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E3 EXPOSITION - A REPORT

Los Angeles throbs with life. And is home to many Hollywood stars. It hosted Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) earlier this month. This is the e-world’s largest trade show. And covers interactive entertainment, educational software and products. Every year the event attracts buyers, sellers, investors and the media. Numerous luminaries also grace the event. Its par for the course that the latest, most advanced hardware and software will be displayed at E3.

This E3 kicked off on 19 May 2001. Unlike such events in India, E3 is not open to the public. A true trade show, entry is restricted to those over the age of 18. The registration brochure even mentions no infants!

E3's history dates back seven years when it first made a mark as one of the most successful shows ever. In 2000, over 2000 new products were up for grabs. This year, E3 featured 400 exhibitors and 62,000 attendees from 70 countries.

Meeting some of the most influential persons in the e-entertainment industry is a major attractions for attendees. The icing on their cake is participating in the workshops as well. These sessions cater to the educational and learning needs of the community. And also give professionals a chance to learn straight from the experts themselves.

Keynote speakers for E3 2001 were game gurus Robert J Bach, Senior VP, Games Division, Microsoft, Peter T Main, Executive VP, Sales and Marketing, Nintendo America, and Kazuo Hirai, President and COO, Sony Computer Entertainment. The discussion centred on the future of the latest game consoles. Nintendo positioned itself as the chief game maker. Sony took its place as the customer sensitive entertainment provider. Microsoft joined the fray as a contender to both.

Top of the charts on the PC game list were Soldier of Fortune II with 10 missions and 70 levels in all. Plus more attention is given to detail and facial models. Weapons and effects too have been improved. There's also a remarkable escapade in a plague-ridden Columbian jungle.

Bridge Commander of the Star Trek suite lets you don the mantle of First Officer and Bridge Commander. This time the disaster is the destruction of a sun by an unknown weapon; which you have to discover. Bridge Commander is being touted as the best Star Trek game till date.

Civilization III now gives limitless options to establish trade with other civilizations. It gives you the right to set up embargoes to protect interests. This in turn leads to pacts and agreements making trade protection the issue.

On the Video games front, it was WWF Smack Down! Just Bring it! This includes 35 WWF superstars, new match settings and flashy signature moves with improved skin textures, models and faces.

Sega Tennis 2K2 is an improved sequel to Virtua Tennis. It now includes 18 internationally ranked tennis Pros including Venus and Serena Williams, Lindsey Davenport and Mary Pierce . The faces show more emotion and have a finer texture.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series now includes a new landing trick for the skater. You can now navigate through city traffic even in changing weather conditions.

LucasArts has developed an extension for their popular Star Wars game. Star Wars Galaxies now lets you own and fly star ships. Combat and inter-galaxy travel is now possible too. This provides unending options for exploration, including socialising between animated characters.

Acclaim announced the release of its Legends of Wrestling. The American version of Dragon Warrior VII was also displayed. Sega and its Phantasy Star Online promised Version 2 (in the pipeline). While Jak and Daxter made its presence felt.

Peripherals also were an important part of this year’s E3 with a new range of controllers for advanced video games. GameBox Entertainment came up with DreamGuns, a suite of wireless weapons. Maui Innovative Peripherals’ Cymouse was another dream device.

Some of the other attractions at E3 2001 were Microsoft’s new home game console the Xbox, which is ready to hit the market and competitively priced against Sony’s Playstation 2, Nintendo 64 and Sega Dreamcast. Gearbox Software is also said to be on the threshold of introducing Blue Shift, which is the expansion pack for Half Life for PC users. It is also in the process of developing a Blue Shift version for Dreamcast and the Half life version for Playstation 2.

E3 2002 is planned for May 23-25. The purpose of E3 is to provide a launch-pad for a number of new products. E3 is wholly owned by the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA). Whose members are leading interactive entertainment software developers and publishers. A recent survey shows that Internet games are 5% more popular than last years 19%. "Games are at the centre of the home, they're on the Internet, they're in the schools, they're on cell phones and PDAs, on planes and in hotel rooms," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the IDSA. Games are fun, intellectually stimulating and challenging. Computer and video games are fast becoming the most popular entertainment choice in the digital era.

Archana Jayakar
[email protected]

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