Electronic Entertainment Expo

The Electronic Entertainment Expo goes down Tuesday to June 17, but as expected of L.A.'s biggest annual geek party, the major industry events start before the actual conference begins in hopes of capitalizing on the most media buzz. In fact, this year's official events wrap up on the first day of E3, leaving the spotlight on the exhibitors at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Wednesday and June 17. E3, as it's known, opens its doors only to industry professionals and reporters, but most events are available to virtual "party crashers" via live Web streams.

It has the hallmarks of a colossal clash between two gaming titans. Microsoft Corp. and Sony Computer Entertainment separately unveiled details about their new game consoles Monday, ahead of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the big video game industry conference that starts Tuesday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. But some analysts say the new consoles may instead represent last-gasp attempts by the electronics giants to fend off smartphones and tablets, which have made video games more accessible and cheaper.

Step away from the controller. Microsoft this week is unveiling a set of video games that don't require people to navigate their way around a complex controller with more buttons than the cockpit of a Boeing 747. Following on the massive success of Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft is introducing a technology, code-named Project Natal, that ditches the controller altogether. Instead, the games will rely on a device the size of a stapler that perches on top of a living room TV to recognize faces, obey voice commands and track body movements.

Sony Corp. is pricing its new PlayStation 4 console at $399, $100 lower than the new Xbox One by rival Microsoft Corp. Microsoft recently announced a $499 price tag for its first new Xbox in eight years, which is going on sale in the United States in November. Sony also drew cheers from the audience at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles Monday  when it said the PS4 would run second-hand games and did not require an always-on Internet connection. Microsoft had earlier elicited groans from gamers when it announced restrictions on used games for the Xbox One and said players had to log onto the Internet for authentication.

Once a garish sideshow for video game nerds, the Electronic Entertainment Expo has turned into an annual party for one of the few technology sectors yet to flash "Game Over." Attendance and booth space at E3, which begins Wednesday at the Los Angeles Convention Center, are expected to rise this year, a sign that mainstream interest in games is growing as Wall Street and Hollywood search for solid investments.

Mountain climbers have Mt. Everest. Fans of America's pastime can journey to Cooperstown to see the Baseball Hall of Fame. For the hard-core video-gamer, there is only one holy place: E3. The Electronic Entertainment Expo (or E3), the world's biggest "interactive entertainment trade show," took over the Los Angeles Convention Center last week, with 70,000 industry professionals, 5,000 products on display and more than 400 exhibitors at what sounded like 400 decibels.

It has the hallmarks of a colossal clash between two gaming titans. Microsoft Corp. and Sony Computer Entertainment separately unveiled details about their new game consoles Monday, ahead of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the big video game industry conference that starts Tuesday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. But some analysts say the new consoles may instead represent last-gasp attempts by the electronics giants to fend off smartphones and tablets, which have made video games more accessible and cheaper.

Sony Corp. is pricing its new PlayStation 4 console at $399, $100 lower than the new Xbox One by rival Microsoft Corp. Microsoft recently announced a $499 price tag for its first new Xbox in eight years, which is going on sale in the United States in November. Sony also drew cheers from the audience at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles Monday  when it said the PS4 would run second-hand games and did not require an always-on Internet connection. Microsoft had earlier elicited groans from gamers when it announced restrictions on used games for the Xbox One and said players had to log onto the Internet for authentication.

Sony Corp. plans to demonstrate the third version of its hugely popular PlayStation game machine in Los Angeles next year at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. The announcement at a Tokyo new conference puts added pressure on the two other major manufacturers of video game hardware -- Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. -- to also have their updated desktop machines ready for the May 2005 trade show. Sony executives declined to discuss when PS3 consoles would go on sale.

Nothing reflects the video game business' new maturity like the edicts imposed on this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo: Turn down the music and, for Pete's sake, put some clothes on! For years, the annual trade show, called E3, has played out at the Los Angeles Convention Center like a teenage boy's naughty dream: acres of video games accompanied by ear-splitting rock and impossibly proportioned, navel-baring women pretending to like you.

