By DANIELA NICOLE WOODLAND

Video gamers can search out hidden porn scenes in Grand Theft Auto and try to kill their friends in Halo 2 - or they can play the part of Bibleman putting on the full armor of God or of a space missionary strengthening the alien stakes of Zion.

Christian games have long been available for computers, but in today's climate of increased concern about the violent nature of video games, developers have recently seen a need for such games to extend to the console market.

This fall, Crave Entertainment released The Bible Game for Xbox, Playstation2 and Game Boy Advance. Players compete in a Bible trivia game show interspersed with action games.

Doug Panter, marketing director for Crave Entertainment, said the Bible Game provides an escape from the violence that dominates the video game industry.

"Parents who are concerned with some of the mature content in other video games are purchasing the Bible Game as they know it is child appropriate," Panter said. "It's main purpose is to provide wholesome entertainment for everyone."

Video game players have noticed the lack of alternatives to violence when it comes to finding what they want in a game.

Shea Allred, a 24-year-old finance major from Plano, Texas, said he plays violent video games because he likes the competition.

"I don't pay attention to the violence," Allred said. "It just seems like the only games that let me compete with my buddies are violent."

While the Bible Game is currently the only Christian-themed console game marketed for mass audiences, other game developers see the same void in the game world and are looking for ways to fill it.

Greg Schumsky is president of Covenant Studios, another Christian game company. They have yet to break in to the console market, but their Bibleman series of computer games has been well received by the Christian community.

Schumsky said players choose to be Bibleman or Biblegirl in an action-adventure game similar to the likes of Batman.

The bad guys are shady-looking henchmen named the Wacky Protestor from a popular Christian movie series about Bibleman.

"The bad guys shoot at you and you can deflect their shots; but if you miss, your spiritual health will start to decrease," Schumsky said. "You can use the Bibles in the game to defeat the bad guys one at a time. Once you do the reading, the bad guy disappears and your spiritual health is restored."

The next adventure from Covenant Studios, called Time Pilots, will start production this coming January. It is a World War II time travel epic where players try to keep the Nazis from stealing Christian artifacts. Players have to refer to the actual bible to find out where the artifacts belong.

"Pretty soon they can find themselves going, 'Well, this Bible's a pretty interesting thing - I wonder what else is in there,'" Schumsky said.

Schumsky said he hopes to produce Time Pilots for Playstation, but to develop a game for a console is a huge financial undertaking. While producing a game for a PC can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $300,000, the cost for producing a console game starts at $2 million.

One of the reasons Christian computer games have not been competitive in the gaming industry is because they start with about one-tenth the funding of the bigger game-makers.

"If we had the funding, enough to come out with a game and make the technology and graphics look good, that would basically shut up the critics," Schumsky said.

Now Covenant Studios needs to find the funds necessary to bring Christian games up to the high standard set by the major game companies for technology and graphics. As the secular world starts to see the market for Christian games, the funds may become available, Schumsky said.

Already two major video game publishers have shown interest in carrying Time Pilots when it is ready. Schumsky said the companies imagine a family-friendly section in their game stores.

Despite the potential market for Christian video games that Schumsky envisions, there have been no visible attempts to get an LDS console game out on the market.

Cleanware is an LDS games and software company that created a game called Outpost Zarahemla for PC. The player and his or her companion are assigned to complete various tasks out in a space mission. They answer investigators' questions and build up space stations.

Rex Hale, the vice president of sales for Cleanware, said LDS video games do not look like they will be coming to anyone's Playstation or Xbox in the near future.

"We won't go console with anything specifically LDS," he said. "The console markets aren't attracted to specific markets like that. They want the largest possible group of clientele."

Though LDS video games may not have a future in console, Hale said he sees Christian games finding their niche.

"It's like the LDS movie market - when the movies first came out, nobody was really sure it was going to work," Hale said. "Gradually the market was proven. I think the same thing will happen with video games eventually. People will say it's okay to have a non-violent, addicting game that's just fun to play."

Schumsky said Christian game-makers hope to do more than just provide clean entertainment. He said they want to bring some serious good into the world with the help of video games.

"We want to inject games with the message of the Lord, to put God in the games so people will feel a presence when they play that will make them think," Schumsky said. "Getting a game on console will help us battle all the evil that's out there. We've got a long road ahead of us, but we've got some in-roads and we're making some good progress."