The traditional ECTS was the first on the agenda, held at Earls Court. Now to say that the coffee I had there was the best thing would probably be a bit harsh but very nearly true. Most of the stands were simple meeting places for all the suits to hang about in and talk shop, Granted this is the case with most years the show has been running but the bright lights of the stands such as Nintendo, Acitivision and Konami made all that seem non-existant to people who were there soley for the games. It didn't take long to walk around the show and I spent alot of the time watching challengers take on Fatality in a Doom3 multiplayer match. I was quite amused that nobody even got a single frag during the time I watched

During my coffee break I took a seat in the ECTS Bar where Nintendo had a few demo pods scattered around but no new games on display, although Donkey Konga was there but I'd seen this a long time ago when it was released in Japan. Across the way from my table was the Discreet stand showcasing 3DStudio Max 7. The animation that the dude was working on seemed familiar. It was a scene from Big Mutha Truckers where Cletus walks alongside his truck and indeed the very same one he was showcasing last year at ECTS. After one more look around to make sure I'd not missed anything major I was on my way.



European Games Network was held at the ExCel which is a classier looking joint but was again pretty much more of the same but worth a look nonetheless. I stopped off at the press office to collect as much information as I could about games being showcased at Game Stars Live across the complex. On my way back to the entrance I stopped to look at a first person shooter that was running on a big screen. It looked very dated but I was intrigued to see what it was. So while watching it I noticed out the corner of my eye the man from the stand was approaching me. A quick look at my badge and he asked me what The Rare Witch Project was. I told him it was a news site dedicated to Rare games. He said, "oh cool, can I show you some products from companies I represent?" Sure, it's not like I was rushed for time. First up some Air-Flo controllers from Nyko , "During heated mutliplayer battles, your hands get sweaty", he said. "but with our controllers you can turn on the Air-Flo and it cools of your hands. Available for all the major consoles they have wireless version aswell. They also do an Air-Flo mouse too. Before I could ask if I could have a go on one he said, "Oooh, you'll probably be most interested in the next product line" He pulled off a Game Doctor from Digital Innovations , a device which can repair scratched discs. Sure, it looked alright, even if he did spray the solution all over me. Then he grabbed another line from the same company..The Clean Doctor, similar to the other device except this one was a "prevention, more than cure" device. I was wondering why he could possibly think I would be most interested in these cleaning products then he said, "So, imagine you've just got hold of a rare game, you would want to keep it in pristine condition" I'm like, "yeah, I guess, but I'd like to keep all my games in good condition" Then, I realised the confusion. "Aha," I exclaimed. "Rare is a company that make games such as Banjo Kazooie, have you heard of it?" "No, I haven't", he replied. "look at me, I'm old". So he continued to show me this device where you pop in your disc and it spins around and cleans it. Interesting stuff, but I took some brochures away with me anyway.

This is where the eye candy was at. Any person who loves games would be in heaven. Loud, upbeat music with light whizzing around, reflecting off big three-dimensional logos. It's no surprise that the organizers of these events were the same people in charge of the ECTS in it's hay day.



First place I headed to was the Nintendo Pier which had it's own Helter Skelter which I didn't go on else I'd have probably broken it. It was all nicely done, complete with the wooden floor effect with big rooms either side with new games such as Mario Tennis which is looking so much fun and I really can't wait for it. On the corner was a tent which had a sign saying "Come in and see the future". I wandered in and there was a big screen which had a video loop of Shigsy talking about the Nintendo DS and Nintendo's hopes about games on it. There are currently over 120 Licensees and 200 games in development for it.



The main attraction was clearly Donkey Konga with Nintendo really pushing it, but again it's something that I'd already seen before so I wasn't really that interested. Also, there was a dedicated Metroid Prime Echoes booth but they were just they were just running the demo disc that was given away with the platinum Gamecube bundles in the states which again, i'd already played. I went to the Nintendo press stand to see if Banjo Pilot had made it's way to the show but alas they didn't have it. Along the other side of the pier they had "Little Miss Pinks" which had games such as Barbie's Horse Adventures in. Worth going in just to get the free candyfloss and Nintendo rock, and alongside that was the Mario Golf booth complete with miniature golf course which the kids seemed to love. Just by the exit was the Pokemon FireRed booth. I'll say no more.

I had to go and see if Rare had any games in the Xbox stand but again I was disappointed. They had Fable, Outrun 2 and some others third party games that I don't recall. It's worth noting that the Halo 2 show had a massive queue pretty much every time I walked past which of course is no real surprise. Further along was the Xbox Live lounge where lazy people idled on beanbags playing some online games.



I decided that it was time for lunch so I went outside where the sun was really blazing down. I managed to find a spot in the shade to feed my face and take a breather from the mayhem. While I was chilling, Stef from Spong.com came over and bummed a ciggie from me. We chatted for a while about the events and how the organizers of ECTS were pretty much dumb to have even considered holding an event and should've instead team forces but I guess neither one wanted to approach the other.

Back inside, the Ubisoft stand caught my eye because some people had gathered by a massive screen. I wandered over and stood with the crowd and this dude came out and was giving away some prizes. Dragons Lair on Xbox was the first one. He asked a question which had two parts - "What year did the original Dragons Lair hit the arcade, and what format was it." I knew it, but he asked this suit at the front who got the first bit right but lacked the year. He then went round the crowd and they were just obviously going "87....86....85" By the time it reached my area, it had already gone. Obviously the answers were laser disc and 1983. He then went on to demo the new Splinter Cell game, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, but I didn't stay long because he clearly didn't know what he was talking about, telling everyone that ragdoll physics was being able to move bodies out the way so they couldn't be found and that this feature was new to the Splinter Cell series.



I had a brief go on Tony Hawks Underground 2 which was obviously more the same, which is not a bad thing, but I only did some free skating and didn't look at the main game. The fact it was on Playstation 2 didn't help it :)

I didn't manage to hook up with the NGC team as we'd planned because it seemed we were all too busy playing games with little time to return to the Future Publishing stand. It was also good to see that there was a retro stand there too where young'ns were getting to grips with age old classics such as Defender. They even had some table top machine which I thought it would be fitting to place a lit cigarette on the edge while I was playing for old times sake but didn't think it would go down well.

While I was there I thought it only fair to get Subdrag some information on the game he is most looking forward to, a game that is looking so fine that it could possibly become his favourite game of all time. Although the game wasn't actually in playable form I did manage to get this picture of an advertising banner, so this picture is just for you Sub. :)