Not everyone has the time to invest hours a day playing MMORPG. Thankfully there are some exciting games coming from NCsoft to cater to just that market.

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Related Links: NCSoft

Take a look at the incredible robots WowWee has lined up for us this year. From prehistoric to Man's best friend, they have it all covered....

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Based on the Tales of the Cthulu Mythos by HP Lovecraft, Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth is a dark, foreboding, first person action RPG, with a story line encompassing science fiction, fantasy, and horror, remaining true to the chilling atmosphere of the original stories.

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Related Links: Bethesda Softworks

Ok so now that day one and two is over. It is my turn to give the wanting people some needed info…..

Stuff to look out for –

MYTHIC ENTERTAINMENT SECURES WORLDWIDE RIGHTS TO CREATE MMORPG BASED ON GAMES WORKSHOP’S WARHAMMER FANTASY WORLD.

1C Games have some very promising titles in the coming months.
• OutFront 2 that is currently being developed by Best Way. It is a WW2 based RTS.
• World War 2 RTS being developed by 1C themselves. It is a WW2 Based RTS. The difference between this one and Outfront 2, is that this one is very very realistic to the time frame and battles it contains. I nickname this one the Accountant’s wet dream!
• Whirlwind of Vietnam, being developed by G5 Software. This one is a Helicopter flight sim. It looked awesome, the water, the landscape, everything.
• And last but not least, Parkan 2 , being developed by Nikita. It is as close a cross between Privateer and a FPS. I completely turned to fanboi status while watching the guys at 1C play this. In other words I will be waiting for this one.

NCSoft had some awesome stuff too. I have found that NCSoft brings new MMOs to the market.
• Auto Assault . It is a new type of MMO, it is a demolition car MMO. In that you can own multiple car types and can go on missions and get upgrades.
• Tabula Rasa. This one is a different MMO as well. To me it looks like a cross between Planetside and an RPG. Hopefully this will turn out well, only time will tell.
• City of Villians. This is the new expansion to the highly liked City of Heroes. In this you can make and play a villain character. Also they are adding in the ability for Hero Guilds to make their own bases. Both new additions will have the same level of detail in creation as the original CoH did, which makes for a very good time.
Also RYL (Risk Your Life) was just released in the US. It got some very nice graphic updates over the Asian version, and is slated to be in retail stores around June 1.

Lots of places are showing off the new Xbox 360 games. I got a chance to actually play Need for Speed Most Wanted. I have to say it is impressive, all around good controls and good looks. I hope to see more of these titles in the coming months.

Well enough for now. More to come later.

Bethesda Softworks introduced the Elder Scrolls series in 1994 with TES:Arena, which was followed by the ground-breaking Daggerfall (1996), then Morrowind (2002) with its add-ons, Bloodmoon and Tribunal.
When creating each new game in the Elder Scrolls series, Bethesda has looked back at the older games and tried to recapture the things that people loved about RPGs—adventure, combat action, quests and exploration of new worlds. This devotion to the RPG genre becomes even more obvious as one views the fourth in the Elder Scrolls series: Oblivion.

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Related Links: Bethesda Softworks

One of the many products that has stuck in my mind since the last E3 was a neat personal computing / gaming handheld called the Gizmondo. Well this year they are back again and they are giving all other handhelds a run for their money. Here are a few specs on this product.

Samsung ARM9 400 Mhz Processor
NVIDIA GoForce 3D 4500 graphics 128-bit accelerator
Windows Media Player 10 (loaded upon release)
64 MB onboard memory
320 x 240 pixel TFT screen
SiRF GPS
POP3/IMAP email upgrade
MP3 and MP4 playback
Digital Camera

There are plenty more where that comes from. How is The Gizmondo different from the PSP? Two words... smart adds! What are smart adds well you will find out soon enough but it combines TV , Movies, and GPS in one. But what about the games. Well they are quite good but with a meesly 5 games being premired at the launch it is hard to get excited about them.

The gizmondo comes out on August 11th in the United States (already out in the UK.) And plans to release 90 games for it by the end of this year.

for more information check out the Gizmondo website

Razer, known for their innovative and functional gaming input devices, sits down with me and shows off their latest up and coming hardware.

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Related Links: Razer

E3 got off to a bumpy start, plagued with problems not seen by the masses.

