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Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to an IGN article discussing a new range of US-bound Capcom comics. Produced by Dreamwave, who are well known for their new Transformers comics, the Capcom-licensed series will include Megaman, Darkstalkers, Maximo, Devil May Cry, and Rival Schools in the first wave, which start debuting in August. Dreamwave also has a preview gallery up on their site.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the Gamespot news that Grand Theft Auto creator David Jones is dropping hints about titles in development at his new company, Real Time Worlds. An executive at his company hinted: "We are not yet talking specifically about our two titles under development, but I will hint that fans of GTA and next-generation racing games will not be disappointed." Jones is the founder of developer DMA Design, who created the classic carnage-based puzzler Lemmings and went on to make both the 2D and 3D Grand Theft Auto titles. He left the developer after DMA were bought by Take Two and renamed Rockstar North, and his own company, Real Time Worlds, have been operating in stealth mode for a while now.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out that IGN Cube have hands-on impressions of Nintendo's latest 'communication game', Giftpia. This seemingly odd but addictive mushroom-chomping title is directed by Square veterans, and IGN ventures that "Giftpia may be billed as an RPG, but it's really more of an adventure.. there are no stats beyond your health meter, no random battles.. in a sense, Giftpia borrows a lot from Nintendo's Animal Crossing." Hopefully this'll include Animal Crossing's compulsiveness, as well as its saccharin-sweet style - in any case, the Japanese version of Giftpia is already released, and IGN mentions that "..shown off in English at this year's E3, Giftpia is almost guaranteed to see a US release."

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to an IGN story claiming that the Gamecube's successor will launch as early as Spring 2005. This date, sourced from anonymous development houses, seems earlier than expected, and IGN mentions that "..asked if they had received any official documentation for the machine, all software houses contacted said no." But equally, any console getting a head start on the next generation will have a significant advantage, and as IGN suggest, "Nintendo has repeatedly stated that it would not be the last hardware manufacturer out of the gates with its next console."

Thanks to Blue's News for pointing to a new RPGVault interview with Liquid Entertainment about their forthcoming Tolkien-themed PC RTS, War Of The Ring. This Vivendi-published title, which we first mentioned a while back, is from the developers of Battle Realms, and is intended to be the first in an ongoing series. Topics commented on include setting - "..we will be focusing on the time of the Fellowship, most of the battles will occur in and around Rohan, with some battles in Mirkwood, The Iron Hills and Northern Gondor", and the developers also mention they want to "..please the hardcore Tolkien fans and RTS fans without alienating the casual Tolkien fan" - a tricky task?

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Gamesindustry.biz report that Argonaut's flagship title, Malice, has been cancelled by publisher Vivendi Universal. This 3D platform title was one of the first ever demonstrated for the Xbox, during Bill Gates' 2001 unveiling of the console, and had more recently added a PS2 version, plus Gwen Stefani of No Doubt's voice for the lead character. The former Starfox developer "..does hope to find a new deal for the game [Malice]", so we may still see it eventually. Also in Argonaut's disappointing news was the fact that their 3D beat-em-up Orchid has been cancelled by Namco - though Namco are still publishing their quirky I-Ninja action title.

Thanks to Shacknews for pointing to the IGN Pocket hands-on preview of Boktai, Hideo 'Metal Gear' Kojima's new Gameboy Advance action title, due out from Konami later this year. It uses a special light sensor in the cartridge, so you can harness sunlight to power up your character - and as the preview says, ".. this sensor can only detect sunlight...it won't recognize any artificial light." Overall, we get a much better idea of how the game works - too much sunlight, "and your gun will begin to overheat as you use it", but not enough, and "you can utilize [in-game] power areas that store excess sunlight" to keep playing. Intriguingly, there's also some serious Metal Gear leanings (enemies use line of sight, you can sneak past them, you can tap on a wall to distract them.)

Kamalot writes "In a world where 85% of games are solved with a gun, where are the original and innovative ideas? Adrenaline Vault has a telling editorial about the state of creativity in the game industry, the constant re-hashing of sequels, and a look into the future when technical achievements are no longer the driving force. What happens when every game follows a tried and true formula? Where do the new ideas go if we can't have games like Viewtiful Joe, Shenmue, and Jet Grind Radio? Did innovative, rather than mainstream, games send the Dreamcast to an early grave rather than the PS2's more bland, yet conforming, lineup of titles?"

Kamalot writes "In a world where 85% of games are solved with a gun, where are the original and innovative ideas? Adrenaline Vault has a telling editorial about the state of creativity in the game industry, the constant re-hashing of sequels, and a look into the future when technical achievements are no longer the driving force. What happens when every game follows a tried and true formula? Where do the new ideas go if we can't have games like Viewtiful Joe, Shenmue, and Jet Grind Radio? Did innovative, rather than mainstream, games send the Dreamcast to an early grave rather than the PS2's more bland, yet conforming, lineup of titles?"

Kamalot writes "In a world where 85% of games are solved with a gun, where are the original and innovative ideas? Adrenaline Vault has a telling editorial about the state of creativity in the game industry, the constant re-hashing of sequels, and a look into the future when technical achievements are no longer the driving force. What happens when every game follows a tried and true formula? Where do the new ideas go if we can't have games like Viewtiful Joe, Shenmue, and Jet Grind Radio? Did innovative, rather than mainstream, games send the Dreamcast to an early grave rather than the PS2's more bland, yet conforming, lineup of titles?"

easychord writes "RPGCodex are reporting that J.E. Sawyer has sneakily or accidentally leaked Fallout 3 concept art onto the Interweb. After the disappointing non RPG spin-offs in the Fallout universe and the confusion around Black Isle's Lionheart having the working title of Fallout Fantasy, is Fallout 3 becoming a vaporware holy grail?"

