Cool or creepy? Microsoft has sent people into your hotel room with marketing materials. (Photo by Holly Frey)

This year HowStuffWorks.com sent Tech Editor Holly Frey to the Electronics Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. Since she doesn’t have her own blog account yet, I’ll be posting her updates this week. Judging by what I’ve read, she’s having a good time!

OK, let me kick off by saying that I am a giant child. A giant child who hearts gaming and is easily drawn in by shiny objects. Now that we’ve got that covered, you can easily make the short walk to the conclusion that a show like E3, for me, is roughly akin to setting a sugar addict loose in a cupcake factory.  It’s difficult to focus initially. My first day was spent running around what felt like Santa’s workshop, geeking out at one yummy thing after another.

The Move demo areas throw a very karaoke vibe. (Photo by Holly Frey)

In a rare moment of focus, I got to spend some time at the Sony PlayStation booth, and it was loaded with people. LOADED. If there’s a big concern over Sony’s reputation in the gaming industry after the recent security breach of the PlayStation Network, it didn’t show today. In fact, many of their new titles are highly focused on multiplayer online gaming. “Starhawk” for the PS3 is a big batch of western/outer space/transforming robot deliciousness, and it’s made for up to 16 players. “Uncharted 3” is built for up to 10 players, and the latest iteration of “Twisted Metal,” one of the longest-running franchises in all of gaming, is built for up to 12 maniacally disturbed characters to play at once.

Calling anything with two levels a booth seems silly. Sony's PS Vita drew huge crowds all day long. (Photo by Holly Frey)

Sony has glass-walled, karaoke-style lounge areas set up throughout its booth so attendees can sample the latest PlayStation Move titles and showcase the flapping fun to the rest of the expo at the same time. These were never as heavily populated as the other areas of the Sony zone. I find myself wondering what the shelf life on Move is going to be. Truthfully, Sony has already supported the tech longer than I expected, so I clearly am no prognosticator.

The PlayStation-branded television, on the other hand, is a fascinating little thing. (I have to use the word “little” — for the moment, it’s only available as a 24-inch screen.) It’s stereoscopic 3-D. This isn’t unusual in a market where every home entertainment electronics company is producing 3-D televisions, but this one has a fun little twist on two-player gaming. While wearing the 3-D glasses that will be bundled with the display, each player only sees his or her game — with no need for split screen. That’s very cool indeed. I was surprised once I got to Sony’s demo area because they only had one of these new televisions on display, and no one seemed terribly interested. That’s probably because it was all on its lonesome in a corner of the area dedicated to the star of the Sony PlayStation show.

Sony Marketing had banners all over the downtown area to make sure every E3 attendee knew that there was some new candy to sample. (Photo by Holly Frey)

That star is, of course, the PS Vita. Previously known as the Sony NGP (Next Generation Player), the Vita handheld is Sony’s true showpiece for the week. Even with an appointment to tour the booth, it was still almost impossible to get time with the Vita, and that’s a good sign for Sony. No one wanted to put the thing down once they had it in their hands. The 5-inch touch screen, the cameras, the touch pad on the back of the unit, the two analog joysticks — there are so many features to play with that even a quick demo of each takes some time. While most attendees to the show seemed relatively keen on the PS Vita, the consensus was not so jolly regarding the device’s exclusive 3G carrier: AT&T. “Little Big Planet” fans will be delighted to hear that a new version of title designed to take advantage of the PS Vita’s features is in the works.

Once I wrapped up my PlayStation booth tour, I was off like a rocket for more frantic exploring and ogling before things shut down for the day. I put a LOT of ticks on my pedometer today. Here’s a lesson I learned accidentally while touring the Los Angeles convention center: If you want to make new friends at a conference, plop down next to a hallway power outlet and get down to business recharging your phone. I met a really nice guy from Ubisoft who needed a quick power-up and asked if he could borrow my charger, plus another person who plugged his phone into the same outlet as mine. The need for electricity unites us all. (There’s got to be a way to gamify phone charging, right?)