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 USAF
• DI's SUPER HORNET
• SSI's SU-27 2.0
• JANES F/A-18

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:

• Redstorms ROGUE SPEAR
• Zombies SPEC OPS 2
• Novalogics DELTA FORCE 2
• Talonsoft HIDDEN AND DANGEROUS
• Sierras SWAT 3

Hidden and Dangerous

I didn't get a chance to look at SWAT 3, but I hear it looked very good.

Hardware:

• SAITEKs X36 combo for USB
• TNT2 boards regardless of manufacturer

I am going to have to give my Best of Show vote to JANES USAF. I know you are probably stunned that "CRASH" would consider anything less than a hard-core sim for this recognition. Based on the target audience and planned features, this sim looks like it will fulfill its charter with zeal.

F15E in USAF.

The entire package is being done so well that the target audience, the some 80% or more of the sim community that fly the medium level sims, will be in for a real treat. This will benefit the hardcore community since the ease of configurability will draw more of these players up the scale in challenge when they get a taste of what these sims are like. The result? The production of our favorite games would be that much more appealing since they would be more lucrative for the software companies.

Super Hornet

Super Hornet by DI has been in development for quite some time (can you say, "Falcon4?"). The wait seems to be paying off. We were not shown a great deal of the game, but what we saw was truly impressive. I won't steal any of the thunder from the review Eric "SNACKO" Marlow will do on it, and the mini interview that will follow.

I have had exposure to several builds of SSI's Flanker 2 and I had a pretty good idea what to expect here. The demo builds were running very smooth and looked pretty good.

But as with all of the 3 hard-core aimed sims, none of them were complete enough to make a fair and honest assessment in my opinion. Flanker 2.0 did look to be the most complete product out of the 3. JANES F/A-18 has the makings of another great product. Building on what they did and learned from F-15, this sim looks to have the potential to carry the torch of hard-core offerings from JANES admirably.

Realistic First Person Shooters are becoming very popular and the amount of detail being included into these games has clearly increased. The sequel to the popular REDSTORM Rainbow 6/Eagle Watch is "Rogue Spear." An all new game from the ground up with familiar features and a whole slew of new enhancements as well.

Rogue Spear

Like what? New weapons, moves, variables, and BETTER AI. Now we can watch the terrorist run away, or limp if they are hit. Very satisfying. Terrorist skill levels are included as well. Rogue Spear looks to be an excellent package and is my favorite of the FPS at E3.

ZOMBIEs SPEC OPS 2 has also made significant strides in many areas of realism. An on-line battle mode boon will be the dynamic lighting: shoot out the lights and you are in the dark. There are many other new features that make the progression of this game from its predecessor a major step forward, including stealth AI and the ability to kill silently. Campaigns will be set in Germany, the Antarctic, North Korea, Pakistan and Thailand. I will give you more detail in my review.

DF2. Hiding in Grass.

Delta Force 2 from Novalogic had major improvements as well. I do have to admit the VOXEL graphics engine really drops the overall presentation of the game for me. Based on features and realism, it was excellent and on par with Spec Ops 2. The Delta Force fans out there will not be disappointed.

DF2. Sniping.

Hardware was pretty mundane for the most part. Nothing amazing. THRUSTMASTER wasn't showing their top of the line HOTAS equipment, instead focusing on the wheel and console controller market. I didn't get a chance to see CH PRODUCTS, but other CSIM writers did and they tell me that USB is becoming a reality. (Ed. Watch for reviews in the next few weeks.)

I was impressed with the new software package that SAITEK will be releasing with its USB version of the X36 stick and throttle set. This is going to allow 6 axis control as well as full programmability as it has now. Meanwhile SUNCOM has released their first USB stick and is planning a USB throttle which will solve the issue of their split throttle prohibiting the use of rudders.

Hot Stuff

What did spark my interest and impress me were the video accelerators. And while the current graphics card eater, FALCON 4.0, is limited ultimately by processor power, many other games will benefit greatly from the amazing strides in video accelerator technology. TNT2 Ultra cards look very exciting. Look for shoot outs and comparisons to VooDoo 3, Savage 4 and the Matrox G400 MAX in the near future. (Benchmark supplied by Ziff Davis.)

Here was the shock of the show for me, I was walking by the VIDEOSYSTEM booth and noticed a demo of a game called HARRIER 2001. I was with a graphics artist friend of mine, and the graphics and very realistic blast effects of the Harrier taking off from the deck caught us both by surprise. The kicker was that this thing is being done for Nintendo 64!

SUNCOM USB.

I did not see a flyable demo to try out, but based on the cut sheet, it will sport more features and looks to be as complete as many entry level PC sims. It is aimed at the arcade shooter market, but with realism features never before seen in a console game. Of course you all know it DOES have multiplayer built in, otherwise I wouldn't have taken a second glance.

While I expect Harrier 2001 to be on par with the current offering of games I put in the "SIM LITE" category for the PC crowd. But it may get more folks interested in the flight sim arena which can only lead to more market share. The interesting thing is how it begins to gray the line between console and PC games. Perhaps a glimpse of the future? I should get a copy to review before its 4th quarter release. Now if I can only get my 8 year old to let me borrow her N64 for a few nights … watch out Yoshi, there is a Harrier in town!

Spec Ops 2. Training.

Look for reviews for all of these items on COMBATSIM in the coming few weeks.

Ed. Note: We will also announce TWO previously unannounced simulations in development in the next week. The first is a WWII simulation, and the second is a modern jet sim.