So what will folks who will attend E3 actually see this year at the show?

Ah, here is the fun part for me where I can do my "educated speculation" that I mentioned before. Since we are smack dab in the middle of the typical console hardware product cycle, you might expect the major game console folks to concentrate more on the games. However, the competition from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft is so hot for the console market that there may be some surprises on the hardware front this year at E3. Already there has been some printed rumors on a few web sites that suggest Microsoft might offer up a smaller version of the Xbox at E3 (same hardware specs, smaller case). Sony execs have stated up front that they are pushing up production of their successor to the Playstation 2 and we might hear more about this at E3. One thing that seems to be a safe bet is an announcement of an across the board price cut for the PS2, Xbox and GameCube at E3. And what about Nokia? The cell phone manufacturer last week announced their plans for the N-Gage game-phone device last week and you can bet they will have a presence at E3 this year