Video gamers can be "Desperate Housewives"

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Gamers at the world's biggest trade show event were given the chance to be calculating, adulterous, sneaky "Desperate Housewives."

All in good fun, of course.

Buena Vista Games of California replicated the program's "Wisteria Lane" neighborhood and its cast of characters in a video game to be released in the fall of this year.

"Your character is the new housewife on the block with her own background," Erik Berkman explained as he deomonstrated the game for Buena Vista at their pavilion at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles.

"You don't know what her history is. You have to play and figure things out."

Characters can break into neighbors' homes to snoop, use artifice to win friends, ruin enemies, seduce men and then lie their way out of nasty situations.

"This game gets a little racy," Berkman said as his character fibbed about a home repair to lure a man to her virtual house. "That's why its rated for mature audiences."

The game plays out in episodes, in keeping with the television series. ABC Television let game designers on the set to capture details, and the show's writer provided the script options for game characters, the company said.

Buena Vista declined to reveal the planned price tag for the game, which it heralded as a "story-driven adventure."