Ray’s Turn to Talk About E3

Ray’s Turn to Talk About E3

By Ray Ivey

As usual, I had a wonderful time at E3. The sights and sounds, the people-watching, the games, and the interesting personalities always make it a wonderfully tiring romp. This year was marred a bit by the fact that I mostly ran around with Cindy Kyser, and the near-constant requests she received to work as a last-minute replacement “Game Babe Model” at this booth or that booth simply got distracting after awhile. And what am I, chopped liver? Okay, okay, so she did look pretty great in the costumes (Everquest especially). Darcy and Jenny did their best to comfort me. My fascinating self-esteem issues aside, it was a very interesting three days.

It’s a Real Game After All

Okay, sports fans–can you spot the real diamond among a cluster of cubic zirconium? One of the following games actually debuted at the show. Which one is the real game?

Snoopy Unleashed–The bodacious beagle is back in a first-person shooter! You’ll have trouble keeping the merry tunes of Vince Guaraldi out of your head as you target character after beloved character from the venerable Peanuts comic strip. What a pity Charles Shulz couldn’t have lived just eighteen more months so he could have seen this game–how proud he would have been!

Grandma Snipehunt–Hilarious third-person shooter in the tradition of Deer Avenger. You play an escaped mental patient who has it in for old ladies! The game covers fifteen different scenarios as you blast, pummel, and stab one hapless octogenarian after another. The gore level can be adjusted, which is sure to please the parents. And it’s full of witty dialog like this: “Why are you doing this to me?” “Depends!“

The Olson Twins in Escape from Child Abuse Island–Something weird is going on at Biff and Judy’s Happy Summer Island Camp, and Mary-Kate and Ashley are just the girls to get to the, ahem, bottom of it. In the tradition of the smash hit Nancy Drew series from Her Interactive, EFCAL is a traditional point-and-fondle click adventure, with over seven hours of dialog based on actual trial manuscripts. You’ll never underestimate these adorable blondes again!

Splatter High School–A first-person shooter that lets the player express his own creativity! The game comes with a small scanner so that actual pictures of the player’s family, friends, and teachers can be uploaded and used as faces in the game. Now the visceral experience of fragging victim after victim won’t have to be so impersonal! Imagine how much more satisfying it will be to actually blow away that snotty old jerk who failed you on that trig midterm!

SimBathroom–I’m afraid it’s just what it sounds like.

Yep, I’m afraid one of these is a real game. First one to guess correctly gets a free autographed 8×10 glossy of Randy and me mud wrestling!

The Game Is out There

The game I’m most excited about is Neil Young’s Majestic. This adventure game takes its paranoid conspiracy-laden story out of the CD-ROM and thrusts it directly into your life. You play the game in monthly installments, and it comes to you in the form of phone calls, faxes, email, etc. The result is that you’ll actually feel like a participant in this creepy X-Files-type story. Think about it, folks: here’s a high-profile online game that’s actually a pure adventure. In the throng of online action and role-playing games, Majestic seems like a dream come true for us adventurers.

I want to make something clear about the “gameplay” in Majestic. Many people I’ve talked to about it feel they wouldn’t be interested in playing a game that calls them at 3:00 in the morning. Good point. But what many people may not know is that every single “intrusive” element of the game is configurable by the player. In other words, you can elect to receive phone calls or not. To receive emails or not. You can give them specific hours the game can call. You can even have them insert a “trailer” at the beginning of each phone call (“You are about to receive a message from Majestic …”). The result is that every player can define his or her own comfort zone for the game. Best of all, you can actually cooperate with other players online, once you learn their Majestic “handle.” I can’t wait I can’t wait I can’t wait. Meet me online in the secret web page of the supersecret government organization–and trust no one!

Gaming: A January-September Romance?

Cindy Kyser made the very interesting observation that there was a radical difference in the average age of the convention attendees. The men tended to be very, very young (no big surprise), and the women tended to be all over thirty. Neil Young is one of the “old men” of the business, and he’s about 31. (I would have attempted to pretend I had made this observation myself, but Cindy may read this column and I’m physically afraid of her.)

We’re Not Worthy!

Highlights of E3 included having the chance to speak to three of the game gods I admire most. Cindy and I also had a nice chat with Greg Uhler of Presto, flush with the success of the long-awaited Myst III: Exile. He seemed very pleased with the reception the game is getting. Rand Miller (that’s Atrus to you and me) was on hand, and Greg told us he was very happy indeed. We hope the success of Exile will prompt further Myst sequels! The only problem with Greg is that he just doesn’t seem old enough. It’s just plain unseemly. Rather than coming off as the guy who helped create the Journeyman Project trilogy, Hidden Evil, and Exile, he seem like your little brother that you would keep bullies from bothering on the playground! Ah, well, I guess he can’t help it.

The only problem with Myst at E3 was, in fact, UbiSoft. The huge game conglomerate recently acquired the Myst license from Mattel, and it’s clear that they don’t know what they have. This is no surprise to us E3 veterans. Last year, no one at the UbiSoft booth knew who or where Charles Cecil was. Of course, he’s just the man behind the Broken Sword games, not to mention UbiSoft’s In Cold Blood. So this year it was saddening but not surprising to see Myst III: Exile literally hidden behind a pillar in a corner of the huge UbiSoft display. Honestly. This is the most important adventure game release in years, a sequel to two of the most popular and honored games of any genre. You’d think UbiSoft would want to flaunt it, get it out there, and get the title into people’s faces. I found such cavalier treatment of an important property disgraceful, not to mention simply foolish.

