This year was my first time attending E3, the massive circus where video game companies, large and small, get to strut their stuff. The general carnage of brand new games in conjunction with incredibly gorgeous girls in tight clothes running rampant tends to leave one reeling. It's hard to actually concentrate on one thing, as your attention is constantly being shifted to the next amazing game or big flashy sign. The atmosphere is a something of a cross between Las Vegas, an arcade, and a rave. Loud, thumping techno music and swirling neon lights prevail as thousands of people gather to see what's in store for the next year.

As can be expected, the main thing on everyone's mind was the much-anticipated Playstation 2. Upon entering the Los Angeles Convention Center where E3 was held this year, the first thing I did was make a bee-line for Sony. I was greeted by numerous women (Sony sure can pick 'em, these girls looked like Victoria's Secret models) who handed me keychains and T-shirts. I kept walking through the gauntlet of voluptuous girls, pushing my way past many a fat Japanese man, and finally I came upon the Sony display. A huge, monolithic television screen that made up one entire wall of the Sony building displayed visions of the Playstation 2, and we stood in front of it, where Sony representitives were passing out the tickets we needed to get inside. The screen suddenly opened up, and we walked inside, handing our tickets to the large men at the door.

This is where the magic and awe came to a grinding halt. Inside the room, smoke machines belched out thick white fog and the in the center was a display of white pillars jutting up from the floor. We watched a cheesey lazer show that lasted a good 4 minutes, and at the climax, a Playstation 2 shot up on a platform into view, and that was that. We then saw on a screen some demos of the new games coming out. Some looked slightly impressive, but it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before on a Dreamcast. It evoked a few "oohs" and "awes" from the audience, but it seemed like more of a knee-jerk reaction than actual genuine wonderment. After it was over, we were ushered out like cattle through a barrage of more women and keychains into the general Sony area. I played a couple games; Tekken Tag Tournament, some piece of cow fodder called Gunslinger, and Armored Core 2. Playstation 2 may have a higher polygon count than Dreamcast, but I didn't notice the difference. Soul Caliber completely blows Tekken Tag Tournament away game-play wise, and the graphics looked about the same, if not better. Whoo-ee. Kind of dissapointing, actually.

I think once Playstation 2 comes out, Dreamcast will be a force to be reckoned with. Sega's little machine is already gaining dominance over the market, and since Sony is only releasing one million Playsation 2's untill March, (an absolutely retarded move, I think, since there is a market for at least seven million...) I think a lot of kids are going to be getting Dreamcast for Christmas. Sega has already managed to erase the memories of Saturn's dismal performance, and Dreamcast is running strong. With tons of new and great titles coming out (Quake 3, Half Life, Shenmue, Black and White, Phantasy Star Online, the list goes on...), it's only going to get better for Sega.

Nintendo had a few interesting things going, (Perfect Dark, Mask of Majora, Banjo-Tooie) but the majority of Nintendo's floorspace was occupied by (who would have guessed) Pokemon. Predictable? Yes. Exciting? Not in the least.

What games Nintendo does have that look good, really look good. Perfect Dark is turning out to be everything it's cracked up to be. This is going to be one of those games that keeps on giving, just like it's big brother, Goldeneye. Spectacular.

For me, Mask of Majora was one of the highlights of E3. This game is going to kick ass, plain and simple. I played a couple levels, one of which was a boss; some kind of jungle dancing guy with a big sword. He attacked with big clouds of what looked like bats. The colors of the game are extremely vibrant, almost psychedellic. You want more? Mask of Majora has the Overworld Theme. 'Nuff said.

One of the coolest things I saw was Bleem! for Dreamcast. They had Gran Turismo going on Playstation, and next to it, Dreamcast, and let me tell you, the one on Dreamcast looked like Playstation 2. This is the original Gran Turismo I'm talking about, and the graphics made it look like it was something brand new! The difference was astounding! This little gadget managed to make a 3 year old game look like one of the brand new racing games for Playstation 2! Bleem! has managed to knock out one of the major legs that Playstation 2 was standing on, backwards compatability. Take that, Sony!

Most will agree that Sega was running the show. There are so many great games coming out for Dreamcast that I wonder if this machine is the next Playstation. And with the online gaming kicking in, and price dropping to $149 this summer, things are only going to get better.

Regarding Microsoft's upcoming console, the X-Box, there was nothing being shown but a big black wall with the X-Box logo on it. Nothing on Dolphin or Game Boy Advance yet, either.

E3 was also a great place to screw around. There was a big Dreamcast display, with a stage and the logo right in the middle on the floor. There was a bright light shining down from above, centered exactly on the Dreamcast logo, like some divine power endorsing Sega. I got up on the stage and layed face down on the logo and stayed perfectly still with the spotlight shining down on me. Meanwhile, my friend was far away watching and laughing his ass off. I stayed this way for about 3 minutes, untill a small crowd formed around me. The funniest part was the hoarde of Japanese people taking pictures of me. Finally, I got up and strode off without a word. I wish I had some of those pictures.

Like I said, there were hoardes of Japanese people. Every single one of them had some sort of camera. They were filming or taking pictures of everything. There was a young Japanese girl filming some life-size model of Donkey Kong, and I got in the view of the camera and lifted my shirt over my head and started dancing. I did this every time I saw a Japanese person filming something. Pretty funny.

Another cool thing besides the video games was the Sega girls. There was a wall set up with various platforms 15-25 feet in the air. On each of the platforms was a girl dressed in some sort of vinyl mini-skirt thing doing these really wild dances, bumping and grinding their hips, etc. Quite cool. I don't know what it had to do with video games, but quite cool nontheless.

All in all, E3 was a very cool event. Aside from the eight dollar hot dogs, it was a total blast. I can't wait untill next year, when I can actually go legally. This year, I had to lie on my application and say I'm 18. This required some shifty manuevers, but it worked, and I got to have this great experience.