Play Ground Zero

All About

Regis Philbin

Get the latest photos, news, and more

Best Toy
The Lego Studios Steven Spielberg MovieMaker Set, which includes a PC movie camera, editing software, and a mini-backlot, lets kids remake Jurassic Park. Additional sets are scheduled to follow (Oskar Schindler's factory not included).

Best Fighting Game
Tekken Tag Tournament for PS2, with its visually stunning snowfall and cheering crowds, wins the graphics prize, but Simpsons Wrestling, in which Apu's Squishee-slinging is as deadly as Barney's burps, was d'oh so much fun.

Best Eye Candy
FantaVision lets you earn points by setting off fireworks in combination. It lacks the thrill of lighting the fuse yourself, but the intricately rendered cityscapes and exploding colors show off the PS2's visual effects brilliantly.

Most Unexpected Game
Nintendo's lineup was mostly geared to youngsters (and profits), with the outrageous exception of Conker's Bad Fur Day, a raunchy funny-animal title that features a cartoonishly bloody parody of Saving Private Ryan and a squirrelly, hungover hero who has to gun down teddy bears and swill enough beer to extinguish flame demons with his urine. Consoles grow up so quickly these days.

Weirdest Game
You speak to Seaman, a half-human/ half-fish/all-ugly virtual pet, through a microphone that attaches to the controller. Seaman's snarky responses even refer back to your previous conversations. In Japan, he appears on talk shows regularly. Presumably he works for scale.

Best Lara Croft Knockoff
Pamela Anderson in the V.I.P. game. Pam's girlish swagger is faithfully mocked, mobsters are defeated with handbags, and you shoot your way past a Danny DeVito look-alike to find a pet kangaroo and win this hilarious game.

Best God Game
In Black & White, you control a deity and, through acts demonic and benevolent, must persuade villagers to believe in you instead of those other gods conquesting across the land. The unusually intelligent creatures can be taught to perform certain tasks autonomously — like eating the opposing force's villagers.

Most Surreal Booth Bunnies
Game publisher Gathering of Developers, which once again occupied a parking lot outside the convention center, had four little people dressed up as Kiss, plus a pair of dominatrices. Fellini would have been proud.

Best Overheard Line
''Shorts are a state of mind.''
Catherine Bach, a.k.a. Daisy Duke (at E3 to shill for Southpeak's Dukes of Hazzard racing sequel), on her namesake cutoffs.