ECTS hands-on impressions

[09.05.00] » A look at the playable games of ECTS.

   The GIA's mysterious European correspondent was able to attend the recent ECTS, and has just returned with impressions of the games on display. Here is his report.

   The European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) is a unique event. Not so much for its content, but rather its ability to draw in gullible attendees such as this reporter. Each year it promises so much, making the European computer gaming scene appear rosy and prosperous, but each year it fail to impress.

   How did this year's show go? Average is a quick word to sum it up. ECTS happens to have the unfortunate time slot of late summer, right in the middle of E3 and TGS. Most companies either have already made their presence felt at the E3 or are gearing up for the Fall TGS. Its poor timing, plus the bad fortune of having Nintendo's Space World Show happen only one week prior, means that most of the games on show at ECTS are either old news or are too early in development to be of any interest.

   Pre-show the UK trade paper CTW promised much - a new MGS2 video, ZOE playable on the floor, Gamecube and GBA playable. These sorts of promises are what ECTS is notorious for not living up to, and it was completely true to its nature this year. Below are some brief observations from the show floor:

   The MGS2 video did get shown to the public, however the timing and organization is so bad that I actually missed the video show and had to rely on the Internet to get a chance to view the footage. The video does impress, but bear in mind the game's far-off release date makes all the hoopla a bit meaningless. ZOE was also not playable on the floor, yet another disappointment to eager showgoers.

   7 Blades looks and plays very rough at this stage, it is in the same vein of DC games such as Berserker and Maken X. If Konami wants this one to stand out from the crowd, it'll need a lot of work. Ephemeral Fantasia looks like a Dreamcast RPG. While the musical elements in the game makes it interesting, it is way too early for this reporter to form an impression of the gameplay. Out of all the Konami games, I feel the most impressive one is Ring of Red (rumoured to be made by part of ex-Front Mission team). The unique, politically charged storyline coupled with some intense strategy gameplay will make this one go well with strategy fans. The graphics aren't half bad either.

   Over at Sony's stand, things don't seem to be quite right. Gone are the glamorous and huge stands; this year Sony is making do with a very muted presence. With just a couple dozen PSone and PS2 stands with various games running, one wonders how serious Sony is about putting their full weight behind the PS2's November European launch.

   What's even more interesting is that it seemed the PSone had a bigger presence than PS2. Maybe this is because the lack of titles to be shown on PS2, or because of the unique thinking of the Sony European PR team. In the latter case, Sony should probably look into hiring more talented PR people, and fast. They may be the market leader at this moment, but if they don't wake up from their self-glorifying dream fast and start to look at the competition seriously, they will end up like a loser this generation. Just as they did to Nintendo and Sega, Microsoft is preparing to do to them, and they have a very narrow window of opportunity to make sure this doesn't happen.

   Over at Nintendo's booth, things look a little better. The Game Cube, of course, is nowhere to be seen, but they actually put up about two dozen Game Boy Advances for the visitors to play. A total of 3 games were shown, and while none of them are RPGs, all of them are very impressive titles. Fans of platform, puzzle and racing genres will surely be pleased.

   This finishes my round-up for ECTS2000: overall, an average show with some companies just not trying hard enough, and a few gems waiting to be discovered. They've promised that the 2001 show will be better, but we'll just have to wait and see.