| E3 Impressions: Best of Show
by Dan "Crash" Crenshaw |
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I have been to a lot of industry trade shows for other industries, but this was my first E3. It was probably the biggest, most populated trade show I have ever seen. The amount of money spent on the displays alone was staggering. Very few game companies were not represented. The crowds were oppressive. It was loud, and there were lights, flashing strobes, smoke .. and lots of pretty models and scantily clad young women enticing you into their booths. (Babe of the show for me was Lara Croft … Xena wasn't too bad nor was the NOX chick.) This was an all out extravaganza. Combat simulations were very well represented when you include flight sims (jet and prop), first person military shooters (I include SWAT 3 in this area as well), helicopter, armor, mech, naval simulations and military strategy games. As in recent years there is a lot of overlap. For example, there are two F/A-18 sims (JANES and DI), two B-17 sims (Wayward Design/ Microprose and Looking Glass/ Electronic Arts) as well as a few more World War II sims andseveral military based first person shooters. There were more games in the works than any of us were aware of.
 Highlights The highlights of the show for me included both hardware and software. First, flight simulations:
 JANES F18. |
 P51 in B17 II. I also liked what I saw of Waywards' B-17 II at the Microprose booth, and Looking Glass Technologies' "Flight Combat." Both offer a wide variety of aircraft to fly and are modeling a multi station B-17 that will thrill the on-line and LAN crowd alike. Both companies have listened to customers and are delivering excellent platforms for cooperative full crew gaming. Bombing missions will never be the same again!
  Flight Combat B24. First Person Shooters:
 Hidden and Dangerous I didn't get a chance to look at SWAT 3, but I hear it looked very good. Go to Page Two
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