E3 Chronicles: The First 10 Years - 2003: Features

By this time things were well into being a routine with E3, as the music blared, booth babes put on their happy faces and pretended they enjoyed being at the show, and day two equaled a hangover for many attendees. There were plenty of high-profile games to check out, with Half-Life 2, Halo 2, and World of Warcraft getting gamers excited. One thing that was becoming very obvious by 2003 while at E3 was that influence in the industry was beginning to shift. For the longest time, it was the Japanese who dominated gaming with more popular franchises than you could shake a stick at, but now Western developers were becoming the toast of the town, sales data was proving it, and the quality of games coming out of North America and Europe was better than ever.

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E3 Chronicles: The First 10 Years - 2003

The Games:

Activision:

Of all the games shown by Activision in 2003, it was a couple of first person shooters, and a real-time strategy game that stood out for most. Yes, Doom 3 was still being talked about, but for those looking for fresh meat, Call of Duty, Trinity, and Rome: Total War were shaping up to be tasty treats. Of course Call of Duty and Rome: Total War would eventually come out, and make a lot of gamers very happy, but, unfortunately, Trinity eventually became the stuff of vaporware legend, despite how excited Xbox owners were about the game.

Capcom:

With Capcom having recently announced major support for the Gamecube, E3 2003 was where the publisher had to pony up and start really showing what they had planned for the console. Obviously, Resident Evil 4 got a lot of attention for its visuals, but games like P.N. 03, and Killer 7 were also looking like tasty morsels. One title slated for the Gamecube that was looking particularly interesting was the highly stylistic Viewtiful Joe. 2D action games were things of the past for entirely too long before this game was announced, and having a chance to see what Capcom had planned for the genre led to plenty of ogling at screenshots among Gamecube owners.

Despite all of the games that were being shown for the Gamecube, Capcom still had new games on display for other consoles too. Of them, one in particular stood out, that being Chaos Legion. With the game’s Dynasty Warriors-inspired approach to gameplay, PS2 owners were busy keeping an eye on the title, curious as to how well it would stack up next to the long-running Koei series.

Konami:

For 2003, Konami had a pair of Metal Gear Solid games in the works, one for the PlayStation 2, and the other for the Gamecube. As hard as it was to believe, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was looking even better than its predecessor on the PS2, no mean feat considering how good part two looked. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes for the Gamecube was looking extremely good in its own right as well. Konami, Nintendo, and Silicon Knights, with Silicon Knights handling development, while Konami, and Nintendo overseeing the project, were handling this remake of the original MGS jointly. A facelift to the almost five year old game was more than welcome, but one had to wonder how many people would be interested in it since so many had bought it the first time it came out.

Besides Metal Gear Solid, a couple of other Konami series were also getting new installment. Schmup fans were elated that Gradius V was in the works, while Castlevania fans said, “Pleeeaaaase be good this time!” as Castlevania: Lament of Innocence was shown, a new 3D installment in the long running series.

As a title that raised a few eyebrows for trying something different, Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hands for the GBA was looking pretty neat as well, with its sensor that would detect sunlight, a crucial element when playing the game.

LucasArts:

There was the usual assortment of Star Wars games from LucasArts at E3 in 2003, but also a number of original titles. Secret Weapons Over Normandy was looking like a nifty flying game, while Gladius looked like a novel approach to strategy RPGs. A lot of gamers were happy to see Planetmoon back on the scene with Armed and Dangerous, jam-packed full of tea sipping Scotsman, and other assorted bits of offbeat humor, while we were still waiting to see if anything would ever come of Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels.

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Microsoft:

With Halo having been a very good reason for many to run out and buy an Xbox, going to see the game’s sequel at E3 was a must. The game was looking a tiny bit crisper, but the thing

that would make or break it was how well maps were laid out, and how bright the enemies were, two things we’d have to wait a while longer to see first hand.

Besides their FPS killer app, Microsoft was also busy talking about three

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different RPGs. The first of these we had known about for quite some time, with Project Ego, now going under its current, and final name, Fable, but there was also Sudeki, as well as the planned MMORPG, True Fantasy Online.

Among the titles shown by Microsoft, another two also stood out were BC, the prehistoric Xbox game that was getting a lot of attention for its visuals, and Top Spin, which looked like some damn good tennis.

