felt when you were watching the movie.”

“Jurassic Interactive” is expected to sell for about $55. But between the U.S. and Japanese markets, only about 70,000 households have purchased 3DO players. Game producers often increase their sales volume by converting their games to other formats, but MCA has no plans to do that with “Jurassic.” While that may be an effort to support 3DO, Gorsiski says it would also be difficult to rewrite the game for another platform, because so much of it takes advantage of the 3DO technology aimed at enhancing game play.

Gorsiski, who has designed seven other games, is just glad it’s over.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” he says. “How do you rewrite a linear story for a non-linear environment and make it better? It’s a task that a lot of game designers wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole.”