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• Console games and PC games go separate ways

  A look at the NPD games sales charts for the month of March 2006 tells you everything you need to know about how consoles and PCs are dividing like drifting continents, with game genres split between them like separate species. The weird hybrid of anime and Disneyland, Kingdom Hearts II, took the lead spot again in the console sales charts, with mainly action combat games - among them, mostly first-person shooters - and sports titles following. Meanwhile, the PC games chart - whose titles now sell with one-third the quantity - is dominated by simulated worlds and gothic role-playing, with the add-on Sims 2: Open for Business leading the top spot, and Sims 2 itself at #7. Interspersed among them are all the major genre franchises we've come to know, with the powerhouse World of Warcraft clinching tightly to #5, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion at #2, and Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, D&D, Age of Empires, and Civilization IV all well represented. Are PC games becoming a minor player? Not really, believes Parks Associates' Michael Cai. While that continent may continue to drift, he believes it's in a state of transformation, and may yet have its just revenge. The secret is in the online component. Consoles and console games dominate the retail market today, he explained, and because of that, they command the spotlight. But as the online business models for PC games change, away from the "per-box" retail model and more toward subscriptions, gaming-on-demand, and ad-subsidized services (more on that later), the big franchise games and role-playing simulations that are already well established on the PC side, are perhaps best suited to these models. They fit like a glove. A "blood elf" - a kind of well-endowed Darryl Hannah/Christopher Walken hybrid, due to inhabit the long-awaited Continent of the Upgrades in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Welcoming the new business models to E3 this year could be an absolute blitz of PC games franchises, all of which are battling with each other for the biggest splash. I would say there's a "blizzard" ahead, but that name's been taken already. Blizzard's The Burning Crusade expansion to WoW, expected at E3, actually will create an entirely new continent, called "Outland," where one might find a new race of so-called "blood elves." (Oh, you never will believe where those Keebler cookies come from.) Meanwhile, Namco - yes, the company that introduced the world to Galaxian and Pac-Man - will actually try to knock WoW off its throne, with its much-anticipated Warhammer: Mark of Chaos. The company describes it as dealing particularly with "WAR, focusing on the armies and battles while de-emphasizing the tedious aspects of base and resource management." Which should already win this title some followers at the Defense Dept. Sticking a finger in the notion that first-person shooters are entirely migrating to console-based platforms, CryTek is likely to demonstrate its even-more-perfected rendering engine, in a demo of its upcoming sequel to Far Cry, entitled Crysis. This is the game that should prove the viability of Microsoft's DirectX 10 rendering library, due to become one of the foundation components of its upcoming Windows Vista operating system. The difference between DirectX 10 worlds and DirectX 9 worlds (for Windows XP), gamers are led to believe, will be clearly visible. But if the first-person shooter crowd is all gathering together around consoles, and if shooter games are more adapted to the retail model than the online sales model (How long can a gamer go on subscribing to the right to keep shooting down the same thing?), then could Crysis be less well received among publishers and retailers than it's likely to be among fans? This could be a bright comet of a game that burns out fairly quickly, as franchise role-playing and strategy titles such as Midway's Unreal Tournament 2007 appear well positioned to command and conquer - to borrow a phrase - the resurrected realm of PC gaming. And there's one more little thing: While fans of the Star Trek movies will happily remind you that it's generally the even-numbered films that are the best, and the odd-numbered ones that are as cursed as a red-shirted security officer in a dark cave, they'll also tell you that there has never really been a completely perfect Star Trek game, for any genre, in the last quarter-century. So the question on at least some people's minds at E3 (they'll be the ones in Starfleet uniforms) is whether Perpetual's Star Trek Online - which is likely to be previewed on Tuesday - will break this curse. Set 20 years after the last "Next Generation" movie, with slightly updated ships, set decoration, and uniforms designed under the direction of no less than Trek veteran artist Andrew Probert, the screen shots of this MMORPG look perhaps even more stunning than some of the odd-numbered films (Trek V comes to mind). But with the promise of away-team exploration of multiple worlds, and true 3D combat among fleets of starships, manned by multiple live players simultaneously, the question transcends whether this game will feel like a Trek movie, and becomes whether it places the gamer in anything resembling his understanding of the Trek universe.