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out that several sites have now posted their Best Of E3 awards, including Gamespy's Top 25 awards, and separate best-ofs from IGN PS2, IGN Xbox, and IGN Cube. Oh, and the Gamespy editors also found a grilled cheese sandwich to be one of their biggest E3 highlights.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out that several sites have now posted their Best Of E3 awards, including Gamespy's Top 25 awards, and separate best-ofs from IGN PS2, IGN Xbox, and IGN Cube. Oh, and the Gamespy editors also found a grilled cheese sandwich to be one of their biggest E3 highlights.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out that several sites have now posted their Best Of E3 awards, including Gamespy's Top 25 awards, and separate best-ofs from IGN PS2, IGN Xbox, and IGN Cube. Oh, and the Gamespy editors also found a grilled cheese sandwich to be one of their biggest E3 highlights.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out a slew of end-of-year financial results from Japanese games companies. Read on for info on Square's excellent and Enix's disappointing results, and find out quite how Konami managed to lose 230 million dollars this year... Perhaps the most surprising results were Konami's loss of 28 billion yen (230 million dollars) for the year, but this was because of the devaluation of a fitness club business (Konami Sports) purchased in 2001 - sales were up 12 percent elsewhere, with Yu-Gi-Oh a high point.

Looking elsewhere, Namco's results were good, with a net profit of 4 billion yen (33 million dollars), partly due to a surprise hit for Taiko No Tatsujin, a drumming game that comes complete with a Japanese taiko drum controller, which has sold over 500,000 copies in Japan.

As for SquareEnix, they reported largely separate financial results for the two halves of the company, due to the recent merger, but Enix had a sharp fall in profits, whereas Square's were a record high. Enix's relatively poor results were blamed on disappointing sales of Star Ocean:Till The End Of Time, which is yet to launch in the US, but was nevertheless expected to do better in Japan, where it's sold a very respectable 500,000 but has already dropped out of the Top 30.

Finally, in a followup to our earlier story, Nintendo's profits came out, and were indeed hit by the sales slowdown and a strong yen, but still managed to reach a group net profit of some 67.3 billion yen (560 million dollars).

Now that E3 is done and the press have gone home, they're consolidating all their E3 reports into handy indexes. Here's the massive Gamespot index listing all the titles they covered, here's the IGN index for E3, and you can also try the Gamespy E3 index or a multitude of others via Gametab News. Do you have a 'best in show' for E3, or at least a roundly ignored game that people may have missed amidst the hype?

Courtesy of IGN, who extracted the pictures from Nintendo's official E3 press booklet, comes pictures and more details of the Game And Watch E-Cards, the collectible data cards which you can swipe through your E-Reader add-on in order to load in classic G+W games. Although there's already Game And Watch 4 for GBA and several prequels for Gameboy, these e-cards look to include classic, if basic titles never converted to Nintendo's new-school portable gaming platform. Neat stuff.

Getting close to finishing up our three-day stint at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, this time we turn our attention to the Namco booth. So read on for info about Spawn, I-Ninja, and the can't-come-out-soon-enough Soul Calibur II.. - Soul Calibur II, already released in Japan for some time, was showing for all 3 consoles, and continues to look amazing. Not having had a chance to see Link as a playable character on the Gamecube version, it was extremely impressive to see his art style blend in so well with the rest of the fighters, while still being recognizable. This is a must-buy for fighter fans when it finally launches in August.

- Kill.Switch for PS2 and Xbox was yet another tactical action shooter type game, with lots of hiding behind columns and ducking out to nail enemies with heavy weaponry. There really was a preponderance of this type of title at E3, and though this one seemed to do it decently, it didn't seem to stand up to title like EA's Freedom.

- Spawn was a somewhat surprise appearance which continues Todd McFarlane's association with Namco (see the Spawn arcade/Dreamcast title, plus Spawn as secret character in Soul Calibur II for Xbox), and was a double-gun, lock-on type action shooter. That's right, another one. It looked decent graphically, and this type of game can be plenty of fun, but we'll have to see what it has to make it stand out.

- I-Ninja was the Argonaut-developed cartoon-like action game, with a super-deformed ninja lead character running around vaguely stylized environments. It had some neat gameplay mechanisms, such as a blatantly borrowed from Metroid Prime 'rolling-ball' mode, and some cool jump and run along walls moves, but the graphics were a little plain in places.

- also being shown, but not immediately obvious on the show floor, were R:Racing Evolution, the latest in the Ridge Racer series, sporting much-improved graphics and a slightly more realistic approach, and Extreme Force, a Dead To Rights semi-sequel focusing more on Splinter Cell-type tactical action.

For further impressions, screenshots, and media try IGN.com, Gamespot, Gamers.com, Gamerfeed, or all the other usual suspects. Plus, watch for a final round-up from the show soon.

Continuing with brief hands-on impressions from the most interesting booths at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, we turn our attention to Konami. Read on for info about Castlevania, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Gradius, Metal Gear, and more.. - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, showing for multiple platforms, was a delight. With awesome-looking cel-shaded graphics, and Batman-the-TV-series type 'CRASH!' and 'THUMP!' voice balloons accompanying the action, this goes a long way to recreating the fun of the original arcade and SNES games, with multiplayer arcade-styled fun to the fore.

- Bloody Roar 4 was showing for PS2, picked up when Konami bought a controlling interest in developers Hudsonsoft a year or two back. It seemed high on the B-list of fighters - not essential, but hardly Final Fight Revenge either.

- Castlevania:Lament Of Innocence for PS2 is a 3D action title that finally puts to rest those horrid N64 Castlevania games, with somewhat Devil May Cry-styled action gameplay, big bosses, and a camera that behaves most of the time. It's still got that oldschool feel, but some of the rooms felt a bit large and empty in places. Still, promising, though it's easy to think about how the Rygar title for PS2 seems to have made the transition a bit better.

- Gradius V for PS2, the latest sequel to the all-time classic sideways-scrolling shooter, was showing on a single machine round the side of the booth. It looked good, with 2D action but great use of 3D scaling in the background, and the traditional power-up stacking system that's always worked so well. If you're not a fan of this genre, you won't be converted, but it's a worthy successor.

- Cy Girls for PS2, some kind of girl ninja/hacker action title, really didn't look that hot in the playable demo on the booth, but the video trailer there showcased some more interesting action, so it may improve as release date nears.

- Silent Hill 3, which seems to come out as soon as next week in Europe, and in a couple of months in other territories, looked very much like a straight sequel to the previous two titles. Basically, it's very spooky, the gritty lighting still works, there's scary giant rabbit costumes outside deserted amusement parks.. you get the drift.

- Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand, the innovative GBA title from Hideo Kojima that will include a light sensor in the cartridge, was difficult to evaluate on the show floor, since there was only a video running and GBAs running the title were only viewable through glass. But the isometric graphics look good, and the presence of a light meter on screen at all times mean you'll either going to be cheating and cupping your hand over the sensor, or running in and out of your cellar a lot when the game is released.

- we dealt with Metal Gear Solid:The Twin Snakes over in our previous Nintendo booth article, and sadly both this title and Metal Gear Solid 3 were only running in trailer form on the E3 show floor. So there's not much more to say about MGS3 right now than 'set in jungle', 'nice graphics', 'mysterious'. Look out for full trailers of both popping up online as E3 winds down.

For further impressions, screenshots, and media try IGN.com, Gamespot, Gamers.com, Gamerfeed, or all the other usual suspects. More hands-on impressions soon.

tplessers writes "Check out the official Half-Life 2 teaser movie (IGN.com link, .MOV format). The screenshots from last week were breathtaking, but seeing it all move in such a realistic way makes it all complete..." Looks like there are plenty of stable mirrors up for this now, including DivX versions from Fileplanet and Fileshack (registrations required), or the zero-registration P2P goodness of BitTorrent linkage from Gametab.

Getting straight on with our brief E3 Expo hands-on impressions, targeting the major companies and titles to watch at the show, we've made it to the Electronic Arts booth. Read on for info about selected titles featuring James Bond, Gimli, and those pesky Sims.. - The Sims 2 was only being trailed in video form on the show floor, with The Who's My Generation cut up over a smart CG trailer that showed multiple eras of Sims, with whole dynasties growing up, having kids, breathing fire (apparently a hereditary trait in that family!), and generally goofing off. How the game improves on a winning formula remains to be seen, but the DNA-passed-to-descendents angle is clearly the one being pushed to the fore for the sequel.

- 007:Everything Or Nothing, which we mentioned yesterday for its use of real-life actors in virtual roles, was sporting a playable action sequence where Pierce Brosnan ran through a skyscraper and then jumped off the edge, duelling with enemies while running/bungie cording down the side of the building. The action was third-person, darned attractive, and it may be that the improvement in Bond games that started with Nightfire will continue (no more 007 Racing? Phew!)

- Harry Potter:Quidditch World Cup is definitely strange, being an EA Sports-izing of a fictional sport and all. But it looked like it could be reasonably playable, though the size of the pitch looked very small, probably thanks to artistic license in the movies expanding it, and the AI still needed some work.

- Medal Of Honor: Rising Sun was seen in a great-looking CG trailer which, well, didn't have much to do with gameplay, plus some early PS2 gameplay code which was apparently even a little too early to get much of a good impression. The jury has left the building.

- Freedom:The Battle For Liberty Island was the arguably surprise booth stand-out. The developers, IO Interactive, were responsible for the excellent Hitman 2, and this title features crisp graphics and great environmental effects. Sporting frantic shoot-outs on roofs against helicopter gunships, it feels right, more so than most other action shooters at the show - and believe me, there are a lot of those.

- Lord Of The Rings:Return Of The King is being developed in-house at EA this time, so has a different developer from the fun Two Towers. But actually, it looks a spot better than that title, with similar action-based hack 'n slash gameplay, multiplayer co-op action, a ton of enemies onscreen at once, and cave trolls looking about 30 percent uglier than they have any right to be.

For further impressions, screenshots, and media try IGN.com, Gamespot, Gamers.com, Gamerfeed, or all the other usual suspects. More hands-on impressions soon.

Ever since the Microsoft press conference at the outset of E3, various audience-filmed videos of the Halo 2 demo showcased there have been circulating, but we've been waiting for more stable mirrors before posting. So, you can find the full trailer at IGN.com if you're a subscriber, and they have freely downloadable smaller excerpts. Thanks also to Tim Grube for pointing out this 85mb MPG Halo 2 for Xbox trailer, courtesy Gaming Horizon. Finally, and most usefully, there's now a 39mb WMV BitTorrent of the trailer up at Gametab News.

Continuing our 'brief impressions'-based look at the major titles and major publishers at E3 in Los Angeles, here's a look at SquareEnix's booth. Read on for info about a cornucopia of Final Fantasies, plus the new Star Ocean and the mysterious Drakangard... - Final Fantasy XI was being shown in the same form as we've already previewed it on the Sony booth. It requiring the PS2 hard disc is a significant expense/hassle, but if you're a Final Fantasy fan or a MMORPG freak, it may be well worth it.

- Star Ocean:The End Of Time was a graphically stunning action strategy game (with real-time combat), including some insanely nice special effects, though there's some very occasional slowdown. You even got to fight enemies like D+D-styled 'eye of the beholder' floating ocular beasts. As far as control goes, you control the main character directly, and the other people in your party follow your lead, but you can stop the action to change priorities or weapons.

- Drakangard for PS2, an unknown quantity until the show, had the player controlling either a warrior on the battlefield, in very Dynasty Warriors-esque hack and slash action, or the same warrior astride a dragon, hovering high above it and swooping down to fire-heat the opposing troops. The graphics looked a little plain from ground level, but being able to see whole groups of enemies from the air and then toast them was neat. Depth of gameplay could be a problem?

- Final Fantasy:Crystal Chronicles was being played by four eager gamers, each using a GBA to control their onscreen character, and we've dealt with this game briefly already in our discussion of the Nintendo booth. It does look like one of the stand-out Gamecube titles at the show, with wicked-looking robot bosses who rotate their body like a windmill, direct action-based controls and plenty of signature Square special effects, but this isn't your standard Final Fantasy title, so it may polarize fans. We heard someone else make the Gauntlet Legends+ comparison while in the booth, so that may be a good way to think of this game.

- Unlimited SaGa for PS2 may be a continuation of a classic series, but it's a decidedly strange one. The use of 2D characters and 3D background mainly works, but it's the opening 2D/3D cinema that really impressed. This definitely comes with an 'only for the hardcore' tag (there's both 'hit points' and 'life points', for example, both of which are important), but if you can get past that, it's a niche title of interest.