Namco:

When people saw the newest edition of the Ridge Racer series at E3, R: Racing Evolution, there were more than a few comments of, “What the hell is this!” The series had established itself as an arcade racer, and was a benchmark for how the genre should be approached. Now, Ridge Racer was trying to be a simulation more on par with Gran Turismo, throwing everything that made the series what it was right out the window. It just didn’t make any sense.

Helping to ease the pain, though, gamers got to see more of Soul Calibur 2, as well as a new platformer, I-Ninja, and a game reminiscent of the Dreamcast first person action game, Maken X, with Breakdown. A nice addition to Namco’s E3 line up was the latest Tales game, Tales of Symphonia. Not only were people happy to see a new Tales game, it was very nice to see that it was coming the Gamecube, a console sorely lacking in terms of RPGs.

Nintendo:

It was all about Mario in terms of new properties from Nintendo in 2003. The diminutive Italian was a very busy plumber, showing up in Mario Tennis, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, and Mario Kart Double Dash. Considering how well done the predecessors to each of these games were, Gamecube owners had a lot to be happy about. Also being talked about were the nauseatingly fast F-Zero for the Gamecube, as well as Pikmin 2, which was a particularly nice to see.

Sega:

It was one of those years that wasn’t spectacular, but nor was it horrible for Sega with what they showed at E3 in 2003. Billy Hatcher and the Golden Egg was looking pretty nifty, and Genesis fans were still reeling at the possibility of a new Vectorman coming to current generation consoles. Giant robot aficionados were happy to hear that Virtual On Marz was in the works, and Otogi: Myth of Demons was looking pretty on the Xbox. Sega’s showing at this E3 wasn’t exactly a religious experience, but it was consistent. They came in, put on a decent show, and that was that.

Sony:

In 2003, racing fans were happy to hear that Gran Turismo 4 was shaping up to simply overwhelm gamers by sheer numbers. Like the Billy Idol song, fans of the series wanted, “More, more, more” and that’s exactly what Polyphony Digital planned to give them with hundreds of cars, and more tracks than ever seen before in a GT game.

One game that came as a surprise from Sony was Syphon Filter: Omega Strain. We hadn’t seen anything new from the series since the PSX, and seeing it suddenly pop up again caught many off guard. Checking it out at E3, the game was looking decent, but it was too soon to tell if it would be as good as its earlier editions.

Square-Enix:

By this time it was perfectly clear that sequels were a good way for publishers to make some extra money. Take a popular series, make a new game, make a few bucks, lather, rinse, repeat. It’s just the natural order of things. However, a sequel to a sequel was just weird. Looking at Final Fantasy X-2, it was difficult to know what to think of it. Was the game just going to be a cash cow for Square-Enix? How tolerable would the Charlie’s Angels-like all-girl cast be? Only time would tell.

Also on display at this E3 among Square-Enix’s games were Unlimited Saga, which looked pretty nice, but it was hard to tell if the game would be much fun (ultimately it would litter many a bargain bin after its release in North America), as well as Square’s own attempt at a Dynasty Warriors-like game, Drakengard.

Ubi Soft:

PC gamers were more than a little psyched to check out Far Cry at E3 in 2003. The game was looking great as far as most were concerned, and that was all that they needed to know. However, it was Prince of Persia, and Beyond Good & Evil that really stood out from the crowd. Prince of Persia games had not looked so fun since the early installments in the series. The way the developers were making use of the game’s 3D world, as well as what amounted to action gaming mulligans, the game was looking extremely promising. Beyond Good & Evil’s approach to stealth gaming also garnered quite a bit of attention. The thought of running around snapping pictures of certain things in order to bring the truth to the masses was a very intriguing prospect.

Vivendi:

Blizzard was out in full force at the Vivendi booth in 2003. Warcraft III’s upcoming expansion pack, The Frozen Throne was on display, but it was two other games that were really drawing the crowds. StarCraft: Ghost was a very welcome return to the StarCraft universe, and the series switch form RTS to action game was something people wanted to see for themselves. The other game that people wanted to take a gander at was World of Warcraft. An MMORPG in Azeroth, that integrated the mythos of the previous games into one gigantic world that players could explore on their own terms was irresistible.

The Best of the Rest:

Deus Ex: The Invisible War (Eidos – PC, Xbox), Need for Speed: Underground (EA – PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, PC), Seven Samurai 20XX (Sammy – PS2), Grabbed by the Ghoulies (Rare – Xbox), and He-Man: Defender of Grayskull (TDK – Xbox, PS2).

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