Television on your computer screen

Sisters, Alice, Pinky and the Brain and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. can732;t be seen on DVD yet. But they can be seen on your Windows computer.

Sisters, Alice, Pinky and the Brain and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. can8217;t be seen on DVD yet. But they can be seen on your Windows computer. AOL launched its long-hyped In2TV service television.aol.com/in2tv this past Wednesday, streaming full episodes of vintage TV series from its corporate sibling Warner Bros. studio over broadband connections. Ten episodes each of 30 different shows went up for last week8217;s launch, totalling 300 choices, with 14,000 promised by year8217;s end.

Commercials are part of the free-viewing bargain, but they8217;re a fairly fast affair, each show preceded by 15-second spots of dancing potato chips or 30-second auto ads. Sorry, they can8217;t be outsmarted8212;fast-forward is disabled during the spots. At other times, rewind, pause and instant-access make viewing convenient. Video quality that is good in the page8217;s small originating window declines markedly in full-screen mode. But it8217;s tolerable enough to watch from across the room in order to get your fix of not-on-DVD oldies like Eight Is Enough or Falcon Crest.

DVD remains a much higher-quality option for released titles like Lois amp; Clark, Babylon 5, Kung Fu, La Femme Nikita and Wonder Woman. Quick shots are available, too. A 8220;retro runway8221; video looks back at the fashions of the 8217;70s, and there8217;s karaoke to the Wonder Woman theme song. Even Mac users, who can8217;t watch the shows themselves that requires Windows with its digital rights management features, can play games at In2TV to test their tube IQ.

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Microsoft8217;s young targets

The strategy to win over a whole new generation of consumers is Fergie Fudgehog. Microsoft Corp plans to unveil Fergie and several other children8217;s animal characters with an entertainment concept called 8220;Viva Pinata8221; that Microsoft plans to turn into a cartoon show and an Xbox 360 game. In a deal with children8217;s entertainment and licensing firm 4Kids Entertainment, which licensed Pokemon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the technology giant is reaching out to younger gamers in an effort to promote its latest console, Xbox 360, to the entire family. 8220;We have to appeal to people beyond the core gaming audience,8221; said Shane Kim, general manager of Microsoft Game Studios.8221;

The Viva Pinata Xbox 360 game will feature more than 60 unique pinata animal characters who live on a garden island. The game allows players to customize the garden environment to attract, protect and interact with the characters.

Microsoft has billed the Xbox 360 as a family entertainment center and not just a game console. Its online features that allow players from anywhere to compete with each other reflect an effort by Microsoft to push gaming away from the den for kids and into the home computer in the kitchen or family room. But doing so means that the company had to offer more than shoot-em-up games for the boys in the family.

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