I ordered Rise of Legends over a week ago from GoGamer. It was on sale for 35 bucks (I love 48-Hour Madness) so I snapped it up.

Then, like an idiot, I chose the the cheapest delivery option. So my game is still not here.

And this just when the reviews are starting to hit. Brett Todd’s review over at Gamespot got some Rise of Legends fans upset even though, from where I stand, the review is well-reasoned and comes out with a recommendation.

If it’s not here by Saturday, I’ll be very upset.

The official Europa Universalis III forums have a weekly development update that tends to dangle little delights in the form of screenshots and brief commentary from lead programmer Johan Andersson. This week’s was a modest shot of the monarch info screen, but the post describes how the nation tag system has been replaced by something much more friendly to modders.

The amusing thing about the official forums is that the fan hopes for the game are so eager and enthusiastic in light of the obvious fact that the game is already very far along. All the hopes for a Victoria style POP system, trade route economy, or guerrilla warfare are being expressed against the backdrop of a game that is less than a year away and already in beta. Most of the basics have already been established and I doubt that many major socioeconomic, military or political mechanics have yet to be resolved. So these threads are mostly wishlist things, but on a higher order than those threads that complain about the shorter time frame mostly because Byzantium won’t be available.

So is this sort of thing pointless? Of course not. Vain wishes are part and parcel of the anticipation. The discussions encourage enthusiasm and, since the developer interference in discussions is minimal, these aren’t expectations being encouraged by the designers – so disappointment will be kept to a minimum.

I’ll admit to being a sucker for Paradox based almost entirely on Europa Universalis. Sure, I love Crusader Kings, but it’s not like Victoria and Hearts of Iron are familiar friends. And the less said about Two Thrones, Crown of the North and Diplomacy the better. And I’m not alone. The Europa Universalis II forum has more threads than any other of their games, and more than HoI2 and CK added together.

Like all official communities, the EU forums are best handled in small doses. Threads can degenerate into debates over which Balkan tyrant controlled what tiny province in 1600. Sometimes there is too much being made of too much historical minutiae – a single anomalous case being held up as justification for a major change in game mechanics. But the loyalty to the developers is mostly thoughtful, the fanboyism mostly held in check, but the enthusiasm entirely genuine.

E3 is the biggest gaming event of the year even when nothing happens. So when two new consoles are introduced, its gravitational pull is enough to obliterate all other gaming news in the immediate vicinity.

Take the release of Big Huge Games’ Rise of Legends, one of the games that I’ve been most looking forward to playing. It was released earlier this week, so the net should already have half a dozen reviews. I should know what Jason Ocampo and Dan Adams think of this new game.

So what do we have?

Tom Chick’s opinion at Yahoo Games. Sure, he’s a valuable opinion (even though, in this case, the text and score don’t quite match up for me) but so far the only one.

You’ll notice few other reviews or analysis outside of the E3 coverage. Actually, precious little analysis inside the E3 coverage for that matter. There’s no point in complaining, but it does make me wonder why anyone would release a AAA title this close to the convention. Early buzz can make a huge difference in game sales and, despite its provenance, Rise of Legends hasn’t dominated discussion boards the way that Oblivion did. So it could certainly use the push of positive reviews from Gamespot, Gamespy or IGN.

Even though I’ve never been to E3, I’m fairly sure that it deserves blanket coverage of some sort. Very little of the coverage so far has been much beyond reporting what has been seen and said. The sensory overload of blaring speakers, crowded display floors and still quite a bit of flesh doesn’t provide an environment conducive to serious thinking about what is going on. It must make it that much more difficult to focus on things outside the convention altogether.

It’s not often that Wargamer’s Jim Zabek makes some major errors, but I guess E3 brings out the worst in everyone’s fact checking, as his E3 preview of Europa Universalis III makes clear.

The game does not “cover…the Middle Ages”; 1453-1786 is the early modern period. And “Defender of the Faith” was in the previus EU title; it is not an original EU3 contribution to religion in the game.

The preview is otherwise uninteresting except for some new screens, including some gigantic and ugly soldiers.

Matrix Games has announced that it will be publishing Harpoon 3 Advanced Naval Warfare. Advanced Gaming Systems has been keeping the Harpoon flame alive for quite a while now, but H3 has been in “community beta”status for a while. The big deal about Harpoon 3 is that it has multiplayer.

The original Harpoon was the first game I got heavily addicted to. It remains the gold standard for naval simulation games. Matrix has now resurrected Harpoon from obscurity (though it isn’t quite the same as getting Harpoon 4) and also been working on updating the Norm Koger epic game Operational Art of War.

So, kudos to Matrix for making me a very happy wargamer. The more people who play this, the better for naval sims in general.

Here’s a preliminary list of the strategy and wargames on display at next week’s E3.
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Aggression: Europe 1914 – real time strategy game from Buka Entertainment that covers the years 1914-1945. Battle for Atlantis – fantasy real time strategy game from Play Ten interactive set in pre-classical Greece
CivCity: Rome – Firefly and Firaxis team up on on Roman city builder. Civilization IV: Warlords – The highly anticipated militaristic expansion to last year’s best game. Command and Conquer 3: The Tiberium Wars – highly anticipated sequel to one of the RTS world’s most recognized series.
Field Ops – genre blender (FPS/RTS) set in the war on terror brought to you by Freeze Interactive. Medieval 2: Total War – Creative Assembly goes back to the Dark Ages to maintain their bright future.
Pacific Storm – another World War II game that tries to blend RTS and flight sims. Buka Entertainment. Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War – the demo is already out, so I’m not sure what’s left to show at E3.
Sid Meier’s Railroads – Sid Meier returns to model trains

Spore – Will Wright’s genius made manifest. Again.

Star Trek Legacy – real time tactical space combat in the Star Trek universe

Star Wars: Empire at War Unnamed Expansion – you knew that this was coming

Stronghold Legends – Yet another castle building sim from Firefly with three legendary campaigns.

Supreme Commander – Total Annihiliation is many people’s favorite RTS. This is it’s pseudo-sequel.

Warhammer: Mark of Chaos – you can’t trust screenshots, but if this is half as good as it looks, I may finally appreciate the Warhammer universe.