With Software Lacking Originality, Hardware Steals the Show at Expo

Make no mistake, this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo--the annual video game glitzfest that wrapped up Saturday in Los Angeles--was jammed with plenty of neat games and jaw-dropping technology.

But the true imagination that separates art from mere commerce seemed to get lost amid the acres of souped-up circuitry and hiked-up skirts at the convention center.

The new game-playing systems coming from Sony and promised by Microsoft embody home gadgetry unthinkable just a few years ago. And as software designers expand the technical frontier on consoles and PCs, game fans can expect ever-more-realistic fantasies in the year ahead.

Yet as the video game industry matures, its reach has at least temporarily exceeded its grasp. The introduction of more sophisticated consoles, beefier PCs and scads of easy-to-use peripherals so infatuates designers that they appear to have forgotten whether technology is master or servant. This is a year for hardware, not software--it’s the year game consoles grow up.

The software has to catch up, though. For instance, the current and upcoming crops of consoles host games that were big hits on predecessor systems. And the graphics are sharper, the artificial intelligence smarter and the ability to play with friends expanded. Big improvements all.

With few exceptions, the hundreds of games on display looked and played a lot like one another and like games past. An example: Several games snitched the idea of vehicle combat popularized by “Twisted Metal” and “Vigilante 8” but added spins such as setting the action in a “Star Wars” universe or the world of James Bond. Wherever I went, whomever I talked to on the show floor, the conversation was similar.

“See anything amazing?”

“Not really. You?”

“Not really.”

In fact, some of the most intriguing stuff wasn’t even on display.

Microsoft showed off its promised X-Box console, sort of. Reporters and game developers were treated in small groups to an interactive demonstration of the machine’s capability. Still ensconced in its stylistic X-shaped casing--designers say the final model will look more like a typical console--X-Box pumped out some sizzling graphics and music.

Microsoft product manager Seamus Black zoomed in and out of a peaceful digital garden, complete with swaying flowers and a koi pond. Up close, the garden’s paving tiles look like paving tiles, not a jumble of pixels. The water reflects beautifully. On cue, a thousand butterflies swarmed the garden, each moving with its own artificial intelligence so that as Black moved around the screen, they flitted away.

It was gorgeous. But, as Black himself pointed out, even the best technology is secondary because “at the end of the day, it’s all about the quality of the games.” And Microsoft wasn’t showing any for X-Box. In fact, the company plans to send out the first of its development kits to game designers in June. The box itself isn’t expected to see store shelves until late in 2001--well after its entrenched rivals.

Sony Will Support Original PlayStation

Sony, meanwhile, enjoyed the delicate task of hawking two boxes simultaneously. Its original 32-bit PlayStation is the most popular set-top box in North America. In October, the company launches the 128-bit PlayStation2, a $300 wunder-box that combines state-of-the-art game play with features such as a DVD-ROM.

In an encouraging sign that Sony plans to continue supporting its current machine, roughly half of the games it featured were for the original PlayStation. Third-party developers showed off even more PlayStation games. Plus, Sony promises that old PlayStation games will work on PS2--a courtesy that no other console maker has extended in the past.

“Some of the best games this year will be coming out for the existing console just because developers are so comfortable with it,” said Sony public relations manager Eileen Rodriguez. She was right. Games such as Squaresoft’s “Final Fantasy IX” and “Parasite Eve 2,” as well as Infogrames’ “Driver 2” and Capcom’s “Dino Crisis 2,” offer hope that PlayStation owners won’t be left in the cold.

For PS2, hot games included “Starfighter,” a stunning space shooter from LucasArts Entertainment that puts players behind the stick of “Star Wars” vehicles. The only bummer: the ships are from “Episode I The Phantom Menace.” So no X-Wings.

Electronic Arts offered some nice changes to its sports lineup with revitalized titles such as “Madden NFL 2001” and “NHL 2001.” And Namco showed off slick versions of “Ridge Racer V” and “Tekken Tag Tournament.”

But the true PS2 showstopper was “Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty,” the sequel to the spy sneaker that put brains ahead of bullets. Konami offered no playable demos of the game, but every hour on the hour, a crowd gathered outside the company’s pavilion to watch a big-screen movie of game clips. All the scenes were rendered in real time on PlayStation2 and they looked wonderful. Sadly, no pictures were allowed.

