E3 Wrap Up
Now that E3 is over and I am starting to recover from 3 days of prowling the 5 areas of the L.A. Convention Center staring at the new games being displayed and trying not to stare too much at the models who were often displaying them, I thought I would write up a summary of my observations and impressions of the various new games coming out. These are not really previews, but are instead just the thoughts I had after looking at the displays.
Everquest -- I might as well start with Everquest, since that's what most of you are interested in. I think Luclin looks like it will be a nice addition to an already excellent game. It seems like it will be more like the Kunark expansion than the Velious one. A good choice if you ask me. With zones that are geared to the 6 person party rather than the guild raids, Luclin will likely please more of the currrent EQ players than Velious did and may lure even more people in come Christmas time. The new graphics, new zones, new race and new class just give you more reason to keep playing. I think Verant is finally feeling the pressure of competition from some of the new games that are coming out and is rising to the challenge. Judging from the reaction of the Everquest fans who were checking out the display at Sony's booth, Luclin is sure to be a popular addition.
Dark Age of Camelot -- Illia has a bunch of new screenshots to post and is writing up a review, so I don't want to steal his thunder. However, this was clearly a winner at E3. Even though I am beta testing this and thus have seen most of what they were showing, I still stopped by their booth a number of times during the show. If the crowds trying to test out the game were any indication, this is already a hit. This is a very good game already, and only time will tell if it can become a great game, but it clearly has that potential. Its graphics and gameplay are not revolutionary in the sense that they set new standards, but they are done very well and seem to take the best elements of the existing games and combine them into a single package. If the realm versus realm pvp aspect plays out like it promises to, this could be a truly special game. Of all the games coming out this year, this is the one that I am most excited about.
Anarchy Online -- This booth was also a big hit at E3. There were constant lines of people trying to play the demo version they had set up. This was also the biggest revelation for me, in the sense that I saw more here than I really expected to see. I had been somewhat disappointed with several aspects of this game during beta, but the version that was shown at E3 was a greatly improved version that seemed to correct many of the flaws I had previously seen. Of course, this is why it is so hard to judge a game during beta. Muse's review says it all. This is going to be a fun game. The excitement of AO is that it's science fiction aspect is likely to introduce a whole new set of people to online gaming, which can only increase and strengthen the community. I'm not sure if AO will ever challenge Everquest for MMORPG supremecy (Camelot on the other hand...), but it still looks like a hit.
Star Wars Galaxies -- Drool. This game just looks gorgeous. Even the limited number of screenshots they showed are enough to make me want to go right out and buy this today. I know it is early. The game is barely into production and won't be released for well over a year even if everything goes as planned. Yet, I can't help but think that this will just blow away everything else once it is released. I just hope that the force is with those who are designing the game and helps them fullfill all of its promise.
Shadowbane -- A year ago, the buzz on this game was probably bigger than any of the upcoming batch of MMORPG's. Since then, it has sort of moved into the background and very little new information has been released. Despite the presence of a booth at E3, this is still the case. The Shadowbane booth has to get the reward for being the most low tech presentation at the entire convention. It looked like someone had corraled their high school prom commitee and asked them to do a medieval theme for them. Why even bother? There was one video screen that played a 20 second or so movie that really gave you no idea of where the game stood at this time, so in effect there was no real information. It was really quite sad. I just hope that this is not an indication of the state of the game, since this is a game that could be very good if it lives up to its original promise.
Neverwinter Nights -- I'm going to have to write up a complete review of this game. The concept they have with this game is incredibly cool. Everything I saw as far as gameplay, graphics, etc. looked first class. This is not really massively multiplayer, but I can see it becoming just as addictive. The ability to build and host your own dungeon and to take a character into thousands of dungeons created by other players is really amazing. I have to admit that I am still skeptical as to whether they can pull it off. They are relying on convincing thousands of people to devote large amounts of time, bandwidth and server space to independantly create and host the multitude of worlds that are required to make this game work. That seems like a pretty big leap of faith to me, but I sure hope they can make it work.
The Big Microsoft versus Nintendo War -- I have to admit that I am not a big console gamer. I own a Playstation and a Nintendo 64, but can go months without breaking them out and actually using them, so I am probably not the person to judge either of these systems. But hey, I have a column to write, so you will just have to get my opinion anyway. My initial thought in viewing the games for the new systems was "why would I ever spend $300 on either of them". None of the games really knocked my socks off. I thought the graphics looked a lot like the graphics from my Playstation. Maybe we are just nearing the limits, but I expected a jump in graphics, sound and playability the equivalent of going from the original Nintendo to the Nintendo 64. I just didn't see that. Don't get me wrong. Some of the games looked pretty cool, but I had to ask myself if they were cool enough to make me ditch my current system and spend $300 on a brand new one. One of these systems will probably end up as the hot toy this Christmas. I may just skip that fad this time.
Sovereign -- Because I spent so much time at the Sony booth, I inevitably found myself watching the Sovereign demo more and more. Then Geoff Zatkin came over and started to explain it to me. This game sure looks good. Verant is the master of making addictive games, and I shudder to think of how much time you would start to spend on line if you were ruling and protecting an entire world or set of worlds from invasion in a multiplayer setting. But I already find myself itching to give it a try. The complexities of a large warfare strategy game, combined with the fact that up to 60 people can be playing against each other in a multiplayer setting makes this one of the potentially most difficult games I have ever seen. I would think diplomatic skills would be almost as important as military ones. Given what it is trying to accomplish, this could truly be a ground-breaking game.