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See the trailer straight from the E3 show floor

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Related Links: Nintendo of America

Sony has revealed the new Playstation 3 at their press conference at the Sony Picture Studios. Does it have what it takes to go up against the offerings from Microsoft and Nintendo?

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Related Links: Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc.

The U.S. Army today announced that America's Army: Special Forces
(Q-Course) will be available today for download at
www.americasarmy.com.

Get ready for intense action in this new version (version 2.4) which
features a whole new Army game experience with the first-ever
combination of random spawns with random and dynamic objectives,
together with carryable objectives and random extraction points. Q-Course
also contains four new Special Forces missions and two new weapons -
the Door Breacher and the Bunker Defeat Munitions (BDM)

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Welcome everyone once again to our coverage of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Check back here starting Tuesday, May 17th for the first wave of coverage!

I had the pleasure of speaking to Steve Wartofsky of Gas Powered Games at E3, who showed me an extensive demo of Dungeon Siege II, and was kind enough to also answer my many questions. I probably overstayed my welcome because I couldn’t take my eyes off of this beautiful game.
Anyone who enjoyed the first Dungeon Siege and the subsequent, Legends of Aranna, will be elated to find themselves in a familiar (but ohhhhh so much better!!) game in Dungeon Siege II. Most of the things that players had issues with in the first games have been improved and refined. First off, the 3D graphics engine was overhauled to get the most out of Direct X 9 so there is even more detail in the environment than seen previously. Vegetation, water and special affects will shimmer with enhanced lighting, depth and detail.
Starting out with character creation, players will be given a choice of four different races for their hero. It will be immediately obvious that there have been a few changes to the character interface. First of all, there are now four spell slots instead of two. There are specific slots for healing spells and for combat spells. Characters will have a skill tree and as they advance, will get additional Powers as well as skills.
Various reagents found in the wilderness will be used to enchanted weapons.
Combinations of reagents will result in unique results, so a player can end up with a very distinct, personalized weapon. Also, rare and unique items will be found in chests and on monsters and like in Legends of Aranna, there will be sets to find the parts of for added benefits. One very cool thing is that characters can now wield two weapons at once. It is pretty exciting to watch a battle with characters swinging two blades. The animation is very impressive.
In DS II, pets will no longer be mere hapless pack mules that get killed at the first hint of battle. Different villages will have different kinds of pets, and players will have a variety to choose from. Pets now can grow and get stronger and become actual allies in battle. Remember all of those worthless staves, helmets, swords and other useless stuff you collected in the first games? It was often hard to hang on to the vast amount of junk you’d find due to limited space. So you had to throw a lot away before you could get to town and sell it. In DS II this will not be a problem...feed that stuff to your pet! Pets grow as you feed them and acquire the characteristics of their diet. So if you want a powerful melee pet, feed him swords and armor. If you want him to be more magical, feed him potions. The pet I saw in action at E3 was a hungry, growing Fire Elemental, who threw fireballs at adversaries and looked like he would be able to take care of himself quite nicely, thank you.
Dungeon Siege II is a lot deeper game than the original and not nearly so linear. Players can wander at will and skip around the game world via teleporter or on foot. In addition to the primary quest, secondary quests will be offered by NPCs throughout the lands. Rather than the usual “Fed Ex” type of quest, many of these secondary quests have consequences that may affect your course in the game.
As you travel through Aranna, you will find monsters who use strategy in their attack and do not rush like lambs to slaughter. The AI is much improved and requires a great deal more strategy on the part of the player to defeat these clever enemies. Mousing over a monster will reveal his specific stats and which members of your party he is likely to attack. Some hate healers, for example, and will run past everyone else to sink his fangs into the nearest healer. Other monsters might heal their pals, so you have to pay attention to what you are fighting.
Player interaction with the environment is a lot more interactive and sometimes results in doing some unexpected things in order to move on or complete a quest...such as setting fire to a building or causing a flood.
All of these new and improved features, enhanced by a compelling and in-depth story, make Dungeon Siege II a game to look forward to for existing DS fans and those new to the game. Look for it on store shelves around Christmastime 2004.
I for one can hardly wait!