We had a lovely chat with Charles Cecil, who created the Broken Sword games and last year’s In Cold Blood. Mr. Cecil is extremely interested in creating an adventure game that feels relevant with the current state of games. That’s not to say he’s abandoned the idea of an adventure–far from it. But he’s looking for ways to make the game appeal not just to hardcore pure point-and-click adventure players (unfortunately, there’s no money in that). So he’s exploring how he can create a game that’s as dynamic and kinetic as possible, and still feel like an adventure.

Finally, I got to meet The Man himself, Ragnar Tornquist, the mad genius behind The Longest Journey. I actually had nothing witty or relevant to say to him. I just stood there and sputtered some obsequious remarks about how spectacular his game was. Thank goodness everyone at E3 wears name tags, or I would have never figured out which one he was. What is it about great adventure game builders that they all seem to be so mild-mannered and soft-spoken? Jane Jensen was the same way a few years ago. I wonder if action game designers are the same way? I have trouble picturing American McGee as a wallflower. By the way, Ragnar’s current project is the massively multiplayer online role playing game Anarchy Online, and it looks fun! Most fun fact about FunCom: they have a new employee we met, a young woman named April!

Adventurama

Back to games. DreamCatcher/Cryo has an impressive rack of games. I was taken with the breathtaking beauty of Schizm: Mysterious Journey. This game is going to be a serious feast for the eyes, as I’m sure the third Atlantis game will be. Jekyll and Hyde also looks promising. The surprise game at this particular booth, however, was a strategy/adventure called Persian Wars. It’s sort of a “strategy lite” game reminiscent of the Heroes of Might and Magic series, but with a stronger adventure element. You play Sinbad and guide him through many campaigns through parched deserts, alluring oases, and exotic cities. I was so taken with the game I found myself returning to it over and over through the weekend.

Our friends at Arxel Tribe look like they may have a real winner with Hitchcock. This is a fantastic-looking game that’s being produced in partnership with Universal Studios. The plot involves murder on a movie set and is chock-full of visual and thematic references to classic Hitchcock films such as Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds. As a Hitchcock freak, I’m counting the days.

So while there aren’t exactly tons of major new pure adventures coming out, there are certainly a few to look forward to.

Prepare to Ascend to RPG Heaven

And for those of you who have been bitten by the RPG bug, let me just say, fasten your seatbelts, you’re in for an incredible year.

First of all, there are add-ons for the two most important recent RPGs. First, there’s the upcoming Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, which will complete the massive Baldur’s Gate saga told across Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast, and Baldur’s Gate II. Then there’s the Diablo II expansion, innovatively entitled Diablo II Expansion. Both of these look like fun.

The long-awaited Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor is also soon to hit your game store shelves. The first CRPG to use the new Third Edition D&D rules, this game looks like a winner. Visually a knock-out, it employs a turn-based combat system and several new character classes (can you say Half-Orc?).

Microsoft Games continues to upgrade its game pedigree (they produced Pandora’s Box, remember?) with the spectacular Dungeon Siege. Despite its rather mundane name, this iconoclastic role-playing game looks like it’ll be a real barn-burner. Imagine the excitement of Diablo with richer RPG elements. Imagine the depth of Baldur’s Gate but with far freer game play. From star game designer (Total Annihilation) Chris Taylor, this is another We Can’t Wait game.

Ditto the stunning-looking Arcanum from Sierra. From the creative team that brought us Fallout, this ambitious RPG pits a magic-based world against a mechanics- and science-based world. You can play a character from either side. Yep, it’s bullets and bayonets against wands and spells.

Sierra also has a very interesting looking action RPG called Throne of Darkness. Imagine Diablo with samurai.

I haven’t even yet mentioned the game that’s going to make all hardcore pencil-and-paper Dungeons & Dragons freaks think they’ve died and gone to the Forgotten Realms. It’s Neverwinter Nights from Bioware. This multiplayer RPG allows a player to actually become the Dungeon Master. Shipped with easy-to-use construction tools, the game allows you to build your own dungeons and invite your friends in to play! It also will include a fully contained single-person game.

Then there’s Morrowind, the latest game in the Elder Scrolls series. The crazies at Bethesda Softworks are bucking an industry-wide trend and creating a game that’s only single player! Imagine, in this day and age. Morrowind also ships with a construction set that allows you to design your own “modules” to customize and enrich the game.

Unfortunately, most of these exciting-looking titles will require pretty hefty computer horsepower. If you’re a fan, it might be time to consider upgrading your equipment.

Penetrating, Hilarious, and Yet Poignant Conclusion

There were so many fun things to see at E3 that I didn’t even mind missing my chance to see Colby and Jerri from Survivor in person. Yes, I’m afraid there’s going to be a game based on the highly addictive television series.

Oddly enough, when we walked by the booth, the crowd voted Randy off the island.