• Complete Coverage! E3 2006

  Last Update: 14 May 1:28 pm EST Intel claims 40% performance gain with new Core 2 Extreme processor Intel uses E3 to show off its next generation gaming processor, Core 2 Extreme, and highlight its performance capability: In an interview with TG Daily, Intel claims that the CPU will be 40% faster than its predecessor and that new enthusiast PCs will outrun Sony's PS3 in graphics performance. And this advantage may even increase with the introduction of quad-core processors.Read more... Microsoft: Xbox Live "way ahead of Sony" Todd Holmdahl, corporate vice president at Microsoft's Xbox and Gaming Platform Group, is one of the more influential figures within software giant's growing gaming business. Inside Microsoft's mammoth booth at E3's exhibit floor, Holmdahl spoke with TwitchGuru about the next generation console and its competition. Read more... Scroll down for more stories | Go to E3 2006 News Archive Center Stage Sony's high-stakes, high-definition gamble on PlayStation 3 Sony's PlayStation 3 has come out swinging, literally, with the first testers swinging the company's new 4D controller console from side to side. There's no doubt it's the high-resolution system we have all been expecting. Whether that translates into a high-quality system remains to be proven, as Sony has big hurdles to overcome.Read more... Nintendo is coming for Sony and Microsoft gamers with a vengeance One of the clear unspoken messages to emerge from the Nintendo press conference earlier today was that they are no longer to be considered the "Third way" in console gaming. The Wii has a family feel to it, but the game lineup speaks differently: This will be a console for hardcore, gun toting, mania loving gamers as well as Mario fans. Read more... Microsoft banks on Xbox 360 installed base, cross-platform gaming Microsoft confirms the latest new entries in its favorite franchises, including Halo 3 and D.O.A., in a bid to establish itself as the next-gen console that's already established. But Nintendo had, by most accounts, a surprisingly successful gala earlier this morning, leaving many to wonder whether there's enough middle ground for Microsoft to make up. Read more... Opinion: E3 2006 in a nutshell E3 is generally a themed event, with one or two issues dominating the whole proceedings and all other facets orbiting around this. This year as well as last it was the consoles which ruled. Two years ago it was blockbuster titles like Half-Life 2 and Doom III which held centre stage. Read more... Multimedia Coverage TG Daily Video: The Nintendo Line and Via's UMPC We published several videos over the past few days to offer you a first hand hand impression from the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Here are two more videos that slipped through our busy schedule initially: Via demonstrates it's Ultra Mobile PC and if you have not made it to E3 in person, you'll see what you have missed at the Nintendo booth. Read more and watch the video... TG Daily Video: Game technology trains soldiers on missiles, remote gun While most of the games at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) are being played for fun, the U.S. Army has adapted game technology to train soldiers. The technology of the video game "America's Army" has been integrated into the Javelin missile training system and the Common Remotely Operated Weapons System (CROWS), which is a remote-controlled gun used on newer Humvees. You can see the Javelin Missile trainer and the CROWS trainer in action in our video. Read more and watch the video... TG Daily Video: eFocus Part 1 At every E3, Pepcom organizes an off-site preview of the actual tradeshow and conference. Called "eFocus," the show isn't affiliated with the convention, but some of the same companies attending E3 also show up at eFocus. At this press-only event, a few dozen companies compete for attention and you'll see in our videos what we found to be most interesting. Read more and watch the video... TG Daily Video: eFocus Part 2 Plantronics, Seagate, Toshiba, Ubicom and Viewsonic show off their wares in part 2 of our eFocus video series. Read more and watch the video... Slideshow: Crytek's new first person shooter Crysis A first impression of the game that succeeds FarCry. Slideshow: Dell unveils new XPS desktops and notebooks Dell displays fancy new desktop and notebook designs for its XPS gaming systems. Slideshow: E3 showfloor, Friday 12 May Get an impression of today's showfloor. Slideshow: Alienware's new SLI notebooks Click through a slideshow of Alienware's Aurora mALX and m9700 notebooks. Big Announcements Playstation 3 to launch on 17 November for $500 In an otherwise rather underwhelming presentation of its next-generation game console and upcoming software titles, Sony unveiled during the E3 opening keynote the launch date and price of the Playstation 3: The console will be available just in time for the holiday season and be available in two versions for $500 and $600 - and will include a motion-sensitive controller. Read more... Nintendo Wii hitting store shelves in Q4 Nintendo today announced at its keynote at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) that it will be launching its next-generation gaming consoled "Wii" in the fourth quarter of this year. Read more... Update: Microsoft to offer HD DVD drive for Xbox 360 in Q4 Microsoft confirmed at E3 that it will be offering an external HD DVD drive for its Xbox 360 gaming console in the fourth quarter of this year. Compared to Sony's Blu-ray, HD DVD will offer similar functionality, but will be available for substantially less money, Microsoft promised. Read more... Game Previews Crysis makes a breathtaking first impression First Impressions: Battlefield: 2142 from EA for Windows PCs Preview: Heavenly Sword for PS3 NCsoft previews third Guild Wars installment First look: F.E.A.R, Saint's Row and Crackdown for Xbox 360 E3 2006 First Impressions: Company of Heroes by Relic for Windows PCs Preview: Superman game character will not return in time for the movie First Impressions: Gundam: Mobile Suit for PS3 First Impressions: Insomniac's Resistance: Fall of Man for PS3 E3 2006 Preview: The hot games list Latest News and News not to miss Preview: Indiana Jones and The Next Crusade LucasArts has announced at E3 that their first internally developed title for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 will be Indiana Jones 2007 (set in 1939, we're assured it's a working title.) MotoGP coming to Playstation Portable Sony has announced that Namco will be bringing the MotoGP series to the Playstation Portable in an iteration designed from the ground up for the handheld console. Next Call of Duty not for the PC Despite not actually featuring it on the show floor, the World War II FPS franchise Call of Duty has been creating some waves at E3, with the news that the next iteration in the series will not be appearing on the PC; and the quiet news that it will be getting a Playstation Portable release. Lego Star Wars II: The Good Trilogy One of the games being previewed at E3 for what I suppose we can now call the "Alzheimer's Generation" of consoles is Lego Star Wars II. The 10 most over-used words and phrases from E3 2006 Drumroll, please. As E3 2006 wraps up today after a long and eventful week, the editors of TG Daily, TwitchGuru and Toms Hardware decided it was time to to list the most overused words and phrases from the show this year. NCsoft unveils PlayNC, offers free MMOs Korean online gaming company NCsoft is increasing its play in the MMO space with PlayNC, the company's new plan to offer free games. During E3 this week NCsoft provided a preview of four of the MMOs under PlayNC. Sony ditches rumble pack in favor of motion sensor in PS3 controller Sony gave conference goers at E3 this week a first look at its new PlayStation 3, including the consoles new controller. While the PS3 controller has been accused of being a Nintendo Revolution/Wii knockoff because of its similar motion sensor capabilities, we felt in a first hands-on demo that the controller does provide fairly impressive game play capabilities. Nintendo steals Sony's, Microsoft's thunder at E3 On the second day of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), it becomes clear that Nintendo's upcoming Wii console grabs the attention of show attendees at a much faster pace that the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. Atari bailing water at a frantic rate, slashes all game prices to $20 Atari is in trouble again, the company announced that they're it is slashing all their game prices, on all formats, to $20 in North America. Warner announces HD DVD Dirty Harry to coincide with videogame Warner Home Video has announced that they will be releasing a "definitive" new collection of the Dirty Harry movies, produced and released in HD DVD format, to coincide with the release of the Dirty Harry videogame next year. Ubisoft announces new FPS: Haze Ubisoft has revealed details of a new first-person shooter franchise from the developers of TimeSplitters, entitled Haze. Nintendo shows off more controller action with Red Steel from Ubisoft One of the several games which Nintendo showed off at its press conference earlier was Red Steel from Ubisoft, a first person game which contains both shooting and sword fighting. Yes, yes that is just showing off the controller, but as long as it's fun we won't complain. Alienware announces SLI notebooks Alienware will be offering two portable computers that integrate two Nvidia GeForce Go 7900 graphics processors in SLI configuration. Sony showcases Gran Turismo HD for PlayStation 3 - plays old prepared demo trick The PlayStation 3 was at centre stage during the Sony press conference today, and the first game showcased was Gran Turismo HD, an updated version of GT4 which ostensibly takes advantage of the PlayStation 3 hardware. Go to E3 2006 News Archive Join our discussion on E3 2006

