Incredibly, not every one of the ten thousand games on show at E3 is a sequel, movie tie-in or new adventure for an ageing corporate mascot (Yoshi's Nursing Home, anyone?). Our roving photographer Jon Jordon spotted this wacky concept while staggering through gangs of nerds with his camera equipment. "This is a Game Cube game by Yoot Saito, the creator of Seaman. It's called Odama and is a voice-activated pinball strategy game based in ancient Japanese history. You have three Odama balls which you fire like pinballs into the advancing enemy. At the same time, your troops advance toward the enemy carrying a large bell. To win, your troops must get the bell through the enemy's gate.
"You can only direct the bell carriers using voice commands - which don't work very well in the loud E3 environment. Anyhow, the only thing everyone seems to shout is "More Troops! More Troops!". The whole experience is surreal"
And yes, before you type that comment, we know it was at E3 last year as well, but it's still a fun concept and I'll leap at any chance to feature a microphone-driven military strategy pinball sim.
