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ECTS,
otherwise known as the European Computer Trade Show, is based
in the UK @ London Olympia. As with any big event such as Comdex,
CeBit and E3, it comes once every year and shows a community
of media related talents just what the computing world is up
to.
Last
years ECTS (1999) was a bit of a let down, big name developers
and publishers such as Activision and GT-Interactive either
weren't there or barely existed in any force at all. Packing
our digital camcorders and laptops the Speedy3D team set off
for London in the hope that this years event would be better.
Stepping
through the doors
Being
native to England myself, you'd expect me to be familiar with
London, however I can assure you that's not the case. Coming
from one of the warm and brightest seaside towns in the UK,
London, by comparison, is just plain ugly. I kid you not, the
air is thick with car fumes, people are pushy and the traffic…
ohhhh the traffic - thank god we used the train!
That
aside and London's still the epicentre of British power and
business, you have to respect that. Coming from our high-rise
hotel we slowly make our way to the main entrance @ Olympia,
it's already 11am, a tactical judgement to save us having to
queue. Inside the door and a short line of security guards armed
with barcode pens waits to grab anyone who tries to slip through
like an Iraqy boarder check.
After
having our clean and well-kept press passes checked, we're quickly
pushed on and into the event. Initially ECTS seems quite small,
just like a football pitch from the air. However the mere fact
it can take you 5 hours just to walk around everything without
taking it in is a testament to the scale. Not so much height
or width as crammed in content.
The
huge building is split up into two large rooms, each having
a second floor level for additional showpieces. Unlike last
years ECTS, 2000 brings the primary focus off the PC and onto
the colossal console market. Only a few minutes inside and you
soon notice Sony's big PlayStation2 push closely followed by
the Dreamcast and Nintendo spouting about their new kit under
every inch they have.
The
Event
It's difficult to tell at this early stage whether the show
has bettered last years or not and only Tuesday afternoon/Wednesday
morning will give us the answer in our conclusion report. Either
way it's time for the Speedy3D team to go to work, our first
port of call is Rage Software; look out for the mini previews/updates.
Please
note we'll only be doing mini-previews for develop/publishers
that have booked us in or look especially good. We'll also be
posting videos taken on our quality camcorder later into the
week and yet more screenshots, of course! Keep an eye on the
ECTS page. All content...
by
Mark 'KILLZAT' Jackson
Contents
-
Offroad
- Hostile Waters
- Tribes 2
- Incoming Forces
(just shots)
- Red Faction
Exclusive
Video
- ECTS ERacer
- ECTS Game Boy
Advanced
- ECTS Intro
- ECTS Midtown
Madness 2
- ECTS Offroad
- ECTS PSone
& Playstation 2
- ECTS Red Faction
- ECTS Tribes
2
- ERacer ECTS
PR
- ERacer ECTS
PR2
- Offroad ECTS
PR
Misc
-
PowerVR Kyro
- GameBoy Advanced
- PlayStation
2
- Psone
- Show Pictures
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