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With the final day of ECTS being a Saturday, a time when very few members of the press even get up in the morning let alone attend a show, the Earl's Court exhibition centre was a lot calmer, allowing us to get a better glimpse of the games we'd spotted on the previous days. Heading straight over to the Burnout 2 pods, we got to see a nice set of menus full of new game modes, including a tutorial-style option for newcomers to the series, as well as a healthy number of tracks in varying locations, and an option to choose time of day and weather effects. After a lengthy play session (and after the person behind frowned at me for spending so much time there) I came away certain that this was going to be a big hit this Christmas, and with any luck we should have a full preview ready in the coming weeks.
Moving on, the next thing that grabbed us was UK-based company Realism's Super Monkey Ball Jr running on Game Boy Advance. The title is a great portable version of Sega's GameCube classic, with a smooth 3D engine allowing for some superb graphics as well as the same fast-paced gameplay of the original. The majority of levels in the game are incredibly close representations of those found in the GameCube version, but even the development team admit that they hadn't unlocked the original's fabled Monster difficulty level, so that mode in the GBA version contains all-new, fiendishly difficult courses to complete. With the version at the show looking very near completion, we hope to have more information on this title very soon.
Finally, we ventured over to Game Park's stand, where the Korean-based company were busy showing off their new GP32 console that they hope to launch in the UK before Christmas. The handheld machine, which is very similar in layout and size to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, has an excellent full-colour display, in-built stereo speakers with 32-channel sound support and ran games on Smart Media cards, which are smaller in dimensions than a credit card but can store up to 128 MB of data. However, the best features were to be found in its connectivity options, since the casing houses a USB port which allows you to connect the console to a PC to download new software, videos (in MPEG or AVI format), MP3 audio files or even games that you've developed yourself! Better still, an RF unit allows for multiplayer wireless gaming within a 10-metre space, with radio technology being used to allow for high-data rates and less interference as opposed to the failed infrared port on previous handhelds. However, despite being told that the unit would cost around £100, with games about £20 each, there's definite concern that it may exceed this when its released later this year, and the titles on offer seemed to be quite Korean-influenced, with none showing off the 32-bit processor's power with any 3D graphics. We hope that these problems will be addressed before the GP32's release, but even with the best portable on the market they will still have a very steep uphill battle against the marketing muscle of Nintendo.
After 3 days of exhausting games-playing, ECTS drew to a close, not to be reopened again until next year. The 2002 show certainly boasted a superior showing to last year's, with the PlayStation Experience meaning a welcome return by Sony, but it still hasn't quite matched the scene of two years ago, when all three major companies made an appearance. However, we hope that this year is an indication that the show is moving up companys' agendas again, and that next year's event could see it return to its former glory.
Marc Hull
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