Related Links: Dungeon Siege II Home Page | Gas Powered Games | Microsoft Games |

Preface:
I had never met Teppy before, but had seen his picture...and he sure didn’t know what I looked like. So I stood at the doorway where we had agreed to meet and looked for a guy wearing a sand-colored shirt with a Tale in the Desert logo on it. That was a good plan and I was able to snag him as he dashed down the hall. It looked like Teppy was doing a lot of dashing at E3.
I was so into discussing things with him and listening to his ideas and being caught up in his enthusiasm, I took almost no notes during this interview. It was just impossible to look away that long. Teppy is a very dynamic person and taking notes just seemed to get in the way of our discourse. So most of this is paraphrased, though accurate I’m sure!

What games did you play before creating ATitD?
"I played UO and some text MUDS but found there was no point to them after a time. I wanted a game where there was truly a goal and where peoples' actions had an influence on the game world. One game that did influence Tale was a game called "Ascendancy" that came out in 1995. It had a terrific tech tree that I borrowed extensively for the one we use in ATitD."

Why Egypt?
“The Egyptians were incredible builders and created structures that seem to defy the engineering capabilities of the time. It is still not known exactly how the pyramids were constructed, though theories abound…including submerging the area in water so the blocks would be lighter. One recent theory involves using kites to lift the blocks!
(I could see Teppy’s eyes light up at that thought…and the wheels begin to turn. Kites! Now wouldn’t those be interesting….)


Give some examples of player activities that have surprised you.
"First off I have been surprised that no DPs have banned anyone...not even when it was clearly deserved.

I have also been surprised at the degree of restraint in the creation of laws. I presumed that if citizens were given the ability to create laws that would give them power over each other, they would be quite busy at legislating laws to benefit themselves and perhaps even to the disadvantage of other players. But this hasn't happened. Not all that many laws have been passed and the ones that have are well-thought out. There has definitely been no overkill as far as laws go.

I was quite surprised at the extreme interest in horticulture. That was something that we just put in the game as a necessity and it ended up being something the players really took to and developed in a big way.
I just didn't anticipate that players would get so involved in the art of growing things."

Have the players ever disappointed you?
"Well, not disappointed exactly. But I think I expected to see a more aggressive playstyle overall. And I was kind of disappointed that there has been very little creative griefing. Building bonfires in someone's camp doesn't take much thought, but what Mafia did took some imagination."
(Does this confirm the suspicion that we have all had that Teppy is perhaps a bit on the diabolical side?)

Did you anticipate murder by SoTS?
"No, that was a suprise. I was also suprised that the murder did not result in a banning."

Tale 1 is winding down...only 7 tests left to be released. Most people seem ready for Tale 2. How much time will there be between Tales?
"About a week, maybe a bit more."

OK...let's hear about Tale 2....
"In Tale 2, as technology is opened up, it becomes common knowledge and is incorporated into Libraries. So a new person starting the game will not have to go to numerous schools and universities to get the information he/she needs to advance. A visit to a centrally located library will give all of the education available in that region.
Travel will be much easier. Running on roads will be twice as fast as running overland. Roads will lead to Hubs where there is scheduled teleportation to other Hubs around Egypt. At this time I'm thinking that using Hubs will not use WP time.
Instead of building camps all over Egypt, customizable metastructures will be built near Hubs. Everything that is now in your camp, excluding mines, will now be in your home...including animals. This will diminish lag problems considerably. Metastructures will cost to build and can be added on to as needed, assuming there is space available. Components of the metastructures will be extremely varied so everyone’s home can be unique.
Player customization will also have a lot more options, so technically, no one in Egypt would have to look like anyone else.”
(We talked about perhaps having central public structures where artistic creations would be displayed, including sculptures, beetle gardens and opticons, so people could go to one area in a region to vote on creations)
"There will be some new tests and technologies...and some existing tests may be eliminated if they are perceived as overly boring.
Since Tale 2 is scheduled to be shorter, this allows for lower requirements to pass tests. So the game will move along at a faster pace, and allow little time for people to get restless and bored. New things to work on will be coming along all the time.”
At this point our hour was over and Teppy had to dash down the hall to another appointment. He gave me a cool Tale in the Desert T-Shirt and we bade our goodbyes, leaving me hoping I would remember all of the things he had told me and looking forward to the interesting Tale to come.

