Another E3 has past and after arriving home and sleeping for 15 hours (after
being up for 24 hours) I can say after little reflection that Mac gamers
have much to look forward to in the coming months. Even though the
Electronic Entertainment Expo can hardly be called a Mac event, it continues
to be an event for Mac gamers look forward to.

One of the most pleasant surprises at the show for Mumbo Jumbo’s showing of
Myth III: The Wolf Age that took place in the Gathering of Developers
‘Promised Lot’ across the street from E3. Many were skeptical about a new
Myth title coming from someone other than Bungie, but after experiencing
the game for only a short time I can say without reservation that such
skepticism is unnecessary. Myth III is an absolutely stunning game, with its
fully 3D characters, enhanced environmental and lighting effects and a
combination of new as well as classic units to send into combat. Plus, the
potential for new multiplayer game types like “Grinder “ make the wait for
this title almost unbearable. Luckily, it will not be long at all compared to the 2- and 3-year development cycles we've had to wait with other games.

Westlake Interactive continues in their tradition of bringing high quality
titles to the Mac, and vice presidents Phil Sulak and Ken Cobb provided IMG
with updates on pending releases such as Tomb Raider Chronicles, Alice, The
Sims: House Party and the Rune expansion pack. The pair also revealed that
they are bringing Deus Ex to the PlayStation2. Sulak and Cobb quickly
allayed any fears of the company abandoning the Mac but would not yet reveal
the title of the mysterious ‘Peroxide Project’ listed on the Westlake’s web
site. We'll continue to pester them about it, of course.

While MacPlay did not have an official presence at the event, Marketing Guru
Jason Whong was kind enough to show off the latest builds of Baldurs Gate II
and Fighter Squadron on his PowerBook G3. BG II was looking great and will be
a fine addition to any RPG fan’s library. FS is not quite as
far along as BG II, it is also shaping up to be another great title.

Apple also decided that opening up their meeting room to attendees was a
good idea. The room many have been off the beaten path, but well worth the
effort to find it in the corner of Petree Hall. The room was packed with G4s loaded up with the latest
version of Quake III: Team Arena. The latest version of Tony Hawk Pro Skater
2 and American McGee's Alice were also on hand for ‘testing.’ Apple’s small space may not have
seemed like much compared to the massive Microsoft and Nintendo areas, but
it shows that Apple still cares about gaming. In previous years you were lucky to see someone with an Apple business card or two.

As recently as five years ago, Mac users had very few options open to them
for any serious gaming on their platform of choice. If gaming was your hobby
and you owned Apple hardware, you were often left with no other options but
to buy a gaming console or even a Windows PC for gaming. Now that amazing
titles are on the horizon from companies as diverse as MacSoft, Bioware and
MacPlay, being a Mac gamer is no longer a handicap. If the 2001 Electronic
Entertainment Expo is any indication, Mac gaming has come a long way and
continues to gain momentum as a gaming platform. If Motorola and Apple continue to fulfill their promises of faster hardware, and with NVIDIA on board for now and the future, the last few remaining excuses developers have for skipping our platform will melt away.

Our three days of coverage of this event resulted in 32 E3-related articles and many reports direct from the show floor; be sure to take advantage of the power of our search engine and see if you missed anything. While there were few surprises from the expo floor (with secrets seemingly harder to keep all the time) our reporters walked away from the cacophony of the expo with one conviction: while the number of titles coming to the Mac over the next year is extremely small compared to the flood of titles for PC, PS2 and Xbox, the ones we will play are clearly the cream of the crop. Think of the Mac platform as a "filter" which screens out the wannabes and shelf-space fillers and latches on to the best and brightest.

IMG wasn't just there as a team of passive observers; we use these events to evangelize the Mac OS and its future as a gaming platform. Hopefully our contact with and coverage of developers that are considering a Mac version of their game (such as Gray Matter, developing Return to Castle Wolfenstein) might tip the balance in our favor. As for the disappointments from the show (no promises of a Mac OS version of Duke Nukem Forever or Star Wars Galaxies, for example) rest assured that we will continue to track these games and their developers -- not all secrets are revealed at E3, and many of the blockbuster E3 games are still a year or more away. Click the links below to revisit all of our E3 coverage, and get ready for Macworld New York, just months away. Oh, and don't forget WWDC -- Apple's developer event begins tomorrow, and it may very well determine the course of Mac game development as we know it.

E3: First Myth III: The Wolf Age Screenshots

Apple's World Wide Developers Conference

E3 2001 Pictures, Part 2

E3 2001 Pictures, Part 1

E3 2001 News Reports

E3 2001 (add to watch list)

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