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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 5.03 - JUNE 2000
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The Graying of E3 The Kids Are Alright Now you know an event like E3 is in trouble when most of the show goers haven’t the slightest clue how to play a computer-based first-person shooter, let alone a fast-moving console game like those being ported to the latest Internet-game marvels Dreamcast or Playstation 2. What I saw this year was a drastic reduction in the amount of young blood playing with the wanton abandon that I observed at previous shows. Are you catching my drift here? All things considered, E3 has been a blast in the past because I could go and be a kid surrounded by other kids, which is more of a spiritual thing than a chronological age sort of thing. Go watch Disney’s Pinocchioagain…the part where he runs away to Pleasure Island. E3 used to be like that. I remember the ‘95 show had a Thunderseat Technologies exhibit with a real cockpit and a souped-up version of "Fighting Falcon" on it… WOW! Too cool! This year? Nada. Zilch. Not a single "ride" game in sight! Not even half the first-person-driver games of ‘99! Which pretty much sums up what love’s lost for me and E3…the whole notion of games and what they’ve meant to me and others who like the occasional diversion (like Simon and Schuster Interactive’s "Amateur League Golf" or the Playstation version of Namco’s "Ms. Pac-Man"). The pure, unadulterated enthusiasm for electronic entertainment that made E3 the show what it was because it was based on a youth culture that cannot survive without, well, youth! Over 30 or otherwise. Speaking of being over 30: This year, by count, your kindly old journalist here got shoved aside no less than three times not by the beloved kids I’ve been pining on about but by fellow "media journalists" who were trying to score a T-shirt or operational demo that I should have gotten. This happened at the Acclaim, Raven Software (by the way, you need to check "Star Trek: Voyager," it looks great) and Eidos booths. In fact, one particular a**hole who wrote for some Japanese manga magazine was out to destroy my day because, imagine this, he was blocking my way to the coolest T-shirts of the whole event just to find out what frigging SIZES the Barbie passing out the T-shirts had! (At this point I felt imbued with such Russell Crowe-like rage I almost ripped the guy’s head off. I dive-bombed past our manga friend for the last T-shirt, only to come up empty-handed.) All right. Enough of this whining and bitching… Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) of this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. E3 2000 Exhibitors of Note Games Acclaim — "South Park." Yuck-o. This game is a deliberate (but to me, unfunny) knockoff of a movie that was hilarious and best left untouched. I found nothing about the game appealing. By contrast, however, I am a sports fan and thought "All-Star Baseball" was very cool. It’s pretty scary how realistic these games are getting. Now all they need is a heckling mob yelling at the players and running on to the field from time to time (and I don’t mean from the General Manager’s office). Activision — "Dark Reign 2." I played just enough of this to find it slick-looking but somewhat awkward to handle. A unique feature was unit control from anywhere on the map. But the building manager itself, while a good thing, is far too much to manage. I didn’t play any other titles at the booth but some looked kinda neat, especially "Star Trek: Armada." EIDOS — "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver II." This gothic vampire classic returns with more graphic graphics (sorry) but also some amazing CG. Impaling nemeses has never been more fun on an RPG. There was also a really neat game called "Fear Effect: Retro Helix." Jesus H. Christ! Some of these games are getting to be better CG than movies! Incredible, incredible movie sequences. Game play is intriguing too. I really like this company. They never fail to deliver… "Tomb Raider" is still a favorite of mine. Midway — "Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2." Afro Thunder and friends return this November in one of Midway’s most successful boxing/martial arts/wrestling games for 1999. It is incredible how much development has been put into this year’s release. The bounce of Afro’s hair alone is amazing to watch. The duck and punch moves are so real as to make your jaw drop. Only trouble is: I got tired of it even quicker than last year’s game! How much ass can one person kick? Or punch? How about a Cosell-like interview after the match? That’d be more worth your efforts. |
Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazinecontributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.
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