Slashdot Mirror
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."
Each year the amount of glitz and frivolous (ie, non-gaming related) material seem to increase quite significantly. Between Army antics and PR fluff, fewer and fewer titles of substance are actually playable, and the attention of the gaming press has become less focused on the games than their promotion.
Is this to compensate for the decreasing number and quality of the games that are showcased, or does it simply reflect the fact that the Western games industry is increasingly mainstream?
---------- Jaani.net -- internet law and technology
Does anyone have any sales figures on the original N-Gage? I can't imagine that the sales were decent enough that they felt they could give it another shot. Perhaps they just have a lot of extra money that they don't want to be burdened with. Money is a rather cumbersome thing for some people, I guess.
-Vendal Thornheart
I am used to read a lot of bad press about the Ngage, including Slashdot. You might have the impression that such a bad and unpopular phone/console would be cheap to snatch up on eBay and similar places.
When I decided I wanted an MP3 player built into a phone, and that I would try to getthat combo by buying a second-hand Ngage, I was very disappointed: Ngage are auctioned off at very respectable prices. High enough that I am made to wonder if I would rather buy a separate MP3 player after all.
So, the only logical conclusion I can draw is: Ngage customers seem to be very satisfied with it. There just isn't enough people parting with their Ngage, to have the prices drop.
Sigged!
While the focus on recent years' E3 seems to have been on consoles, handhelds seem to have been the primary focus, with the DS, PSP, and N-Gage 2 all seeing the light of day. In this age of ever-shrinking technology, is there any chance that this could be the direction that the video game industry is headed? Could consoles go the way of the dodo ten years down the line? At least two of the handheld offerings this year seem very strong, and with their wireless connectivity abilities and graphics similar to those of home consoles, the handheld system may begin to be seen as little more than a cheaper alternative to a console system.
One of the biggest surprises at E3 was Rockstar's publication of info and screenshots of Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas. There was much speculation that there would be no releases until much later (it is, after all, a late October release). For info/screenshots, check GTA-SA.com. They're f*#$ing brilliant.
I think its worth pointing out that the mouse and keyboard combo looks like an interestingly designed piece of technology. Its shaped so that the entire thing can sit on your lap comfortably. The keyboard appears to be adjustible and the thing itself acts as the mouse mat. I would be slightly concerned that the mouse mat area is too close to the keyboard so perhaps that limits its use. IGN has a CGI mockup of it here and a real once can be seen in the BBC article linked too in the story.
Hardware aside I haven't actually seen any reports of software that runs on the thing. Did anyone who attend E3 get the chance to playtest one? As far as I can tell it was only the box on display and it may of only had a basic running demo.
The last thing I want to mention is about their distribution model. They claim they want to make software downloadable via broadband internet connections. Thats all fair and well but does anyone out there remember The Sega Channel? Long story short it was a cable channel that allowed you to download Genesis games directly onto your console. I don't believe it faired to well but given the popularity of XBox live and PS2 Online it shows that there is more of a likely uptake.
BTW, anyone interested in the Sega channel should have a look here and here.
-- Enditallnow
It's a console game, and MP hasn't been as big with consoles as with PCs historically. So it's not very strange at all that they didn't foresee the large MP rush.
You're right: handhelds definitely had the spotlight this year. One odd exception was mobile phone based gaming -- even with NGage 2 it seemed like it was a hotter topic last year than now.
Personally I doubt consoles are going away any time soon -- I think there's a lot to be said for playing a game on a big screen on your couch. That said, I do think that the PC market will continue to decline -- mobile devices will cater to the solitaire/minesweeper type gamer, while consoles (with their increasing cpu power and online capabilities) will make further inroads into genre's typically reserved for PC's. But who knows...
There's only one thing out of the entire E3 news that interests me: Myst IV. They were demoing it at E3 and even Rand Miller showed up a couple of times and was mobbed by a few rabid Myst fans! :)
Myst IV looks like it will be fantastic, possibly the best title in the Myst series yet. Check out the developer's blog at:
http://revelatione3team.blogspot.com/
Cheers,
Jared
You can get a third-person view; at least the videos and demo I saw allowed it.
Trent Polack
www.polycat.net
PSP: Clearly this was shown only because of the Nintendo DS. Someone told me that Nothing shown on the PSP looked even remotely close to being complete. I heard some analyst predicting March 05 but I think even December 05 would be optimistic. That said, I think that it has potential -- it's just too soon to tell.
Nintendo DS: For me, this was the biggest surprise of the show. I had low expectations, and had serious doubts as to how dual screens or a touch screen could add much to gameplay. Boy was I wrong. The games they were showing were amazing. It turns out that the stylus makes FPS gaming on a handheld quite workable. For the Metroid game, you move/strafe with d-pad, and pivot/shoot by moving your stylus on the touch-pad... genious!! Even the chat program was a blast. If this thing sells for less than $150 I think it will do quite well. Very curious to see the pricetag.
Half-Life 2: Still impressive, but you can tell that the community good-will is fading. At the demo I attended, when Gabe Newell said the release date would be sometime this summer, some guy got a few laughs by blurting out "For real this time??". Gabe was not amused.