• Relationships, Relationships, Relationships!

  Image Courtesy: Nvidia The base of any relationship is a common interest. Game developers want to make games people want to play and get paid making them. Publishers want to make money selling games to consumers. Hardware manufacturers want to make cool technologies that people will buy. There are four parties to this "ecosystem": the gamer (you and me), the game developer (Valve, Id, 2K, and Crytek), the publisher (Ubisoft, Sierra, and EA), and the hardware maker (AMD and Nvidia). We make the whole system possible so we come first. If it weren't for the money we spend for entertainment, none of these companies would be in business. Game developers need investment capital to create games we want to play, and that takes time, talent and money. Publishers are the guys that help seed money to studios to make games, and in turn market, mass produce, and sell games to the market. Hardware makers are the folks we need to make these games show up in a way we can experience them. While we focus primarily on the hardware companies, the other players are also important. Without any one of these four components you get nothing. For the hardware manufacturer, maintaining all of these relationships is important: if you alienate any segment then you are bound to fail. This goes for all three of the business segments. Mismanaging your alliances will come back to bite you. This can be seen in the recent BioShock digital rights management (DRM) debacle. If you pay too much attention to the publisher or your own pocket you can hurt the people who want to buy the game. No gamers = no profits, or at least less than expected earnings. From the graphics makers' point of view, they want to sell graphics hardware. Let's face it: consoles currently have an advantage when it comes to cost. A television and a console can cost less than a well equipped PC. This is the same age old battle from Commodore 64 and PC vs. Atari, Intellivision, and Coleco. Aside from simplistically looking at costs, PC games generally are more diverse, have better image quality, have a wider feature set, and can be modified as technology expands. Amid the current "console tidal wave" that has hit the PC gaming market, PC gamers have been shown to be more loyal than their console relatives. PC gamers will generally own consoles while console owners may not game on a PC. So how do you get more people to game on a PC? The answer is simply, more of the above to give people a reason to play PC games. This is exactly the reason AMD and Nvidia instituted programs to improve the PC gaming experience. AMD's GPU Perf Studio analysis tool Image Courtesy: AMD