WHERE A PUFF OF MARIJUANA IS THE ULTIMATE POWER-UP

IN mid-2002, when the video game Narc was only six months into
development, the most startling element in it may have been a
barrel-throwing sumo wrestler. Or it may have been the inclusion of a
villainous flamenco dancer named El Toro.

When the game is released for PlayStation 2 and the Xbox next week,
however, the most arresting aspect will most likely be that players of
Narc will - as part of the gameplay - be able to take drugs.

In an industry known for depicting violence, Narc's foray into
substance abuse is a venture into a largely untracked frontier.

"This is something that nobody else has tackled," said Steve Allison,
37, chief of marketing for Narc's publisher, Midway.

In Narc, which is rated M, or Mature, for ages 17 and older, players
control one of two narcotics officers, partners who were once
separated after one became addicted to drugs.

The gameplay primarily involves arresting dealers, whose drugs can be
confiscated and used.

A digital puff of marijuana, for example, temporarily slows the action
of the game like a sports replay. Taking an Ecstasy tablet creates a
mellow atmosphere that can pacify aggressive foes. The use of crack
momentarily makes the player a marksman: a "crack" shot.

But using each drug also leads to addiction, which can lead to
blackouts that cost the player inventory and to demotions or even
expulsion from the police force, which halts progress in the game. In
measured doses, the substances can make a tough challenge easier, but
the makers of the game say it is possible to play without using the
drugs at all.

"Should you be able to use them?" the game's producer, Wayne Cline,
31, said. "We decided, yeah, if they're part of the life of a cop.
Just like in the movie 'Narc' and the movie 'Training Day,' sometimes
they use."

More drug-related games are coming. Take Two Interactive, the
publisher of the Grand Theft Auto series, recently announced a title
to be released this year called Snow. According to a company news
release, the game "will challenge players to oversee every aspect of
the drug trade."

Vivendi Universal is planning to release a game based on the film
"Scarface," which featured extensive cocaine use. The company has also
announced Bulletproof, a game starring the likeness of 50 Cent, the
rapper and acknowledged former crack dealer, in an adventure set upon
"a bloody path through New York's drug underworld."

Representatives from Take Two and Vivendi declined to comment for this
article. But game publishers increasingly seek to appeal to older
players with provocative content. More than half of the regular
players of home consoles like the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox are
adults, according to the Electronics Software Association, a trade
group. But while nearly 3,000 games have been cited for violence since
1994 by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, the independent
organization that rates games, only 40 have been tagged for drug
references or for use of drugs. Most refer to drugs only
peripherally.

Patricia Vance, president of the rating board, said the trend was not
so much about drugs as it was a move toward greater realism. Games
increasingly include more character development and deeper stories,
she said, which lead to a broader range of topics.

But for some, Narc's inclusion of drug use is a reality they feel is
unwise for games to reflect. "Narc was a bad idea," said Michael
Pachter, an analyst who follows Midway for Wedbush Morgan Securities.
"Violence is embraced in our culture, which is why you see violence in
video games. I don't believe society believes drugs are an appropriate
thing. I think that alienates consumers."

Mr. Pachter said he had not seen the final version of the game but was
familiar with its use of drugs as ability enhancers. He likened the
game's drugs to steroids, and said that the recent scorn directed at
baseball players suspected of using steroids indicated society's
current mood about drugs.

Some gaming professionals think otherwise, suggesting that if movies,
music and literature have drug-oriented cultural touchstones, so
should games.

"If you can blow someone's head off, I don't see why you can't have
drugs, as long as it fits the context," said Doug Walker, game
designer for the Dutch developer Guerrilla Games.

One of the few prominent drug games in the last decade was Dope Wars,
a text-based business simulator popular on computers and organizers in
the late 1990's. In that game, drugs were the commodity for what
critics described as essentially a business simulation.

Another significant depiction of drugs appeared in the original
version of Narc (1988) for the arcade. That first Narc did not include
drug use but rather a one-man war on drugs in which players
machine-gunned hordes of pushers, clowns and villains who threw
syringes. The game's designer, Eugene Jarvis, 50, was not involved in
the new Narc, but he said he intended for the original to have an
antidrug message. The game's slogan was, "Say No or Die."

Mr. Jarvis remembered a Midway lawyer being horrified at the project,
calling the development effort a surrealistic nightmare.

Portrayal of drug use in games has picked up in recent years. Of the 40
games labeled for drug content, more than two dozen were released in the
last three years. Last year's top-selling game, Grand Theft Auto: San
Andreas, for example, was set amid the drug-related gang wars of early-90's
Los Angeles.

In a twist for a series notorious for allowing antisocial and criminal
behavior, the player-controlled lead character was programmed to
reject the many offers he received to take drugs.

For designers, the issue of drugs in games has been less one of
marketability than one of how to incorporate drugs into an actual game.

"It really was an interesting juggling act," said Mr. Cline, Narc's
producer, discussing how Narc was conceived. His development team
wanted drugs to be a prevalent feature, but Mr. Cline said they
struggled to achieve balance, "not glorifying it, but handling it
responsibly, but still making it fun."

Few games had allowed players to take drugs in the game, an option Mr.
Cline's team was determined to pursue once they decided to jettison
the sumo wrestler and the flamenco dancer and to abandon the idea of
remaking the original Narc.

The developers drew inspiration from the classic video game idea of
power-ups: bonus items that improve player abilities, like the
mushrooms Mario and Luigi ate to grow larger in Super Mario Bros. in
1985. Power-ups were a video game staple, and some, like the
adrenaline combat boosts in the 2000 game Perfect Dark, seemed to wink
at the possibility of drugs.

"There's always something you can use to enhance or alter the
player-character's abilities," Mr. Cline said. "We were the first game
to call them pot and coke and crack."

The power-ups in Narc would have to exhibit negative side effects. An
addiction meter would track drug use and lead to progress-dampening
blackouts. "We started out with realistic debates," Mr. Cline said, on
issues like whether marijuana is actually addictive. "But then we just
decided we'll just make them all addictive."

Addictions would kick in at different levels. Crack addiction required
two uses. Another drug would require six. To get clean, players would
have to win a coordination challenge that involved steadying a moving
icon while their character writhed in agony.

The challenge was to make these activities engaging as gameplay, something
also faced by Mr. Walker, the designer of Guerrilla Games's ShellShock: Nam
'67, which was released in 2004.

Mr. Walker's team had intended to present a realistically graphic
depiction of the Vietnam War. The game allowed players to purchase
ability-enhancing doses of the amphetamine Dexedrine and the relaxant
temazepam, but the team found that a video game version of the effects
of L.S.D. - distorted graphics and sound - made the game less fun to
play. They relegated "psychedelic mode" to a hidden bonus rather than
to a core aspect of the main game.

"There are only certain drugs that translate to gameplay use," said
Alastair Burns, the project manager at Guerrilla Games. "We couldn't
work a drug like heroin into ShellShock."

Mr. Cline agrees, and draws a distinction between what he thinks games
can do with drugs, as compared with other creative forms. "Would you
want to see a 'Requiem for a Dream' game?" he said, referring to the
2000 film about people struggling with drug abuse. "I don't think so.
I don't see how that's enjoyable. Even if you're going to tackle
difficult subjects like drugs or something like that, a game is still
a game and it's got to be fun for people."