Salon.com > Moira Muldoon

The E3 explosion

Thu, 11 May 2000 09:00:00 +0000

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, the biggest, messiest, most intense conference of the computer and video game industry, started in Los Angeles on Thursday, although there have been so many pre-announcement announcements and pre-show demos, it feels like the expo has been going on for weeks.

On Wednesday night, L.A. was rocked by big parties thrown by Sega and Nintendo. That was after a day of pre-show activities, including full-on press conferences by Sony and Nintendo, and an event held by Konami to show off Metal Gear Solid 2 for the PlayStation 2 -- a game with the kind of buzz that indicates it could be one of the show's real darlings. A week before the expo, Electronic Arts had two special showings of games that it's demo'ing at E3; Ripcord Games even hosted a pre-E3 event two weeks earlier, which culminated in a trip to Paramount's Great America, a Silicon Valley amusement park. And companies big and small have been flooding game journalists with promotional materials. Sierra, Activision, Electronic Arts, Rockstar, Crave, Agetec, Sega itself -- every developer that makes games for Sega's system -- have all touted the games they are showing at E3.

Debut of a sexy new plaything

Thu, 09 Mar 2000 17:00:00 +0000

Smooth, black and smaller than I expected, Sony's PlayStation2 is sexy. I got my hands on the new gaming console this week and it rocked. (It was introduced in Japan on Saturday, though it won't hit U.S. stores until the fall.) Graphics were crisp and sharply detailed; reflections on the car windows of the immensely popular Ridge Racer V were so realistic it was kind of surreal -- watching the replay was like viewing real racing on a state of the art TV with exceptionally good reception. I even found games created for the original PlayStation, like Metal Gear Solid, showed subtle signs of graphic improvement when loaded up into the new backward-compatible machine.

The first titles released on the new console demonstrate the power of the "emotion" engine, as Sony has dubbed the guts of its PlayStation2. As the heart of the console, the emotion engine provides the processing power for the lifelike graphics: Strands of hair blow sensuously and realistically across the face of Ai Fukami in Ridge Racer V. Horses bob and sway gracefully in a sumptuous scene, as warriors ride into battle in strategy-simulation game Kessen. Kessen's gameplay, of course, is a complete mystery to me -- it speaks Japanese and I don't. Still, I'm impressed by the smooth mobility of the general's facial expressions as he speaks to his troops. And as developers learn to harness the power of the new engine, the gaming industry expects truly astounding second- and third-generation PlayStation2 games to emerge.

Dreamcast chaos!

Thu, 09 Sep 1999 19:00:00 +0000

It rained on Sega's parade -- literally. As 400 to 500 people gathered Wednesday night at Software Etc. to celebrate the midnight launch of Sega's new Dreamcast game console, a rare thunderstorm with spectacular displays of lightning descended on the Bay Area. It was like an ominous warning of the chaos to come.

And it was chaos. The good news was that more people than expected turned out to buy Dreamcasts. The mood was festive, with Verne Troyer, better known as Mini-Me from "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," and Donna D'Errico of "Baywatch" dressing up the atmosphere. (It's amazing how small Troyer really is -- his head came up just past my knee.)

The bad news was that Software Etc. and Sega made a mess of the much-hyped affair, part of Sega's $100 million marketing campaign for the Dreamcast. This in turn called into question Sega's ability to pull off the turnaround it desperately needs.

Can the Dreamcast save Sega?

Mon, 16 Aug 1999 16:00:00 +0000

Sega of America announced last Wednesday that its most widely recognized executive, president and chief operating officer Bernie Stolar, would be replaced by vice chairman Toshiro Kezuka, effective immediately. It was a shocking announcement for many Sega employees and gaming insiders. A major change like this, so close to September and the U.S. launch of Sega's new system, the Dreamcast, couldn't help but cause consternation.

After all, the Dreamcast is Sega's best, and maybe last, hope. The new 128-bit gaming console is impressive, the graphics are incredible, it moves fast, costs only $199 -- and it comes with a built-in 56K modem for online play purposes, a first for a console. But right now that is not enough; it needs to be a smashing success.

