'Miami' Game Hits The Streets In December

Radical Entertainment is working on a CSI: Miami computer game for Winter 2004 that will be designed around the Kiersey Temperament Sorter, a personality test with four categories.

The business development vice president at Radical, Danielle Michael told the Vancouver Sun that designing the game around the personality test will move it beyond the typical assumptions about who might be interested in the game. "The core gaming audience is basically 18 to 34 year old males," she said. "The demographics of most game companies they mirror that. We need to know what people outside of that core demographic want."

The Kiersey model is divided into four categories. The first is extroversion (E) or introversion (I); the second sensation (S) or intuition (N); the third thinking (T) or feeling (F); the fourth perceiving (P) or judging (J). Sixteen different combinations are possible; four have been determined to be an ideal audience for the CSI: Miami game. "There are people who just enjoy the show because the want to see a lot of gore and violence," Senior game designer Steve Bocska said. "Others enjoy the whole puzzle-solving element. There's another type that enjoys the science and those who even find it a mild substitute for an education in forensics."

Though other games are being tested based on the Kiersey model, the new CSI: Miami game is the first game being designed based on the model. "Most developers just use that as an opportunity to find out small areas of weaknesses of their games," Bocska commented. "We thought we'd use this as a great opportunity to delve into their minds."

Radical has received an enthusiastic response to the personality testing so far. "We've shown this [method] to two different [game] publishers and they've been floored," Bocska said.

To read the complete story, please visit the Vancouver Sun!

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