A surge in international visitors and huge crowds attending the NBA All-Star weekend and other downtown events have put Los Angeles on track to host a record number of visitors in 2011. "We are forecasting to have more visitors come to Los Angeles than any other year we've ever had," said Mark Liberman, president of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, known as LA Inc. "That is great news. " With a 51% jump in convention room bookings this year and a 16% increase in overseas visitors, the bureau estimates that the city will host more than last year's 25.8 million overnight visitors and surpass the 2007 record of 25.9 million.

With sales of its 4 1/2-year-old Wii console plummeting and avid gamers spending most of their money on competing devices from Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp., Nintendo Co. has unveiled a new console that it hopes will draw those players back. The Japanese game company showed off the device, which marries an iPad-like touch screen with a traditional controller, at a news conference Tuesday morning before the official opening of the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Electronic software professionals partied at Staples Center to the booming hip-hop sounds of Eminem and Usher. Video game reviewers from around the world spilled out of the Los Angeles Convention Center to stand in line for more than 15 minutes just to buy a cup of coffee. The Electronic Entertainment Expo was back in town this week, bigger and more raucous than last year — a sign, according to city officials, that Los Angeles is fast becoming a top-notch convention town.

Step away from the controller. Microsoft this week is unveiling a set of video games that don't require people to navigate their way around a complex controller with more buttons than the cockpit of a Boeing 747. Following on the massive success of Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft is introducing a technology, code-named Project Natal, that ditches the controller altogether. Instead, the games will rely on a device the size of a stapler that perches on top of a living room TV to recognize faces, obey voice commands and track body movements.

.— On a blustery January morning, Michel Laprise found himself in a private conference room within Microsoft Corp.'s labyrinthine campus here, surrounded by 15 of the company's sharpest analytical thinkers. Laprise started his presentation by dumping a pail full of sand on top the conference table, alarming executives who worried about the wiring embedded in the table for PowerPoint presentations and technology demos. Armed with three rocks, a small wooden elephant and a flashlight, he spent an hour weaving a tale of a boy on a quest to locate meteors that have fallen from the sky and to uncover their meaning.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo goes down Tuesday to June 17, but as expected of L.A.'s biggest annual geek party, the major industry events start before the actual conference begins in hopes of capitalizing on the most media buzz. In fact, this year's official events wrap up on the first day of E3, leaving the spotlight on the exhibitors at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Wednesday and June 17. E3, as it's known, opens its doors only to industry professionals and reporters, but most events are available to virtual "party crashers" via live Web streams.

At daybreak Wednesday, with just hours to go before the Electronic Entertainment Expo's fashion police hit the beat, their effect was already being felt: alterations. In a conference room above the exhibit floor, a model named Jackie assessed the Greek tunic-like costume she was supposed to wear to promote THQ's video game "Titan Quest." It was red, see-through, skimpy and, according to the new rules of the video game trade show known as E3, out of bounds.

Welcome back, booth babes, er, models. The Electronic Entertainment Expo, known as E3, is expected to return to its roaring roots in June after two years of flirting with the somber side. The show has traditionally been the video game industry's most important convention, drawing as many as 70,000 attendees to Los Angeles to admire the displays, go temporarily deaf from the thundering sound systems and gawk at the scantily clothed models.

This year, the orcs and elves returned to the City of Angels. And they brought money with them -- more than $15 million in direct spending on taxi rides, hotel rooms, wine and sushi, among other things. The Electronic Entertainment Expo, which was substantially scaled back in 2007 and 2008, came roaring back this week at the Los Angeles Convention Center, attracting more than 35,000 visitors.

Reflecting their disparate positions in the video game industry, Sony on Tuesday tried to get gamers amped up while Nintendo told them to chill out. Red-hot game maker Nintendo unveiled a new device for its No. 1 Wii console called the Wii Vitality Sensor, which clips to players' index finger and feeds their pulse into games.