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Electronicky!

E3, more than any other event in the year, rekindles everyone’s interest and excitement about gaming. Publishers stage impressive shows, secrecy and skullduggery abound, and there’s Tommyburger to be had! From killer demos like Metal Gear Solid 2 being shown on giant screens before awed audiences, to the excited whispers of what went down behind closed doors at the Doom III show, E3 has an energy like nothing else.

All that energy comes from the excitement of seeing great new games and predicting spectacular disasters. So what’s in store for us this year? Jakub and Tom will be covering every major publisher’s PC lineup, and find time to go around on the last day checking out the gems in the rough we spotted in our wanderings. Marcus ”I’d dump my girlfriend for a PS3” Yam will be providing the first dedicated console coverage for us.

Entertainmenty!

What games can we expect to see at E3? Obviously the big boys will be there in force. id Software may be promising a quiet show again for Doom III, but they’ll have to organize a SWAT team to keep us from over-analyzing every rumor we hear about it. A few weeks ago Valve dropped a bomb on the gaming world with the stunning announcement of Half-Life 2 – being available this year! With Fall only a short time away, we expect Sierra to put up one hell of a show to get word out about this sequel to end all sequels.

Indeed, the Half-Life 2 announcement seems to have stolen the wind from the sails out of many other games. Sierra’s other big Deuce - Homeworld 2 - is certain to be at E3. Having stayed relatively quiet since the announcement, Sierra and Relic are certain to make a push this year to get the hype going. Another recently announced Sierra title we’re looking forward to at least hearing about is Tribes: Vengeance. Set hundreds of years before the first two Tribes games, this Irrational-developed title will feature a strong singleplayer component. Who are Irrational Games, you might ask? Why, who else but the developers of System Shock 2. (Looking Glass only published the game.)

Expo-ey!

Warren Spector, father of all things good in gaming, and the new Ion Storm will be sure to bring Deux Ex 2 and Thief 3 out to titillate the expo attendees. Being closer to release, Deus Ex 2 is likely to be more prominent. Judging by his GameSpy interview, Warren was quite disappointed by the compromises made during Deus Ex’s development. We’re curious to see what kinds of improvements in gameplay we can expect.