Meeting John Carmack

On the other side, GamePro's reviewer had snagged one of the first demo slots at Capcom's booth.

On the CRT television screen, a dim mansion corridor was displayed.

He gripped the controller, guiding the character on the screen forward slowly.

A zombie turned its head.

His hand shook, and the controller dropped onto the carpet.

"The controls feel way too stiff. You can only turn in place." He bent down to pick up the controller, grumbling under his breath, but his eyes stayed fixed on the screen. "Damn it, that's scary. It scared me so badly my hands messed up."

Another group of people, especially columnists who leaned toward hardware and technical analysis, plunged headfirst into the small technical forums various companies were holding.

Outside Ken Kutaragi's conference room, several reporters who had not gotten invitations pressed themselves against the wall, trying to make out the discussion inside about the GTE geometry transformation engine.

"Sony is teaching these Americans how to squeeze every last drop out of CD-ROM read speeds." The NetGeneration reporter wrote rapidly in his notebook.

Nintendo's moves did not escape the media's eyes either.

Shigeru Miyamoto's seminar on gameplay refused audio recording, but the developers who came out were all holding thick stacks of notes.

Two utterly different development philosophies became the core point of conflict in today's technical coverage.

Compared with game geeks obsessed with code and polygons, reporters from financial media and major general newspapers turned their eyes toward the business negotiation area in the central hall.

This was where real gold and silver flowed.

The business reporter from the Los Angeles Times leaned against the railing on the second floor, looking down below.

Procurement representatives from the major retail giants, briefcases tucked under their arms, went in and out of Sega and Sony's business