E3 Mayhem

Next week, I’ll be going to LA for the Electronic Entertainment Exposition a.k.a. E3 - the annual circus/party/convention for the video game industry.

If you haven’t been, it’s like walking inside a video game for three days. You’re Jeff Bridges in Tron. I took my parents for a day last year, and I think they’re still recovering. The music is cranked. The skateboarders are flying through the air. And it seems like every model and stripper in town is suited up in a catsuit or commando outfit, working the booths.

Going in, I expect the big stories will be the shooters and the handhelds. Three big games are vying for attention this time around - Halo 2 (the sequel to the thoroughly awesome Xbox shooter), Doom III (the long-awaited graphics showcase from id Software), Half-Life 2 (the other delayed shooter). Even bloodier will be the battle between Sony’s PSP handheld and Nintendo’s new DS.

Personally, I like wandering downstairs to check out the weird stuff coming from game developers in South Korea and Japan.

You never know what surprises might be in store…