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ECTS Live Report 2000

"ECTS, otherwise known as the European Computer Trade Show..."





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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