"The Great Game" is one of a new crop of video games that give players control over ever more realistic-and violent-fantasy worlds. It and other much-anticipated titles-"Mortal Kombat 3" and "Primal Rage"-will be released this fall.

The intensity of interactivity, of course, is what makes games so enjoyable for players such as William Wood, 27, of Santa Monica, who much prefers them to TV. He often plays the flight simulation game "TIE Fighter" or "Gun Ship 2000" for several hours after work. "It's a different mode," Wood said. "The sound effects fill up the entire space around you and you're-well, you're part of the game."

Game makers say they make violent games because people buy them. An industry once filled with lofty dreams of producing "edutainment" for children, documentaries on disc for adults or even, heaven forbid, video games for girls, has been chastened by the realities of the market. With few exceptions, almost all of the thousands of titles released last year that did not hew to traditional formulas simply did not sell.