Lawrence.com

Los Angeles — The Walt Disney Co. has had enormous success marketing video games based on its popular storybook characters and hit television show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

Now, the company hopes to extend its success by adding a very un-Disney-like element � violence.

Not blood and guts, limbs flying, people screaming in agony.

That would cross a line Disney is not prepared to even approach.

The new game is based on the upcoming animated film, "Atlantis: The Lost Empire," which opens nationwide June 15.

Unlike more recent Disney animated films, "Atlantis" is a darker adventure tale aimed at older audiences � more "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" than "Beauty and the Beast."

The game, "Atlantis: Trial by Fire," is, in the parlance of the gaming world, a "first-person shooter" � Disney's first ever.

Instead of controlling a character on the computer screen, the player sees the world in front of him or her.

But Disney's game will be unlike other "shooters." For starters, there is no visible gun barrel, which normally is used for aiming and fills the screen with colorful, loud bursts of gunfire during play.

"We didn't want to glorify the weapon," said Jamie Berger, director of marketing at Disney Interactive. "We wanted it to have more than just pure combat, wanted a broader set of skills required. The tools are literally tools, things that are useful in a problem-solving context and not just tools for conflict."

In fact, there are no guns at all. Instead, the game offers a series of "tools," including:

l The puffer, which shoots a blast of concentrated air. This tool, which players have all the time, can be used to brush back an opponent. But it can also be used to solve a musical puzzle needed to open a critical door.

l The froster, which shoots a bolt of ice. It slows down opponents, cutting their speed in half.

l The gooser, which sends a blob of goo to surround opponents, reducing their shield and slowing their rate of fire.

Disney worked carefully with the Entertainment Software Rating Board to trim the game of all elements that might warrant a "T" rating � the rough equivalent of a PG-13 movie rating � or a more restrictive "M." The resulting game is rated "E" � for everyone, although it does warn parents of some violent scenes.

Because the game also allows play on the Internet, Disney also had to limit the online chat functions and other standard elements of multiplayer titles.

Instead of typing potentially offensive phrases, players can choose words using the computer's function keys. Pressing "F1," for instance, might generate the phrase "Watch my back!" Hitting another key generates a taunt such as "Hey, missed me!"

"We had to somewhat limit people's imaginations because of a desire to make it a safe environment for all ages," Berger said.

The goal, explains Disney Interactive President Jan Smith, was not to appeal to "hardcore" gamers, but children and young adults who may never have played a video game.

"We created a mass market, multiplayer online game everybody can play," Smith said. "If you've never played games before, you can figure this out."

The risk is that the game will be too bland for the traditional gaming audience and too jarring for younger children used to milder fare.

"If bland equals less graphic violence, I don't think by any means it's a bad thing," Berger said. "Kids are very smart and 10-year-old and 11-year-old boys who play the game appreciate what we've done because they know their mom and dad would rather not buy them some of the first-person games out there."

Will it sell?

"Atlantis itself as a game is not spectacular," said Rob Smith, editor-in-chief of PC Gamer magazine. "It's designed as a beginner's guide to first-person action games."

But, Smith says, the game may be compelling enough, combined with Disney's marketing muscle, to attract a new crowd to games.

"Ultimately if it expands the pot in any way, that's a good thing for all of us," he said.