Chief Executive Officer Trevor Chan and CEO Paul Lombardi of Enlight Software were kind enough to devote a few minutes of their busy E3 schedule to talk to me about their past and upcoming products. I had previously had the privilege of reviewing their historic Wars and Warriors: Joan of Arc game (that review can be viewed here). While I waited for a chance to talk to Mr. Lombardi, I had the great honor of meeting and talking to American McGee and his good friend (for those of you who do not recall, he made American McGee’s Alice).

The wait was well worth it, for Enlight has many games that have been recently released, or are soon to release, that look worth some time! Their biggest game at E3 was probably Warlords: Battlecry III – which went gold a couple of days ago, developed by Infinite Interactive. This game is very similar to the Warcraft series in game set-up, playability, and style for those of you who haven't played any of the Warlord Battlecry series. But there are some qualities that is possesses which make it quite different that Warcraft. For one, the player controls a hero, who gains experience and levels as you play the game. The hero can convert buildings and heal troops, and also enables the player to build and research new technologies. There are also multitudes of different races in Warlords: Battlecry III that the player can choose from when beginning a skirmish/scenario. Each race has benefits that the other races might not have, including creatures and spells. So far this real-time strategy game looks quite promising to be entertaining and challenging to any type of gamer. It is definitely worth checking out, it seems to have more and more aspects to it every time I look at it!

Track Mania is another game Enlight, with developer Nadeo, has published that looks to be quite promising for those racecar tycoon-type fans! Players have the ability to build their own track systems, which can run straight, curvy, loopy, whatever they decide. After the track is built, they can race on it either against the computer – or over the internet! Yep, that’s right. Players can upload their tracks onto the internet, or over LAN, and have up to ten other people connect to their track and race against each other. By doing this, it gives players the opportunity to interact with other people, share their creative designs with the world, and the chance to unlock new building parts for future tracks that they create by solving unique puzzles. This high speed racing sim is due to race into stores in June, so don’t miss out on the creative fun!

One game published and developed entirely by Enlight that I am curious to see is Zoo Empire. It will be interesting to see how it will do with Microsoft’s newest Zoo Tycoon 2 coming out soon, but Mr. Lombardi would like to remind people that “it’s not about which is better. We just want to make a good quality game.” Zoo Empire is an entirely 3-D environment where the player builds and runs their zoo. The animals that are adopted into the zoo must have their health, nutrition, and happiness looked after by hiring employees to care for them. Visitors to the zoo must also be accommodated for by supplying them proper facilities for their enjoyment. Besides creating a zoo, players will be put up to the challenge! There are several different levels of zookeeper, which one can you be, the rookie zookeeper or the wildlife whiz? Zoo Empire includes over 40 different animals to obtain in your zoo, as the zookeeping skill raises, new animals will be “unlocked” and made available to exhibit in the zoo. Animals can be trained to do tricks that will attract even more people to your zoo, and give the animals its path to stardom. To add to this glory, there are roughly 200 buildings, items, and facilities to choose from to make the ultimate zoo! And if building and managing a zoo wasn’t enough, there are also 30-senario campaigns to challenge and enlighten you. Zoo Empire gives players the choice of a career path within the game, or a focus if you will. This allows for greater diversity of game play that is adaptable to many different types of gamers. It is also a highly educational tool for people of all ages, where they can learn about the habitats and behaviors of the various animals that live in their zoos. This wild one is due in stores some time in July, I know I look forward to spending countless hours building my Zoo Empire!

Some other games that Enlight has recently published, or has in the works: Nemesis of the Roman Empire, The Threat: Space Sim, Restaurant Empire, and Virtual Skipper 3 to name a few. Make sure to keep a look out for more great titles from Enlight in the future. I want to thanks Mr. Lombardi for allowing me the time to talk with him about the great games they have going on, it was an absolute pleasure! For more information on Enlight, please visit their website.

Related Links: Enlight

I stood in the busy West Hall with World Designer Dana Massey of the game Wish by Mutable Realms (MR). I could hardly wait to hear of the upcoming things to expect for the next open beta, and goals for their release. One of the very impressive attributes that MR possesses, which I promptly let Massey know about, is listening to their fans (in this case, their beta testers). They listen to all of the ideas the testers present to them, and try to work the good ones into the game. MR also moved their release date back to the first quarter of 2005 to ensure the game was ready when it came out. Though some people may grumble about this, I feel it was a smart move on MR’s part due to the recent influx of games that flopped because they were released too soon and with too many bugs still.

