When May comes around E3, the video game industry's trade show, not only shows up at the Los Angeles Convention Center; it pops out like an overly enthusiastic jack in the box. It is marketing gone wild, but with some of the great games they are producing they have a good reason for the hype. Here are some of the titles you should be looking for before the end of 2004.

One of biggest announcements at the entire show was that Electronic Arts sports games, considered the best on the market, will no longer just be online capable for the PS2. They now will be able to do so with the Xbox versions using the Xbox Live service. Sierra's Half Life 2 and Activision's Doom 3 for the PC were advertised as having mind-blowing graphics, but were promised to come out last year. Doom 3 is now scheduled to come out for the PC on July 20 and later for the Xbox. Half Life 2 is to be released this summer for the PC. However, if you want to see great graphics now get a copy of Ubisoft's Far Cry, but you better have at least a mid-level 3D gaming graphics card two years old or less if you don't want jittery images.

For a real-time strategy game for your PC you should definitely look at Electronic Art's Lord of The Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth. Not only do you have the opportunity to control armies of humans, elves, and orcs from the movies, but also the graphics and game play look fantastic. The team that did Command and Conquer Generals out did themselves and brought real time strategy to a new level. It is one of my best picks of the show, and will be coming out this fall. Another real time strategy game that you should look at is Activision's Rome: Total War where you play a Roman Emperor and command the armies of Rome, which will also be coming out this fall for the PC. For the younger set check out Microsoft Game Studios' Zoo Tycoon 2 for the PC with much improved graphics and interface.

This fall Microsoft Game Studios' sequel to Halo, the Sci-Fi multiplayer shooter that made the Xbox a marketplace contender, is finally coming out. Halo 2 shows to be even more stunning with new vehicles and environments to play with. It will be coming to an Xbox near you in November and is definitely one of my picks. Also for the Xbox is Microsoft Game Studios' Conker: Live and Reloaded where the obnoxious squirrel is out to save his fellow squirrels from extermination by an army of evil teddy bears. Not only is this very funny, it has excellent graphics and online play. In Lucas Arts' Star Wars Battlefront you get to play a soldier in the world of first Star Wars Trilogy by yourself or with up to 31 others online and will be for the PC, Xbox, & PS2 coming in September. Nintendo's Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is coming in November on the GameCube.

Microsoft Game Studios' Fable for the Xbox is the long delayed role playing game where you can take a character through their life making decisions that as in real life will have long-term consequences and effect how people treat you. Will you be good, evil or a little of both. Will people cheer you for your great heroic deeds as you enter town, or will they run away in fear. You literally age as the virtual years go by, with your decisions effecting how you look. This is one of my picks of the show and is coming out this summer. In Electronic Arts' Goldeneye: Rogue Agent the question is asked "Why Save the World When You Can Rule It?" That right, you get to play an ingenious villain in the James Bond world. Many actors say it is more fun to play the bad guy and you will get to find out this fall on a PS2, Xbox or GameCube. Square-Enix's Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time is beautiful title for the PS/2 where you, your family, and childhood friend (love interest?) go to a resort planet for a long-deserved vacation; but your holiday turns into a nightmare when the planet is attacked. You have to find out what is going on and save your loved ones. It is coming in August 2004. THQ's S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl is set in the near future where you search in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant for things to sell on the black market, but you have to contend with creatures that have mutated from exposure to radiation. It is coming for the PC this fall. Capcom will be breaking the mold with Resident Evil 4. In an entirely new story set in Europe you will be trying to rescue the daughter of the US President and find yourself in an environment similar to a horror movie. The graphics, game play, intelligence of your adversaries, and storyline look better than in the previous series and is one of my picks. It is coming to the GameCube this winter.

Ubisoft has a number of excellent role-playing games coming. One of my show picks is Prince of Persia 2 for PC, PS2, Game Cube, and Xbox. This sequel to last year's hit Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has excellent graphics and game play looks good. However, this game is not for the faint at heart because the Prince can literally slice and dice his opponents with his sword. Another of my picks is Brothers in Arms, a combination of squad based and first person shooter based on the real life adventures of a squad of paratroopers during and in the days after D-Day for the PC and Xbox and will be out in time for the holidays. It is coming in 4th quarter of this year. Another superb looking game is Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3. In this game of stealth for the PC you are trying to break up terrorists' efforts to bring down US via sabotaging and hijacking its computer systems. The previous Splinter Cell games have been good, and this should be no exception. If you really want to see a game with photo realistic graphics escape into the adventure of Myst IV Revelation for the PC. It is a continuation of the Myst series where you will discover through exploration and interaction with game characters the answers to questions left hanging from the previous games in the series.

Another show pick is Everquest II. Sony Online Entertainment is coming with a world 500 years after the current Everquest; but with enriched graphics, better game play, and better adventures. Unlike a lot of these games, Everquest II does not just throw you into the virtual world to fend for yourself the best you can. You start off on a large sailing ship with only you and a bunch of computer generated 3D characters. Your purpose on your voyage to you first town in the virtual world is to learn how the world works from the computer generated characters and interacting with things on the ship. They are designing the game to be friendly not only to the experienced massively multiplayer online role playing game player, but to the novice as well. Unlike Everquest, there will be no Mac version and will be for Windows only. This online world will be ready for you to join this November. For those of you Star Wars Galaxies fans who have been disappointed that you can't journey into space and duke it out in an X-Wing Fighter, Lucas Arts/Sony Online Entertainment's Star Wars Galaxies: Jump To Light Speed expansion pack will be coming out in November. Also Sega and Warner Brothers will bring you The Matrix Online, which takes place right after the end of the third The Matrix movie. It will be coming out in November for the PC.

One of the games that is the best selling game ever is Electronic Arts' The Sims. The upcoming The Sims 2 is very different. Your characters are fully 3D, detailed, and you get up close with them. They have motivations that cause them to act in certain and sometimes unexpected ways without you doing anything. You can control up to four characters and are creating a story of a family over multiple generations. It sounds serious, but you can have some fun by creating episodes right out of a soap opera. This pick of mine for the PC will be coming out this fall. Sony's Grand Turismo 4 for the PS 2 is finally coming out before the end of the year and it looks like it is worth the wait; with great graphics, 100 courses and 500 cars to drive plus online play with up to six players. Microsoft Game Studio's Forza Motorsport is for you racing fan on an Xbox and will be out in time for the holidays. The Leisure Suit Larry series has returned with Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude. This time it is Larry's nephew whose comic exploits to try to score with women are explored. It will be coming out this October for the PS2, Xbox, and PC. Of course it is not a game, but Microsoft for the Xbox and Sony for the Playstation 2 will be offering videoconferencing via their gaming networks coming this fall (marketing game consoles to parents and grandparents so they can see and talk to their kids/grandkids?).

There will be great games coming out this year, so many I could not comment on the great looking games already announced for next year. The problem may be you will have too many good ones to choose from.