As Sony boasted about the future, Sega was pushing the present. Its 128-bit Dreamcast console has steadily gained share since its debut last fall, and Sega is pushing its flagship with some relatively innovative titles and big plans to lead the way into online game playing. Dreamcast ships with a 56K modem standard, but it’s been pretty useless until recently because lame games such as “Chu Chu Rocket” have not given players a reason to rush online.

Sega Makes Push for Online Games

Finally, Sega showed some online games to get excited about. “NFL 2K1” includes an online component that allows four-on-four play from opposite ends of the country. Four people in a living room in Studio City can play head to head against four friends in Schenectady, N.Y., over the telephone line. The same goes for “NBA 2K1.” Of the 93 new games showcased by Sega, 40% include some online component.

“That’s our whole push: the online stuff,” said Sega Marketing Director John Golden, explaining that the company aims to convert console players into online players. He figures PC players already immersed in massively multi-player, nonstop online games such as “EverQuest” and “Asheron’s Call” are too far gone to return to a set-top box.

Probably so, but of all the hardware manufacturers, Sega had the most interesting lineup of original games. The hands-down strangest is “Seaman,” a whacked-out game that requires players to nurture a man-fish. The Sega game comes packed with a microphone that plugs into the controller, and Seaman can understand speech. If you talk to it and say, “My name is Aaron,” or, “I love you, Seaman,” it will remember.

Overall, Sega’s game lineup was strong--just what the company needs to stay alive.

And then there was Nintendo. Although the company announced its new Dolphin game console last year, it was quiet this time and was thus the only console manufacturer among the Big Three without a new box to show or discuss. The company plans to unveil a prototype this year in Japan.

Dinosaurs, Pokemon in Nintendo Lineup

In the meantime, Nintendo played it cool by claiming to have the best lineup of games in its history. Indeed, many of the games for Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color were quite good.

“Dinosaur Planet” takes players on a prehistoric third-person adventure that pushes the limits of Nintendo 64’s power. “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask” extends the story of Link as he fights to prevent the moon from crashing to Earth. In addition to new “Pokemon” titles for Game Boy Color, Nintendo has added yet another peripheral to the Nintendo 64: a microphone that allows players to talk to their Pokemon in “Hey You, Pikachu!” It’s a cuddlier version of “Seaman.” And in an effort to broaden beyond Nintendo’s base of younger players, “Conker’s Bad Fur Day” follows the adventures of a heavily armed squirrel with a hangover.

“We’re focusing on really high quality,” said Nintendo Director of Corporate Affairs Perrin Kaplan. “Instead of having 500 games, what you see is pretty darn good. . . . People would like more games more often, but when they sit down and play a game like ‘Zelda,’ they think it’s pretty much beyond compare.”

Toy Companies Have Offerings for PCs

Although consoles made all the news, PC game publishers delivered with some interesting games. Few were groundbreaking. But first-person adventures such as Eidos Interactive’s “Deus Ex” and role-playing games such as Interplay’s “Baldur’s Gate 2” remind players how involving a great game can be. The same was true for Blizzard’s “Warcraft III,” the series that set the standard for real-time strategy games. And games such as Activision’s “Return to Castle Wolfenstein”--a new take on the game that introduced first-person gaming to the masses--remind players how far the industry has come.

But perhaps the most interesting PC games were not really games at all. They were toys--or at least they are made by toy companies. Both Lego and Mattel have interactive divisions trying to blur the line between virtual play and real play.

Building on the success of its Mindstorm products, Lego showed off its “Lego Studios Steven Spielberg MovieMaker Set.” Kids can build sets out of Lego and then make movies with a camera that attaches to the USB port. Editing is sophisticated but simple and includes the ability to send movies via e-mail or post them to the Web.

It was the perfect marriage between technology and imagination.

And it took only two days to find.

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Aaron Curtiss is participating in a Times management training program, in which he currently serves as assistant to the senior vice president of advertising. He has no financial dealings with the companies he covers. To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send e-mail to aaron.curtiss@latimes.com.