From: GameSpot Spotlight
Send reply to: spotlight@gamespot.com
Subject: E3 News is Coming!
To: spotlight@gamespot.com
Greetings,
I didn't get to go to E3 last year. That's right, the gaming
industry's biggest trade show, where every game shipping in the
next six months is on display, and I missed it. Somehow, in the
great cosmic, karmic plan, I managed to start my job at GameSpot
two weeks before the show. It was great for me; all my new
coworkers were scurrying about like so many red ants, while I
quietly sat at my desk playing with my new computer and
wondering if I was going to make it through my 90-day trial
period. Then, the office emptied so quickly it was like a giant
vacuum cleaner sucked the entire staff to Atlanta. Upon
returning to San Francisco, my boss (of two weeks) walked in the
door, looked me in the eye, and said: "You are never missing
another E3."
The GameSpot staff began planning this year's E3 News coverage
back in February. We've totally redesigned the E3 News site to
give you even better, more comprehensive reporting. Nearly 50
GameSpot, Computer Gaming World, GameSpot News, videogames.com,
EGM, EGM2, and Official PlayStation Magazine editors will be at
E3 in Atlanta. We'll be posting hundreds of game previews during
the course of this three-day entertainment mecca. Watch for
updates on events, parties, gossip, and people. Check for demos
and movies of hot upcoming games.
Our site will go live at midnight EDT, Wednesday, May 27:
http://www.e3news.com/
Until then, we've got plenty of reviews, previews, demos, news,
and features, so read on to find out what's hot on the 'Spot.
Nicole Freeman
Queen of Chaos
GameSpot (and E3 News)
New on GameSpot
1. Features: Next-Generation 3D Cards, Web Warfare, and more
2. Previews: Mech Commander, C&C: Tiberian Sun, and more
3. Starcraft Game Guide - Get a quick cheat
4. Reviews: Hardball 6, F1 Racing Simulation, Forsaken, and more
5. News: Unreal is Golden, Quake II mission packs, and more
6. Demos: Final Fantasy VII, Team Apache, Addiction Pinball,
and more
7. Instant Poll Results: Sequels, audio, and force feedback
8. Hardware Question of the Week: Who needs a game port?
9. X Marks the GameSpot: $22,800 in prizes through May!
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1. Features: Next-Generation 3D Cards, Web Warfare, and more
Computer Gaming World's Dave Salvator and Loyd Case have
gathered the latest crop of 3D cards and run them through the
rigorous CGW game benchmarks. This roundup includes 3D Blaster,
Thriller 3D, Outlaw 3D, Magic3D, and more:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/3dcards2/index.html
Find out how each card was tested, what 3D cards are on the
horizon, and how to choose the right card:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/3dcards2/conc.html
If you like to take to the skies in the no-holds-barred online
dogfighting arena that is the Internet, don't miss CGW's
in-depth look at three popular online flight sims, WarBirds,
Fighter Ace, and Air Warrior III. We'll get you started, help
you choose a plane, and steer you toward your first battle:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/warfare/index.html
Find all our special reports in one handy place:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/index.html#special
2. Previews: Mech Commander, C&C: Tiberian Sun, and more
If you've been longing for the next game in the popular
Mechwarrior series, your wait is almost over. Our previews
editor Trent Ward trucked on over to MicroProse and got an
advance look at Mech Commander. "What may surprise you is that
the title not only looks and plays great (even in its beta
form), but that it also has the potential to give the real-time
strategy genre what it has desperately needed for so long - a
fresh new perspective." Check out the cool art, story details,
and new mechs:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/mechc/index.html
Westwood is finally delivering what it calls the true sequel to
Command & Conquer. Here's what Trent has to say: "After years of
planning and design, the true sequel to Command & Conquer,
Command & Conquer II: Tiberian Sun, is about to ship. The title
could be the chance that the company has been waiting for to
show the world who the true masters of real-time strategy are,
or it could be proof that the company has let the genre it
helped forge pass it by." Get the full story, plus some
spectacular artwork:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/tiberian/index.html
Don't miss all our previews:
http://www.gamespot.com/whatsnew/index.html#previews
3. Starcraft Game Guide
If you still haven't seen our massive Starcraft game guide,
you're missing out. This monster has incredibly detailed race
overviews, general strategies, multiplayer tips, all 30 mission
walk-throughs, and 17 cheats. In fact, here's a quick cheat
(just hit Enter to bring up the dialogue box, type the code
exactly as it appears here, and push Enter again to initiate
it):
there is no cow level
Use this to win the current mission and proceed to the next.
Find the complete guide here:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/starcraft_sg/index.html
4. Reviews: Hardball 6, F1 Racing Simulation, Forsaken, and more
This week saw us post quite a few reviews. In fact, there's
something for everyone, from hard-core racing games (F1 Racing
Simulation) to action games (Forsaken) and everything else in
between.