Massey told me that Wish is run by a nav-mesh system to generate the terrain, and uses a mission-planner for the monsters to aid in quests. The graphics and combat systems have highly progressed up to their E3 showing, but Massey states they are still in development. This is hard to believe since the imagery in the game is like something one would expect in the game Myst – but it is fully 3-D and moves in its environment. Due to the way this is designed, player houses would be very difficult to support without patching every time a player built a house. They could have houses that players could build but be able to walk through them, what would be the fun in that? So, the focus has not been on housing, which I don’t foresee causing any massive strife to the players.

Player verses Environment (PvE) has become a major part of MMORPG’s (or in Wish’s case, UMMORPG’s – which means that Wish will run on one server and be able to support 10,000 players). It is up to the players what they do that will alter the world, towns can be controlled by players, but also taken over my monsters if not properly guarded. Once a guild controls a city they can divide it up among the guild members, that is about as close to building as it gets. There will also be PvP areas within the game, either arenas or specific towns, such as a rogue city. The rogue character can use their skills on NPCs and players a like, and if they are caught in the act of their thievery their name can be added to a “Wanted” list where players can seek them out for a reward. There are many other “grand plans” for this area of the game says Massey.

I think one of the largest developments MR has created with Wish is the single server, it’s “ultra” capability. By having all players on one server, it allows MR to deliver live content that flows smoothly that everyone can be a part of if they so choose. It also saves them the time of having to re-create the same exact event on several different servers. The server also enables the monster spawn to be based on the level of the creature, climate, and their behaviors. No more can a player sit and wait for a monster to re-spawn in the same location, they must hunt them down.

Another area that has become very big in ORPGs is crafting. Finally game developers have realized that there is a lot more to a game than just killing monsters and getting loot. Many people like to play games for the social aspect, and others to create unique things. Crafting is still in a major development stage, but it being extensively worked on. There are many different resources to use that make many different items, whether they are weapon/armor related, wood crafting, etc. People can get recipes that no one else has that can allow them to make certain spells or weapons. Players can create their items and give them to an NPC to sell for them. This saves the players a lot of dull game play sitting around waiting for someone to buy their goods, Massey reminded me that “MR’s focus is on game play, not items and leveling.”

For more information on Wish and MR, please take a look at their website: Wish Thank you to Dana Massey and all of the MR crew who attended E3 for putting up with me and my obession! (Interview on 5/12/04)

The New free Frontiers add on for Dark Age of Camelot is under public beta now, and doing well. They are running contests in game to name regions after player groups that conquer the towers and castles. And it was in the height of one of the contests when we talked with Mythic.

As we flew around in "invisible" mode, we watched as albion totally devistated a hiberian castle, destroying siege points of the castle and knocking holes in the walls, all in the new Realm vs Realm lands, which look great, and were designed specifically for strategic attacks, with towers and the castles. Catapuls and ballistas and boiling oil are really used to great effect in the new content. (And ocassions)

Catacombs is the paid add on currently scheduled for release in December, which will add all new player models and three new playable classes (one for each realm) Mythic showed us comparisons of the old and new models, and the difference is striking. Although the rest of the landscape and engine was brought into the modern era with the Trials of Atlantis expansion, Catacombs will upgrade the core models of players, monsters, and NPCs. The new dye effect was extremely nice. The other is massive cavernous dungeons that will be on scale of outdoor areass and instanced dungeons. They are still relatively early in content for the new addon, but what we saw will keep Camelot interesting.

They spoke of other surprises as well, but did not elaborate.

NCSoft and Cryptic have announced the City of Villains expansion, which adds news zones, archetypes and playable villians to the game's lineup.

In the meantime, the first regular game update will include two new city zones, and the sewer trial room.. Instanced outdoor missions and enhanced indoor missions.

Also costume tweaks, and new villain types. Malta group, Praetorians and the Carnival of Shadows.

Jack "statesman' Emmert was on the floor leading costume creating contests and a prototype of the City of Villains PvP play.

