The best quote from E3, 2003:

"Negativity sells," John Romero told me as we talked at a party.

If you know who Romero is, you probably also have heard of E3?the Electronic Entertainment Expo. If not, maybe we should take a couple of steps back and do a little explaining.

E3, as it is called by the faithful, is the biggest event on the videogame calendar. Like Christmas, Halloween, St. Patrick's Day and the 4th of July rolled into one, E3 is a hedonistic trade show soaked in bright lights, piled with elaborate sets and costumes, drenched in booze and sporting the regular sight of artificially enhanced women in small outfits. Nominally an event to introduce product buyers to new products, the soul of E3 has become the strutting and preening of everyone who is anything, and many who just wish they were. A half-million square feet of exhibit space sprawling through the Los Angeles Convention Center contains the event each year as game makers try to convince the guileful that the next coming of interactive entertainment is housed in their booth.

Once again this year that included the U.S Army and their simulated Blackhawk Helicopter crash in a Mogadishu suburb.

Journalists, meanwhile, try to maintain a semblance of objectivity while being plied with promises of exclusive interviews, loaded up with conference swag, elbowing up to the next open bar and trying to figure out how to net an invite to the hottest parties without resorting to groveling.

As for Romero, he is credited as one of the fathers of Doom and a gaming luminary who knows a thing or two about starting a shitstorm. Ironically, he was in town to help shill for Nokia's entrance into the videogame business with the launch of their new gaming platform, the N-Gage.

But while Romero was looking at the positive side of things, I'll take his advice and start by telling you what you missed by not sneaking into E3--not much.

Without a major console launch or big title to tease game fans, the show kicked into a lower gear with less hype, including fewer free drinks and a notable drop in the swag quota.

And the one big hope, that the N-Gage would actually come on strong and sway the skeptics, failed miserably. From the modern/hip hop dancers at their press conference to the very average quality of the games and the shocking price ($300!), Nokia came off like the eager kid at the party who, despite his desire to fit in, only alienates himself from the rest of the crowd. While Nokia was hoping the game business would pronounce the N-Gage "cool", the game business wondered who brought the goofy Finish people to the party. Expect the N-Gage to hit stores this October to a polite, "Well, isn't that interesting. I wonder who will buy it?"

Also on the gloomy side of things, most of the big titles that were expected at the show won't be making it to Target anytime soon. Starting with Halo 2 and running through Metal Gear Solid 3, Gran Turismo 4, Final Fantasy XI and Doom 3, the game developers appear to be sending some of their biggest hits into next year in hopes of creating strong sales during the eventual wind-up to the Xbox 2, the PlayStation 3 and whatever Nintendo might conjure up.

Because as much as the industry hates to talk about new hardware, of the inevitable billion dollar equipment bets have become the heartbeat of the business. While no one has said when a PS3, for example, might appear, the smart money predicts that Sony will head into next year's E3 with some announcement, if not functioning hardware. Since the hype over new hardware tends to tank current sales, no one wants to dwell on future technology. Likewise, no one wants to be last to the upgrade party. Just ask Nintendo how it felt to watch Sony steal their market with a cool machine out of the blue called the PlayStation.

Aware of new system buzz benefits, Sony did squeak out an announcement of the PSP--a portable PlayStation. Without saying much more than it would be small, of course, that it would use PS2 technology and would sport its own proprietary mini-disc format, Sony worked the crowd into a speculating frenzy. With a fuzzy forecast on its availability that put its launch somewhere around the end of next year, Sony could be accused of selling nothing more than the idea of the new platform.

Of course, E3 isn't about the negative. Like spring break, you might regret what you do and what you say while you are there, but it's a feel-good event meant to encourage you to forget any ugly details. And the good news for gamers is that after the electronic hangover lifted, there were plenty of exciting new games coming out soon enough that players could actually look forward to buying them this year. Even without a break-through masterpiece to slobber over, the industry continues to exhibit the kind of craft and artistry that any other popular culture form should envy.

So what's due this year worth keeping an eye out for? Here are some of the games that got the crowds buzzing this year:

• Uru: The Ages Beyond Myst (PC): After years out of the spotlight, the gentle beauty of Myst returns in a full 3-D, online game that (gasp) still does not requiring killing things to enjoy.
• True Crime: Streets of L.A. (PS2): Steal cars! Shoot people! Fight in slow motion! It only sounds like Grand Theft Auto. In fact, True Crime seems to follow Picasso's advice: "Good artists borrow. Great artists steal." Anyway, with 250 square miles of LA modeled in the game, it's fun to just drive around like Snoop and look for trouble.
• Medal of Honor: Rising Sun (All platforms): War is still a hell of a good time in the latest chapter of the MoH series. This time, players start out in a bunk below deck on a ship in Pearl Harbor. And since it's December 7th 1941, things are going to get interesting. Paced like a classic war epic and featuring all the Hollywood-styled action you can pack into a videogame, Rising Sun looks like a rising star.
• Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided (PC): Massively multiplayer online fun in a Star Wars world? Now that sounds like a winner. That's probably why it has taken so long for the game to arrive. No one wants to launch a title that lets you run around with your pals, dressed as a Wookie and shoot Jawas before it's ready. Well, it's ready. And budding Jedis wont have to whack each other with those fake plastic lightsabers anymore. They can do it online instead.
• SSX 3(All platforms): Cartoony snowboarding is back, but this time on a mountain that could make Vail Associates jealous including uninterrupted virtual runs of up to 25 minutes.
• Starsky and Hutch (PC, PS2, Xbox): Long live '70s TV. Long live cops who drive around in hotrods and shoot at bad guys. And long live games that understand the kitschy quality of these shows and can combine them with entertaining game play. What other game gives you points for smashing dramatically through stacks of boxes in an alley?
• Steel Battalions 2 (Xbox): You bought the $150, 40-button control set for the original game. Now what? With SB2, you get more missions and, more importantly, multiplayer online fun.
• EA Sports Rugby (All platforms): For years the folks over the pond have enjoyed videogame versions of rugby. After much whining in the US, would-be rugby thugs can enjoy the sport on their own televisions. After the Yanks play it awhile, we can decide whether we want to steal the sport from the Brits the same way we swiped hockey from Canada.
• Pikmin II (Gamecube): It's actually sad how little Nintendo had to show this year so that a mere sequel was their most impressive new game. But like the original, running around a garden world, growing little Pikmin and forcing them into a sort of botanical slave labor looks like even more fun this time because you can do it with a friend.
• America?s Army (PC): As for the Army, their presence at the show signaled a growing involvement of the U.S military in the world of games. Besides inspiring all manner of digital slaughter, America's GI have discovered the PR power of the video game. America's Army is a free online game that allows wanna-be soliders to pick up rifles and defend the democracy. The Army hopes a few virtual patriots will take the plunge and enlist. And why not? Next year's detail might be checking out the booth babes while talking about the latest features in the Army's game.