"Scripture Solitaire" is one of the newer flock of religious video games, but it can't match the popularity of the violent "Grand Theft Auto." Inspired Idea

Christian video games are popping up more in a market that other-wise is trending to adult themes.

But the market is shifting to older gamers. "The average age of a gamer is 29," says Jill Keil of GameDaily Family, an online publication. "A lot of video game publishers create games that will appeal to them." With titles such as "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," "the content is controversial, but the game is an excellent seller."

Such content has made the industry an easy target. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich plans to introduce legislation next year that would make it illegal to sell mature-rated games to those under 18. Previous attempts to restrict sales of games in Washington state and St. Louis were struck down by courts.

Developers, meanwhile, are always expanding subject matter — and religious themes, barely a blip on the sales charts today, are a growth area. One title is "Christian Founders: 3D Adventure," a PC game focusing on America's Founding Fathers. The game's developer, Inspired Idea, also has released the Bible-based titles "Scripture Solitaire" and "GodSpeed 3D."

Tim Emmerich, founder of the Christian Game Developers Conference, says developers worldwide are branching out into Christian topics. "Every month another developer contacts me, or I find them," he says. His firm, GraceWorks Interactive, makes PC games such as "The Interactive Parables," a 3-D game that explores Jesus' parables, and the in-development "Jarod's Journey," an adventure game set in the lands of the Bible.

Emmerich expects to see religious video games hit Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2 next year. "You will see more quality titles released each year."

MUSIC
We're still one nation in musical tastes

By Ken Barnes
USA Today

Music has for years been geared toward appealing to every demographic fragment imaginable. Even the contemporary Christian field parallels the secular industry in fragmentation. You can buy Christian hip-hop, heavy metal, punk rock, teen pop and virtually any other musical style.

"You will find albums that appeal to every political perspective," says Geoff Mayfield, Billboard's director of charts.

Mayfield says specific events don't usually affect the wide variety of music on the airwaves and in stores.

"Some people expected the events of 9/11 to make music more serious," he says. But directly afterward, "we saw a lot of freewheeling, fun-loving rap titles do well."

With all that musical diversity, the country is surprisingly unified in top-sellers taste. One week's best-selling albums lists in the nation's 100 biggest markets, according to Nielsen SoundScan, showed that 62 had the same records in their local top five: hip-hop star Eminem, country champs Shania Twain and Toby Keith, pop princess Britney Spears and the "Now 17" anthology of hits, which spans pop, rock, hip-hop and R&B.

The 38 other markets departed only slightly from this list, usually with hip-hoppers Fabolous and Ja Rule bumping Britney and "Now" to Nos. 6 and 7.

DVDS
Faith-based films jostle into the diverse crowd

By Thomas K. Arnold
USA Today

"Left Behind," with Colin Fox, left, and Kirk Cameron, is one of the evangelical-themed movies finding a secondary market on DVD. Cloud Ten Pictures

The best example: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, one of the six major Hollywood studios, recently acquired the Cloud Ten Pictures library of faith-based films. Among

Cloud Ten titles on DVD are the two "Left Behind" films, starring Kirk Cameron, the action film "Revelation" and the Burt Reynolds movie "Waterproof."

The target audience, says Cloud Ten CEO Peter Lalonde, is the country's "80 million evangelicals who not only want their values reflected in public policy, they want them reflected in mainstream entertainment as well."

Sony's Suzanne White agrees. "The Christian market is one of many important niche groups eager to have programming that reflects their social values," she says. "Besides serving an important cultural need, it's also good business."

But the DVD industry as a whole remains very diverse. Showtime Home Entertainment, for instance, is reporting strong sales for "The L Word," the controversial lesbian drama series starring Jennifer Beals.

The series is "the biggest hit to date for Showtime Home Entertainment," spokesman David Bowers says. "The election has not affected us at all."

BOOKS
Inspirational themes find a crossover readership

By Jacqueline Blais
USA Today

Book-publishing has always been diverse, considering that 175,000 books are published each year. Heartland readers are always sought-after, but two publishers are trying new products to reach them:

• Warner Faith, an imprint of Time Warner Book Group, started four years ago in Nashville, home to several high-profile inspirational publishers. The publisher is launching Center Street, an imprint that "doesn't have any religious agenda — just good, clean fiction," publisher Rolf Zettersten says. For non-fiction, "we're paying close attention to everything from NASCAR to diet to health-and-fitness trends — what's popular and what's developing in middle America." The first Center Street book arrives Jan. 5: "Falling in Love for All the Right Reasons: How to Find Your Soul Mate" by Neil Clark Warren.

"There's a great deal of growing confidence we're on to something here," Zettersten says.

• Last January, Christian publisher Thomas Nelson of Nashville started publishing chick-lit novels with a Christian theme under the West Bow Press imprint. "Our first aim is to entertain with them," says Jennifer Willingham, vice president of marketing. "One of the mantras of West Bow Press is: Enjoy the story."

Many people seem to be enjoying "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren (20.5 million copies sold, and counting) from religious publisher Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins. But it's a hit everywhere.

"When books touch the hearts and lives of people, the distinction between blue and red (states) falls apart," says Mark Rice, vice president of corporate communications.

TV
Wholesome just isn't what we want to watch

By Gary Levin
USA Today

TV viewers may express alarm to pollsters about sex and violence on the tube, but that doesn't stop them from watching.

The grisly "CSI" and sexy "Desperate Housewives" rank among the top five shows in every region tracked by Nielsen Media Research, though "Housewives" is slightly less popular in the Midwestern heartland.

Wholesome cable networks such as Hallmark Channel and ABC Family have made ratings gains this year, but their audiences remain a tiny fraction of the major networks' and pay-cable's sometimes racy HBO.

And the handful of wholesome family dramas that remain — including WB's "7th Heaven" and NBC's "American Dreams" —are far less popular than "Touched by an Angel," a top series in the mid-1990s.

As a result, network executives say they're not shifting gears in planning new shows.

"We're not programming for red and blue states; big hits are watched by everybody," says CBS chairman Leslie Moonves. "We didn't change our programming when Clinton turned over the White House to Bush, either."