- Final Fantasy X-2 can easily be summed up as 'very, very fruity'. From the opening dancing and singing CG, the all-female cast, and the 'Dress-up Sphere' element to combat, with players needing costume changes to power up, it's all very, very Japanese. The game restored the Active Time Battle method for battles, and the graphics surpass even Final Fantasy X, but it's not so much epic as epic kitsch. Still seems to have the gameplay going on, mind you.

For further impressions, screenshots, and media try IGN.com, Gamespot, Gamers.com, Gamerfeed, or all the other usual suspects. More hands-on impressions soon.

Slashdot Games is continuing to report on the E3 expo in Los Angeles, and we're working our way around the major booths, doing brief overviews of the major titles on each. Check out earlier stories for looks at Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, and Sega, but now we turn our attention to Capcom. Read on for info on Gregory Horror Show, Onimusha 3, Viewtiful Joe, and more.. - Gregory Horror Show, which is a working title and seriously rips off the Rocky Horror Show logo in current form, was a seriously bizarre Japanese-ish PS2 title that can best be described as Resident Evil with macabre, weird, square cartoony characters. It certainly had nice graphics, but follows the interesting but odd theme we saw on a number of Capcom titles.

- Dino Crisis 3 for Xbox does the obvious, or, uhh, maybe not, and goes for the 'dinosaurs in space' angle for this graphically good title. So you're stuck on a space station with mutated dinosaurs, and the game seems to stick with the more action-based formula showcased in the last Dino Crisis game.

- Viewtiful Joe for Gamecube was a seriously sharp-looking 2D platform title with plenty of 3D graphics and backgrounds. Reminiscent of titles like Klonoa or Pandemonium, but with added slo-mo blur action and crazed combos, this was another very Japanese-styled game (the main character is a masked hero with flowing cape) which looks great, but probably won't be a mainstream blockbuster in the States.

- Gotcha Force was an interesting Gamecube title, reminding us a lot of Virtual On with flying ninjas and dynamic lock-on action. It has a 2 on 2 team battle mode, and was clearly designed mainly for arena-based multiplayer tussles.

- Maximo Vs. Army Of Zin was a sequel to the much appreciated but hardly top-selling Maximo, and the basic elements of the original seem to have been carried over. We heard that Grim (the Reaper, that is) is a second playable character in the game, but didn't get a chance to check that out. Otherwise.. more of the same, in an arguably good way.

- Group S Challenge was a Project Gotham-style racing game for Xbox, which we hadn't heard much of before the show. The control seemed very solid, and there's a plethora of licensed cars.

- Onimusha 3 was only showing in video form on the bigscreen, but the trailer is gorgeous, and well worth watching if it pops up online anywhere. Set in both France of 2004 (with Jean Reno) and 1582-era Japan, the trailer starts with zombie ninjas being vomited out of an organic spacecraft into modern-day Paris, heh.

- PN-03 for Gamecube starred an extremely shapely female robot killer, in this basic action shooter. Plenty of auto-lock action with wrist-firing lasers, plus almost dance-based special moves.

- other games on the booth included Megaman X7 for PS2, with both 2D and 3D action sections and polygons a-go-go, a puzzler called Bombastic for PS2 which seemed to be an update of Devil Dice, Cinemaware's Defender Of The Crown for PS2, a surprise pick-up which uses the traditional Risk-like elements of the original, plus two leading titles, Onimusha Blade Warriors (think Power Stone with Onimusha characters!) and Resident Evil 4 (Leon Kennedy deep in the core of the Umbrella Corporation) which weren't shown on the floor. Oh, and the Steel Battalion controller is truly epic.

For further impressions, screenshots, and media, doing a search by title on Gametab News is working good for us, but you can also try IGN, Gamespot, and a whole buncha others. More hands-on impressions soon.

Slashdot Games is still camped out at E3 in Los Angeles, and having finished hands-on reports on the Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo booths, we're going on to look at some of the other major exhibitors. Next up is Sega, so read on for more info about new Phantasy Star Online, Sonic, Worms, and Virtual On titles, plus the rather smart Billy Hatcher with his Giant Egg. - Billy Hatcher And The Giant Egg, the newest Sonic Team title for Gamecube, was the surprise game of the stand. Although screenshots had started leaking before the show, it wasn't that clear what was going on, but seeing the game playable made all the difference. Basically, you're a boy called Billy Hatcher who has a rooster hat on (!), and you help out a giant chicken by rolling massive eggs around the levels, down hills, knocking over enemies, and generally causing havoc. The game sports what looks like an updated Sonic Adventure graphics engine, you can pick up floating PacMan-style fruit goodies, and you can even run around on your own and switch to different eggs, which presumably have different properties. The game looks like a whole heap of fun, and we're really looking forward to seeing more of it.

- Worms 3D, the Team 17 multiformat update of their classic multiplayer title, was recently signed by Sega Europe, so was showing on the stand. Although many 3D updates of classic 2D-based titles don't necessarily turn out for the best (anyone remember Lemmings 3D?), this one looks a lot more promising, with great cartoony 3D graphics, cool targeting for overhead airstrikes, and the same super-fun weapons lists.

- Headhunter: Redemption, being shown for PS2, looked like a pretty competent action game, with plenty of stealth elements as well as action, and a heavily tattooed female lead character for at least some of the game. There were also some very Metal Gear Solid moments in the demo, peeking round corners and pivoting to shoot guards at the right moments, and the title looked accomplished, if not breathtaking.

- Otogi for the Xbox was one of the more interesting games on the stand, a really nice looking action beat-em-up featuring ghostly ninja attacks and a 'rush mode' that was somewhat reminiscent of Shinobi. Actually, it also reminds us of Gun Valkyrie, with the frenetic action and deep valleys filled with enemies. But overall, promising.

- Phantasy Star Online Episode III: CARD Revolution was showing for Gamecube with a playable battle demo, and this turn-based card RPG looked very interesting, if very different from previous PSO games. You could play cards like the 'Chain Sawd' weapon for attacks, and there seemed to be block/hex based movement involved, too, but overall, learning the game will take a lot longer than the brief look at it we got. The graphics were neat, though, with PSO's characteristically swaying enemy animations, so if you can stand the change of pace, this title may be worth checking out.

