Misc. Info

June 26, 1997

• Life is back to normal... I'm back from E3 and things are good. The show wasn't as spectacular as last year, as any major news never surfaced. First of all, although LA isn't my favorite city, I've got to say that I much preferred E3 in LA. Sadly, E3 is scheduled for Atlanta for next year too... Anyway, which out any further ado, here are some of my experiences from E3:
  • Final Fantasy VII. This is Sony's flagship title for fall and it isn't hard to tell that it is... They are going all out in the marketing department. And for those who doesn't know... It is a beautiful game. With certain improvements it should even prove a better experience than the Japanese version. Two more boss characters? Slightly less frequent encounters? Could it be true?
  • Crash 2. Didn't spend very much time with it, but any Crash fans will not be disappointed. Twice as big as last year, now he even goes flying and jetskiing! Looking really good, razor sharp, beautiful graphics.
  • Jet Moto 2. Yesss! One of my all time favorite PlayStation is back, bigger and better. Brand new tracks, even more freedom of movement, more polygons and even better handling!
  • All Sony Sports titles. All looking very good, especially NFL GD98. Finally using polygons, it looks very nice.
  • Blasto. Very cool! A platform/shooting/action title that should surprise a lot of people. Phil Hartman's voice adds tons to the game. Fry those aliens!
  • Bushido Blade. Not for everyone, but if it is for you, you'll love it! Breaking a lot of new ground in fighting games, it really sets a new standard for what a fighting game can be. Fighting with weapons, one slash can kill you. You're not confined to a ring, and injuries become very apparent.
  • Intelligent Cube. Intriguing fast paced puzzle game, should satisfy puzzle fans out there.
  • Porsche Challenge. For some unknown reason, this title was in limbo for a while, but luckily, SCEA picked it up for release over here. Althought $40,000 isn't very much for a Porsche, $49.99 is a heck of a lot cheaper to ride the Boxter. OK, it might not be quite the same, but...
  • Gex: Enter the Gecko. Gex in 3D actually looks really cool. With more wisecracks from Dana Gould it is a title to look out for!
  • Grand Tour Racing'98. Looking very good! A driving game where you actually die if you go over the edge, or into the water!
  • Hercules. What? Well, it might not be for you and me, but I know tons of kids will be thrilled with this title.
  • Resident Evil 2. 'Nuff said.
  • Street Fighter II EX+ (I think that was the title...) Cool looking. Seemed kinda wrong for SF to be in semi-3D, but good nevertheless.
  • Colony Wars. Psygnosis continues their tradition of excellent games. Superb graphics and great graphics brings this 3D space shooter right up above the rest.
  • G Police. Beautiful graphics, fast chopper shoooter action. Shoot from above where you can't see what's below you. See the missile totally illuminate the streets and unveil any bad guys.
  • Tomb Raider 2. Again, 'nuff said!
  • Critical Depth. Warhawk under water! Singletrac again shows off their 3D expertise. Winner title for sure!
  • Time Crisis. Just like the arcade! The GunCon is killer, beats any other gun out there hands down!
  • One. Action, action, action! Excellent shooter showing GREAT promise!
  • Lost World. Excellent animation of the Dinos. Almost as good as the T-Rex in the original early-adopter Demo CD, but it is IN the game. Good news for Platformer fans!

  Well, I've briefly touched just a few of the PS titles shown at E3. There were many more shown, we should pass 400 released games maybe even before the end of the year. (Scary!) I haven't gone into much detail, they will pop up in the weeks to come as I make pages for the individual games.

  For once, Acclaim did not have the loudest booth! Psygnosis did. They did also have THE coolest gadget of the show: a Wipeout XL simulator! For a mere $135,000 this 3Dfx accelerated PC can be yours. Completely encased in a two person cabinet, it's you, a couple of joysticks, a 33" screen and more motion than you can take! Excellent. Two for my livingroom, please! Very cool setup, very nicely sync'ed motions with the game. Violent motions, not just some tilting and vibrations here and there. (1 person drives, one shoots, or one person handles both.)

