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Yep, it's almost time for the UK's version of E3 to roll into action again, and once again we'll be at the show to cover all the latest news, playtest the new games and report straight back to you all the latest information and rumours from the show floor! This year the traditional ECTS style has been stirred up yet again by the inclusion of The PlayStation Experience, which will be twice the size of last year's "experimental" show. Because of this, many publishers are choosing to down-size their booths in ECTS itself and opt for a larger area in Sony's region of the hall. Although Microsoft are absent once more, opting instead to concentrate on their X03 show in Nice next month, Nintendo have decided to return, albeit not actually inside the exhibition hall itself but instead in a forty-tonne truck parked outside the event! Despite all the change, we still expect there to be plenty of games, not to mention a few surprises. We hope to get our hands on Nokia's N-Gage for the first time and check out what all the fuss is about before its 7th October release, and should even be able to playtest the almighty Gran Turismo 4! As a little taster of things to come over the next week, we've put together a list of games we hope to see at the show along with what form we expect them to be in - be sure to check back on Wednesday when our in-show coverage begins!
Acclaim
Alias
Being based upon a popular US TV series, this has to be one of Acclaim's biggest titles at the show. With a story co-written by guys behind the TV show, a sexy female character to control and motion-captured animations, this sounds like it could be a good game - we'll be checking it out in playable form at the PlayStation Experience to find out how it plays.
XGRA
The Extreme-G games have always been incredibly fast and incredibly nice to look at, and this latest instalment doesn't seem to break that tradition! With its release pushed back into October, we hope to see a finished version at the PlayStation Experience, and will be reporting back our initial impressions before our full review in a few week's time.
Urban Freestyle Soccer
Acclaim promise to offer a gritty-but-arcade-like experience with this football game. Normal rules go out the window as gangs fight to control areas of a city by playing 4-on-4 matches against one another. It certainly sounds an interesting idea, but will it catch people's attentions at the show?
Activision
Although Activision will not be attending this year’s show, we have been invited to their studios in deepest, darkest Slough to look at their upcoming games line-up. We hope to report back on a couple of Star Wars titles, Pitfall Harry, and the latest incarnation of Doom.
Atari
Driver 3
Atari will be showing off a video of the eagerly awaited third instalment in their hit Driver franchise, Driver 3. With living and breathing cities now all the rage in racers, it will be interesting to see how this new incarnation fares.
Dungeons & Dragons Heroes
We have been following Dungeons and Dragons Heroes with interest over the last few months, and are looking forward to seeing this latest incarnation of the original role-playing game in action. Take control of a Fighter, Wizard, Cleric or Rogue for some good old-fashioned hack ‘n slash action with up to four friends.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
With the blockbuster film already out Atari will be keen to show off this new first-person shooter for next-generation consoles. The game will allow players to become the Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and battle in future wastelands and also present day Los Angeles.
Unreal Tournament 2004
Atari’s next instalment of this virtual blood sport will see the addition of new game modes and maps, but the most interesting new aspect in the inclusion of controllable land, air and space based vehicles, which will allow for vehicular combat as well as the usual wide scale warfare.
Codemasters
Colin McRae Rally 04
Although only appearing in The PlayStation Experience, which means we won't have a chance to check out the online Xbox Live version, CMR04 should still prove to be quite impressive, sporting a better graphics engine than the last game and, hopefully, the famous Colin McRae Rally gamplay.
Pop Idol
Is this actually a good game, or simply a cringe-worthy cash-in on a popular TV licence? We'll find out when we see it running at Codemasters' stand in The PlayStation Experience, and will no doubt be making fools of ourselves thanks to the newly announced dance-mat support.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United Club Football
Four of the countless 'Club Football' titles will be making an appearance at the show, and we'll be able to get a good idea of how much each game is tailored to the individual club it represents.
Eidos
Deus Ex: Invisible War
The sequel to one of the most enthralling first and third-person shooters isn't set to hit stores until next year, so we're not entirely sure whether there'll be a rolling demo or a playable version. However, whatever happens to be on show, we'll be sure to report it to you the moment we see it!
