The E3 video games conference in Los Angeles is in full swing now, and the major console makers and software developers have rolled out the celebrities, teased about cutting edge technologies and pleased hardcore fans with news about Mario and Halo, etc. Now it’s about convincing consumers and retailers that the games on display are going to be must-haves this year.

So we thought you’d like to see what everyone here sees. Here are a few of the games being played on the show floor, each showing off amazing graphics and realism.

God of War III, by Sony, due in 2010:

UFC 2009 Undisputed, by THQ Inc, debuted in May

Red Faction: Guerilla, by THQ Inc, was just released this week.

This week marks the kick off the video game industry’s biggest event - Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, which opens on Tuesday in Los Angeles. Usually this is where the best new consoles and multi-level games make their debuts with all the attendant excitement and drama.

But this year the beaten-up economy might have more of a starring role as we note in our preview here.  As the economy splutters along, video game sales are doing okay; they’re up 13 percent in the fiscal year to $28.7 billion, according to Hudson Square Research. However, to keep that going in the year ahead analysts suggest that price cuts on some of game consoles might be in order. Actually that would be just one game console: Sony’s Playstation 3, currently priced around $400. As Billy Pidgeon, analyst at Game Changer Research said:

The thing that would really boost the industry in this traditionally slow period would be a Sony price cut, That would really help right now.

This year’s event also hopes to return to its glory days by throwing open its doors to the public again after two years experimenting with an insiders-only approach.  The show, which once drew crowds of nearly 80,000, downsized to 5,000. But insiders are not so sure that worked. According to Yves Guillemot, chief executive of France’s Ubisoft Entertainment :

In the last two or three years it was almost a nonevent. We think it will be a major event — the show has to be big. We want to attract more and more talent from all the other industries (so) they can see what is happening now.

Keep an eye on:

• From Tonight Conan O’Brien tries to fill Leno’s boots. (NYTimes)
• Sony’s catalog music now available on eMusic (NY Times)
• DoJ sides with Cablevision in network DVR case (Reuters)

(Photo of Playstation 3 controller/Reuters)

Harmonix threw the hottest and most exclusive party of the E3 conference on Wednesday night at L.A.’s Orpheum Theater. The “Rock Band Bash” concert celebrated Harmonix’s upcoming “Rock Band 2″ game and featured a private concert by one of the band’s included in the game’s updated tracklist — The Who. 

When we went to pick up our tickets at the MTV Games E3 showroom late Wednesday afternoon, a line of hopeful concertgoers snaked around the entrance. But their dreams were dashed moments later as their names weren’t on on the exclusive “invite-only” guest list that included “24″ star Kiefer Sutherland and AC/DC drummer Chris Slade.

It was clear we had one of the most coveted tickets in town.

Concertgoers had a chance to try out the new “Rock Band 2″ game before showtime.  About twenty minutes before the concert started, there was a mad sprint to grab the perfect seat. But the Orpheum wasn’t packed by any means, which made it almost like a private concert with the Who. 

Bragging rights aside, the experience was priceless.  Red party cups (yes, the same ones that can be found at any college kegger party) in hand, the audience filled with both young and old Who fans got to enjoy a two hour set. Band members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend rocked out to some of their biggest hits, including “My Generation” and “Pinball Wizard,” which the audience granted a standing ovation. 

Townshend, like always, shredded it on the guitar, but also showed off his humorous side. He admitted to disliking the colors of the buttons on the guitar controller (green, red, yellow, blue and orange) and called out the Harmonix employee who designed it. Apparently pink, green and orange would work better, he said. Townshend even poked fun at Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and the recent launch of Aerosmith’s “Guitar Hero” edition, referring to it as “that other game.” 

– Reporting by Jennifer Martinez

It’s the third day of E3. The press conferences are finished and we are finally getting to spend some quality time with some of the most buzzed about games of the coming year.

Video games reporter Kemp Powers stopped by the Capcom booth and shot and slashed his way through one of the most impressive games of the show, “Resident Evil 5.” (Video below)

The follow-up to the 2005 hit “Resident Evil 4″ on the Nintendo GameCube, Sony Playstation 2 and Wii, this new game is the first offering in the survival horror series for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3. It’s due for a worldwide release on March 13, 2009.

More than just a typical sequel, “RE4″ was a critical and sales smash that rewrote the book on horror games and pioneered a unique over-the-shoulder view that is now ubiquitous in action titles. “Gears of War,” “Mass Effect” and “Metal Gear Solid 4″ are just a few of the big games that now employ the view.

