If there's one game character who has got dangerous moves, then it's Ulala (pronounced Ooh-la-la) the nubile space disco queen-cum-TV reporter, who uses her groovy moves to knock out alien invaders and rescue hostages in the Space Channel 5 series.

But Ulala's dress sense, which combines mini-skirts and hot-pants with kitsch backpacks, has come under attack from Lady Miss Kier, the lead singer of the group Deee-lite, who are best known for their dance track "Groove is in the Heart."

The peeved dance diva has just filed a law suit in an LA court against Space Channel 5 distributors Sega, claiming that the game character has too many similarities, including dress, hair and make-up, to her own pop persona.

Although Ulala's "look" seems to bear as much a resemblance to the average clubber or devout female anime fan than it does to any one particular person, according to Rollingstone.com the lawsuit reads: "The similarities and likenesses are so close that viewers, listeners, and consumers were and are confused or likely to become confused between Ulala and plaintiff."

Although we'd love to suggest that it's just one of those publicity stunts generated to aid a pop group that's been out of the limelight for a while, Rollingstone.com go on to say: "The singer further claims that between May and July 2000 Sega asked to license her likeness, image and name for the games for roughly $15,000, but she declined. She is now seeking more than $750,000 for their misuse." Sounds like Sega maybe in for a financial rap over the knuckles if the claims are upheld.

Game Stars milestone

ITV's Game Stars event last month has been hailed as an important step in the future of gaming, according to MCV magazine's latest industry forum discussion. The show, which was the first mainstream TV event to honour both games and gamers, featured an awards ceremony and the culmination of the 'Search for Britain's Best Gamer'.

"Getting a national broadcaster to show an hour-long slot at peak viewing was certainly a milestone for the games business," Tracey Bunce, Marketing Manager for EA UK, told MCV.

"A lot more needs to be made of celebrity and general lifestyle usage and acceptance of video gaming as a format. The first show only managed to encapsulate a small part of this and needs to find ways to show the cultural acceptance of games is massive."

It was certainly refreshing to see games getting this kind of mainstream coverage, although the reaction to Game Stars within the hardcore gaming community has been less than favourable.

"Simply raising the profile of the industry isn't enough. The Nazi party had a high profile, but this didn't make them a good thing," commented veteran games journalist Paul Presley on the event. "I think it was badly put together and made no sense. The nominations were a triumph for PR departments rather than being relevant to their categories. One game was nominated in three different genres which is ridiculous."

There have been many attempts to make games more TV-friendly with programmes like Games Master, Game-pad and Bits, which have all received mixed reactions from their core gaming audience, who admittedly, have always been a notoriously hard bunch to please. It's clear that a coherent formula still needs to be found which bridges the gap between making entertaining television and representing games in a way which enthuses, rather than patronises, players.

Rhianna Pratchett

Competition

If you yearn for some classic platform action to grace your GBA then enter our Crash Bandicoot: N-Tranced competition and win one of three copies of the game. Just email us at Online.Competitions@theguardian.com with the subject line "Crash Bandicoot: Ntranced", your name, address and the answer to this question:

To which group of mammals does the bandicoot belong?

For more information on the game check out Crashntranced.com

Last week's winners:

Pokemon Sapphire GBA - Gemma Moon (Plymouth), Duncan Metcalfe (London) and Lizzie Leeke (Rochdale)

Signs DVDs - Paul Lipscombe (Weston-Super-Mare), Simon C Clark (Edinburgh), Peter Jones (Scunthorpe), Jamie Donald (Swindon), Kane Simons (Watford), Antonio Earl (Middlesex), Debashis Dey (London), Numan Akhtar (Manchester), Nell Philips (Birmingham) and Barrie Myers (Cheshire).