The Italian Job
Once our rage at the highly Americanised version of this classic British film has died down we'll be able to bring you the latest info about Eidos' game based on the film's story. I can't be sure, but I'm guessing it'll involve Mini Coopers and the streets of Italy somewhere...
Electronic Arts
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing
After the recent success of NightFire, EA have decided to take the Bond game franchise into a slightly different direction. Now players will take on the role of Bond in a third-person perspective, and for the first time Pierce Bronson and Dame Judi Dench will have their likeness and voices added to the game. It’s even rumoured that henchmen ‘Jaws’ will be making a welcome appearance.
The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King
Based on the upcoming move, which in our eyes can’t come fast enough, Electronic Arts invite players to become the motion picture trilogy’s heroes. Defend the walls of Minas Tirith as Gandalf, raise the Army of the Dead as Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli, and take control of Frodo and Sam as they attempt to deliver the ring into the fiery depths of Mount Doom
SSX 3
The first two SSX games have always been favourites of ours here at Silicon Fusion, so we are looking forward to seeing SSX 3 running at this years show. Almost two years of work has been put into this snowboarding title, and players will have access to one huge mountain, with numerous different ways to race down and many more crazy tricks to pull off.
Konami
Cy Girls
Although we may not have been lucky enough to receive the (supposedly) raunchy Japanese cartoon series upon which this game is based, we'll still get to check out how Konami's sexy crime fighters are shaping up in a playable demo at their stand in The PlayStation Experience.
Gradius V
This next-generation update of the popular 8-bit series should be in playable form at this year's show, and we're looking forward to getting our hands on this visually-exciting, frantic shoot 'em up (and dying multiple times, probably).
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
After making quite an impression at E3 earlier this year, the next Metal Gear Solid game is set to make an appearance at ECTS! Will we get to see a demo of the game, and find out exactly how differently this incarnation will play compared to the previous ones, or will it be a new trailer to keep people in suspense for as long as possible?
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Although slightly overshadowed by its PlayStation 2 brother, this GameCube title should still be pretty impressive in its own right. So far we know that it is based upon the original Metal Gear Solid's storyline with updated graphics, but with both Shigeru Miyamoto and Hideo Kojima at the helm will the changes to the game be more than skin deep?
Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner
Although the first game was visually superb, it gained some criticism for repetative gameplay. Will the promised additions of multiple enemies attacking at once, new abilities and more interactive environments fix this in the second game? We hope to find out when we playtest it at Konami's ECTS booth.
Nintendo
1080 Avalanche
Although this game's been getting media attention since before the GameCube was even launched, it finally seems to be coming out, and we hope to get an early playtest of it at Nintendo's truck outside ECTS.
F-Zero GX
Sega's take on Nintendo's insanely fast futuristic racing franchise has looked fantastic so far, and with it already being out in America we expect a complete version to be playable in the Nintendo truck.
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
This is set to be Nintendo's star of the show - a full, final version of the new Mario Kart game running on GameCube! We hope to have first impressions straight from the show, and will let you know if the familiar Mario Kart magic of the previous games has been retained!
Pikmin 2
We hope to check out the second instalment in Shigeru Miyamoto's 'gardening-inspired' series at this year's show, and will aim to find out what those mysterious new Pikmin actually do.
Soul Calibur II
This game should hit stores on the 26th September, so we're confident that a finished version will appear at ECTS this year. That being the case, expect a full hands-on report including information about the title's impressive-sounding Weapons Master mode!
Sega
Sonic Heroes
The latest Sonic game may be taking a bit of a departure from the last two by allowing players to control three characters semi-simultaneously, but if anyone can pull it off it's got to be Sonic Team. Expect a full gameplay report from The PlayStation Experience.
Worms 3D
Some Worms fans have expressed concern at how the new 3D perspective of this game will affect the series' simple-yet-hugely-addictive gameplay. With this being the first chance we've had to get our hands on the game, we'll be giving it a thorough playtest and letting you know if it retains the simplicity of the older titles.
Virtua Fighter Evolution
Despite a few concerns over whether or not this game would ever be released in Europe, it is none-the-less being shown at The PlayStation Experience. Many American sites have proclaimed this to be even better than Soul Calibur II - you can bet that we'll be on hand to test this theory.