The new game, though definitely a massive upgrade in the graphics department, appears to be sticking with the adage “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” which should make loyal fans of the series very happy.

Hero Chris Redfield travels to a fictional city in Africa, where the entire population of the city has been transformed into mindless zombie-like creatures. In this adventure, players are accompanied by a computer-controlled partner, Sheva, who shares weapons and ammunition, opens doors and even heals Chris when he is injured.

She is also pretty handy with guns and rifles, which is a relief when being attacked by swarming hordes of enemies.

In the recently announced cooperative mode, a second player controls Sheva, who is necessary for accessing hard to reach areas and solving numerous environmental puzzles.

Here’s a quick video of one of the game levels that demonstrates the fabulous new graphics and gore-filled action of “Resident Evil 5.”

WARNING: it’s not for the squeamish.

Electronic Arts is taking its popular “Skate” game to another level with the introduction of “Skate It” made exclusively for Nintendo’s Wii and DS.

“Skate It” follows a similar storyline as its predecessor, but it gets players off the couch and onto their Wii Fit Balance Boards. A player’s body weight on the balance board controls their turns and jumps on the skateboard.

If you’re a skateboarder or snowboarder, don’t be too confident. The game’s not as easy as it looks as our reporter Jennifer Martinez (not pictured)  found out when she got off to a rocky (and embarrassing) start to the game.

But fear not, after three or four tries she got the hang of the making turns and jump grabs on the balance board.

But you don’t need a balance board to play the game, the Wii Remote and Nunchuck can also control your ollies and kick flips. The stylus takes care of these functions on the DS.

As the creator of video game hits “Dance Dance Revolution”  and “Karaoke Revolution,” Konami has proved its chops in music video games. But now the Japanese game developer is moving into “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” territory with rock music game “Rock Revolution.”

Reporter Jennifer Martinez tried out Konami’s E3 demo room to test the game and found crisp and colorful graphics — which were nearly identical to those of the two older rivals.

As in “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band”, “Rock Revolution” players follow color-coded notes streaming on a television screen to play a rock song and earn points if the song is played correctly.

Konami’s “DDR” was the first dance video game of its kind and an international success, but “Rock Revolution” comes late to the rock band genre party, where Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts dominate.

The game currently features 40 songs but will offer more downloadable content on the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation3 after the game is released in Fall 2008. Some rock hits already featured on the game disc are Linkin Park’s “Given Up,” Blink 182’s “Small Things” and “Somebody Told Me” by the Killers.

The Konami reps were particularly proud of the game’s drum set, which includes a foot pedal and five drum tops to beat.

It’s closer to the real thing than the “Rock Band” drum set, but looks similar to pictures we’ve seen on gaming blogs of Activison Blizzard’s version for the new “Guitar Hero: World Tour” game, which will include a microphone and drum set in addition to its guitar controller.

So for now, it looks like “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” can rest comfortably in this battle of the bands.

Our video games reporter Kemp Powers went to today’s Ubisoft press conference, which featured the usual array of gun play and sword fighting fans expected from the French video game publisher.

The company, however, saved some of its most enthusiastic chest-bumping for an update on its “Games for Girls” brand strategy.

Tony Key, Ubisoft’s senior vice president of sales and marketing laid out the impressive data; in the first three months of 2008, sales in the division aimed at “tween,” or pre-teen, girls grew 63 percent. Six of the top ten third party titles on the Nintendo DS are games targeted to the tween set.

And the number one third party title on the DS is Ubisoft’s own “Imagine,” a series of games that allows girls to pretend to be animal doctors, fashion designers, chefs and other professions and has sold more than four million units worldwide.

“You definitely cannot call them casual,” Key said of young girl gamers. “They’re playing and buying a lot of games.”

Which is why Ubisoft is expanding its girl games brand by rolling out a new line of “Imagine” titles between now and October that includes “Teacher,” “Interior Designer,” “Movie Star” and “Wedding Designer.”

We’re not sure how many little girls dream of planning other people’s weddings when they grow up, but obviously Ubisoft has done some focus group study and knows better than we would what professions today’s girls find interesting.

Our favorite game of the bunch is “Party Babyz,” in which girls play as babysitters and entertain the little tykes by having them race, dance and have soap bubble contests.

“Ener-G” is the new brand offering that will seek to capitalize on the popularity of girl sports when it releases during the holidays.