They got game

Tue, 13 Jul 1999 16:00:00 +0000

"Great Money Maker!" cries one ad. "Ultimate Money Maker account!" enthuses another. EBay is thick with advertisements hawking characters that can earn gamers status in the virtual world -- and some cool, hard cash. For folks who inhabit the worlds of massive multiplayer role-playing games EverQuest or Ultima Online, auctioning talents on eBay has become a fun way to make fast bucks. Build up a character, earn some platinum pieces and sell them all to the highest bidder -- for hundreds, even thousands of dollars.

"Ruekilla" (his gaming handle) is a 24-year-old student who says he "made $1,747 in two weeks by selling platinum, then the next week sold my character for $1,500." He has sold four of his own creations, because he was "getting out of control" and spending too much time playing. "People need to make extra cash somehow," he says. "This is a quick, easy way to do it, and if you earned it, you can sell it."

Game wars at E3 expo

Fri, 14 May 1999 19:00:00 +0000

The details on Nintendo's new machine are out: The Dolphin, as it's known, is slated for a holiday release in 2000. It will be powered by an IBM PowerPC processor and will not be cartridge-based, but rather DVD-based -- just as Sony's upcoming PlayStation 2 is, interestingly enough. Sega had also once talked of DVD -- which potentially transforms a game console into an entertainment system, since you can play both games and movies on it -- but eventually let go of the idea. And that may hurt the company in the long run.

Not that Sega seems to think so. Wandering around the company's E3 booth Thursday with David Karraker, vice president of Sega's PR agency, Access Communications, I heard nothing but confidence. Sega's Dreamcast machine is built and coming out, unlike the other two "next generation" machines from Sony and Nintendo, which are still in development. Third-party support for Dreamcast is "terrific," says Karraker -- although "decent" might be a better word. And take a gander at the 46 games on the show floor and the dozens more lined up for release, he suggested.

Gamers shun talk of Littleton violence

Thu, 13 May 1999 16:00:00 +0000

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, officially begins Thursday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. All the usual players will be there -- big game companies, small game companies, editors, distributors and the ever-present booth babes -- as well as a few new ones: Jake Lloyd, who plays Anakin Skywalker in the upcoming "Phantom Menace," will make a few appearances to promote Star Wars: Episode I Racer for the Nintendo 64.

But mostly, this year's E3 should be business as usual. Which might seem a little strange, given the level of media attention of late to the issue of violence in games. But while the mainstream media has made much of possible connections between the recent Columbine shootings and video and computer games, the gaming press has been subdued on the subject. In fact, the comment I've heard most often from editors and gamers is, "Who on earth still plays Doom?" The game is old; any serious first-person action gamer would have already abandoned it for the recently released Quake III demo.

The father of Mario and Zelda

Wed, 02 Dec 1998 20:00:00 +0000

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time -- released in the U.S. last week -- is perhaps the most perfect video game ever made: Immersive, balanced and beautiful. The game procured raves from journalists with advance copies, and Nintendo expects it to sell 2.5 million copies by Christmas. For most designers, such a hit would be a career-topping feat; for Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, it's just the latest in a long line of groundbreaking video games.

In his off hours, Miyamoto may prefer playing bluegrass banjo to playing video games, but there is no doubt he has one of the keenest senses around of what makes a video game fun. A short list of titles he has created for Nintendo in his 20 years there includes Donkey Kong, all the Mario games and all the Zelda games. And as general manager of Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development Department in Kyoto, Japan, Miyamoto has had a hand in dozens of other games, like F-Zero X and Yoshi's Story. But The Legend of Zelda is his baby, and it, like all his games, has two all-important video-game characteristics: replayability and balance.

Death and the hard drive

Wed, 09 Sep 1998 19:00:00 +0000

My father was killed when some loose earth gave way and he dropped 600 feet down the side of an Arizona canyon, crushing his spine and his skull, snapping his neck with such force that it tore the flesh of his throat open. Despite the passage of nearly four years, so many things about his death are still not easy for me -- not the least of which was recently clearing out his old laptop's hard drive.

