Expectations sure were at an all-time high for this year's E3, especially due to the unveiling of a next-generation console by each major console maker, but it seemed in some ways that the game companies poured all their hopes into those consoles for this year. If you're like me and have been attending E3 for several years, you're likely to notice that some things seem relatively static from year to year, including the booth setups and design of many of the major booths, expensive food, and long lines for everything. Of course, there were also a number of other things that you could count on, whether you liked them or not.

Konami - With few major titles coming out this year, the Japanese publisher relied on its usual setup of a giant screen with lots of sitting room to attract folks to watch trailers for Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Ac!d 2. The basic design of the booth remained the same as in years past but featured far less in terms of creative game kiosks.

Nintendo - Sure, the inverted-bowl design of Nintendo's 2003 setup may not have inspired any interior designers to drop to their knees on Nintendo's plush carpet and bow in reverence, but the glowing LCD pillars of pixellated fire introduced at the 2004 show must have been pretty expensive, because they were back again this year. So was the crowd lining up around the very same perimeter of the booth, glaring menacingly at Sony fanboys waiting in line to see the PS3. Which leads me to...

Sony -  While Sony added a spiffy second floor space to the public area of their booth, their basic design and strategic place next to Nintendo remained the same as last year. So did the line of folks waiting to see the PS3 that wrapped around the booth giving funny looks to the folks waiting to see the new Zelda title at the Nintendo booth across the way.

Natsume - With Harvest Moon being their best-known series at this point, Natsume is getting known around these parts as the "cow booth." Go there on any given year and you'll immediately see why--there is always a giant plush cow in the booth, usually accompanied by other forms of ridiculously adorable farm animals.

Of course, there were many other offenders that chose to use the very same booth design as the year before, hoping that nobody would notice. Okay, I suppose these things are really expensive and impractical to store, so it's understandable to have some of the same, but it really does feel repetitive after awhile.

Though they're not always in the same places, E3 is also host to an additional bevy of oddities that we can usually find...somewhere.

Costumed Geeks - We're not talking about paid mascots, unfortunately. Some folks are so moved by the chance to attend gaming's biggest event that they feel the need to come dressed in a costume of some sort.

Nerd Hos - Sometimes you see girls walking around and you're not quite sure if they're booth babes or not. I mean, they're dressed up and all but don't seem to be affiliated with any particular booth, and often look a little more girl-next-door than Playmate-next-door. This must mean they're dressed up for one reason and one reason only--they love nerd attention.

Forum Members - Gamers inhabit forums of all kinds, but sometimes only meet other forum members in real life at events like E3. The G4 message boards are no exception, and the G4 booth can expect a visit each year from several forum regulars, including the ubiquitous Blackwolf. 

Past Booth Visitors - While so many people travel through E3 per day that it would be nearly impossible to determine if someone's been there before, G4 had a quaint little promotion a couple of years ago that involved giving out G4 tattoos for free. Now, we're not just talking temporary designs--though we had those, too--but genuine, painful, freak-out-your-mom tattoos. Two years later, we'd understand if you don't really feel like parading around G4's old logo on your arm as a walking advertisement (we were around before GoldenPalace.com!), but we did indeed run into at least one veteran of that human experiment at the Konami booth, who proudly displayed his G4/Triforce tattoo. 

Eric Suzuki at E3 2003 (left) and E3 2005 (right). You go, man.