- Sonic Heroes, due out for multiple formats, was looking like the best 3D Sonic game so far, with much bigger and wider-ranging courses, so less of the constrained platform action that played havoc with the camera in earlier Sonic titles. The unique feature of this Sonic game is that you're controlling three Sonic characters at once, and can switch between them to use their different powers - somewhat like Kameo for Xbox in terms of gameplay mechanism. The version we saw had Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails as the three characters, and each was better suited for different challenges - for example, Tails can fly, so he's great for bridging long distances while carrying the other two characters.

- Altered Beast was being shown on video only, sadly, but looked promising. There were a bunch of cool transformation effects shown for this 3D beat-em-up remake of the classic 2D Sega game, and it's clear you can even transform into different beasts, including a fire-breathing one and a flying animal that can unleash a spectacular-looking energy attack.

- as for the other titles, Virtual On Marz for PS2 had some excellent multiplayer action, looking slightly basic graphically but very smooth, Virtua Fighter 4:Evolution looked even better than Virtua Fighter 4, although the gameplay is as involved as ever, and there were other appearances from a Vectorman PS2 demo and a neat Sonic Pinball Gameboy Advance title.

For further impressions, screenshots, and media try IGN.com, Gamespot, Gamers.com, Gamerfeed, or all the other usual suspects. More hands-on impressions soon.

Slashdot Games is continuing its look at the major booths here at the E3 Expo. The last of the major hardware manufacturers to give us a hands-on look at their software is Microsoft, after earlier articles on Nintendo and Sony. Read on for info about all the new Rare titles, Brute Force, Halo 2, and more.. - Kameo, the Rare-developed game that was shown in significantly different form on the Nintendo booth a couple of years back, looked just amazing. The graphics were lush, colorful, and beatiful, possibly the best of any Xbox game so far, including Halo. The third-person action was fun and somewhat innovative, as you could switch swiftly between multiple characters with different powers to solve puzzles and wipe out enemies. The characters included a plant beast, some kind of rock monster, and even Kameo (a fairy lookalike) herself. So, not only does the Xbox lack quality examples of this type of game, Rare seem to have come up with the goods yet again.

- Brute Force, the Digital Anvil-developed third-person team shooter which has been in development for what seems like an age, was looking promising, with a really fun co-op mode, simple but direct controls, and good sniper-zoom effects. It seemed just slightly plain compared to the very best-looking titles like Halo or Kameo, though, and it's a shame it's not supporting Xbox Live, but it's still a game you can look forward to.

- Voodoo Vince, a quirky new Microsoft-published platformer, looked good, with perky graphics and some really nice fire effects. But overall, it wasn't really a spectacular stand-out, although there were some neat ideas about the main character hurting himself in order to damage enemies - he's a voodoo doll, folks.

- Conker:Live And Uncut is Rare's team-based shooter, and it focuses on multiplayer modes to create an intense but cartoony deathmatch title. As you run around the sharp-looking arenas, picking up everything from knives to rocket-launchers, the third-person view seems to work pretty well for fast and fun combat, and Xbox Live support should wrap up the whole deal. Now, if we could only stop thinking about Fur Fighters when we see it..

- Project Gotham Racing 2 is still using the rather innovative 'kudos' system first pioneered by Bizarre Creations in Metropolis Street Racer. It also sports the noticably real-life tracks, with many fenced-off areas and 90-degree turns, something that will either delight or bother you, depending. The graphics are certainly a notch above the first title, but Gran Turismo 4 seems to have a grittier, more exciting feel overall.

- Grabbed By The Ghoulies was the third Rare title on display, and was an somewhat bizarre, almost flat-shaded, semi-cartoony platformer. Kameo seemed to us to look nicer, but this title certainly had some unique stylings, and even some noticably twisted semi-gore. Look what a few years being forced to make insanely cute games like Diddy Kong Racing will do to a bunch of developers?

- it seems Halo 2 is viewable as a real-time demo, though sadly not playable by the public, in a special booth area that's been drawing gigantic queues. The demo has the same layout as that shown at the Microsoft press conference, and it reliably blows everyone away, with amazing attention to detail, double-gun action, spectacular graphics, super-realistic voice interaction, the ability to jump on the Ghost ships and kick the pilot out.. basically, genius. This is definitely one of the games of the show, and may become the Xbox's second killer app, after its predecessor was most definitely the first.

There were a whole bunch of other third-party games on Microsoft's booth, but we'll get to them on Thursday and Friday. In the meantime, be sure to check IGN.com, Gamespot, Gamers.com, Gamerfeed, or all the other usual suspects. Our hands-on impressions will continue on Thursday.

Slashdot Games is continuing to cover events from the show floor at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles. After covering Nintendo's booth, our next subject is Sony, who backed up the information contained in their pre-E3 press conference with a bevy of playable titles. Read on for what we found at Sony, including Gran Turismo 4, Resident Evil Online, and the very cool Eye Toy. - Gran Turismo 4 was looking, overall, pretty spectacular. The in-car view isn't a quantum leap above the kind of visuals GT3 has, but it still looks significantly better. The exterior views and replays are looking insanely good, though, and with new courses like New York (including Times Square), new rally tracks, and the ever-amazing attention to detail, nirvana awaits for car nuts.

- Eye Toy was the stand-out surprise of the booth, since it's infinitely more satisfying in the flesh than if explained or shown in screenshots. It stars a series of almost Point Blank-styled mini-games, such as keeping a soccer ball in the air or chopsocking cartoony ninjas as they swarm from the sides of the screen. The key is that you can see yourself onscreen, courtesy of the USB camera that comes with the games, and can adjust your physical position to hit or interact with the objects that appear on the TV. A boxing mini-game where you dueled a robot, Punch-Out style, was another highlight, one which had attendees ducking and weaving as they landed virtual punches on the poor hunk o'metal. Considering this will all cost about the price of a normal PS2 game, it's a seriously quirky but cool stand-out.

- Final Fantasy XI was available and playable online in a fully translated English version. It's nothing that hasn't been seen before in the already-released Japanese version, but it did impress in the flesh, looking more visually interesting than the Everquest Online titles for PS2, and promising diversity with a truly huge range of spells and attacks.