  Which leads me into my next point... When I started this PS page back in Feb'95, PC gaming was not too cool. Graphics was not even adequate, the PlayStation offered a huge leap in graphics over anything offered on the PC. Well people, it is no longer so. One word: 3Dfx. I'll elaborate in more detail later this summer when I will talk more about what's coming on the Sony hardware front, but I must comment a little bit. First of all, the PC is now a full force player in the gaming market. Some may say it has been for a long time, but I submit that certain elements were missing. Like the afore mentioned graphics.

  I don't know if anyone have talked about a game shown at the keynote address by Andy Grove and at the 3Dfx room, but Incoming was a sight for sore eyes. I kid you not, it was like watching a FMV intro on the PlayStation, and this was a real-time game. The graphics were absolutely stunning. Glowing laser beams, nicely shaded/mip-mapped/texture-mapped ships, cool smoke from guns, excellent frame rate.

  Not to mention games like Hexen II, Quake 2, Tomb Raider 2, Wipeout XL, Formula 1, Skies, Moto Racer, Resident Evil etc. All running in 640x480, 65K colors with solid framerates. The difference from 320x240 is astounding. And the difference going from interlaced to non-interlaced? Very noticeable! And this is really 1^st gen Vodoo stuff. This winter with AGP we'll go 800x600, even higher framerates, more detail and more. The 3Dfx people were talking going from 30 to 60 frames pr. second in the not too distant future. FRAMES pr. second!!

  Didn't spend much time in the Sega or Nintendo booths, needless to say, there wasn't too much that impressed me. One thing bugs me about the Nintendo 64: Its blurry textured graphics. I thought it might just be Mario 64 being an early title, but Banjo and Kazooie had the same problems. Obviously it is a limitation in hardware, almost as bad as the texture warping on the PlayStation. Really annoying.

  M2 didn't show, and more and more people is doubting it will ever surface. Boy, must the management at Matsuhita be happy. How much did M2 end up costing them?

  Reality Quest was hidden in the Dome, but had a really cool gadget: The Glove. An all in one joystick/pad/glove you strap on your hand. Switch between analog and digital. Steer vehicles just moving your wrist left or right, with selectable sensitivity. Looking good, but at a price of $89.99 the market will be very limited. Why did the guys demoing the unit look so extremely bored?

  Although some missing hardware announcement disappointed, here are a couple of my best of E3:

  • Sony E3 party! Yep, complete with free "the works", it was very slick. Sony had their ultra cool PlayStation tour bus. Talk about being packed with a complete gaming experience. Soul Asylum was there and had an excellent performance. Couldn't believe how great it was standing 15 feet from the stage, not jam packed and with the option of getting drinks and food while listening to the concert. Complete with real lightning in the background. Superb! Inside, more games were available for play, including a full 8 player setup of Gameday 98 and numerous FFVII.stations.
  • The already mentioned Wipeout XL simulator. I gotta have one! (Was going to get one, but it turned out my wife won't let me put one in our house... ;-)
  • The PC totally legitimizing itself as a killer gaming platform, it's here to stay!
  • Batman and Robin! NOT! Saw it Saturday afternoon after E3, see it if you're into latex...

  Will I go back next year? Probably. Should be a lot more exciting on the hardware front. Don't know if Sony will be showing anything, but Sega should certainly be pushing the Dural/Black Belt. As mentioned, over the next weeks, more details on games shown at E3 will emerge on these pages. Stay tuned.

  Since I didn't go too much into detail, for those who want more, try these two E3 reports:

  • By Randy Baer. (Touching all platforms.)
  • By Blaine E. Pynkala. (Mostly PS.)
  • By Barry C. Dowell. (All platforms.)
  • By Ajay Joshi. (All platforms, lots of detail.)

  Thanks to all four for their reports!

- Nils

Waiting for Air Force One!