OK, E3-03 is over and gone, I’m back from travelling (note to self: next year don’t travel on the weekend after E3) and its time to start sifting through the madness. Being a lazy bloke I’m delighted at how much TV coverage can be found. G4’s Pulse was probably the first show to hit the air with E3 coverage, and TechTV’s X-Play starts their coverage this weekend.

Given that I’ve just started digging in, my initial impression is that the XBox and PC are the platforms to be on this coming year. I haven’t seen anything mind-boggling on the GameCube or PS2 so far. Specifically, the two games that have wowed me so far are Halo 2 and Half-Life 2.

The most interesting sound byte I’ve heard so far is John Carmack on DOOM 3. Apparently they went with a linear, strongly scripted type of gameplay for D3. With games like GTA3 and BF 1942 making ’emergent behavior’ the current industry buzzword, its interesting to see id backing away from AI and relying on scripting. While DOOM 3 looks good, I’m skeptical about it as a game; in my opinion while id has made a lot of great 3D gaming engines, they haven’t made a lot of great games. That said, I can’t wait for it to come out, just so the DOOM 3 engine can start being licensed by other developers.

Eek! I could’ve sworn I posted this… Micrsoft followed Sony down to the $179 price point for the XBox. Thus far, Nintendo hasn’t budged. Pretty conservative price drops, but “pretty conservative” seems to be the theme for the big 3 console makers at this year’s E3.

Gamespy has a nice roundup of the three big console makers’ press conferences. Looks like Microsoft was judged “the winner” by all four editors: The Big Four on The Big Three

OK, here we go. Looks like the PS2 has dropped to $179. Just a $20 cut. Now we wait to see what MS and Nintendo do…

Gamespy has a nice article covering the XBox conference held at E3. Some very good news for XBox Live! members inside. Basically you’ll be able to access your account from the web, see what your Friends are playing, and even send invites via MSN Messenger or any device that supports it (like cell phones). Sweet.

Read it here.

How about an 8 minute Halo 2 video? Woot! Sorry to say, its IGN Insider only. But if you’ve got a sub, I’ve got a link.

G4TV and Entertainment Weekly got together to compile a list of the 100 best games of all time. It is *painful* to watch. Worst of all is how clueless they are about old games. As one simple example, M.U.L.E. made it in but they listed it as being for the C-64. Now, what’s the name of the planet in MULE? Irata. Atari spelled backwards. Wouldn’t you think that’d give them a clue? In describing XCom the host talks about it being a blend of strategic decision making and turn-based combat, then sneers and says “Ew, that sounds like a job to me.”

If G4, the gaming channel, can’t treat games with a tad of respect, how can we expect the rest of the world ever to treat them as anything but fluff?

Time for a preliminary “review” of Return to Castle Wolfenstein for the XBox platform. This is all based on a few hours of offline, and a few hours of online, play.

As a single player game, RTCW is a competent FPS. Controls are tight; none of the overly twitchy FPS controls we see too often when PC games are ported to console. A wide range of customizations, too. Dolby 5.1 sound intensifies the action, and the game, for the most part, looks really good. My only gripe is a slight “fisheye” effect (most noticable when you look at nearby walls or something). A solid game, definite worth a rent and possibly worth buying. I haven’t finished solo mode so don’t know how long it is. (But if you finish it, you unlock the original Wolf 3D, which should be a hoot.)

And then there’s MP over XBox Live! And this is where RTCW shines. Continue reading “RTCW XBox”

Possibly old news, but I just learned the Planetside has voice-over-IP integrated into the game. So if you have a headset, you can talk to your squadmates. Sweet.

Just got an email from Sony telling me my Everquest account has been reactivated for free for 7 days (from May 9th to May 17th) and they invite me to revisit the game. Not sure if this is a universal offer or what, but just figured I’d mention it, in case it was.