Calling it “the first sports brand dedicated to girls,” Key explained that the interest in sports is at an all-time high among young girls, with one in two girls playing sports in 2008 and 50 percent of all high school athletes being female.

For a company that is renown for its games for the hardcore enthusiasts, Ubisoft is definitely proving that it knows what the young ladies like.

It was Nintendo’s turn to play a little music. Following on the heels of popular music genre games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, Nintendo showed off Wii Music at its E3 press conference.  Here’s a quick video — shot by our video games reporter Kemp Powers — of Nintendo executives, including legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto , playing the Mario theme song. (Hint: Miyamoto is the short Japanese man.)

The reception for the game was mixed.  The game does let you simulate more than 60 different instruments and it does seem easy to use. However, no one keeps score and you can’t play out of tune because the game picks-up motions to play the melody. The complaint seems to be that it is too basic and simple. (To be fair, many people said that about the Wii when it came out.)

One of my colleagues may have said it best. Guitar Hero and Rock Band makes you feel like a rock star. This game makes you look like you are in a high school marching band.

Electronic Arts provided a glimpse at “Spore,” a much-hyped game where players begin with their own basic microbe and customize their creature to weather environmental conditions and population changes on Earth. Reuters video game reporter Jennifer Martinez gives us the story from the news conference. 

During the  company’s E3 press conference, EA showed a brief trailer of the game and set a release date, Sept. 7, for the latest title from legendary game creator Will Wright, known for creating “SimCity” and “The Sims.”

EA has invested $80 million, according to one analyst, into making ”Spore,” which was inspired by Wright’s love of science and his favorite toy as a child, a chemistry set.

“Science and creativity are an amazingly fertile intersection,” said Wright at the news conference.  “Science was something you could make stuff out of.”

The storyline of Spore takes its cue from Charles Darwin, as the game is essentially a virtual action game based on the scientist’s evolution theory.  For example, if players want their creature to have 360-degree vision, they are able to add extra eyes to the character’s body.

The “survival of the fittest” game has already gained large following of fans through EA’s web launch of its “Creature Creator,” where users can log onto the site and create their own Spore character. 

Within the first 22 hours of the Creature Creator’s launch, over 100,000 Spore creatures were created by users.  Over a million creatures were created by the end of the week, according to EA.

Microsoft’s showcase of highly anticipated games for the Xbox 360 was mostly sequels of popular franchises, but all featured a new common element: cooperation.  Reuters games reporter Kemp Powers explains.

Cooperative play, in which several players work together to finish a single-player mission instead of blasting each other, seems to be the mode du jour these days.

It has already been announced that the next installment in the “Call of Duty” franchise, “Call of Duty: World at War,” will include a cooperative mode (the last game did not). “Halo 3,” the last installment of Microsoft’s flagship franchise, for the first time included the ability for up to four players to play the entire game cooperatively over Xbox Live.  

When online multiplayer play became popular on the Xbox Live service, it was driven by the strength of the multiplayer offerings in games like “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six.” That usually meant some variation of deathmatch, in which individual players (or teams of players) competed against other individuals/teams over Xbox Live.

The new cooperative components of these Xbox 360 heavy hitters are sure to be highly anticipated additions:

“Resident Evil 5″ (March 13, 2009) is the newest installment in the popular Capcom horror/action franchise. “Resident Evil 4″ was a huge critical and commercial success on the Nintendo GameCube and Sony Playstation 2, and now this newest title makes an appearance on the Xbox 360. The cooperative mode means two players can shoot, punch and kick through the hordes of frightening enemies together. Online teammates will also have to help one another navigate environments by opening doors, offering boosts and other cooperative maneuvers.

“Gears of War” is one of the biggest hit franchises exclusive to the Xbox 360, and “Gears of War 2″ (November 7) seems to be picking up where its hit predecessor left off, with even more action and gore than the original. The first title in the series already allowed the entire game to be played cooperatively over Xbox Live, so the sequel ups the ante with “horde,” a new mode that allows up to five players to play cooperatively. Rather than play through the single campaign with five people, “horde” will task the teammates with surviving an onslaught of computer-controlled attackers.

“Fable 2″ (October) While cooperatively play is becoming a common feature in action games and first person shooters, it was more of a surprise to see a co-op feature added to “Fable 2,” the follow up to the unique role-playing game that debuted on the original Xbox. In the game, players start off as a young child and gradually build their character into a full-grown hero (or villain). This time out, players can also call one of their Xbox Live friends into the game so that they can fight, play and quest together.

(Photo: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni)