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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 38</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
                </font></b></font></p>
              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
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        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0022A8"><b><a target="" href="../../corner/index.html"><font size="-1">Beaker's 
          Bent</font></a><font size="-1">:</font></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8"><br>
          E3 99: Apparently I need to have more attitude.</font></p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          Rich &quot;<a target="_self" href="mailto:rich@loonygames.com">Beaker</a>&quot; 
          Wyckoff</font></b></font></p>
        <p align="right">&nbsp;</p>
        <p align="right"></p>
                
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">At any rate, this kind of 
          technical arrogance is understandable if not quite excusable, but there 
          seems to be a new trend of lifestyle arrogance emerging – in other words, 
          the &quot;I’m so cool&quot; attitude. This was already becoming apparent 
          from reading the output of some of our industry’s up-and-comers, many 
          of whom feel the need to go to great lengths to prove that they have 
          lives by reporting their drinking and carousing through their .plans 
          and columns. (The virulently anti-Trespasser comedy site Old Man Murray 
          chronicles these sorts of excesses hilariously well).</font>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">However, the &quot;I’m so 
          cool&quot; attitude seems to have spread far beyond the net presence 
          of a few outspoken personalities. From what I could tell, the stereotypical 
          &quot;hairy developer&quot; joked about in fluffier pre-E3 articles 
          </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">may not even exist in force 
          in the industry any more, or at least didn’t get to go to the show. 
          Instead, the norm was oh-so-alternative piercings (remember when piercings 
          were cool, in about 1992?), funky hair styles, and show uniforms consisting 
          of black t-shirts with industrial stylings or white t-shirts with rave 
          stylings.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">And of course, in true high 

          school &quot;cool&quot; fashion, developers cliqued up with people they 
          knew, and rarely deigned to even say hi to anyone outside their own 
          little black-t-shirted circle. I can say with some amount of authority 
          that this is a change from the E3 ‘96 – back then, I remember booths 
          being manned more by the &quot;hairy developer&quot; computer geek type 
          that I know and love (not in that way, sheesh). As I explored the 96 
          show in my precious time off, at most places I went someone seemed really 
          excited to tell me all about whatever product my glance had fell on, 
          even though I was a complete no-one in an Izod-style LG show uniform. 
          </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This year it seemed like 
          most of the places I went were staffed by people waiting for someone 
          they had heard of, and as I was stealthily attending with a turned-around 
          badge that said &quot;Mary&quot; on the other side, I wasn’t trading 
          on whatever recognition this column may be worth. Now I was used to 
          the impersonal style of the console and arcade stands in 1996, but it 
          was sad to see the PC games community, which sort of grew up as a bunch 
          of weird geeks making games for other weird geeks, beginning to echo 
          the hierarchical, fiercely competitive and very exclusive attitude of 
          the Japanese developers. What will American developers borrow from the 
          Japanese next? Their annoying habit of wheeling large suitcases all 
          over the crowded floor?</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">From a games perspective, 
          this year’s show was pretty good. A lot more design was in evidence 
          than previous years, and the comparative lack of traditional RTS games 
          was enough to make me jump for joy. (I’ll take a cookie-cutter FPS over 
          a cookie-cutter RTS any day of the week, because I’m still waiting for 
          RTS games to make the S begin to measure up to the RT). But in the end, 
          it wasn’t the games so much as the show itself that will stick with 
          me.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I could make mention of the 
          other ridiculous aspects of the show, like all the stupid little live 
          shows, Lara Croft model autograph sessions, and ear-blistering crappy 
          music and audio drowning out conversation and game sound effects, but 
          these aren’t really new developments for E3 or trade shows in general. 
          No, it’s this attitude thing which has me worried, because let’s face 
          it, we make computer games for a living - it’s not like we’re rock stars 
          (even if a company had the temerity to name itself that).</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">But just in case this coolness 
          thing is here for good, I just have to say this: any developers who 
          were truly cool found a way to stick around on Saturday night and see 
          Meat Beat Manifesto perform. And may I conclude by stating that I was 
          listening to Meat Beat when you thought Nirvana and Pearl Jam were where 
          it’s at and long before the word &quot;electronica&quot; was even coined. 
          Now that I’ve got that out of the way, hopefully I can concentrate on 
          the business of making games, at least until next year’s E3 when I’ll 
          have to go through this silly posing all over again…</font></p>
        <p>&nbsp; 
        <p align="RIGHT"><i><font size="-1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">- 
          Rich Wyckoff is a professional game designer.</font></i></p>
        <p align="RIGHT">&nbsp;</p>
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    <td><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
      Beaker's Bent logo illustrated by and is &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. Beaker's 
      Bent is &copy; 1999 Rich Wyckoff. All other content is &copy; 1998 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
      productions</a>. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited, so don't 
      do it. We have ways of making you talk.</font></i></td>
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