Daily News Spin — May 20, 2001 (Sunday)

Mark's E3 thoughts

There are four things that stand out in my mind about this E3.

First, the Xbox had a lackluster showing. The only buzz it was generating was negative buzz. It's not that it looked bad, but more that it didn't look any better than Sony or Nintendo's systems. As far as the games go, the Xbox clearly trails behind Sony and Nintendo. Halo was drawing crowds, but everyone I talked to was repeating what I thought — it just looks very ordinary this year. So the situation is that the Xbox is going to cost $100 more than the PS2 and the Gamecube (probably) when it launches, it doesn't really look superior at this point, and the Xbox lineup of games isn't very exciting. Microsoft has some problems. They also have deep pockets.

Second, the Gamecube looks great. If I had to pick which system produced the prettiest graphics, it would be the Gamecube. (Someone told me that they were showing the Gamecube games on HDTV, so perhaps that had something to do with it.) Nintendo's Gamecube launch titles, while aimed mostly at kids, just had some delightful looking games like Miyamoto's Pikmin game. It's wierd but I couldn't help but laugh as I watched these little plant people try to capture local wildlife and take them to their spaceship.

Third, the system that everyone loved was Game Boy Advance. It's just cool. I played Mario Kart, another racing game, a mecha RTS game, and the Mario 2 game they have coming out for it. Loved them.

Finally, it was a weak year for PC games. There were plenty of great looking games, but only a few really interested me. Wargames and flight sims were hard to spot. Most PC games were shooters like Wolfenstein, RPGs, or strategy games, usually real-time ones. Like last year, every game uses a 3D engine and looks the same.

Mark's E3 PC highlights

Clearly, the most impressive game of the show was Star Wars Galaxies by Sony Online. I was one of the lucky few to get to see the game demo'd. Graphically, it's unbelievable. It's almost a movie. The detailed textures and animation are better than anything I've ever seen in a game. The first world they have done, and there will be many worlds they told us, is already larger than the entire EverQuest game. The space battle portion that will be released as an add-on look better than any space sim I've seen. Tom wasn't as impressed as I was, and it's important to note that we really were seeing the engine and some basic creature AI demo'd. The game's still a long way out.

Medal of Honor 2 I didn't see, but it seemed to be the runner up in everyone's book.

Wolfenstein was drawing big crowds. Soldier of Fortune 2 also was getting a lot of attention.

Sigma looks like it has a chance to be a wonderful. You'll laugh when you make a hippo with wings and watch it fly. It's a pure RTS game with very little building. Games are designed to last a half hour.

Age of Mythology grabbed me too. It's a standard Ensemble RTS, but I like the inclusion of heroes, mythical creatures, and spells.

Strategy First has a strong lineup with Disciples 2, O.R.B., Rails Across America, and Zero G Marines, which reminded me a bit of Tribes.

I played Dungeon Seige for about 30 minutes and took a character from the game's start through the woods, cleared out a dungeon, and then had an NPC join me for some hacking and slashing. It's great, but it's very much like Diablo, though Diablo with a great 3D engine and a really slick interface. Just to show you how smart Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games are, when you drink a health potion you don't use it all — just enough to restore your health completely. It's so obvious, yet no one's done it before. Doh!

I was mildly disappointed in Warcraft 3. I played it for about 10 minutes and just thought the combat was a bit dull. Combat takes longer to give the player time to cast spells, but it's really not all that exciting to cast spells.

Empire Earth I also played and liked. The AI was aggressive and good, it seemed, and the game is chock full of units, over 300 different types. I started a skirmish in the Nano Epoch and had fun with mechas and futuristic troops. It does seem to rely heavily on spells, so some may have some micromanagement issues with the game.

Etherlords from Nival is a combination of Heroes of Might and Magic and Magic: the Gathering. If they balance the game and have decent AI, this one could be very good.

Finally, maybe my favorite game of the show was Freedom Force. It's a comic book come to life in a PC game. When I used Minuteman to pick up a car and throw it at an evil robot, I was hooked. I can't wait for this one. The game plays in real time but automatically pauses whenever you select a special ability to use. It's quite manageable, and the combinations of hero powers seems to offer a lot of tactical choices. You get four heroes in your squad for a mission, drawn from a pool of 14 heroes.

This was all off the top of my head as I'm waiting to catch a cab to the airport. I probably forgot about some games. I'm not sure when I'll get the news updated again. I have to put my PC back together again on Monday, so it may be Tuesday or later before I update again. Tom should have plenty of material for Shoot Club, so bug him for one. :) Somehow during a game of nickel poker while Shoot Club was going on I managed to lose $16 on a single hand. If you've ever played Inbetween, don't think that a Two of Clubs and an King of Diamonds is a safe spread. I tried for the $8 pot and pulled a Two of Hearts and had to double the pot. I'm laughing now. I was crying then.