Here are 10 things that stood out at the Electronic Entertainment Expo last month in Los Angeles, where digital artists, technology experts and women in comic-book costumes showed off the full range of the industry’s personality.
1. Nintendo’s upcoming Wii game console and its one-hand, wireless, motion-detecting controller.
Play tennis by simply swinging the controller like a racket. Throw passes in a “Madden” brand football game by flicking your wrist with the controller in hand. Then use the two-piece controller system- each part with motion sensors but tethered together – and send Mario shooting into space by just spinning one of your hands when he’s standing in the right place. For some games, such as “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” epic that will launch along with the console, the two-hand learning curve may prove formidable. But overall, the name-challenged Wii (pronounced “we”) appears to be as revolutionary as Nintendo promised.
2. LucasArts is also promising a gaming revolution. Using the lure of “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars” games that are in the works for 2007, the company spotlighted two innovations for blending storytelling and action sequences.
One technique programs animated characters with “a centralized nervous system” so that their physical reactions vary in a realistic way. An example showed Jones repeatedly throwing a bad guy toward the ground. The villain maintained his balance the first time, fell but broke his fall with his hand the second time, and landed outstretched and hard the third time. The other advance comes from the ability to make substances – wood, metal, fabric, glass, etc. – bend, snap, shatter and dent in believable and constantly changing ways. One example showed a plywood wall breaking apart from a sharp impact with one large jagged crack, based on current game technology. But with the new effects, the plywood swayed, splintered and partially broke in different ways each time it was hit.
3. “Too Human,” an Xbox 360 game being created by the Silicon Knights development group, is a sci-fi action game with huge, almost majestic environments.
In some ways, it screams sophistication. But its ultimate significance may come from making high-end games less intimidating. The camera perspective is controlled by the game, not the gamer. The idea is to simplify the challenge for people who were left behind as games went from 2-D to 3-D and became far more complex.
4. “Brooktown High: Senior Year” is a dating simulation from Konami, arriving on the PlayStation Portable in 2007. You develop a character and explore romance by interacting with other students, including preppies, jocks and nerds. It’s different, and it’s funny. You’ll read a lot of text, but you won’t mind when it’s stuff like this, from one of the female students: “Did you know ‘menu’ was a French word? Like, we didn’t even HAVE menus until like we invaded France or whatever.'”
5. “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron.” That title almost says it all. But here’s the clincher: Snoopy flies his doghouse as well as his Sopwith Camel in this lighthearted action game from Namco Bandai. This isn’t a next-generation extravaganza – it’s a coming-this-fall, family-oriented game for the PlayStation 2 and PCs (plus a PlayStation Portable version).
6. “Justice League Heroes” from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for PS2 and Xbox (plus a PSP version).
Activision’s “Marvel: Ultimate Alliance” generated far more buzz as a slick superhero game. But the “Justice League” game struck me as having an exceptionally good fix on why DC’s characters have such massive iconic stature in pop culture. It plays in a way that evokes many comic-book traditions.
7. The next “Alone in the Dark.” I’m not a fan of the survival-horror genre. But for those who are, this Atari franchise, for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PCs, aspires to a number of innovations. Same familiar cramped and creepy corridors? No, it’s going to be set in New York’s Central Park. Typical narrative structure? No, the plan is for strong episodic structure, with TV-like storytelling and cliffhangers from level to level.
8. F.E.A.R. for the Xbox 360. This intense shooter and PC hit – a favorite of colleague Dean Takahashi’s – will come to Microsoft’s new console with additional single- and multi-player content. It will be a holiday-season treat for people who strongly prefer console games over computer games. Our thanks to Vivendi Universal Games.
9. “Enemy Territory: Quake Wars,” coming later this year from id Software. This is a PC game with a focus on online play. But I’m hooked anyway, just on the basis of the incredibly textured graphics.
10. “Madden NFL 07” for the Wii. “Madden” sells and sells and doesn’t need a boost from me. But just FYI, Electronic Arts’ E3 demo of some Wii controls, such as using the “hit stick” feature by merely pushing forward with the two-piece controller setup, was tantalizing. The EA staff said the Wii controls have been very comfortable to work with and adapt.
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