Eidos reveals E3 line-up
Ion Storm may be there after all; Core, Elixir and Pyro definitely will be
British-based publisher Eidos Interactive has revealed some of the games that it will be demonstrating at E3, with highlights expected to include Commandos 2 (confirmed for PC, PS2 and Dreamcast, despite recent rumours to the contrary) and the much-hyped Republic, from Demis Hassabis and the boys at Elixir Studios. Also present will be the sequels to both Blood Omen and Soul Reaver (both on PlayStation 2), a new Xbox action-racing game called Mad Dash, and two new titles from Core Design - the odd-looking Herdy Gerdy and third person action-adventure game Project Eden.
Notably absent from the list of titles is Tomb Raider : Next Generation and anything from Ion Storm, who are currently hard at work on Anachronox, Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3, as well as an as-yet unannounced new game from Daikatana designer John Romero presumably. However, although other sites have been reporting that this means that Ion Storm's games won't be at the show, this is far from certain. In fact, if you read the press release carefully it does specifically say that "Eidos will present several new titles from key gaming powerhouses including .. Ion Storm", even though none of these are named in the list of highlights that "gamers can look forward to seeing on the E3 show floor" at the end of the press release. This could mean that a) the Ion Storm games are only available to view by the press behind closed doors, b) Eidos don't think they are highlights of its line-up, or c) it was a mis-print and there won't be any Ion Storm games there after all.
Either way, we do know that strategy game Trade Empires, an action sports game called Wave Rally, Pyro's promising looking Roman Empire strategy game Praetorians and Core's new PlayStation 2 arcade-style action game ThunderStrike : Operation Phoenix will all be there. Eidos US president Rob Dyer insists that "I firmly believe that Eidos' current lineup is one of the strongest ever, highlighted by new titles based on existing, popular franchises in addition to all new and original titles developed specifically to take advantage of the next-generation hardware". But then, he would say that, wouldn't he? We should know the truth in a week or two...