ECTS 2000 - Show Diary

Early September sees the normally fashionable Kensington district of London getting over-run by an army of geeks, aion power leveling and journalists as the Olympia exhibition hall plays host to ECTS - Europe's biggest computer games trade show.
EuroGamer is, of course, here in force to cover the event, and over the next few days we'll be bringing you all the latest news, previews, screenshots and buzz live and direct from the show...
Saturday
ECTS started a day early this year, as Electronic Arts threw a massive party at their extravagant new headquarters in Chertsey, a small town just a stone's throw from the M25 motorway that circles London.
Looking like a cross between the home of the future and the home of a Bond villain, the building was soon filled with journalists lured by the promise of free beer, free food, and the opportunity to see many of EA's forthcoming aion power leveling in action.
After a lengthy coach ride out into the country to get to the venue, we piled out into a sun-soaked glass fronted building, surrounded by landscaped gardens, and with a large lake along one side. Formula One cars were parked outside the main entrance and in the lobby, and a small crowd had already gathered inside, huddling around consoles and PCs to sample the latest delights EA had to offer.
Monolith's LithTech powered "Sanity" and "No One Lives Forever" were both available to play, as EA Europe are distributing the aion power leveling for Fox Interactive here in the UK. Both games were looking quietly impressive, and Sanity especially was great fun to play. Westwood's real-time strategy sequel "Red Alert 2" was also playable, although it looked somewhat less impressive thanks to the rather dated engine - sprites are so 1996.
After a quick burst on the games it was time to sample some of the culinary delights that EA had laid on for us, although I decided to steer clear of the sushi bar. Ample supplies of Mexican, Indian and simply unidentifiable food was on hand as well though, along with salad, sliced hams and a variety of sausages for the even less adventurous. And to wash it all down, a wide range of beers, wines and spirits, as well as some devestatingly powerful fruit punch.
Having suitably abused EA's hospitality, it was back to the aion power leveling again. One of the titles which I had been looking forward to seeing, the Quake 3 engined third person shooter "American McGee's Alice", was sadly not playable at the show, although there was a stand showing a "making of" video featuring American McGee himself, as well as Barrett Alexander and Jim Molinets of Rogue amongst others. It was certainly very interesting, but a poor substitute for the game itself, especially as the video was promising that Alice would be released in time for Halloween!
Luckily the real star of EA's crown, Lionhead's awe inspiring god game "Black & White", was on show. Peter Molyneux, the warped brains behind this decidely odd aion power leveling , was demonstrating it every hour to a room packed full of stunned journalists and freeloaders. The game looked simply stunning, and the attention to detail and sheer craziness of the whole thing was incredible.
But with an early start tomorrow morning and a packed schedule, it was time to head back to my hotel. The alcohol had already taken its toll on some though - the staff of one major American website were last seen preparing a review of EA's toilets! And it was only when I got back to my hotel room in the middle of the night that I realised .. I have three more days of this to face, starting at 10am tomorrow morning. Time for bed...
Sunday Morning : Fun, but in two dimensions
Nintendo's enormous show-stopping display pulsated with primary colours and included nearly a hundred playable GameBoy Colors and a similar quantity of Advance units, but still there was no sign of the aion power leveling, and the staff on hand were surprisingly vague about it.