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BY A CORRESPONDENT
Latest
update on the Nintendo revolution announced!
According to the latest information, more than 400 video game companies will make their appearance at the 2005 E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), starting on Mat 18, 2005.
What can we expect to see at the industry's premier gaming expo? Some eagerly waited for new video games - on all imaginable platforms, new gaming machinery such as consoles and gadgets and mobile games.
E3 may not even register on the radar of us here in India - gaming is not even probably 1 % of what it is the world over here - but in the US, the game industry is as big as Hollywood.
Among video game console manufacturers, Microsoft is the one with the big launch - the company will launch what it promises to be its kick-ass gaming console, the next generation
XBox. Rumors so far have called the game console XBox NextGen and the XBox 360. The new XBox console will be launched 2 days before the
official beginning of E3 2005.
Microsoft has the most riding on this year's show. On Monday, two days before E3 officially begins, the company will finally take the wraps off of its next generation Xbox (which will almost certainly be named Xbox 360). Microsoft hopes the new machine will help it unseat Sony from its long-held industry leader position, which won't be an easy feat.
Rumours about the new XBox so far point towards new online functionality for all games, the capability to play all games while connected to high definition television (HDTV), and a very powerful graphics engine. No word yet on the new XBox will have a hard drive, and no definitive answers on the backward compatibility of the new console with old games either. Prices of the new XBox too will be announced only at the E3 2005.
Sony has been aggressively doing its preparations for the E3 too. Sony's own gaming console - the Playstation's next version - will be unveiled at the expo. The details of the new Sony game console - will it be called the Playstation 3? - too will be available only a couple of days before the E3 2005. The
and news? Unveiling or not, it will be available only in 2006. Sony, on the other hand will focus on software - new games will be announced for the Playstation Portable (PSP) and holiday games will be announced for the Playstation 2 (PS2).
Nintendo - a little down - will show off its new games, most important of which will be the Legend of
Zeda on the Nintendo Gamecube. Details of Nintendo's next generation console - the Evolution - too will be available during E3 2005.
For the new XBox, new games that are expected to be unveiled at E3 are Perfect Dark Zero, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and Electronics Arts' The Godfather. Quake 4, the latest version of the iconic Quake game will be unveiled. Prey is another secretive game that could be unveiled at E3.
New versions of Unreal Tournament and Tomb raider: Legend will make their appearance at E3 2005.
Spore will take simulation gaming - such as the famous Sims games - to a new level, where the gamer will be able to control
things up to the molecular level.
BY A CORRESPONDENT
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