PlayStation Redux

The atmosphere at the electronic entertainment Expo (E3) was muted this year--literally. Organizers at the hottest convention in the hard-core video gamer's calendar set noise limits and put decibel meters on its vendors, whose celeb-studded shows and my-game's-louder-than-yours posturing have split a few eardrums in years past.

But some things don't need shouting to be heard. One of them is the Sony PlayStation 2, the next generation of a console that is in 20% of U.S. households. The new machine--on which you'll also be able to play your old PlayStation games--may be the most hotly anticipated entertainment device since the checkers board. Once Sony finally named a date (Oct. 26) and a price ($299) for its U.S. machine at E3 in Los Angeles last week, the attendant buzz grew louder than a billion boom boxes.

Should you preorder one of the 1 million PlayStation 2s set to hit U.S. shores by December? Well, if you're salivating before you get to the end of this sentence, you already know the answer. But speaking personally, my advice would be: Not yet. Wait and see.

Before I get lynched by an angry mob of Sony loyalists, consider one thing: the competition. No games-console maker has ever dominated the market for two successive generations of technology (anyone remember Atari?), and Sony faces three heavyweight challengers--Microsoft, Nintendo and Sega--for the next-generation crown.

The winner will be the one with the best games, and there was nothing on show at E3 to guarantee that title will go to PlayStation 2. The biggest crowd gathered around a single game last week was at Black & White (see Briefs), which will appear on only PCs and the Sega Dreamcast.

Sony sports games like NFL GameDay 2001 pleased as much as ever the niche audience that cares about such entertainments, but there was no must-have mainstream game, no equivalent of Tomb Raider or Crash Bandicoot. After a buildup worthy of a Star Wars prequel, most PlayStation 2 offerings turned out to be disappointingly middling. Some hype is impossible to live up to.

Meanwhile, Dreamcast refuses to lie down and die. Not only is Sega about to start offering the hardware for free--provided you sign up for the $20-a-month online gaming zone Sega Net--but its catalog of games keeps going from strength to strength. Joining must-haves like Soul Calibur and Crazy Taxi at the show was the epic role-playing Shenmue, whose lovingly rendered hyper-realistic environment surpasses anything yet available for PlayStation 2. Throw in positive feedback for the Microsoft X-box and early buzz about the Nintendo Dolphin, and there is good reason for Sony to watch its back.

None of which is to say that the PlayStation 2 will sink without a trace. It's stuffed with great graphics chip technology and a fully functioning dvd drive. It could still keep Sony on top of its game as long as innovative software developers can handle the Hollywood-like production costs (which regularly approach $2 million per game). And if there's one thing Sony has bundles of, it's cash.

Money, after all, makes the kind of noise you can't keep in check with decibel meters.

For more info about Sony's new machine, go to . To pick a fight with Chris, e-mail him at cdt@well.com