My father was a start-up kind of guy. He sold his company, started up another one, sold it and was starting a third when he died. He was also an early adopter: Six years ago when I was living in Ireland, I was the only kid who communicated with her parents over e-mail. Every thought he had -- his notes, his plans and his personal letters -- was on his computer.

I went home to Texas over the Fourth of July. A bunch of my girlfriends here in San Francisco had expressed an interest in the great mythology of Texas and in my home, so we packed up and went for a weekend. We barbecued, went country dancing, planned water-skiing excursions and lounged by the pool. While I was there, entertaining and eating and shooting off fireworks, I also helped my mother clear off my father's hard drive.

Growing up in gameland

Tue, 02 Jun 1998 19:00:00 +0000

The 1998 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), held in Atlanta this past weekend, did something completely unexpected: It began to grow up.

E3 is to the computer and video game industry what COMDEX is to the computer world -- a chance for companies to show off what's just out and what's coming up. Distributors come; small developers looking for distributors come; the media come; job hopefuls come; and celebrities come to promote new games (you could catch Gillian Anderson at the "X-Files" booth or Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar de la Hoya playing the new boxing game from Electronic Arts).

Walking the E3 floor is a lot like dropping acid and going to an arcade: Suddenly you're actually in the middle of a game universe where lights flash, game voices surround you and everything is four times as big as it should be. Companies with games to show go all out to draw attention to their booths, giving away T-shirts and prizes and setting up unbelievably elaborate booths. Konami -- promoting what was arguably the game of the show, a 3-D shooter adventure for the Sony Playstation titled "Metal Gear Solid" -- created a military embankment replete with buff men and women holding really big guns guarding the entrance and a synthesized voice warning you about the danger ahead. Some of the biggest exhibitors, Sony and Nintendo, created whole worlds inside their booths, big enough to get really lost in.

Reviews: Getting MUDdy with Xena

Thu, 30 Apr 1998 19:00:00 +0000

If stunning graphics drive the computer gaming market, why are MUDs -- text-based online gaming environments -- still around? And why would the producers of a new online game built for a hot TV series adopt this old-fashioned model?

Players explain the MUD advantage succinctly: It's like the difference between reading the book and seeing the movie. "Almost invariably," MUD fan Sylverdust says, "the response is, 'Well, the movie was all right, but the book was better.'"

Text-based games are an unusual breed of cat because, essentially, they have no graphics and no linear path to follow. While many gamers eagerly debate the merits of various 3-D graphics cards and the "Riven" story line, others continue to migrate toward "old-school" games that forego graphics for interactive fiction, where gamers create a character and role-play for the duration of the game -- where they can go anywhere in the universe they can think of because there are no rails, no linear paths, no real-time physics to worry about.

A doctorate in “Doom”

Wed, 25 Feb 1998 11:55:00 +0000

"Why is it fun?"

That's not a question often asked at institutions of higher learning. But at DigiPen Institute of Technology -- the college of video game programming in Redmond, Wash. -- it's a mantra written on dry-erase boards all over the building, a query thrust at students again and again at each stage of a project.

DigiPen is housed in an edifice that looks far more corporate than collegiate. Every minute of students' time is accounted for in 10-hour days. Normal college activities like keggers, touch football on the quad and dorm dances are conspicuously absent. All of which makes one wonder: Is DigiPen itself fun? This school for game developers seems like an awful lot of work.

It's a Friday in January at DigiPen -- only the second week the U.S. campus has been open -- and 40 would-be video game programmers are prepping presentations of ideas for new games. Claude Comair, a Lebanese man of extraordinary energy and the president of DigiPen, is explaining that the students are in the initial stages of their first project, a puzzle game. It's a process that will be repeated each semester at DigiPen. The second semester project is a side-scrolling game (like "Super Mario Bros."), the third a single-player strategy game, and so on.