Introduction

International Games Festival

Every year in the late winter/early spring, Microsoft holds its own mini gaming convention to show off its lineup of upcoming titles for the year. They Last year, they flew journalists out to Seattle, where many of us got to try out the Xbox hands-on for the first time. This year, there were no Xbox games shown, with Microsoft choosing instead to show off PC games only. Making up for that disappointment was the fact that this year’s convention was held in Las Vegas instead of Seattle. Nothing against the Emerald City…ok actually I do have something against it, but let’s face it, even if I did like the place, it just wouldn’t hold a candle to Vegas.

Glancing down the list, we see a good mix of sequels and spinoffs (Age of Mythology, Asheron’s Call 2), as well as original games (Dungeon Siege, Impossible Creatures).

2002-2003 Microsoft PC lineup

• Freelancer- 3D space exploration, role playing, and combat, a la Privateer.
  
  
• Age of Mythology - Age of Empires in a mythological setting; new 3D engine
  
  
• Rise of Nations - Civ in real time?
  
  
• Dungeon Siege - 3D dungeon hacking romp, with an engine that never stops to load
  
  
• Impossible Creatures - Mix and match animal body parts to create armies with unique abilities. Magic: the Gathering and your toybox all in one.
  
  
• Asheron’s Call 2 - sequel to the addictive-as-crack original MMORPG
  
  
• Combat Flight Sim 3 - leading WWII sim now lets you take it air to ground, letting you fly ground attack fighters and bombers.
  
  
• Links 2003 - Fore!
  
  
• Zoo Tycoon Dinosaur Digs - build your own Jurassic Park
  
  
• Mechwarrior 4 expansion packs - more mechs, more tech, more boom boom.