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Electronic
Arts (EA) signed Michelle to an exclusive three-year interactive
entertainment deal in June of 1999. This deal lead to Michelle
being featured in her own computer game, Michelle Kwan
Figure Skating, which was released in November of 1999.
It is EA's first game designed specifically for girls. Sean
McGowan, an analyst with Gerard Klauer Mattison, said "Everybody's
still scratching their head about how to get into the market
[of computer games for girls].Taking a high-profile figure
such as Michelle Kwan could be the way to do it.'' The game
was developed by Semilogic,
who posted updates of the game, such as preliminary and final
screen captures of the game, on its website.
Michelle said about the game, "I'm incredibly excited to join
the other great athletes who are part of the Electronic Arts
family. It's also a great honor to have EA build its first
game specifically designed for girls around my skating. It's
going to be a fun game that will encourage girls to use and
enjoy computers while learning more about figure skating."
In the game, you
create a two-minute program with over 50 moves, including
jumps, spins, and spirals. There is a choice of 4 arenas to
skate in. You can either practice, or compete from regional
competition, up to Worlds. You select your own music (either
by using the songs included in the game, or by importing any
MIDI you have), and
create a costume for the event. You can either compete as
Michelle, or by using a scanned in picture of yourself. After
competiting, you can create and print a scrapbook of your
skating career, or e-mail highlights of your performances
to others. As in real skating, you sit in the kiss and cry
while your scores are given by judges at the end of your program.
Michelle worked
closely with the development team for realism in the game.
Her own voice is used to give the instructions throughout
the game. She also offered advice to the developers on music,
accurate skating movements, costumes and how to best capture
her own style to insure that the game realistically depicts
championship skating. Michelle said, "I wanted this game to
be as authentic as possible and I wanted to make sure that
every detail was right, from the way I take off on my jumps
and the key elements of my spins, right down to the way my
foot is pointed during my spiral. This game is the closest
thing to being out there on the ice."
Michelle Kwan Figure
Skating originally was priced at the retail price of $29.99.
Minimum system requirements include a Pentium(R) 200 MHz,
32 MB, and a DirectDraw(TM) compatible video card. The game
carries an rating of "E" (Everyone).
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