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On This Day In Gaming History...
| 2002, EverQuest teams with Sword&Sorcery for a paper RPG version of game. |
| 2003, Gordon "Tyrant" Walton leaves EA expressing a desire to return to Austin, Texas. |
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Pepcom eFocus 2004
Celebrating 'Cinco De Mayo' Late!
Pepcom proves to us and other companies that they are the undisputed leader in showcasing technology, as last month we joined them to celebrate 'Cinco De Mayo,' a bit late at their eFocus event that ran in conjunction, but separate, to the E3Expo where twenty cutting-edge companies lined up side by side to showcase their technologies and services in a cordial, party setting!
We stopped by to help celebrate and to check out the companies that were there and see what they had to offer. Were we surprised!
Pepcom eFocus - Div Devlin (05-28-04)
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| Food! Buffet Style.
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Twenty companies or more were to be in attendance, but during the time allowed we were not able to spot check and visit with everyone. Pepcom definitely needs to extend this, companies willing! We were able to spend time with several companies though as we were lavished with gifts (a set of maraca's!), beads, food, and drinks! We need to tell you about the food and drinks! We were helping to celebrate 'Cinco De Mayo' after all! How could we, as guests, turn down our hosts who had setup four open bars on each corner of the banquet hall's center, bordered by a huge buffet style spread of food running three ways around the room. Food is good! Some say that there were actually six bars, but I think those guys had too much drink and were seeing double.
Of the companies who were in attendance which we were able to spend time with were, Artifact Entertainment, Dell, Exent Technologies, HP, There and Voodoo PC. Chris O'Malley, a co-founder of Pepcom said that, "It's an event that's really blossoming." If you ever felt like a kid in an electronic-candy store, this would have been the place. I drool just going to Best Buy; here was a focus on items, which are just now going to be released for retail. Pain!
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| "A Shiny!"
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The real star that made you stop and become awed was the Compaq X Gaming Machine, it was all bright and shiny and I like the shiny! I'm distracted by the shiny! The Compaq X Gaming Machine comes in an aluminum case with side thumbscrews that will allow you to remove the motherboard while offering a choice of processors including the p4 500 or the AMD Athlon 64 and supporting up to two gigs of RAM which is expected to hit retail in July at a price of $1700.00 to start on the low end. This is an MMO Gamers Dream PC!
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Sharing the spotlight with Compaq was Dell and their gamer-on-the-go laptop. The Inspiron XPS is an "Extreme Gaming Notebook," designed for gamers looking for a high-powered desktop alternative. Offering the power of a p3 processor and up to 2gigs of RAM with options for a 60 or 80 gig hard drive and an ATI Radeon 9700 video card making this the laptop to eat lunch with outside of work in the summer while you game.
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| Exent Gamer Services!
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As we first entered the party, reps from Exent Technologies who are offering up a new service that gamers are going to find useful greeted us. On Demand Gaming! Sweet. Already partnered with Atari and RCN InterACTION Games offering subscription services that allows gamer's access to games which stream directly to the user's PC. Using a secure digital delivery system, gamers can subscribe to one of Exent clients and download games before heading off to the store and becoming stuck with a non-refundable retail package for a game that sucks. Try before you buy! Exent not only supports gamers with their technology, but also provides services for the edutainment fields as well.
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Vying for attention with Compaq and their X Gaming Machine was Voodoo PC, which introduced their HeXx Compact Gamer PC that is great for LAN parties if that's what you do. I'm a MMO Gamer, so while it's small and compact and great for the FPS crowd, it's not what you need in the house. Starting on the low end at $1500.00 equipped with an AMD Athlon 64, 512 Megs of RAM, and an 80 gig hard drive it's a rig that as a conscientious shopper I don't see a regular Joe getting. It looks sweet though, and for the FPS Gamer on the go who needs to intimidate others because he lacks mad skillz, this will do the trick.
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| Dance Dance Baby!
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"Have You Been There?" That was the question asked as we rounded the first bend when a rep from There, Inc. stopped us. "While none of us have actually been There, we do know There." Clever pun on words for our reply, eh? We became immersed in There which originally was promoted as an alternative MMO Game, but now appears to be focusing more on the game engine aspects of their software technology. At-A-Glance, There appears as just a giant chat room with snazzy graphics. Isn't this what all MMO games are about? Au contraire, it's more than a chat room. But it's not a traditional MMO where players can hunt, interact and blow things up. It's more of a cyber-chat room party where players can play cards and trivia, own houses, dance, and the avatars can show facial expressions, including breathing and facing the direction of someone speaking to them.
With our first live look at the game, we were pretty impressed, although we found it lacking for our type of gaming. Now, when they can release the war game software commercially they are developing in which we can kill, maim, and blow things up, we will be THERE!
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What's that on the Horizons!
As the Crop news folks staggered into us at the Bar, we turned to see Artifact Entertainment working a booth showcasing Horizons. David Bowman has to be one of the greats who is never to disinterested to talk about the game when in public. It's not just his job it's his livelihood! A crowd had gathered and he was animatedly telling them all the finer points of the game, logging in and out of the server pulling up varied aspects of the game.
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| David Bowman Draws Crowds!
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The game has always looked good, and even now comparing to others looks good. We had a chance to talk briefly with both David and Steve Escalante over the release of he game, and the improvements that have taken place since launch. Admittedly, they had a hard launch. As another wise man once said, you can plan for every eventuality in an MMO launch, but each one will have it's unique problems.
Just listening to David can draw you into the game and make you eager to play. He has myself hypnotized, and feedback on the community fansites dedicated to Horizons shows that the game is progressing in a positive way with the recent changes and patches that have been implemented. Were looking forward to giving Horizons a run now that the game is playable.
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At the end of the night Pepcom really knew how to host a great event in which even the companies had a great time. Gallagher the comedian showed up to have free food, and while he claimed he was there with his son, we know he's into it. While everyone else was attending the Playboy party Tuesday before E3, the place to have been was eFocus.
Who missed out!
Thanks to the folks at Pepcom for the invite, and the companies who spent time talking with us about their products!
Discuss: This was the E3 Warmup!
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Join us every Thursday night as we play, "Name The Game" on RadioGameRifts, where we play a music track from or for an MMO game.
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