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For another year it is all over. All the stands have been packed and stored away, the crowds are gone and the frothing has begun to subside. E3 the Electronic Entertainment expo has ended once again.
E3 is one of the largest industry get-togethers where a vast number of the biggest names in the biz get to show off their top titles for the next year or so. There are also announcements about what we can expect hardware wise and what accessories are going to be in for all of us to enjoy.
The Good
Undoubtedly the biggest buzz was for a game that was not even on public show. Halo 2 probably deserves the hype for being the most awaited game on any platform. On show was only the multi-player component, running on as many as 64 different Xbox consoles, apparently with no one noticing.
Next up in the bullets per inch bracket was Doom3, again gathering plaudits ahead of the launch this summer. Now sneaking up on eleven years old the granddaddy of the FPS is shaping up well into old age.
Metal Gear Acid was also showcased. As one of the first games to be announced for the Play Station Portable, this latest entry in the sixteen year old franchise looks to be as defining as ever. If only for the console it debuts on.
Bandai showcased their game adaptation of the phenomenally popular Ghost in the Shell anime. The sequel to which is playing current at the Cannes film festival. The game itself is looking to capture the eerie and at times frightening world of the films.
Bandai have also shown their latest kids cartoon adaptations, with Ultimate Muscle and Digimon gaining new titles - Digimon with three no less, as has Gundam Battle Wing - with both Battle See for the GBA and Assault 3 for the PS2 being given an airing. Further on the anime front, there was Cowboy Bebop, based around the adventures of cosmic bounty hunters.
Superheroes also had a strong showing, Spider-Man 2 displayed a tantalising glimpse of what was to come. Trailing not too far behind was the Punisher, X-men Legends, The Incredibles and depending on how you view her, the mistress of slinky - Catwoman.
Online games on display included World of Warcraft, a MMPOG version of Blizzard's RPG RTS and there are some damn good shots of it too. In a competing corner was Everquest 2. EQ is arguably the best known of the MMPOGS out there and the next iteration looks to try and break away from the original whilst retaining the essential elements of it. If fantasy is not your bag, then Warhammer 40,000 is the game for you, based on the successful war game by Games Workshop. Can you lead the forces of the Chapters against Chaos? Or maybe a quick dogfight with a TIE in the Star Wars Galaxies add-on, Jump to Lightspeed.
Other Star Wars based games that put in a showing were the action/shooter offering where you get to try and take control of the galaxy, with or against your mates. Republic Commando is a tactical squad based game where you get to lead an elite group of commando's on various missions around that galaxy far, far away between Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. For those who like a bit more history to their games, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords has swished out of the shadows and is making sure it is the game you are looking for. Can you really be the last Jedi left?
Quite a lot to look out for I am sure you will agree and it is only the tip of a very large, very nice looking iceberg.
The Hard
E3 also is a showcase for some of the newer hardware due to come out. This year there were three new consoles.
Nintendo, showed off their latest GameBoy style development. With two screens, one of which is a touch screen, wireless gaming and the potential for voice recognition, the Big N are hoping to stave off the latest challenger in the Hand Held market and arguably the biggest threat since the Gamegear and Lynx.
That being Sony's PlayStation Portable or PSP. A sleek, sexy affair aimed firmly at the entertainment conscious teen market. With a slew of features such as audio and video playback, an interesting design and the almost guaranteed game library. All this based around their new format, the Universal Media Disk (UMD) a cunning little widget that hold about three CD's worth of data in a small compact form.
The third console to be displayed was the Phantom by Infinium Labs. Designed more as a PC based games receiver the games are downloaded off from the subscription based site and then stored onto the machine where they are played. Long considered nothing more that literally a phantom of an idea, things have turned around at Infinium by the former Xbox head honcho, Kevin Bachus, is quoted as saying "People my age who grew up playing video games are now starting families of their own and are eager to play together. he continued, "We'll have an array of titles. And all the customer will have to do is sit down in front of the system, choose a title and begin to play." With specs that would make a more than decent PC, the Phantom may have a bit more than a ghost of a chance.
Nokia's Ngage also had a boost with a wedge of titles being announced, ranging from a Tiger Woods Golf Sim to Spider-Man2 and most of anything in between. No idea as to whether this will be enough to pull the Phone based system round.
Nvidia were also plastered all around the show, not only were they providing a chipset for the Phantom they were also displaying their spanky new GeForce 6800 based cards, which for the majority of PC based systems seemed to be the preferred choice - one up on rivals ATI.
And the Hype
The expo is also often used for major announcements. This year the biggest by far was the, at long last, settling of differences between Microsoft and Electronic Arts. The stumbling block was the way that Xbox Live was run, with EA being unhappy about the whole deal. Now it looks like they have managed to smooth out the differences and we should get to see EA Games online for Uncle Bill's Box in the next few months.
Quite a lot to ponder, even more to wait for, I hope you agree that this year is possibly one of the best yet.
Chris Snook
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