- Ratchet And Clank:Going Commando and Jak II pretty much defined the 'neat game, better-looking sequel' concept. There's even more weapons of choice for Ratchet And Clank, plus Jak II sporting some pretty amazing-looking graphics, with a large number of vehicles, passers-by, and enemies all on screen as Jak bounded through a city, and no slow-down in the slightest.

- Rise To Honor, the action title starring a virtual Jet Li, was looking promising. Quite reminiscent of titles like Dead To Rights, but minus the random mini-games, RTH showcased both hand-to-hand martial arts goodness and double-gun shootout action. Sporting crisp graphics and some decent-looking moves, though suffering from a few glitches and an oddly emotionless-looking Jet Li, it's definitely worth looking out for.

- Syphon Filter: Omega Strain was running in multiplayer networked deathmatch mode, and was goodlooking and smooth. It had particularly neat rain effects on the dark urban streets of the playable level. Oddly, it wasn't generating a lot of interest, with those attendees playing just standing in one place and raking machine-gun fire aimlessly, but that could say more about the E3 attention span than the game.

- Resident Evil:Outbreak (the former Resident Evil Online) was also running in its networked, collaborative form. Interestingly, it had a 'HDD' info sticker on the front of the booth, presumably meaning it'll only work with the PS2 hard disc. The action looked extremely similar to your average Resident Evil title, but with the ability to go help out your friends elsewhere in the spooky-looking decaying house. Teaming up with your friends is a neat twist, as is a new 'zombie gauge' which may allow the player to eventually turn into a zombie, but still have control over his new form. We didn't see any of that on the show-floor version, though, possibly because it was entirely in Japanese, so a little tricky to understand at points.

- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was shown only in video form, in a significantly expanded version from the previously leaked trailer. We'll hopefully have more on this title as E3 continues.

- For those lovely Slashdot Games readers asking about booth babes, we almost got flattened by hordes of attendees coming away from the Dead Or Alive fashion show at the Tecmo booth. No pictures, only the imprints of over-enthusiastic fan-boots in our face.

For further impressions, screenshots, and media try IGN.com, Gamespot, Gamers.com, Gamerfeed, or all the other usual suspects. We'll have further hands-on impressions from other booths later today.

Slashdot Games is here on the show floor at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, and over the next three days, we'll be doing brief hands-on impressions of the major games in each booth. First up is Nintendo, following up our earlier press conference summary with a chance to see and play the games in detail. Here's what we found at Nintendo, including Mario Kart, Metal Gear, Starfox, and.. Wario insulting us? - F-Zero GX is startlingly fast, both in framerate and vehicle speed. There are great-looking light trails on all your competitors, of which you can see most of the 30 onscreen at once. The background levels included a night-based thunderstorm setting, which looked very smart as you looped around the tracks at near-supersonic speeds. Also, the gameplay seemed similar to previous titles, which is good if you're a F-Zero fan to start with. The 4-player splitscreen ran without slowdown, but dropped the backgrounds.

- Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes showed more clearly that it's a (partial?) remake of the PSX Metal Gear Solid, by demo-ing the first area of the original MGS, but Gamecube-ized. It looks slicker and higher-res, keeping the same stylized color schemes, but the real-time cutscenes slowed down noticably due to the screen-filling snowstorm effects. Still promising, though.

- Starfox, being shown exclusively in multiplayer, is puzzling but interesting at the same time. It seems that you can pick to play Arwing flight-based combat, or Fox and friends in ground-based combat. It's possible to be playing in an Arwing while your opponent is running around on the ground shooting up at you. How this works in gameplay remains to be seen (the two people I saw playing in different modes were having difficulty finding each other), but certainly seems that the over-the-shoulder shooter mode and the flight combat mode are both fun and addictive individually.

- Geist is the mystery new Nintendo title from developers N-Space. It seemed to play and look like a Halo competitor, first-person action to the fore, but with the gameplay possession elements of Messiah in full effect. As a ghost, you can take over people's bodies and then use their weapons and identities as you wish. The concept on its own is appealing if done well, and it's visually impressive, so this is definitely a title to watch.

- Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike looked visually stunning, especially in the forests of Endor, where the player could control AT-STs as they stomped through the dense undergrowth, complete with swinging log traps, Ewoks, and speeder bikes. The great-looking lighting and destructible trees really helps make this one of the stand-outs on the booth. The other stages also look excellent, with the player controlling X-Wings and tauntauns in both air and foot-based levels.

- we may cover Final Fantasy:Crystal Chronicles more when we get to the Square Enix booth, but the action was smooth, fast, 4-player simultaneous, and actually very reminiscent of Diablo or Gauntlet Legends. In other words, this is no conventional FF game, but it looks to have made the genre transition successfully.

- Mario Kart Double Dash was running in networked LAN form, using multiple Gamecubes with the broadband adaptor. It looked smooth, fast, with bright and sharp graphics and an excellent frame-rate, a fitting continuation of the Mario Kart legacy.

- the Mario Kart area was also home to the best gimmick in the Nintendo booth. A CG puppet of Mario was displayed on a monitor above the booth, and a voice actor backstage was responding to events in the booth ,while Mario lipsynced and gestured correctly onscreen. Mario even turned into Wario at one point, so he could plug Wario World and be nasty and evil to E3 attendees. Very neat.

- weird exhibit of the booth was Carrera VRS, some real-life slot cars which you controlled via the Gameboy Advance. They ran round and round a slot track, and the players had their lap times, current position, fuel gauge (!), and other stats displayed on the GBA, as they controlled the cars with the GBA itself. Not quite as strange as the Gameboy sewing machine controller, but getting there.

For further impressions, screenshots, and media try IGN.com, Gamespot, Gamerfeed, or all the other usual suspects. More booth impressions soon, and we'll try to get more GBA titles previewed later in the show also.

Thanks to Blue's News for pointing to the new official website for The Matrix Online. This massively multiplayer PC title, where you get to live, explore and fight within the machine construct of The Matrix, is courtesy Warner Brothers and Ubi Soft, and is being developed by Monolith (of No-One Lives Forever and Tron 2.0 fame) for a 2004 release. IGN.com has more details, and a healthy, if sensible, skepticism until they see the game playable. Finally, this project is completely separate from Shiny/Atari's Enter The Matrix game that we covered a little while back, and which is shipping into stores about now.

