It's not just wannabe movie stars who flock to the streets of Los Angeles, hoping to find the answer to their prayers somewhere in the baking city that sprawls beneath the Hollywood sign.
Every year, thousands of games enthusiasts flock to the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in downtown LA, in the hope that the world's most prolific games show will make a few of their gaming dreams come true. While last year's E3 was all about hype rather than substance, with the announcement of the PlayStation X and Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP) accompanied by a lot of spin and not much else, it's hoped that the show is going to produce something a bit more tangible this time around. E3 2004 in particular looks like it's shaping up to be the year of the handheld, with the recent announcement of Nintendo's Dual Screen "DS", Nokia's new-and-improved N-Gage QD - only seven months after the original, no less - and the highly-anticipated hardware debut of the Sony PSP. It also looks like being the show where gamers finally learn the release dates for some of their most sought-after sequels: Half Life 2, Doom III and Halo 2. Half-Life 2 in particular has been hit by a number of setbacks, including leaked code, pirated Russian versions of the game and even dawn raids by the FBI on the home of a suspected hacker. Valve's futuristic first-person shooter now seems to be at the stage where no-one - not even the developer itself, it seems - quite knows when the game is hitting the shelves. Hopefully E3 can provide some answers.
Although the show only lasts three days, games publishers both big and small use the run up to E3 to take advantage of a gaming media who are on the edge of their seats, in order to tout their upcoming wares and reveal a few surprises before the show. Nintendo has already announced its new NES-themed GBA SP "Classic" Edition, which pays homage to the NES console that first made its debut under the name of Famicom in Japan 20 years ago. Although those who still rue the day that their partner made them sell their NES to free up attic-space will look fondly on the NES SP's retro grey strips and red buttons, it's the tie-in release of 8 Classic NES titles that should capture a new audience. Well-loved titles like Pac Man, Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda will test out how timeless their appeal really is, when released along with the NES SP this July.
It seems that Microsoft is also cashing-in on the retro scene after the company announced this week that it would be providing a new feature for Xbox Live dubbed the "Arcade".
This will allow players to download games such as DigDug and Poker, as well as classic arcade, driving and trivia games. "These games are easy to get into, they're a total blast and they are perfect for the gamer who doesn't have a lot of time and just needs a quick fix," claimed J. Allard, head of the Xbox platform group.
This idea of rejuvenating the halcyon days of gaming through new technology is a shrewd move by Microsoft and Nintendo. While both the GPA SP and Xbox Live have well-established audiences, the simplistic gameplay purity of titles like Bejewelled will undoubtedly help open the platforms for the currently much-sought-after wider gaming audience. Perhaps we'll see that looking to the past is sometimes the best way of moving forward.
