DIGITAL L.A.; POKEMON SEEMS TO HAVE COME FULL CIRCLE.

Byline: David Bloom 

OK, stick with me on this: In the beginning, there was Pokemon, a delightfully involved but graphically simple pair of nearly identical games for Nintendo's Game Boy handheld machine that spawned an entire industry's worth of spinoff products.

That fabulously successful franchise begat a trading-card game (and massive secondary market for collectible rare cards) from Wizards of the Coast, the same company that created Magic: The Gathering.

Several billion dollars and goodness knows how many skipped homework assignments later, we now have arrived back where we started, with a Game Boy game based on the trading-card game based on the Game Boy game. Got all that?

The new Game Boy game is called, in a nomenclatural stretch, the Pokemon Trading Card Game. And like its predecessors, it's pretty darned involved and pretty darned good.

The biggest difference is that it cuts out most of the adventure part of the original. Where Pokemon Red, Blue and eventually Yellow focused heavily on capturing and ``training'' all 151 Pokemon in a lengthy adventure, the new game's focus is on building up a ``deck'' of cards, including basic Pokemon, its upgrades, energy cards that allow characters to fight and retreat, and other special cards.

Not surprisingly, it's much like the game you can play with the trading cards, with a sparse narrative skeleton that hangs together all the duels and deck building. But unlike the original Red and Blue games, this game doesn't ease players into its complexities as gently, if my test boy, the normally overachieving 7-year-old Pokey-maniac Dakota, is any guide.

It allows head-to-head play (using the Game Link cable) and you can print out the 18 ``exclusive'' cards in the electronic version on your Game Boy Printer.

There's a lot to the game if you're into the series, but parents of younger children should tread carefully. This one might be best for the card sharks.

Doing it the HD way: The long wait is over at KCET, the Los Angeles public television station that's been waiting - and waiting - to erect the transmitting tower that would allow it to join other Los Angeles stations in broadcasting digital television programming, both in high- and standard-definition formats.

The debut on May 17 of ``Rainier: The Mountain,'' a look at the tallest active volcano in the Lower 48, will finally end the station's minor misadventures with its tower, allowing it to join the city's commercial stations in the digital age.

KCET initially looked like it would be able to join that club not long after the commercial stations kicked on their transmitters in the fall of 1998. The station had raised $12.5 million for a showy digital broadcast center that opened last fall and was raising other money, for a total of $20 million, to pay for new programming only possible with digital.

But the new center couldn't be fully used because a federal grant that would pay for the transmitting tower was repeatedly delayed. No tower, no signal, no digital, no nothing.

But the grant finally arrived, the tower was completed in March, and beginning May 17, the station will begin broadcasting high-def programming, with ``Rainier'' and a May 24 broadcast of ``Sahara.'' With an HDTV tuner, you can pick up the broadcast on Channel 59.

You can see some bits of test programming now on the station's channel 59 (you'll need an HDTV-capable tuner to get it). Within a month or so, you'll have a choice of children's programming on PBS Kids, 30 different college courses on PBS YOU and a digital version of the station's regular analog broadcast.

Game winners: Take a gander at the Interactive Achievement Awards finalists for best games of 1999. Next month's awards show spotlights the best of the 1,900 or so titles released last year by the $6 billion video- and computer gaming industry. Nominees for Game of the Year are:

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (on PC; a particular favorite of mine); Donkey Kong 64 (Nintendo 64; the big ape continues to throw his weight around); Pokemon Yellow (Game Boy; a nominee though it differs little from its powerhouse Red and Blue predecessors); Soul Calibur (Dreamcast; the best-looking console fighter title ever); The Sims (PC; a complex, involving simulation of, well, you and me); and Unreal Tournament (PC; the year's best first-person shooter).

Age of Empires II had the most nominations overall - seven, including four in the ``craft'' categories - fitting given its handsome and deep game play.

In the Console Game of the Year category, add the great driving games Crazy Taxi (Dreamcast) and Driver and Gran Turismo 2 (both on PlayStation), and the first really good extreme sports title, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (on PlayStation, but recently available on N64 and Game Boy) to the console nominees for Game of the Year.

In the Computer Game of the Year finalists, add the fabulous space war simulation Homeworld; the involving theme-park simulation Roller Coaster Tycoon; and Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, an excellent sequel that nonetheless disappointed fans who wanted more innovation in the latest from the ground-breaking, real-time strategy series.

The awards ceremony will be held at the Biltmore Hotel on May 11, the first night of the massive Electronic Entertainment Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Comedian Martin Short will host, and though it's not like the Oscars, you'd better have a ticket to get in.

SITE OF THE WEEK

--Gold Violin: A shopping site for older Web-savvy citizens or, as the site puts it, ``shopping for heroes.'' It goes on to describe them as ``people who live rich, long lives and inspire us with their experience and insights. They braved the Depression in the '30s ... defended the world's freedom in the '40s ... and claim that we are their greatest accomplishment.''

--Where: www.goldviolin.com

--What's cool: The shopping selections, pitched toward gift-giving for a faraway family member, include nifty products like a leather ``brag book'' for all those photos of grandchildren, an ``aristocratic'' walking stick, a ``big keys'' computer keyboard, and ergonomic tools that just might be of use to more than your arthritic elder. Decent prices, though it's hard to judge product quality without actually using the stuff.

--Features: This site breaks down the offerings in a number of ways, such as by lifestyle, room of use and basics, along with a gift-suggestion area that includes price ranges. I'd prefer to see the site come with a button to automatically enlarge the type for easier reading, but you can adjust that yourself in your Web browser (though it'll probably mess up the layouts; a good reason for the site to provide a well-designed alternative). I'd also like to see more product choices, though that may come with time. What's here will appeal to many folks, either elderly, ailing or handicapped, who need tools for living that fit their particular lives' demands. These kinds of goodies aren't always sitting in Aisle 14 at Wal-Mart.

--You'll like this if: You're feeling like an everyday hero, or want to be treated like one.

Think your Web fave is good enough for Site of the Week? Send your suggestions to davidbloom(at)earthlink.net

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo: no caption (Web site)

Box: SITE OF THE WEEK (See text)