Ryan Mac Donald Executive Producer	Recent Favorites: Command & Conquer Generals (PC), Soul Calibur II (All) Most Wanted: Doom III (PC), NBA Street Vol. 2 (Xbox)

E3: The Greatest Show on Earth

Well, E3 is just about here once again, and we're in full preparation mode to get everything we need ready in order to bring you all of the sights and sounds from what can easily be called the most exciting three days of the year for the video game world. For those who might not know, E3 stands for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, which is the biggest electronic game trade show in the world. It happens every year about the second week in May. This year it's once again being held in Los Angeles at the convention center, and if you're wondering why every gamer isn't invited, it's because it's closed to the public. What's the point then? Well, it gives the publishers an opportunity to show off their products to the buyers, the people who make purchasing decisions for stores like Best Buy and EB, as well as to representatives of the media, like GameSpot. While it seems like it would be a short list of folks, tons of people actually get into the show.

The E3 show floor is a realm of chaos.

Of course a lot of these games are far from complete, so some companies build demos specifically for E3. Some of these actually make reference to the fact that you're an E3 attendee. Other games may be so early that all you can do is move characters around on the screen in a limited environment.

For us in the GameSpot Live department, E3 is quite a different experience. Since we're tasked with taking screenshots, editing video, and trying to get as much of it up on the site for you to see as quickly as possible, E3 in a lot of ways has become more about the work than the actual games. With that said, for me the juice is the action of trying to get as much quality information in as timely a manner as possible whether in the form of screens, movies, or text. Sure it's still cool to see all of the new games. In fact, I remember years and years ago when Nintendo was showing GoldenEye 007 on the N64 for the first time. I remember walking over to the booth and noticing that there weren't a whole lot of kiosks for it. At first glance it really didn't look all that grand, but once I started to play I knew that there was something special about it.

An example of a couple of game kiosks at E3.

I could just be crazy, but I think this will be a pretty exciting E3. If you have any suggestions or things you know you'd like to see, such as specific booth tours or anything at all, please feel free to e-mail me and give us a heads-up. This is your site, after all. Until next time, shoot straight and good luck.