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Bush Virtual Pet Game Soars in China by D. IAN HOPPER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In the aftermath of the downed U.S. spy plane, the Chinese apparently have found a new way to ridicule President Bush -- a virtual pet modeled after him.

While the U.S.-made PortaBush software for handheld computers wasn't released with much fanfare last week, it became a big hit in China very quickly.

The software's American designers noticed a huge traffic spike Thursday coming from China, at one point reaching about 2,000 downloads in an hour and threatening to overwhelm their servers.

''About 80 percent of the downloads were coming from China,'' Eruptor Entertainment President Brad Foxhoven said Friday. ''We just got too much traffic in such a short period of time that wasn't letting up.''

Foxhoven said he suspects an e-mail is traveling through China that includes a link for the program. About a quarter of the 20,000 PortaBush downloads to date have come from China, he said.

''It's just incredible that it's taken off like this,'' he said.

The White House had no immediate comment on the new Chinese interest.

Released a week ago by Marina Del Ray, Calif.-based Eruptor Entertainment, the software toy is similar to the faded Tamagotchi craze. Players feed their PortaBush, keep him happy and help him make vital national decisions like whether to bomb teen singer Britney Spears.

The company has created similar virtual pets based on a fish, a monkey, a kitten and former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, who cooperated in making her program. About a half-million software pets have been downloaded from the company's Web site, Foxhoven said.

The most powerful man in the world is now yours to control! PortaBush is the palm-sized version of Dubya that lets anyone experience the joys and headaches of being President. Pass or veto bills, pig out on Texas BBQ, blow-up any number of people or places, flirt with an intern, and when all the stress gets to you, drink yourself silly! But keep an eye on your stats, because if you don't keep the weight off and the popularity high, impeachment could be right around the corner. The application is available for free with 25% of its features and can be purchased here for $4.99, which provides full access to all functions.

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), April 14, 2001

Answers

LOL

Get it here.

-- (g@m.er), April 14, 2001.

This is interesting in light of the fact that we've been told the Chinese government does not permit their citizens internet access. I wonder what's going on really.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), April 14, 2001.

Maybe not citizens, but government officials and their families as well the military and their families. I thought I heard that wong way had held up his e-mail address fot our crew to see. That would be interesting, to have the people suddenly discover what the rest of the world is really like. They probably would consider us decadents with no pride or moral standards. Would they be correct?

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), April 14, 2001.