Steve Boxer
The biggest crowd-pleaser was undoubtedly Sony's Eye-Toy, making its first public appearance. This is intriguing technology, developed at Sony's Team Soho studio. Essentially, it is a modified webcam that sits on your TV, coupled with image analysis software that recognises movement. It will go on sale next year with a selection of mini-games you control by waving your hands - or your boxing gloves, sponges or light sabre - in front of your PlayStation 2. Eye-Toy is something of a Trojan horse, since Sony plans to persuade developers to make games that take advantage of its ability to recognise gestures, hands and faces. Games such as Konami's Police 24/7, in which players must physically duck to avoid virtual bullets, would work particularly well. What's wowing arcade crowds today, you could be playing at home next year.
Rhianna Pratchett
Splinter Cell for the PC and Xbox was one of the tastiest offerings on show at ECTS this year. Although this game is part of the Tom Clancy franchise, it's not a military simulation like, say, Rainbow Six. Instead, you play a solo anti-terrorist agent skilled in the arts of infiltration and stealth. Splinter Cell boasts some dynamic lighting effects and a relatively new technique called "soft body physics", which makes materials such as fabric or plastic move more realistically. This creates beautiful gaming environments, full of lights and shadows that are perfect for stealthy manoeuvring. With plenty of military gadgetry and an atmospheric environment, this title looks like being a Christmas hit.
Mike Anderiesz
Paris-based developer Arxel Tribe unveiled another batch of promising titles. First was The Gladiators, an innovative take on the RTS (real-time strategy) genre, adding deathmatch tactics to isometric gameplay. Also interesting were the Lithtech- powered Mistmare and a moody-looking graphic adventure, Ring 2. All three sound suspiciously like better-known franchises. Mind you, Arxel had a clutch of tempting titles at last year's show, including the gorgeous homage to Hitchcock, The Final Cut, none of which lived up to its promise. Still, in a year that has seen hard times for some smaller French developers, it was nice to see Gallic innovation alive and smoking.
Jack Schofield
Few of the people who played Pong, the first successful commercial arcade game, could have imagined being able to use real bats to smash back the virtual ball. But that's what Korea's D-Gate Co brought to the show: "a body-feeling pingpong game" where the controller is a real table tennis bat. You can continue to swipe at thin air, as usual, but the bat has a built-in compression spring and an infrared transmitter that sends signals back to sensors on the console. Two arcade cabinets side by side can share the same electronics, allowing two people to play against one another via the images on the two screens. It's physically less demanding than DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) arcade games, not as silly as virtual fishing, and could appeal to the billions who take their ping pong very seriously indeed.
Greg Howson
Nintendo did not appear at ECTS, but did produce an unexpected treat. Charles Martinet, the actor who has played the voice of gaming icon Mario for 12 years, appeared in a press conference modelled on the Big Brother diary room. Martinet has appeared in films with Michael Douglas and Hugh Grant, but describes doing voices for the Italian plumber as his finest achievement. His falsetto Italian catchphrases such as "Mamma mia, It'sa me-a, Mario!", and the ever-popular "Woo-hoo!" have been heard by millions, but none would recognise him. Martinet, who also does the voices for characters such as Luigi and Wario, has just finished work on the latest in the series, Super Mario Sunshine.