Doom 3 (X-Box): While I'm sure the PC version will be quite awesome, I was unimpressed by the X-box version. Obviously it can't look as good as the PC version, but it didn't even seem to set a high-water mark for XBox. Didn't seem very fun to play. Still, I'll reserve judgement for the final product.
Chronicles of Riddick: Much like Vin Diesel's performance in Knockaround Guys, this game was surprisingly good. This could have easily been shovelware, but this is a game that could stand on its own without any licensing. Seemed like it had some innovative ideas for an FPS. It's hard to explain, but the viewpoint is more immersive. For example, you could look down and see your feet, your character casts his shadow on the wall, and a lot of little touches that gave you the environmental "perspective" of a third-person shooter.
NGage 2: Doomed. Booth had very little foot traffic. There were always more kiosks than people (a bad sign at e3), and half the people there were Nokia staff. New form factor is better, but the hardware is the same (still underpowered) and it still feels awkward both as a phone or a portable gaming device. What is Nokia thinking?
Nintendo showing (not including DS): Impressive, just like last year (though the konga game seems a bit silly).
XBox Showing: Impressive, unlike last year.
Sony showing: generally a disappointment.
Lots of other little things (maybe I'll add to this thread later), but those are the standouts. What did you guys think was neat / lame?
I was in it. A Elementalist/Ranger by the name of EagleR Jansen. I enjoyed it. The missions and PvP were good, and the solo area was a nice touch. The end of the event party in Town district 28 was great fun.
Marvin knew: "Think of a number, any number..."
Well, it comes out of there advertising budget. That monay is already slated for something besides HumVee armor.
Should there be less money in the advertising side of things? who knows. From what I have heard, America's Army has been a huge success for recruitment. People jumping out of cool helicopters is always good for recruitment.
So its result per dollar has been very high. It seems to me they are saving money. More recruits per dollar, means fewerdollars needed.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I personally think it may work for those guys who are just about to finish high school or have been out for a year with nothing to do but play online games. I'd like to see some hard data on it though, if they even ask people if they played AAO when they sign up. It's atleast your tax dollars spent better then more TV ads I think. Atleast you get to play the game instead of a dumb commercial. I wouldn't doubt it at all if some people have signed up after saying, "Holy shit, you mean I can use this same weapon in real life and get paid for it? And I get to move out of mom and dads basement?"
If you can please give props to one particular boothbabe hired by your company named Amelia. She was quite the commando.
I was at E3 for the first two days, and I pretty much agree with your points.
I tried the N-Gage 2 (the Q-Deck, as they call it). What will ultimately kill that thing is that playing games on it just sucks. The buttons are too close together to press individually.
I also chose to wait in line for the DS showing. And happily, I also got to play the thing. Metroid Hunters looks pretty good, especially for a 3d game on that small of a screen (the 2nd screen is just an overhead wire frame map). Playing with the stylus is very strange though.
Pictures of the DS exist so I wont bother describing the appearance. What it does have is 6 buttons (a, b, x, y, l, and r) plus start and select. The lower screen is pressure sensitive, and is intended to be used with a stylus. It will have wirelss communication, and will be WiFi enabled (801.11 compatible), so it will have some internet functionality. The games I tried on it were remarkably complete looking, and there were a decent number of them.
I spent alot of time in and near the Nintendo area. Aside from the flagship games, I think that Odama (RTS Pinball, yes, thats right, RTS Pinball) will turn out to be a pretty damn good game.
I also stopped by the Phantom booth. The damn thing does exist, and it does use a controller. The downsides is that the version they displayed had exactly 1 controller port. While network play is a good thing, they should realize that people actually do tend to have friends come over and visit once in a while. The controller is basically decent, but un-impressive. Basically a better version of the 6 button Sega Genesis controller.
Also, as far as PC games go, one that looked pretty good was Pariah, a FPS game with vehicles. While the gameplay may be revolutionary, it does look pretty damn nice.
END COMMUNICATION
"America's Army", the game, is a recruiting tool for the U.S. Army, paid for and run by the U.S. Army. Much of the operation is outsourced, but the whole point is to recruit people into the U.S. Army. "Going to the next level" has a special meaning there.
Uh sure can I have that X-files dvd when you are done with it?
Sorry, I didnt want to be rude but I couldnt help myself, what you are saying actually looks like the truth to many , but if you were a bit more into games and fps in general you'd probably knew that the army actually uses FPS in their training exercises NOT because it teaches them weapon use (like the media has tried to convince us) or because they have some brain washing technology but because it allows them to create realtime battle strategies and ammo conservation (among some other things) actually full spectrum warrior was before a full classified game made for squad leaders so they can understand advance alfa-bravo zulu procedures (team1 do this, team 2 do this, at the order of zulu).
At the last instance the game does work as a recruitment tool of sorts, but the actual reason they are giving it away for free (now that is unclassified) is because YOU paid for it with your tax dollars (you didnt thought they would use it to fix roads or build schools did you?). They SHOULD do the same with full spectrum warrior but somehow they were able to sell it to another publishing company.
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here