Patrick Wintour and Ewen MacAskill Thursday November 14, 2002 The Guardian

President George Bush is seen by a third of Britons as a bigger threat to world safety than Saddam Hussein, according to a new poll conducted by a senior US Republican and due to be broadcast today.

But most of those questioned by the polling organisation You.Gov say they remain open minded, and ready to be convinced about the justification for an attack on Iraq.

The weighted poll of 3,200 people throughout the country was conducted for Channel 4 by Robert Lunz, a senior Republican strategist, based on the You.Gov sample.

Similar polling has been undertaken by Downing Street as it contemplates how to sell a war on Iraq.

The Channel 4 poll found that a third of the British public have no trust at all in Mr Bush, and many actually fear him. In a straight choice between Mr Bush and President Saddam as to who poses the greater threat to world peace, 32% said Mr Bush and 49% said President Saddam. Almost half see Mr Blair as Mr Bush’s lapdog, with the figure even higher among the under-30s.

Almost two-thirds of people said the only reason the US has targeted President Saddam is because he threatens US control of the Middle East – only a quarter feel it is because the Iraqi leader is a threat to world peace.

Blame for British casualties in a war with Iraq will be placed with Mr Blair himself, according to 21% of those polled.

Commenting on his findings, Mr Lunz said: “I would suggest that [Mr Blair] ring up the broadcast media and say, ‘Keep President Bush, keep Dick Cheney, keep all Americans with these American accents off television’, because it’s not helping his case.”

Despite the poll findings, the British government refused to tone down the bellicose rhetoric. The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, yesterday warned President Saddam that he will face confrontation if he fails to disclose a full list of the country’s alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Having accepted last Friday’s UN resolution, the next hurdle for Iraq will be to provide the list by December 8.

In a speech in London yesterday, Mr Straw said: “The message for Saddam Hussein is this: resolve this crisis peacefully by complying fully with UN inspectors and providing a full and complete disclosure of your WMD [weapons of mass destruction] holdings by 8 December, or choose confrontation.”

Iraq could claim in its declaration that it has some of the components to make weapons of mass destruction but has not actually made them.

But Mr Straw said: “The history of UN weapons inspections in Iraq is littered with examples of deceit, evasion, intimidation and harassment. I hope even Iraq will recognise the consequences of any repeat. If Saddam fails to cooperate fully, then he faces force.”

Mr Straw used the speech to announce that the Foreign Office is to embark on a fundamental review of foreign policy. This is to take account of relations with the Muslim world, weapons of mass destruction and other issues pushed to the forefront by the September 11 attacks. The results of the review are scheduled to be published early next year.

Mr Straw said the aim of the review was to establish long-term strategic priorities. He said it would have four central planks: tackling the threat of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction; European security, especially the establishment of stronger ties with Russia; strengthening international organisations, such as the UN, and global economic development.

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-Ian.

—- http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010513/wr/web_games_dc_1.html

Sunday May 13 1:47 PM ET Scientist Murdered by Sexbot? or Just Movie Hype?

By Timna Tanners

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Evan Chan, a biothermal scientist and a mediocre poet, has been murdered. He was bludgeoned to death off the Carolina coast during a sailing trip with a kinky ”sexbot.”

What is a sexbot? The solution to that — and to the mystery over Chan’s death — is found not in the pages of a thriller, but by navigating hundreds of Web sites and poring over clues in e-mail, voice mail and hidden Internet links.

Thousands of cybersurfers are following the intrigue, which was apparently created to promote Steven Spielberg’s new movie, ”A.I. Artificial Intelligence.”

Set in 2142, the game features artificially intelligent houses, grisly murders, and, of course, the sexbots — robots created for intimate companionship.

But neither the movie studio, Warner Brothers, nor the game’s rumored developer, Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT – news), is talking about the game, hoping the buzz will build to a climax near the movie’s debut in late June.

Marketing movies on the Web is nothing new. The “Blair Witch Project,” which had a very low budget, relied heavily on Internet marketing and racked up $140 million in domestic box office sales in 1999.

But using Net-based games is fast becoming the hippest way to create buzz about movies among teenagers and young adults. Marketing experts say the question facing studios today is no longer, “Do we create a Web site for our movie?” but “How many bells and whistles do we add to it?”

“We’re in a period of time where consumers are expecting big Web experiences,” said Dwight Caines, vice president of Internet marketing strategy at Columbia Pictures. “It’s as important to immerse them as to be there.”

Columbia saw a fierce line-up of summer movie blockbusters and decided it needed an unusual hook to promote its medieval jousting movie, “Knight’s Tale.” So it created a graphic of knights jousting to music, which can be downloaded for free, and a jousting game where players challenge each other to duels.

“We thought the Web was a way to get the eyeballs of young male gamers, who also tend to be opening weekend moviegoers.” Caines said.

The result for “Knight’s Tale,” which premiered around the country this weekend, was that 21 percent of audiences attending sneak previews said they heard about the movie via the Net.

SENTIENT MACHINE THERAPIST

Some players were reportedly hooked by a Web address on the back of some posters for the movie. Others noticed an intriguing credit in the trailer for the movie: “Sentient Machine Therapist-Jeanine Salla.”

A bit of surfing, starting with a search for “Jeanine Salla,” soon turns up Salla’s home page, a pro-robot Web site, a sexbot site and the site of an anti-robot militia.

Phone numbers on some of the sites lead to messages containing riddles, e-mail links and slews of bogus Internet sites.

Game creators also held events in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago earlier in the month, where a core of about 75 fans got another clue to the mystery, according to the Web sites.

It may seem like an expensive way to sell movie tickets, but in fact setting up Web games can be fairly cheap, especially for a big budget movie or a deep-pocketed Hollywood studio.

“To build Web pages is not so complex and not so expensive,” said Neil Young, who designed the game Majestic and who is a vice president at video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. (NasdaqNM:ERTS – news). “I’m sure someone looked at the marketing budget for a Spielberg summer movie and wanted something to get the press talking about A.I.”

Majestic has a similar mystery feel, but involves more personalized instant messaging, faxes and phone calls, to contact players with clues to ensure they follow the plot.

Unlike the A.I. game, Majestic will charge a monthly fee for Web gamers after its launch in coming months. Developers have been crafting the game for two years and have patents pending on some technology incorporated in it.

The A.I. Web game marketing has been more discreet than traditional film publicity, and it’s easy to forget when cruising the fictional future of pro- and anti-robot forces.

The Web sites for “Knight’s Tale,” by contrast, have banners featuring the movie’s name in every image and the star’s face featured prominently.

But the secrecy capitalizes on the mystique surrounding the entire history of “A.I.”, which was picked up by Spielberg after legendary director Stanley Kubrick died in 1999.

Throughout the movie’s production, the set was closed. About the only thing moviegoers know is that Haley Joel Osment portrays a young robot who longs to be human.

But experts say immersing players in a game can more subtly ”sell” a movie and create the buzz that Hollywood promoters so desperately seek.

Columbia’s Caines said to expect Web-based games for the sequel to “Men in Black,” and “Spiderman” and “Ali,” currently planned for release in 2002.