Earlier today, Sony's pre-E3 press conference here in Los Angeles announced their PSP handheld console, as we've already covered at Slashdot Games. But there were plenty of other important and interesting announcements in the Sony briefing that we can summarize here, in the same way as we've done for Nintendo's and for Microsoft's pre-E3 press conferences. Read on for info about Gran Turismo 4, Eye Toy, the next Grand Theft Auto, and more.. - all new Playstation 2 consoles sold in the US from June onwards will include a network adaptor. This new bundle will also include an updated version of the console, with DVD-R reading and progressive scan built-in, but will still retail for $199.99. It was later announced that the current PS2 retail box will retail for $179.99, without network adaptor, until they've all been sold.

- this had been coming for a while, especially after EA had expressed their displeasure at Xbox Live, but.. all EA Sports games are only going to be playable online via the PS2. The games will ship for other consoles such as Gamecube or Xbox, but you won't be able to play other people over the Net on those versions. Looks like Sony is upping the ante in the online console war against Microsoft.

- Gran Turismo 4 from Polyphony Digital was extensively previewed. It included some amazing-looking footage, which was often difficult to differentiate from real-life filming. There will be better AI, improved driving, and online capabilities, and the game is looking very, very promising.

- confirmed exclusives for Playstation 2 are both Metal Gear Solid 3:Snake Eater, and the 'next Grand Theft Auto title', although we don't know anything more about the new GTA yet. Any cities want to stand up and volunteer to be the new setting?

- Final Fantasy XI will launch in the US via Sony in early 2004, alongside the PS2 hard disc add-on which will be needed to play it. Interestingly, the PC version will be released by Square Enix in October 2003, significantly ahead of the PS2 version.

- Sony showed the Eye Toy, their digital camera add-on which has been in development for quite some time, and uses clever 'motion capture' style technology to put you in the (often wacky) action. It'll retail for around 40 bucks with mini-games included, and will ship towards Xmas 2003.

If you're looking for screenshots and media info on Sony products, try the usual suspects such as IGN.com, Gamespot, Gamerfeed, or just monitor all the sites with Gametab News.

Slashdot Games will be on the show floor for all 3 days of E3, and will be giving hands-on impressions of the biggest games in all the major booths, including Sony's, so keep checking the page for regular updates.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out that Gamespot has a hands-on preview and IGN.com has another preview of the forthcoming PC and console title Playboy:The Mansion. Somewhat reminiscent of The Sims, but with more blondes, you construct the Playboy mansion itself, then simply relax as Hef, hanging out with your Playmate friends and other celebrities, and keeping them happy. There's even a photo-shoot mode for creating Playboy magazine covers. Weirdness abounds.

Nintendo's pre-E3 press conference earlier today in Los Angeles revealed a whole lot more forthcoming goodness for Gamecube and Gameboy Advance, spanning Zelda, Mario, The Sims, Pacman, Metroid, and more - here's a summary. Don't forget to check our previous, briefer story about Microsoft's press conference, and watch out for a round-up of Sony's press event later this evening. - Gamecube and Gameboy Advance connectivity was showcased both with the Pac-Man prototype, produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, as mentioned a couple of days ago, plus a new Miyamoto-designed surprise. This is a Gamecube-based, 2D topdown multiplayer-orientated update of the GBA Legend Of Zelda:Four Swords. The hook? You must connect your Gameboy Advance as a controller, and can then move your character from the Gamecube screen to the GBA screen in order to receive secret messages and commit skullduggery that only you can see.

- there's also a new Gamecube title called Zelda:Tetra's Trackers, in which you need to run around getting stamps from pirates (!) Again, this title seems to rely on private messages being sent to a GBA controller, while in competitive multiplayer modes, for a lot of the strategy.

- Will Wright of Sim City/The Sims fame appeared onstage alongside Miyamoto and announced Gamecube and GBA versions of The Sims, with connectivity between the games. It seems Nintendo are really pushing the GC/GBA interactivity angle this year.

- Hideo Kojima also appeared to talk about Metal Gear:Twin Snakes, which we mentioned a little while back. Interestingly, it's confirmed this Gamecube exclusive is being developed by Silicon Knights, of Eternal Darkness fame.

- the version of Namco's Starfox shown also included ground-based over-the-shoulder multiplayer combat alongside conventional flight-based tussles, a cool but distinctly unexpected development.

- Resident Evil 4 seems to be exclusive to Gamecube, amongst several Capcom exclusives for GC, and there was a short video from its creator.

- Super Mario Advance 4 for GBA was announced, and it'll be a conversion of the much-loved Super Mario Bros 3.

- Factor 5's Rogue Squadron 3 was shown in video form, and it was mentioned they're working on another Nintendo-exclusive title that will be announced soon. Rumors appear to be that it's a Gamecube version of Pilot Wings.

- overlooked game of the press conference? Puzzle freaks will, uhm, freak over the Nintendo Puzzle Collection for Gamecube, including Dr.Mario, Yoshi's Cookie, and Panel De Pon (Pokemon Puzzle League, minus Pokemon), all with simultaneous 4-player modes.

- the ending highlights video included very brief preview footage of Metroid Prime 2, looking very good, as well as many of the other previously-mentioned games, including Advance Wars 2 and Sword Of Mana for Gameboy Advance, plus F-Zero, 1080 Avalanche, and The Hobbit for Gamecube. And we haven't even mentioned Custom Robo, Kirby's Air Ride, Donkey Kong Country GBA, Pokemon Coliseum, Pikmin 2, Geist, Mario Party 5 and more, augh..

If you're looking for screenshots and movies of these titles, recommendations would include Gamerfeed or IGN Cube - other good media-heavy site suggestions welcome, though.

Slashdot Games will be on the show floor for all 3 days of E3, and will be giving hands-on impressions of the biggest games in all the major booths, including Nintendo's, so keep checking the page for regular updates.

Asriel86 writes "GamingHorizon has a leaked trailer from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Expect more details from E3 next week." The trailer confirms the name of this much-awaited title, as well as showing some spectacular action, apparently in a jungle setting. Other articles and mirrors include this one at IGN.com, and this one over at Gaming Age.

