E3 2003: John's Random Mumblings

Written by John Scalzo on May 20, 2003

E3 2003: John's Random Mumblings: Next year I will be at E3. I said that last year, but this year I really mean it.

Sony stood up at this year's E3 and basically said "We will not let Halo 2 steal the show." They, and their third parties showed first glimpses of a ton of exclusives like Metal Gear Solid 3 Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, and the exclusivity announcement of Grand Theft Auto 4. They showed that the PS2 Network Adapter is here to stay with SOCOM II, Gran Turismo 4, and the PS2/Network Adapter bundle. They showed innovative new peripherals like the EyeToy. And they show the PSP.

PSP: Playstation Portable
Sony's other big entrant in their push to stay on top was the PlayStation Portable or PSP. Right now the PSP is just technical specs and a 2004 release date on a piece of paper. But the PlayStation name alone makes it the first serious competitor to the Game Boy since the days of the Game Gear (OK, maybe the Lynx). The specs are impressive. Backlit LCD wide screen. 3D rendering capabilities. MPEG4 video. One point eight gigabyte optical disc cartridge. USB and memory stick ports. Rechargable lithium ion battery. Insert your own Tim Allen grunt right here.

The only problem with all of this is that one key number was left off that press release: the price. Even an estimated price would be better than nothing and right now, with those specs, the PSP will be out of reach of your average Pokemon player. But maybe that's Sony's plan all along, to appeal to the older crowd that doesn't already own a GBA. The specs of the PSP are close enough to the PSone that odds are we will be seeing some PSone to PSP ports just like the GBA is home to many Super NES ports. And this could be the key. The potential for the PSP is off the scale and if there's one thing we've learned from the console wars it's that competition is a good thing.

Meanwhile...
But there was something else going down on the PS2 front this year. This was the year of the sequel. This was the year of the remake. This was the year of the movie license. And this was the year of the multi-platform game. Aside from first party exclusives, nearly every game showcased at this year's E3 was multi-platform in one or another. And even those that were solidly attached to one console today all left the door open that exclusive does not mean forever. Third parties ruled the roost at this year's E3 and they have plenty to show for it:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds
Announced just last month, but rumored to be in development at least a year before that, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds is on track for a late August release. The Colletive is no longer in the developer's seat for this one but Buffy seems to be in good hands with the Brits at Eurocom. The Scooby gang all jump into action this time as Buffy, Angel, Willow, Xander, Faith and Spike are all playable characters.

While The Collective's fighting engine will not make an appearance, Eurocom has made their own fighting engine that looks to be just as impressive. Many different weapons and magic spells will be at the Scoobies disposal and graphically the game looks very sharp. And the storyline of a dimensional bleed that causes worlds to crash together sounds like classic Buffy (and it is, seeing as how that was a plot point from season 5). There will also be a multiplayer deathmatch mode that could provide plenty of fun. Much of the game is still being kept under wraps but we do know that most of the cast has signed on again to provide their voices and that just makes this Buffy fan happy.

Of course what makes me sad is that by the time you read this Buffy will have aired it's last new episode. I think I have something in my eye...

The Simpsons: Hit & Run
A few months back when it was first announced I made the very obvious guess that The Simpsons: Hit & Run sounded a lot like Grand Theft Auto: Springfield. It turns out that I was right. So yay for me for being able to state the obvious.

The Grand Theft Auto series is something that is ready to be parodied. It's built up this legend about it that The Simpsons can always be counted on to skewer. While their last outing, Simpsons Skateboarding, crashed and burned, EA has given the development reins back to Radical Entertainment. Radical was responsible for the greatly under appreciated Simpsons: Road Rage, so at the very least I have plenty of confidence that the driving portions will be top notch. The cast will also supply their voices to the game, almost a requirement for a Simpsons game in this day and age.

No one knows what the missions entail and so far the released footage looks like it could be Road Rage 2, so the game is still very much up in the air. But we do know for sure that there won't be any prostitutes getting killed in this takeoff of Grand Theft Auto. But I can dream that Joe Mantegna takes on a big role as Fat Tony can't I?

Maximo vs The Army of Zin
The original Maximo was one of those games that managed to perfectly capture the essence of it's 2D ancestor into a 3D game. There is no doubt in my mind about that. And while it was overshadowed last year by many other games, in my mind it will stand as one of the all time greats forever. Now Capcom has created this sequel that looks to be bigger, louder, and faster while still retaining everything that made the original Maximo so great. And the Grim Reaper will be a playable character!

The Army of Zin is an armed forces machine in the truest sense of the phrase. They are monsters with robotic parts and probably qualify as the world's first cyborgs and they're running rampant through Maximo's kingdom. So naturally our hero is none to happy about this and grabs his pair of lucky boxers to do battle with this mechanized menace. And the Grim Reaper will be a playable character!

From the early look at Maximo so far the gameplay looks to be very similar to the first but looks to take the bigger, louder, faster sequel trip like I said earlier. If you were a fan of the first one this should be high on your list of things that are coming this year. And did I mention that the Grim Reaper is going to be a playable character?

EA Sports Bio
Finally, there's the strange, but strangely interesting EA Sports Bio. Not to be confused with the Xbox Sports Network (XSN), the EA Sports Bio is built around the idea that by playing more EA Sports games you will advance in levels and open up new and interesting secrets. The system works for all 2004 EA Sports and basically the more time you put in the higher your level goes and the more goodies (exclusive to the EA Sports Bio) you get. EA is being rather vague at this point how exactly you will score points for a new level, but they seemed to hint at the fact that playing certain games would count for more points in other games. So apparently to get the really cool secrets in Madden 2004 theoretically you might have to put some serious time into NBA Live 2004. It's all very secretive (and pure speculation on my part might I add) right now.

It is quite the ambitious project and I think if EA adds a little of the online stat tracking like the XSN is using then they might really have something here. I just wonder how something like this will work for the PS2 memory cards. They are not exactly known for their storage capabilities when it comes to EA Sports game saves.

The Final Word
So that's it. E3 2003 is over and now there are hundreds of new games to look forward to across all current systems and several new ones. The video game world is growing by leaps and bounds and the fact that this felt like an off year as far as E3 announcements go should really tell you something. I love my job.