VIDEO GAME REVIEW : Sony’s PlayStation Joins the Rich Video Game Party

The war for the hearts, minds and money of American video game players kicked into high gear this fall with the national launch of Sony PlayStation, a 32-bit, disc-based system that delivers one of the richest gaming experiences available and promises to shake up an industry long dominated by Nintendo and Sega.

For players, Sony’s system is a welcome newcomer to the party. With blazing game play and a solid line of initial titles, PlayStation is typical Sony quality. And at a base price of $300, it costs less than Sega’s comparable Saturn system.

While no one doubts the technical beauty of the system, the big question is whether neophyte Sony can compete over time with Nintendo and Sega, which have spent the past decade learning the fickle tastes of their largely male, largely adolescent audience.

For its part, Sony is said to be spending as much as $50 million marketing PlayStation to prove that it’s in the game for the long haul. Already, more than a million units have been sold in Japan, and Sony expects to sell as many as 700,000 here before Christmas.

Buyers will not be disappointed. Those used to 16-bit gaming on Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis will be downright dazzled. PlayStation, like competitors 3DO and Saturn, employs CD-ROM technology and 32-bit processors to pump out sizzling graphics and stereo sound.

Consequently, games such as Battle Arena Toshinden are awesome. With a constantly panning view and lush backgrounds, Toshinden is destined to be a classic in the fighting-game genre. Already, Sony is exploiting the game by using one of its characters, Sofia, to hawk PlayStation.

Television ads taunt viewers with images of Sofia--a whip-wielding, leather-wearing martial arts expert with inhuman cleavage--and the words: “Like to be humiliated by women? Here’s your dream date. Worship me.” Hype for another game, Total Eclipse Turbo, promises gleefully that “the more you kill, the better you feel!”

Such ads point up the strategy of the next-generation game manufacturers, who are trying to lure an older audience--twenty- and thirtysomethings who grew up with video games--back into the electronic fold. These more affluent buyers are critical to jump-starting the sluggish video game industry as even the cheapest 32-bit systems are triple the price of older machines like Genesis and Super Nintendo.

Times staff writer Aaron Curtiss can be reached via e-mail at curtiss@news.latimes.com.