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From the E3 Show Floor: Part 2

It’s very easy to think that E3 is a “fun” event…and maybe if I was just there as a game fan, it would be a bit more “fun.” But as a journalist, it’s been absolutely exhausting. Yesterday was a matter of literally walking from one meeting to the next—perhaps stopping on the way to pay $4.38 for a small soda and a bag of chips, you dirty thieves.

Thankfully, the meetings that we had were all great experiences. There are a couple that we can’t talk about at this point, as some public announcements are pending, but we left both meetings with a lot of optimism. We know for sure that there are still a lot of developers left who sincerely love adventures, and really want them to be great again, and we can’t wait to announce what we heard officially.

I also sat down with Joe Pearce, president of Wyrmkeep Entertainment and the man responsible for bringing back Inherit the Earth as well as the upcoming re-release of Labyrinth of Time. Joe is an exceedingly nice guy, another designer who sees no reason that classic adventures can’t still have some life. We’re able to announce that Joe has officially begun “pre-pre-production” on Inherit the Earth 2, and design documents have been written. Joe has a whole lot of very good ideas for the game, and told me that it would be 3D, and have an “online component of some sort.” Again though, it’s all an idea at this stage.

The two adventure games I got to spend some real time with today were Myst 4 and Fahrenheit. The former was a very pleasant surprise, much more intriguing to me than I expected it to be. I was especially happy with the promise of character interaction that is “more than the first three Myst games put together.” Not exactly the loftiest of goals, but still the emphasis is impressive. The interface is also very cool…and of course, the game is absolutely beautiful and breathtaking at points.

But I’ve got to tell you, Fahrenheit absolutely rocked my world. I almost don’t want to say anything yet, because once I start I won’t be able to stop. But everything about it is an absolute triumph of storytelling. I mean, everything. The interface, the camerawork, the ridiculous branching of the story…I feel like if I had been given an unlimited budget and told to just make the adventure game I wanted to play, this would have been it. I’ll go more in-depth in our full-length preview next week.

There have been some casualties, as well. Doug had his backpack (with camera inside) swiped in the media room of all places. Jake was severely rear-ended on a Los Angeles off-ramp with Chris and myself in the car (that actually happened, literally, while I was writing the last paragraph). And, of course, my wallet is substantially thinner after paying about 14 cab fares and playing miniature golf with Guybrush Threepwood.

Marek has avoided any further apple core incidents, for those who were concerned.

An addendum to my comments yesterday; Her Interactive is pretty much the greatest company ever. They read my frustration yesterday with Atari having no idea that they were even publishing Nancy Drew games, and e-mailed me, then followed up over the phone, and just generally made every effort to get me a last-minute appointment to see Secret of Shadow Ranch, which I’m glad I did. I can’t say enough about how great this company is.

Dehydration and hunger are pretty much standard right now. The cheapskates at E3 provide no free media food on Friday—no complimentary lunch, no “continental breakfast”, like the first two days. Looks like another seven dollar bag of Corn Nuts and a cup of drinking fountain water for me again.

My comrades send their love. They’d love to say something themselves…but apparently, all five of them got into a special Half Life 2 playable demo session and left me here to write my boring blog.

Life is terrible, and my neck hurts. But Fahrenheit eases the pain. See you tomorrow.

 

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