From the Press Release:

E3EXPO, A.I.A.S. AND THE GRAPHIC ARTS COUNCIL OF LACMA ANNOUNCE SIXTEEN PIECES OF ART SELECTED FOR "INTO THE PIXEL" EXHIBITION OF DIGITAL ART FROM GAMES

Juried Exhibition at E3Expo 2004 Showcases the Intersection of Digital and Traditional Art Worlds

LOS ANGELES--May 10, 2004--The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo) today announced the artworks to be featured in "Into the Pixel," a juried exhibition of computer and video game art on display at this year's E3Expo. The sixteen featured pieces were selected from more than 120 submissions by a jury of interactive entertainment industry art veterans and experts from the traditional art field.

"Into the Pixel" will run May 13-14 in the Concourse Lobby at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and be accessible to the more than 60,000 interactive entertainment industry executives, designers, developers, animators, journalists and retailers who attend E3Expo. An "online gallery" will feature the artists' work at www.E3Insider.com, beginning May 13. The exhibition is a joint project of E3Expo, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, and The Graphic Arts Council of LACMA (LA County Museum of Art), and presented by Spike TV.

"With the increasing recognition of computer and video games as an important part of our culture, here is also a growing appreciation for the digital artistry that underlies many games," says Doug Lowenstein, President of the Entertainment Software Association, the trade association representing U.S. computer and video game publishers and the owner of E3Expo. "This groundbreaking exhibition celebrates the artistic achievements of today's computer and video game artists, and dramatizes the fact that such art deserves to be viewed with the same respect as other more traditional contemporary artistic expression."

"Into the Pixel:" Selected Artworks & Artists

Artwork Title Artist Names Company Game Title
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Autumn Race Joakim Svarling Digital Illusions/ Rallisport
Jonas Norberg Microsoft Challenge 2
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Boiling Point Alan Hunter Reflections/Atari Driv3r
Ali Dogramaci
Clarence Lansang
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Crash Andrey Efimov Vicarious Visions/ Crash Nitro
Nitro Kart Bryan Shutt VUG Kart
Di Davies
Dimitri Yakimovich
Dina Lesovaya
Gap-Yuel Seo
Jason Timmons
Timothy Higgins
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Crimson Keisuke Kikuchi TECMO Fatal Frame 2
Butterfly Hitoshi Hasegawa
Makoto Shibata
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Enzo Ben O'Sullivan Microsoft PGR - 2
in Florence Gren Atherton
Mark Sharratt
Matt Watts
----------------------------------------------------------------------
High Moon Umberto Bossi Sammy Studios Darkwatch
Chris Hung
Daniel Herrera
Farzad Varahramyan
Francis Co
Francis Tsai
Hyon "Mario" Kim
Ivan Power
J.R. Salazar
Marc Mackin
Mohammed Davoudian
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jak Zoomer Bob Rafei Naughty_Dog Jak 2
Jason Martinsen
Jeremy Lai-Yates
Reuben Shah
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MechAssault Josh Nizzi Day 1 Studios MechAssault
2 Pilot 2 : Lone Wolf
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Merchant Bobby Wolfe Tesseraction/ Enigma:
Raider Howard Day DreamCatcher Rising Tide
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nova Harley Huggins Blizzard StarCraft:
Ghost
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ryu Tomonobu Itagaki TECMO Ninja Gaiden
Hayabusa Hiroaki Matsui
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SNK vs. Falcoon SNK NEOGEO SNK vs.
Capcom: USA Consumer Corp. Capcom:
SVC Chaos SVC Chaos
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sore Throat Charlie Wen Sony Computer God of War
Entertainment America
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Spirit Strike Ryan Wilkerson Climax/Microsoft Sudeki
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Swamp Team Ubi Soft Myst:
Revalations
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Vince Beep Industries Beep Industries/ Voodoo Vince
Microsoft
----------------------------------------------------------------------

"The hundred twenty or so submissions for this art show had a wide range of subjects and artistic approaches," says juror Matt Gleason. "I looked at each as if it were a painting. The pieces I chose, many of which made the final cut, all shared a sophisticated sense of composition. It became a quick study in what techniques were being taught to designers and which were being invented by artists." For more information about "Into the Pixel" art, artist and jurors, please refer to www.e3artexpo.com.

"Spike TV is proud to sponsor such a worthy event which celebrates the incredible achievements in video game artwork," said Albie Hecht, President, Spike TV, and the presenting sponsor of "Into the Pixel."

