The Electronic
Entertainment Expo (E3) 2002 seems like so long ago now. Still, I
remember vividly trekking from an appointment with Microsoft all the way
across the convention center to an appointment with THQ and encountering
a major roadblock: Two women who seemingly forgot to put pants on in the
morning were posing for photos with every Tom, Dick, and Harry who had
wallspace going to waste in their cubicles back home. Now, let me say
that E3 2002 had the fewest boothbabes I’ve seen so far at an E3 (and
I’ve been there since 1999). Hell, the IDSA even hired some men
to hand out issues of the Game Daily in khaki shorts and polo shirts
that matched the modest outfits of the women performing the same job.
Without a doubt, these two women in their sheer pink panties and
too-tight t-shirts were the most risque and gratuitous examples of
boothbabes in the entire show (although I hear the "Who Wants to Be a
Porn Star" booth had some provocative moments during their celebrity
appearances).It turns out these women weren’t even promoting a game.
They were promoting a DVD – The Future of Video Games vol. 2 – created
by the Australian company, Next Gen Videos. I don’t know where I was
when volume one came out, but I made sure to sign right up for my review
copy of this latest release. A couple months later the DVD arrived, and
I have to say that I’m impressed overall.
The DVD advertises a slightly naughty gaming coverage, and the image
on the box cover supports this take on it. However, this thing is really
tame as tame can tame. The only boothbabe footage is in montage format
at the beginning of the video, and the most tittilating boothbabes are
the women advertising The Future of Video Games. And the producers of
the DVD only show them briefly. There’s definitely a sense of false
advertising here – if you buy this expecting to get a full round-up of
boothbabes from this year’s E3, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.
However, if you’re interested in the games (and let’s face it, if you’re
reading this site you should be), then The Future of Video Games is
definitely worth a look.
Covering 120 new titles, these guys were everywhere at E3. There is
footage from about 40 games for each of the three console systems:
PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Gamecube. About 25% of the game features
include detailed walkthroughs by the developers of the titles. This is
as close as you’re going to get to being at E3. We have to work for
months in advance of the show to set up appointments with all of these
companies and then scramble from demo to demo so we can come back and
write up the latest news about the latest games. Next Gen Videos has
done all the footwork for you in this DVD, so you can get a very good
idea of what it is like to be gaming media at the Electronic
Entertainment Expo. It’s really a good time.
The downside of the live demo footage is that NGV filmed these games
off the monitors on which they were being shown. That means visual
artifacts clutter some of the screen – those of us who have seen Tom
Clancy’s Splinter Cell in its full glory will tell you that the footage
here comes close but doesn’t quite deliver the same quality. Still, the
background information you hear from the developers demoing the titles
is invaluable, and these segments are much better than the other 75% of
the segments, which are simply demo reels and trailers for games. Still,
it’s nice to have this footage, especially if you just can’t wait to see
how cool Metroid or Zelda looks in full-screen, full-motion action.
Unfortunately, it’s not a perfect product. The DVD presents some
technical difficulties. First, it is a Region 0 DVD. That means that it
should play in any DVD player, regardless of location. (For those
unfamiliar with region encoding, most DVDs will only play on DVD players
set to play discs from a certain region. For example, Region 1 is North
America, so most DVDs and DVD players sold in North America are coded
for Region 1. You could not play a Region 2 DVD in your Region 1 DVD
player.) The problem is that some DVD players do not like Region 0
encoded discs – they see them as some kind of pirated or proprietary
media. Next Gen Videos recognizes this problem on their website, and
they suggest you try playing The Future of Video Games on a PS2 with the
DVD upgrade (that means you’ve installed the software that came with
your official Sony remote control – if you bought the official
controller). Without the upgrade, the PS2 will not play the DVD. The
movie worked best on my Apex 660AD, which is known for being a cheap,
bare bones player that will play just about anything. If you buy a copy
of this DVD and it doesn’t work on your DVD player, definitely give it a
shot on several other players. It’s at least worth it to get to see some
of the footage before you have to return it.
The timeliness of a product like this and the technical issues are
enough to put The Future of Video Games at a disadvantage on the market.
It’s also very tough to get here in America (although much easier to get
in Australia and the rest of the world). You can order it from
ButtonMasher.com
