Members of a video game road crew hid company logos and dared not speak the word "Nintendo" above a whisper when they arrived at the Deseret News offices recently.
Coincidentally, the entire fifth grade of a local elementary school arrived at the paper for a tour at the same time. Had the kids known the unmarked, white cargo van parked outside the newspaper building concealed a demonstration studio for yet-to-be-released Nintendo titles and samples of Game Boys in colors not yet in stores -- well, it could have been dicey.Security officers in a California shopping mall shut down a visiting Nintendo exhibit recently when crowds grew too big to manage, according to Team Nintendo member Tom Davis. He said this as he sat in the van's demonstration console, playing Nintendo 64's Super Smash Brothers, released last week; Ken Griffey Jr.'s Slugfest, which will be released May 10; and Nintendo's New Tetris, scheduled for release July 26.
Davis also revealed new Game Boys, marketed too well to be identified as yellow, blue, green and purple -- they are dandelion, teal, kiwi and berry. And they're hot stuff.
In fact, Davis has a hard time even keeping the clothes on his back when he demonstrates new games while wearing a hat, shirt or occasionally a jacket emblazoned with the Nintendo logo. "Even the parents have their checkbooks out, wanting to buy my clothes. I tell them I can't sell them -- they're my uniform. I'd leave the mall naked if they had their way."
Like Austin Powers, running from screaming pseudo-'60s fans, Team Nintendo members like Davis become the tangible symbols of the enthusiasm that video gamers have for onscreen celebrities like Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Donkey Kong, Wario, Yoshi and Pokemon.
Davis and the Nintendo Van are concluding a Pied Piper-like cross-country tour that began in Nintendo's United States headquarters in Redmond, Wash., and will end in Los Angeles in time for Thursday's opening of the E3 Expo trade show -- the game industry's annual show-and-tell.
E3 promoters estimate the 400 exhibiters at the expo will introduce more than 1,900 PC and video game titles they hope will score big with customers as the "interactive entertainment" industry closes in on the moviemaking industry in terms of revenue potential.
Hollywood generated $6.95 billion in revenues in 1998, with video game sales close behind at $6.3 billion. Game revenues this year are estimated to top $7 billion amid growth almost three times that of the movie industry.
Nintendo, Sony Playstation and Sega are the "big three" console gamemakers, accompanied by a score of PC gamemakers, like Electronic Arts, 3DO, Activision, Hasbro Interactive and Microsoft.
"What you will see at E3 is the future of entertainment," said Douglas Lowenstein, president the Interactive Digital Software Association, the owner of E3.
Game writers and resellers will scour E3 not just to see new titles but to forecast how video and PC games will affect cultural trends and entertainment habits. Show promoters say consumers can expect to see several new innovations:
Advanced 3D technology, next-generation consoles and DVD will make waves as new options for enhancing interactive entertainment.
Some 40 percent of new titles offer multiple-player capabilities and nearly one-third of all new titles will offer an option for online play.
Nearly a quarter of all new titles will be offered on multiple platforms, enabling players more options for access to specific games.
Hardware and peripheral manufacturers will introduce hundreds of new products offering new technology related to visual and audio effects.
The Nintendo sampling from inside the white van revealed rumble packs for Game Boys, 8 MB memory expansion for Nintendo 64 consoles to allow programming flexibility and, in a clever marketing maneuver, a Game Boy title that only reveals all of its characters when connected to a complementary Game Boy.