From the Press Release:

Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel to Showcase New Fatal1ty Branded Products, Including the Fatal1ty/PWX Gaming System and a Fatal1ty Motherboard and Graphics Card from ABIT

(LOS ANGELES, CA, May 10, 2004, E3, Kentia Hall booth #6453)-MDDM, a company specializing in the design, development and manufacturing management of electronic products, today announces the first products from the Fatal1ty® line of professional gaming products, including the Fatal1ty/PWX system and a motherboard and graphics card created by ABIT Computer Corporation, a world leading manufacturer of award-winning motherboards, video cards, and server products.

Last year, leading gamer and three-time World Champion Gamer from the Cyberathlete Professional League, Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel, signed anexclusive licensing agreement with Auravision®, a pioneer computer peripheral developer. Fatal1ty wanted to work with a group of computer developers who could make his ideas for his ultimate gaming computer system a reality. Auravision invited MDDM to join forces for the creation of the Fatal1ty development team. Fatal1ty has developed a deep working relationship with the companies, allowing him to bring to market his vision of what the professional gamer requires to win.

"The Fatal1ty Team has helped me with my dream of making my ultimate gaming computer system a reality," notes Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel. "I'm pleased to bring this superior gaming system to gamers world wide."

"We are thrilled to be working with PWX, Auravision, and Fatal1ty to bring gamers around the world the most powerful gaming system ever devised," said ABIT Marketing Director Scott Thirlwell. "At E304, gamers will have the chance to experience ABIT Fatal1ty hardware that has been specifically designed with input from the world's number one gamer."

As The Fatal1ty Team started working on the development of Johnathan's pro weapon competition system, MDDM sought out ABIT Computer Company's considerable experience with overclocking and state of the art Motherboard and Graphic Card designs. As a result, Fatal1ty now has the ability to custom tailor his own PC "engine." The first Fatal1ty ABIT motherboard will be based on Intel's newest Adlerwood chipset (an AMD based motherboard will debut soon after), and will feature the new PCI Express bus, DDR2 memory and the latest proprietary BulletProof ABIT technologies - SoftMenuT jumperless technology, OTES (Outside Thermal Exhaust System), and µGuruT interactive system management. In addition to the Fatal1ty motherboards, ABIT is also working with Fatal1ty to develop the Fatal1ty Graphics Card, based on the latest ATI chipset, designed for the new PCI Express bus and also features OTES (Outside Thermal Exhaust System).

FATALITY/PWX GAMING SYSTEM-THE FATBOXT With the purpose built Fatal1ty ABIT motherboard and graphic card defined, Fatal1ty required an exceptionally strong and lightweight case with the smallest size realistically possible (meets airline carry-on spec.), and that will accommodate a full size motherboard without the cooling issues of the small form factor cases. It was essential that the PWX case have the ability to cool the highest performance motherboards and graphic cards, running in an overclocked, full out, gaming competition environment.

MDDM, in conjunction with industrial case maker Jaclan Products (www.jaclanpro.com), whose cases are manufactured in the same factory as the well known Lian-Li cases, worked on bringing to life the FatBoxT case. MDDM developed several proprietary design features, such as the MagDriveT system, JetStreamT air-cooling system and the PWX power supply format. The first Fatal1ty/PWX case is called the FatBoxT, and is a unique case design made from the finest aluminum alloy materials for light-weight construction, better cooling and long life. MDDM also developed a specialized and proprietary coating known as ARMRXT, which strengthens and protects the outside of the case and is resistant to scratches. This proprietary coating is derived from the same protective coating that is used on the front of nuclear submarines and that coats the walls of the Pentagon to contain bomb blasts.

MDDM worked with one of the leading Heatpipe manufactures to develop the Fatal1ty FireHydrantT CPU cooler and Southbridge cooler for the Fatal1ty motherboard. These coolers use specially developed PWX Oversized Heatpipes that are proving to be more efficient than using thin tube heat pipe technology. The result is coolers that achieve the highest performance of any air-cooled CPU coolers, allowing the Fatal1ty systems to achieve and maintain stable overclocked speeds and the highest system performance.

Due to pro gaming requirements, MDDM worked with leading power supply manufacturers to utilize the same time tested technology that power world class network servers. The resulting power supply is noticeably smaller, but has proven rock solid performance, even in the harshest conditions.