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E3 Wrapup Documented
mindless4210 writes "The new Nokia N-Gage, shown at E3, looks promising, but Nokia better be prepared to compete with Sony and Nintendo. Nokia is betting the N-Gage's wireless communication abilities will set it apart and allow multiplayer gaming to move away from computers and living-room consoles and into consumers' pockets." Reader harikiri writes "According to the BBC, the much-maligned Infinium Labs has showcased their Phantom console at E3. Apparently Infinium have made agreements with AMD and Nvidia to provide the processor and graphics controller. The specs seem very respectable: a 2.5GHz AMD processor, 256MB RAM and a 40GB HDD." Reader Ipingforpong writes "E3, probably the most well known video game trade show was assaulted by the U.S. Army in a promotion for America's Army. Soldiers rappelled out of a real Blackhawk helicopter with real rifles and rushed the show."
I'm a writer for FileFront.com, and let me tell you, this year's E3 was great. There are a ton of great games coming out in the next year, and although you hear day-after-day about all the new MMORPGs coming out, make sure you keep an eye out on the great FPSs (Half-Life 2 and Doom 3), 3rd-person action/adventure (Fable and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) and RTSs (Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War) coming out this year as well.
Check out all of the coverage that my coworkers and I put together at our E3 2004 Coverage Page. Lot's of great stuff there.
Trent Polack
www.polycat.net
I'm in the military, so perhaps I can provide some insight here.
Though I wasn't there, I would say that the soldiers were carrying real weapons, though I can pretty much assure you that they were not loaded with any kind of ammunition.
Those 'training rifles' you speak of? They're the soldier's personal weapon with what is called a Blank Firing Attatchment (BFA) fitted to the end.
That is a real weapon, and all the BFA does is provide a seal for the gases to recock and reload the weapon (so that the semiautomatic and automatic fire functions of the weapon will work).
Basically, the barrel of a gas-operated weapon (like an M-16 or just about any machine gun) has a little hole near the end of it that allows the gases that are propelling the bullet to travel down a gas tube and force the bolt of the weapon backwards to extract the casing in the chamber and put another round in.
When you fire blanks, there's no bullet to provide a seal and force the gas back down the tube. That's what the 'tiny orange thingy' (BFA) is for.
That said, replicas do exist for training purposes. They're made of solid rubber, and they're actually heavier than the service rifles!
#1 rule of gun safety: Always assume the gun is loaded. No gun safety instructor will ever tell you otherwise.