ELECTRONIC ARTS - E3 2002

Electronic Arts doesn't excel in design for their booth.  If you've ever seen there display at E3 previously, then you know exactly what it looks like this year.  A huge screen was showing scenes to Lord of The Rings: Twin Towers, which  they were preparing a game for the PS2.  This game was one of the surprises at the show, because typically, movie to game conversions are lame, but this time it had me drooling.  The Westwood games were presented in a sit down theater, which was nice if you were press, because you got right in, otherwise it was like a 45 minute wait.  All the sports games look about as they did last year, with a few updates here and there.  Overall, I would say EA's display was a little better than their average showing, especially with the Lord of the Rings game and Generals looking so good.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 - This game is being developed for both the PS2 and the PC.  The PC version is running at over double the resolution and looked a lot better.  One of the games best features is the Ferrari license, which has been lacking in all previous NFS games.  The control system was still early in development, so the classic feel of the car control was not there and it was too easy to do the infamous donuts and spin outs.  After a few minutes of playing, it felt good enough and I was losing cops at will.  The NFS series has always been an eye candy game and this game looks like it is fitting in right where you would expect it in the evolution of this series.  It should be a fun title to get this fall.

Madden 2003 - Pat Summerall, long time commentating companion of John Madden is not in the game, but Al Michaels has signed on to fill in his shoes.  The E3 show floor was so loud I couldn't hear anything, so I can't comment on the new commentary.  All the consoles will be getting the 2003 version, and if you have all 3, the X-box version will be the prettiest, as seen on the left.  All 3 consoles will also now have broadband support, so you can play against friends or strangers.  I played the PS2 version against someone in Florida (I was told) and was beating him by a touchdown in the 3rd quarter.  No lag what so ever, but, a disconnect killed our game with a quarter to go... perhaps he was mad he was losing!  :)

Command and Conquer Generals - The Command and Conquer series has gone through many transformations.  The original series is what grabbed my gaming attention for well over a year.  The many Red Alert games and Tiberian Sun games lacked something that the original had.  I am very very pleased to see the direction of where Generals is headed.  The graphics are incredibly detailed and everything is in true 3D.  No more voxels!  In game effects like tidal waves from a destroyed dam and the famous nuke look movie quality.  Nuking the enemy base was a full screen event and blasted trees and buildings outward from the source.  Gorgeous!  The game will be optimized for the latest and greatest 3D cards, if you are lucky enough to own one. 3 sides to play, the USA, China, and the 'Terrorist'.  Each side has distinct advantages/weaknesses.

Earth and Beyond - Westwood is giving a try at the massively multiplayer online game genre with their space adventure version.  Eric Wang, producer and proud father of this game gave us all a demo of what will be available.  Apparently they hired some 3D animator that did work on the Star Wars films and came up with a ton of different ships.  That combines with the numerous character options and paint schemes, no two ships in this universe will be exactly the same.  You can chose a profession, from Tradesman, explorer, enforcer, defender and sentinels.  You have the ability to land your ship on alien worlds and explore for rare items that can be sold or traded for profit.  The space stations are teaming with other players and the game does look fun.  the one drawback will likely be that blasted monthly fee, which will nix a lot of gamers out of the starting gates.