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WALTER MOSSBERG: PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY


When you hear the phrase "computer gaming," the image that naturally springs to mind is that of a teenager or 20-something, sitting at a PC equipped to the teeth, exterminating aliens or kickboxing with some anatomically improbable foe.

These pleasures are shared by people of all ages and genders, even if the center of gravity of the PC world is still young and male. But playing these kinds of PC games often requires the reflexes of a teenager. And it involves an appetite for virtual violence and combat that is considerably lower in many adults, especially women, than it is in teenage boys.

There's another, less-publicized type of PC gaming, however, that's favored by millions of computer users -- primarily adults, and including lots of women. I call these "games for grown-ups." They include computerized board games, card games, word games, puzzles, flying games, noncontact-sports games and some simple, non-gory shoot-'em-ups.

A specialized online service caters to fans of these games. It's RealOne Arcade, from RealNetworks, and runs on Microsoft Windows. It sells inexpensive, downloadable games either one at a time or via subscription. More than 150 games are available. You can study detailed descriptions and reader reviews before you buy them, and even try them out free of charge.

The games cost no more than $20 each. If you don't buy them a la carte, you can subscribe to the service for $6.95 a month. That gives you a game each month, plus $5 off any additional games you buy. Subscribers must commit to a minimum three-month term, at $20.85 upfront. People who buy one game get a one-month free trial subscription, including one free game.

The service has an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 subscribers, and the company says it has sold nearly 1.5 million games. Real says its clientele for the game service averages 40 years old, and more than half are women.

I have been testing RealOne Arcade, and I like it. I downloaded six games, tried them all and bought two. The service is convenient, easy to use and does what it promises. It provides a source for the type of games that are often hard to find in stores, or are scattered around various Web sites. And the games cost much less than most of the popular shooting, fighting and sports games.

Like Apple's online music store, RealOne Arcade isn't accessed from a Web browser, but from a special program that connects directly to RealNetworks' game servers.

This Arcade program is nicely organized, easy to use, and provides clear, detailed information about downloading, installing and playing each game. It even checks your PC to tell you whether it is capable of running each game. And it searches your hard disk for games you already own, even if they weren't purchased from Real, and lists them along with the games you've downloaded from Real, to provide a sort of cockpit for launching all your games.

When you download the trial version of a game, you can test it as often as you like, free of charge, up to a total of one hour of playing time. You don't need to be connected to the Internet to play a game you've purchased or are testing once it has been downloaded.

Any game you actually buy is yours forever, even if you cancel your subscription. And if you remain a subscriber, you can redownload any game you've bought, on multiple PCs, for up to a year. You can also get free updates to the games you own for a year.

Most of the games are meant to be played on a Windows PC, but some are for Palm handhelds. There are also about 50 "teaser" games, essentially stripped-down promotional versions, that can be played directly from the Web.

The games offered by RealOne Arcade are reminiscent of old, classic titles like Breakout, Missile Command, Tetris and Solitaire. The company pointedly tries to avoid games featuring graphic violence. The six games I downloaded were Compulsive Solitaire, which includes lots of solitaire variations; Mahjonng Towers, featuring multilevel boards; Gutterball 3D, a bowling game; AirStrike 3D, a helicopter-battle simulation; SuperCollapse II, a Tetris-like puzzle; and Word Jolt, in which you try to make words out of random, scrambled letters.

I liked them all, and spent several hours playing them on a cross-country flight. All worked fine on my Windows XP laptop. I bought Compulsive Solitaire and Word Jolt. My favorite was Word Jolt, which can be played in either a fast-paced arcade mode or an untimed mode.

There is one downside to RealOne Arcade: It insists on getting in your face all the time. Even when you have purchased and installed a game on your PC, in most cases it runs in tandem with the RealOne Arcade software. A game can't be launched directly from the Start Menu. It's annoying to have to see pitches for other games when you just want to play the one you bought. After I asked the company about this practice, Real said it would change the system soon, so that games you purchase can be run by themselves, without also launching the Arcade software.

I found RealOne Arcade to be a well-designed, moderately priced haven for grown-up gamers. If you fit that category, check it out.