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More than 60,000 of the video-game industry's faithful will attend the the game show at Los Angelas this week. With NPD Funworld estimating that game sales grew only 3 percent for the first two months of this year, game publishers need more consoles in the hands of customers to boost their business. And the only way that's going to happen is with major price cuts.

Price cuts are the usual tactic for moving hardware that is getting old. This Christmas will be the fourth for the Sony PlayStation 2 ($199) and the third for both the Microsoft Xbox ($199) and the Nintendo GameCube ($149).

Some observers believe the major console makers will announce price cuts at the E3 conference. But others worry that the cuts won't occur until the fall.

If the cuts are delayed, that could wreak havoc with the software industry's financial projections. Brian Farrell, chief executive of THQ, currently estimates software will grow 10 percent to 15 percent this year, and Electronic Arts, which typically grows faster than the industry, estimates its own sales will grow 13 percent to 17 percent in 2003.

Sony sold 51 million PS 2 consoles worldwide to date, compared to about 9 million each for the Xbox and GameCube. In the United States Sony has pledged it will sell an additional 10 million units in North America this year. Larry Probst, CEO of Electronic Arts, expects 2.5 million to 3 million Xboxes to sell in North America this year and 2 million to 2.5 million GameCubes.

Sony is close to locking down hardware specifications for the PlayStation 3, which probably won't debut until 2005 or 2006. It has said the machine will use a cell microprocessor being jointly designed by Sony, IBM and Toshiba.

Microsoft is working on Xenon, the code name for its Xbox Next console, which is expected to use Intel-compatible chips. Nintendo is working with ATI Technologies on its next GameCube. Both Microsoft and Nintendo say they aren't going to be late with this generation of hardware, as they were last time.

Two small companies will try to capture some attention for their own hardware. Infinium Labs of Sarasota, Fla., will talk about its Linux-based Phantom console that will debut with high-end graphics in 2004. And Digital Interactive Systems of San Gabriel will show a DISCover console that plays PC games on a TV set. But it's unclear how these companies are going to grab consumer attention away from the big players.

Despite the industry's obsession with the outlook for gaming hardware, E3 will still be a place to show off the latest games. More than 1,350 titles from 400 companies will be on display.