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Empire Earth UniversityDay 2:Day #2 of EEU dawned bright and early. After everyone was convened in the lobby, we were transported to Stainless Steel Studios for breakfast, which we ate gathered around the conference table. During this time, we were also introduced to the staff of SSSI, and were given the opportunity to introduce ourselves. Once breakfast was over with, it was time for a quick tour of the studios, and then we all settled around the wall projector for a comprehensive demo of Empire Earth. I must say that no matter how many times I see EE in action, it never ceases to amaze me, and this time was no different. The staff of SSSI did a marvelous job of showcasing the basics of the game, simple tactics, and showing off the units and their abilities in general. We got a close-up look at thing such as Calamities and their uses, Mech powers (some of which are both visually astounding and will have varied effects on gameplay), such as the "Teleport" power, which will send an enemy unit "into the future", which removes him from the map and then replaces him in the same spot a minute later. There is a large number of such "powers" (the EE name for these futuristic spells), which gamers are sure to love. Another interesting concept was that of Fortresses, which actually allow you to go over your pop cap, while still having the same amount of units in play on the map at once. After the hour and a half demonstration of EE was complete, it was finally time to get into the meat of the event: the actual playing of Empire Earth. We migrated into the lab, where a large number of computers are hooked up. Since I had played EE many times before, I opted to watch for the first while since there was only a limited number of computers available. It was interesting to watch others playing the game up-close, and I got a good look at some of the strategies that some of the renowned multiplayer tacticians were employing. Of particular interest was one of the early games between Kleitus and blue_myridhn, which featured some great WW1 action. Although blue's economy greatly outweighed that of his opponent, Kleitus handily won the game due to superior tactics involving the use of towers and mortars... and I must say that it was amusing to see blue's citizens being taken out in groups by Kleitus' mortars time and time again.
Next, I played two games against Theta, both times losing horribly. One of them took place in the Renaissance Age, and I found myself falling victim to an early attack that just kept coming. I managed to relocate my city, but the damage was done, and it was only a matter of time until I found myself being overwhelmed once again. Next game, once again against Theta, took place in the Copper Age, and this time I did fare a little better. I managed to get my economy running faster and this time I had some defenses up by the time I was attacked and did manage to repel the attack, but it was only a matter of delaying the inevitable, as I found myself outmatched once again. During a break in the gaming, we were treated to a 1/2-hour of time with Steve Ashley, the lead 3D artist of SSSI. It proved to be a very enlightening thirty minutes, and provided a good look at the work that goes into creating the units, buildings, and effects of EE... and let me tell you that after getting a good look at all that is involved in the process, I have gained a lot more respect for the thousands upon thousands of hours that have been spent making EE look as good as it possibly can. By this time it was getting late in the afternoon, and the schedule called for a trip to Harvard Square for dinner. Although some of us may have been reluctant to take a break from the gaming, everyone was certainly impressed with Jack Harvard's, the restaurant we ate at. After a nice dinner, sprinkled with conversations of (you guessed it) computer gaming, we took the short subway ride back to the Studio for some more EE gaming goodness. One memorable game from this session was a 1v1v1 Digital Age game between Gandalf, KaBaN, and me. Gandalf wound up getting double-teamed, and soon quit. I reverted back to my nuclear strategy, expecting another win, but soon realized that I was out of my league against KaBaN. He began throwing up scores and scores of AA defenses, which were taking out my nuclear bombers as quick as I could make them. Fairly soon his scores of tanks and troopers found their way inside my base, and from there on in it was simply a matter of wiping up the remains of my once-proud city. Indeed, I would soon come to realize that, even though I had probably more experience with the game then most of the other attendants, my only close games would be against the webmasters or scenario designers. Everyone else seemed to make pretty short work of me. Around 9:30 that night, we wrapped things up and took the taxis back to the hotel. Me, Gandalf, Park, and KaBaN hung out for a while, then eventually started roaming the hotel, looking for something interesting to do. After a while we gave up, went back upstairs to Park's room, where we made a couple of prank calls to the party that was going on in my room at the time. Eventually Park and KaBaN went to bed for the night, so Gandalf and I chatted for a while before knocking on Kleitus' door in an attempt to find some food. While Kleitus didn't have any food, the three of us did wind up talking about EE, gaming, websites, and the industry in general until about 2:30 AM, when we finally split up and went to bed. |
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