Sony
Dark Chronicle
The first title, Dark Cloud, showed off what the PS2 was capable of during the run-up to its launch, and now thanks to a variant of the cel-shading technique its sequel is showing off the PS2's powers once again. With the game's UK release merely a couple of weeks away, we hope to have access to the finished version at The PlayStation Experience.
Amplitude
This mix of WipEout style futuristic racing and rhythm/dance genres has been getting a fair amount of press attention recently, and with its release date of the 26th September getting closer and closer, we expect to check out what all the fuss is about with a playtest of the full game.
Everquest Online Adventures
Set before the events of Everquest, this online PS2 game has to be one of the jewels in Sony's online crown. With the developers promising a huge world that's 50% larger than the original's, plus support for over 8000 simultaneous players per server this could well help the console put up a fight against the well-established Xbox Live service. We hope to have a full playtest for you from the show!
Destruction Derby Arenas
It's been aaaaaages since the last Destruction Derby game, and although the latter titles in the series were criticised for lack of originality, this latest offering promises to feature an enthralling story mode, plus support for up to 16 players using the PS2's network adapter. We hope to get our hands on a networked version of the game at The PlayStation Experience.
Jak II: Renegade
We expect that the sequel to the fantastic Jak and Daxter will make a big appearance at Sony's show this week. The game is said to be much more cinematic and story-driven than the first, which should provide a bit of a change from the traditional platforming antics we're used to.
Time Crisis III
Namco's premier shooting series is set to return after great success with the PlayStation 2 port of the second game. Having played the arcade game and found it to be every bit as good as the previous two, we'll be hoping to see a near-identical version running on the PS2 at The PlayStation Experience.
Ratchet and Clank II
The first game featured some of the best graphics seen on the PS2 to date, and this sequel promises even more with bigger levels, better weapons and more impressive special effects. We hope to get our hands on a playable version on the show floor and should be able to give you our hands-on impressions later in the week!
Gran Turismo 4
Already proclaimed by some to be the star of the show even before it's begun, this is no doubt a massive title for Sony. We've been promised that playable code will appear at the show, and are in almost pant-wetting anticipation of getting our grubby mitts on the game! Will it match up to the graphics of Microsoft's Project Gotham Racing 2? We'll have a pretty good idea by the end of the week!
THQ
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Oblivion Lost
This post-nuclear disaster PC first-person shooter should be at the show in playable form, and after seeing some particularly nice looking screenshots of it earlier this month, we're looking forward to checking out how the game plays. Having also heard a lot about the 'living world' in which the story unfolds, we're keen to see exactly how much this alters the experience each time the game is played.
Tak and the Power of JUJU
Avalanche Software's unusual platformer will most likely be playable at the show, albeit only the PS2 version. Although we haven't seen much of the game so far, its magic-orientated gameplay, where certain puzzles must be completed to summon mythical 'JUJUs' to help you throughout the levels, should bring some originality to the title's platform-game roots.
Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon
We hope to glimpse at the continuing adventures of George Stobbart in this third instalment of the Broken Sword series. Adventure purists may be worried about the game's fully-3D environments, but we hope to dispel people's worries with an extensive playtest at the show.
Full Spectrum Warrior
This unusually-named title is promised to be one of the most accurate military simulation games to hit the market. Being developed for XBox, this game is based upon actual training simulations used by the US Army! No doubt we'll be dying multiple times whilst playing against the game's developers at ECTS then...
Ubi Soft
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
With a recent marketing deal to secure the game on the PlayStation 2 in 2003, Xbox and GameCube owners will have to wait until early next year for this highly anticipated title. Players will be able to control time itself in order to help bring order to this fantastical land in this polished action adventure title.
XIII
This first-person shooter features cel-shaded graphics to help present the game like a graphic novel. Solve a conspiracy plot in which the President’s assassination and your own identity are shrouded in secrets. We saw XIII running at last year's show, and we are looking forward to seeing how far the game has developed in a year.
Beyond Good & Evil
Not too much is known about Beyond Good & Evil, except that it features a twenty-year old female reporter with dark brown/green eyes by the name of Jade. So we hope to be able to check her out at this years show and will report back to you what we uncover.
Silicon Fusion Staff
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