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."

Comments

The degeneration of E3

[jaani]

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?

Re:The degeneration of E3

[Jameth]

It's kinda both.

Anything mainstream in the US gets glitz like you just don't want. That Army stunt is a great promo, more cool than most, but it is still just a promo.

However, the issue with game quality isn't so much that it is decreasing, as that it isn't increasing. The problem is, games are replayable. If a game this year is the same as a game from last year, plus arm-hair on the models, nobody cares. The game is As Good, but not better.

It's the same problem a lot of industries run into: all the best stuff comes out quick. The first video game was revolutionary, even if it had nothing. For a long while, everything moved in leaps and bounds. Now, most of the leaping and bounding is done, and at the same time there is tons more attention from those who are not technologically adept.

As such, they resort to glitz and psuedo-fraud.

Why is Nokia still trying?

[Vthornheart]

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.

E3 is not just about games..

[andr0meda]

There's also the yearly return of ever delicious boothbabes.

And since my company PlayLogicGames also exhibited it's line-up on the show, thought I'd say hi.

Re:E3 is not just about games..

[jeffehobbs]

Are you a game developer or a pimp?

~jeff

Re:E3 is not just about games..

[shut_up_man]

Uh... there's a difference?

Re:E3 is not just about games..

[gedanken]

If you can please give props to one particular boothbabe hired by your company named Amelia. She was quite the commando.

E3 Extravaganza

[Trent Polack]

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.

If you're going to fight, clash!

[nick_davison]

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.

They performed the same stunt, last year, right as I was about to cross the street to walk in. A guy in full green camoflage, green and black facepaint and carrying a machine gun walked up to me and told me to please stand back for a few minutes. Applying my rule of never arguing with people holding real machineguns, I did as he asked.

Sadly, given my never argue rule, I never did get to ask why the in God's name the US Army thought it was intelligent to wear GREEN camoflage in Los Angeles of all places. Concrete gray mixed with a dirty smog brown, perhaps. Green though...?

I guess the Army finally listened to Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam:
We've got a special man in the audience today right now. Its Mr. Leo. He's a fashion consultant for the Army. 'Why thank you Adrian. I'm just very happy to be here. I want to tell you something. You know, this whole camoflague thing for me doesn't work very well.' Why is that? 'Well you...because you go into the jungle I can't see you. You know, its like wearing stripes and plaid. For me, I want to do something different. If you go into the jungle, make a statement. If you're going to fight, clash.

Nokia N-Gage

[haggar]

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.

The future, Conan?

[Throtex]

Innovation: How long before someone releases yet another PC-in-a-home-theater-acceptable-box that can combine the functionality of all the other boxes?

All we need is a single damned box that can work as a DVR, play games on a Microsoft OS, purchase new games over the Internet, and play against other people over the Internet as well.

Whoever can come up with ONE SINGLE DEVICE that can do all these things will be rich! Perhaps we can call it the "Plethora of Consoles" (PC). It'll be like nothing else!

A handheld year

[typobox43]

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.

Re:A handheld year

[bravehamster]

Interesting point. Here's how I see things heading regarding handhelds vs. consoles:

You handheld becomes your controller when in the living room. The console is replaced by a reciever that can coordinate the action between multiple handhelds and display it to the screen. This way you can have many more people playing, no cords necessary if you throw some bluetooth or similar tech into the handheld.

I believe Nintendo already did something similar to this with the Crystal Chronicles for Gameboy Adv. Watch for more of this to happen as handhelds catch up graphically with the consoles.

Ofcourse

[Dark Lord Seth]

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.

Emphasis mine. No sane army in the world would use real weapons with real live ammo in a non-combat situation. Doing so pretty much breaches every protocol, regulation and whatever else there is regarding safety. Maybe they used training rifles ( You know, often seen on Discovery... M16 variants with tiny orange thingy at the end of the barrel ) that fired blanks, perhaps. I doubt that in a non-combat situation even blanks would be allowed, loaded in rifles.

So less hype and more common sense, please.

Re:Ofcourse

[MrNixon]

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!

Re:Ofcourse

[ChipMonk]

#1 rule of gun safety: Always assume the gun is loaded. No gun safety instructor will ever tell you otherwise.

Phantom at E3

[enditallnow]

I submitted an article on this subject but it didnt make the cut, ce la vie.

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

Americas Army is the model for next gen online FPS

[nerdb0t]

AAO has nailed it. it's all about the "Honor" system that they created - it's an implicit anti-idiot feature which all but eliminates the morons that show up online when you are playing.

BF1942 would be a great game, if it weren't for all the tards that show up. they need the honor system - AFAIK AAO is the first and only online game that uses it. here is why this is important.

the gaming industry is HUGE - it is bigger than the theaterical movie theater industry (ie. revenue from ALL movies in ALL theaters in the US doesn't even come close to touching the revenue from GAMES.)

in fact, if you combine all the money made by LOTR it's about the same as Madden Football (and that game didnt cost a zillion dollars to make)

anyway - so dis the US army all you want, but they are paving the way for serious anti-idiot game play.

w00t.

Where's mention of Myst IV?

[GaelDesign]

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

nice

[focitrixilous P]

Good to see the phantom is a real company after all. but...
a 2.5GHz AMD processor, 256MB RAM and a 40GB HDD. and It comes free only if customers sign up for a two-year subscription - it costs $199 without a subscription.
That's a lot of system for $199. How long until it gets hacked and turned into a l33t gaming box. I can't imagine making a profit on the system with a price scheme like that, so watch for Phantom related DMCA lawsuits about a month after launch. If it can be done on an Xbox, which was nice at 300, it will be done twice as fast on this 200 dollar system. Also, a few of these will most likely end up at garage sales for 20 bucks once the suburban kids want the next gamer-toy, which is a nice price for just the RAM.

Hot vs. Not.

[nobodyman]

I'm curious as to what people thought were some of the more notable surprises / letdowns. I didn't spend a lot of time at the show, but here's some random thoughts:

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?