TOKYO - Perhaps E3 is becoming a more important show than the Spring Tokyo Game Show, but this year's TGS was the least exciting in the past two years. Companies that are supposed to be the market leaders seemed to be taking a vacation during this show, either showing nothing new or nothing exciting. Especially disappointing were Square and Sony. The only company that seemed to be awake during this show was Sega, with a handful of excellent titles. The only problem is that I think it might be too late for anyone in Japan to buy a system in order to take advantage of these good games. I hope Sega of America brings all of these games to the US, including the excellent Samba De Amigo and Jet Set Radio. MSR was also really impressive, and I'm sure it'll become a must-have DC title by the time the company releases it.

　　Third parties were very middle-of-the-road. Some, like From Software, had some interesting games that are pretty close to hitting the market for the PS2. Most others didn't have much. Capcom had some nice stuff -Bio Hazard Zero will be an N64 game to watch for - but Namco didn't have anything except Mr. Driller and Oh Bakkyuun.

　　If TGS sets the tone for the rest of the spring/summer gaming climate in Japan, it's going to be a cold summer in PlayStationland. Now if Sega can convince people to buy into the Dreamcast, I think the company could come back really strong. But I also think that Sony can probably ride the wave of DVD video popularity until it or third parties can release more games. All in all, it was a pathetic show for almost everyone except Sega.