Daetrin writes "IGN.com is reporting that Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo will be showing a new Pac-Man game at E3, developed with (some) help from original Pac-Man creators Namco. It seems to have a very interesting method of utilizing the connectivity between the GBA and the Gamecube. In one of the modes, one player controls Pac-Man using a connected GBA, which shows the traditional top-down view of the maze. The other players use normal Gamecube controllers to control the ghosts, and see a 3D view from inside the maze on the TV screen, which can be split up to three ways for the three player-controlled ghosts." That crazy banjo-playing Miyamoto chap strikes again, eh?

Daetrin writes "IGN.com is reporting that Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo will be showing a new Pac-Man game at E3, developed with (some) help from original Pac-Man creators Namco. It seems to have a very interesting method of utilizing the connectivity between the GBA and the Gamecube. In one of the modes, one player controls Pac-Man using a connected GBA, which shows the traditional top-down view of the maze. The other players use normal Gamecube controllers to control the ghosts, and see a 3D view from inside the maze on the TV screen, which can be split up to three ways for the three player-controlled ghosts." That crazy banjo-playing Miyamoto chap strikes again, eh?

learithe writes "A new Middle Earth MMORPG, Middle Earth Online, has just been announced by Turbine, who produced Asheron's Call 1 and 2 with Microsoft. It looks to be just as pretty and cpu/graphics card intensive as AC2. More (flash-free) information can be found at IGN and Gamespy."

captainstupid writes "The first Half-Life 2 previews are hitting the Web, and Shacknews seems to have the first post-NDA preview." There's also a preview at IGN.com, and another at Gamespy, plus yet another at Gamespot, giving us a whole cornucopia of different looks at what may be the most keenly awaited PC game of the year.

Aron Schatz writes "You've probably all seen the original movie that the game is based on, but, judging by this PC preview from Gamespy, Tron 2.0 is a completely new universe." Fortunately, there are still light cycles and pseudo-futuristic glow effects everywhere, as IGN.com also noted, and these can be better appreciated in the most recently released trailer movie (Fileplanet link, Fileshack link, BitTorrent link courtesy Gametab.)

Rainier Wolfecastle writes "IGN.com is reporting Konami has confirmed that Metal Gear Solid 3 will be debuting at E3 next week in Los Angeles. There's no word on what will be shown, but if past shows are anything to go by, it's sure to be impressive." There's also a slightly Japlish-influenced teaser image on the Konami Japan site. But truly, how excited are you after the somewhat controversial (was it epoch-making, or just decent?) Metal Gear Solid 2?

Rainier Wolfecastle writes "IGN.com is reporting Konami has confirmed that Metal Gear Solid 3 will be debuting at E3 next week in Los Angeles. There's no word on what will be shown, but if past shows are anything to go by, it's sure to be impressive." There's also a slightly Japlish-influenced teaser image on the Konami Japan site. But truly, how excited are you after the somewhat controversial (was it epoch-making, or just decent?) Metal Gear Solid 2?

According to IGN.com, the word is that Star Fox Armada for Gamecube will debut at E3. This is a Namco-developed title packing "flight-based missions and action-packed dogfights", and will be shown on the Nintendo stand either as video or a multiplayer-only playable demo. Looks like it should have a more traditional Starfox feel than Rare's Starfox Adventures, which was an action-adventure at heart, and only rebranded to include Fox McCloud partway through development.

According to IGN.com, the word is that Star Fox Armada for Gamecube will debut at E3. This is a Namco-developed title packing "flight-based missions and action-packed dogfights", and will be shown on the Nintendo stand either as video or a multiplayer-only playable demo. Looks like it should have a more traditional Starfox feel than Rare's Starfox Adventures, which was an action-adventure at heart, and only rebranded to include Fox McCloud partway through development.

According to IGN.com, the word is that Star Fox Armada for Gamecube will debut at E3. This is a Namco-developed title packing "flight-based missions and action-packed dogfights", and will be shown on the Nintendo stand either as video or a multiplayer-only playable demo. Looks like it should have a more traditional Starfox feel than Rare's Starfox Adventures, which was an action-adventure at heart, and only rebranded to include Fox McCloud partway through development.

According to Gamespot, Lucasarts have announced Armed And Dangerous, an action game "with a twist of humor" for PC and Xbox. This is particularly notable because it's the new title from Planet Moon Studios, who were responsible for the excellent MDK while at Shiny, and went on to produce the interesting and cultish Giants: Citizen Kabuto for Interplay. Looks like this new title will turn up the quirkiness meter up significantly, too.

Xs writes "As if the first Xbox Live Starter Kit wasn't selling well enough, Microsoft has released a new Starter Kit. This time the kit includes demos of MechAssault and MotoGP. Plus, a complete online version of Tetris Worlds. To make things even better, they are no longer bundling in Whacked! I hope to be picking one of these up soon. Full stories at Xbox IGN and GamerFeed.com."

After being rumored on newsgroups and messageboards for a while, larger news sources like IGN.com are reporting the likely imminent price drop for all 3 major consoles in the US. This would make the Playstation 2 $149, the Xbox $149, and the Gamecube just $99. If true, will this spur you into buying one or all of these consoles?

After being rumored on newsgroups and messageboards for a while, larger news sources like IGN.com are reporting the likely imminent price drop for all 3 major consoles in the US. This would make the Playstation 2 $149, the Xbox $149, and the Gamecube just $99. If true, will this spur you into buying one or all of these consoles?

AvantLegion writes "According to this IGN article (which, in turn, is cited from Yahoo! via the Investor's Business Daily), the Grand Theft Auto series will debut on Xbox and GameCube in 2004. A month after the next GTA game is released on PS2 (thus completing Rockstar's exclusive contract with Sony), the Xbox and Gamecube versions of Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City are supposed to hit the streets. No one is safe."

Obiwan Kenobi writes "Filmforce has a solid round-up of video game movies currently in development. From Alone In The Dark to Doom to Dead or Alive (yes, it includes an Extreme Beach Volleyball scene), some interesting reading on the current progress, or lack thereof, of current video game flicks."

Obiwan Kenobi writes "Filmforce has a solid round-up of video game movies currently in development. From Alone In The Dark to Doom to Dead or Alive (yes, it includes an Extreme Beach Volleyball scene), some interesting reading on the current progress, or lack thereof, of current video game flicks."