Forsaken (Action - demo available)
SpotScore: 8.9
Review excerpt: "Forsaken is, at its core, a Descent clone. But
stunning graphics, a dazzling array of weapons, and
above-average level design make the whole thing seem fresh."
http://www.gamespot.com/action/forsaken/index.html
F1 Racing Simulation (Driving)
SpotScore: 8.9
Review excerpt: "F1 Racing Simulation is an extremely
well-thought-out simulation with drivers of all abilities in
mind. With a midrange to high-end PC and a 3D card, the game
looks spectacular, although users of low- to midrange machines
will pay the price when the number of cars onscreen can cause
the frame rate to bog down considerably."
http://www.gamespot.com/driving/f1racing/index.html
Hardball 6 (Sports - demo available)
SpotScore: 7.1
Review excerpt: "Baseball fans have been waiting a long time for
Hardball 6 - something on the order of two and a half years have
elapsed since Hardball 5 was released - and if you simply glance
at the list of new features you'll get the impression Accolade
spent that time wisely."
http://www.gamespot.com/sports/hardbal6/index.html
Total Annihilation: Core Contingency (Strategy)
SpotScore: 8.1
Review excerpt: "Of course, it's easy to find something to
criticize among the staggering amount of new stuff (which,
unfortunately, does not include any new music). The Core
Contingency is sure to prolong the life of the game, especially
for those who have played it to death.... Cavedog should be
commended for making such an open-ended game and continuing to
support and enhance it regularly. Now if only it could come up
with more minelayers and fewer floating metal makers."
http://www.gamespot.com/strategy/totalcc/index.html
iPanzer '44 (Strategy)
SpotScore: 3.3
Review excerpt: "iPanzer should have been a step up from iM1A2
Abrams, last year's promising effort from Interactive Magic. Yet
somehow, the company managed to take iPanzer the opposite
direction. Given Interactive Magic's disinterest in addressing
issues with iM1A2, there's little reason to believe that iPanzer
will get any better with time."
http://www.gamespot.com/simulation/ipanzer/index.html
Armor Command (Strategy - demo available)
SpotScore: 7.0
Review excerpt: "Armor Command is a real-time strategy game with
some interesting twists and turns. It utilizes 3D acceleration
through Direct3D (or other in-game software routines) and has
direct support for a number of 3D cards."
http://www.gamespot.com/strategy/armorcom/index.html
5. News: Unreal is Golden, Quake II mission packs, and more
Yes, it's true. After the wait for a new 3D action-shooter, the
highly anticipated Unreal goes to manufacturing. The next stop
is your PC:
http://headline.gamespot.com/news/98_05/19_unreal/
Xatrix and Activision reveal more about Quake II's first
official mission pack, The Reckoning:
http://headline.gamespot.com/news/98_05/18_reckon/
The battle of the Quake II add-ons is heating up with a second
mission pack coming from Rogue:
http://headline.gamespot.com/news/98_05/18_moreqake/
Don't miss all the news that's fit to print:
http://headline.gamespot.com/news/
6. Demos: Final Fantasy VII, Team Apache, Addiction Pinball,
and more
The hottest game on the PlayStation is coming to the PC! This
playable demo is for 3Dfx card holders only. The story picks up
as the evil power company Shinra Inc. has found a way to mine
universal life energy, plotting control of the universe while
draining the life from Earth. Standing in the way of Shinra is a
resistance organization called Avalanche. Explore part of Mount
Corel and talk with the people of North Corel:
http://www.gamespot.com/rpg/finalf7/index.html
If flying a combat helicopter is more your speed, check out
Simis' Team Apache:
http://www.gamespot.com/simulation/teamapac/index.html
It doesn't matter what you're into, the Addiction Pinball demo
from Team 17 is too fun to miss. The pinball table provided
comes complete with the characters from Worms, and your goal is
to beat the clock and play through the Wild West mode:
http://www.gamespot.com/puzzle/addictp/index.html
We've got hundreds more playable demos:
http://www.gamespot.com/downloads/bydate1.html
7. Instant Poll Results: Sequels, audio, and force feedback
This random bunch of questions got lots of people involved!
Don't forget to participate by voting on our home page. The poll
question changes several times a week.
For which game should MicroProse produce a sequel?
Pirates: 41%
Darklands: 29%
CPU Bach: 9%
Sword of the Samurai: 9%
Dragonsphere: 6%
Return of the Phantom: 3%
(7,267 respondents)
Which console game would you most like to see brought to the PC?
GoldenEye 007: 50%
Tekken 3: 24%
Colony Wars: 6%
WCW Nitro: 6%
PaRappa the Rapper: 5%
Bushido Blade: 5%
(7,571 respondents)
For which game would you like to see 3D positional audio?
Quake II: 51%
Wing Commander: Prophecy: 22%
Might and Magic VI: 14%
F1 Racing Simulation: 6%
Triple Play 98: 2%
Welltris: 1%
(5,592 respondents)
Why haven't you bought a force-feedback controller?
The price: 43%
Force what?: 19%
Not enough games: 15%
My hands shake already: 10%
I have one: 8%
I'm waiting for a wheel: 3%
(9,301 respondents)
8. Hardware Question of the Week:
Q: Why don't you use a dedicated game port card in either of
your ultimate game machines?
A: In the Power Rig, I simply ran out of slots. But I've
discovered over the past few months that the game ports in newer
sound cards seem much more stable and less prone to drift than
the ones in the older cards. This is especially true for PCI
sound cards. However, many PCI sound cards have problems with
certain digital game controllers, like Thrustmaster's Rage 3D
and the Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback stick.
Got a question for Loyd? Ask him:
http://www.gamespot.com/ugm/letters/index.html
9. X Marks the GameSpot: $22,800 in prizes through May!
Tired of all the E3 hype? Head on over to our contest and win
some soothing prizes. We've got tons of hardware and software to
give away. Just answer a few questions and you're entered. Get a
load of these games: Balls of Steel, Abe's Oddysee, Unreal,
Battlezone, Hardball 6, and more!
http://www.gamespot.com/contest/
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