For years now, game developers and publishers have dabbled with the idea of a Western game - with relatively little success. For whatever reason, the Western has been largely overlooked or ignored by the game industry, save some average entries here and there.

Titles like Cowboy Kid and The Lone Ranger for the NES failed to make much of an impression 15 years ago, and PC games like Outlaws came and went without much fanfare. Even the original Western arcade game, Wild Gunman - one of the first titles to use a light gun - never really established the genre as one that was successful and sought after. In fact, arguably the only successful Western series - if it can even be called Western - is Wild Arms, but it is much more a Sci-Fi title that incorporates elements of the Old West. That has been the pattern for much of the video game industry - borrow themes and styles of the Western without using actual cowboys, saddlebags and outlaws.

But every now and then the Western undergoes a renaissance that breathes new life into the genre, and the gun-slinging action of the Old West returns with a fresh approach and alternative styles. Movies like the Oscar-winning "Dances with Wolves" and "Unforgiven" helped bring the Western back in the cinema of the early 1990s, while films like "Tombstone" became popular with younger audiences who knew nothing of John Wayne or Sergio Leone. (For more on Leone and his influential Spaghetti Westerns, check out TwitchGuru tomorrow.) More recently, the acclaimed T.V. series "Deadwood" has revitalized the Western for a new generation.

Deadwood

When you consider some of the more common classical elements of the Western - shootouts, drunken brawls, robberies, outlaws and savage violence - it seems like the genre would provide the perfect environment for successful video games. Just look at how gamers have gravitated to amoral fantasy worlds like Grand Theft Auto and other crime titles set in modern times. Indeed, such games even imitate the lawlessness of Dodge City, Deadwood, Tombstone and other infamous cities of the Old West.

Is it time for the Western to ride high on the video game frontier? With the recent Activision title GUN, as well as the forthcoming Western titled Call of Juarez, the industry may finally begin to unlock the potential of the genre.