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The expo floor opened quietly today, overshadowed by the Bill Gates press conference and the announcement of the worst-kept secret in the industry, the X-Box console. The opening, however, was the only quiet thing about the expo floor. The floor itself was covered with the expected array of garish colors, throbbing music, and large-monitors showing throbbing demos with garish colors.

Well, since the expo floor is all about style and not about substance, on to the pictures!

Apple's booth was down a bit from last year. Instead of the little audience of chairs with the booth-bot dissing Windows constantly, they just had out the machines. They were demo-ing their AirPort radio internet technology by running the obligatory internet death matches, but over a wireless connection. No sign off Mac OS X. There was a presentation later in the week that you could see if you signed an NDA, though.

Where Apple was understated, Intel was taking over. They easily had the widest booth of the conference, slap-dab in the middle of the floor. Tons of monitors and booth-bots showing off new technologies and development tools.

Intel was bigger, Apple was smaller, and Nintendo almost disappeared entirely. No keynotes from Nintendo this year. No interesting demos. Just a small private booth tucked off to the side.

Sega, on the other hand, was well in attendance. Plenty of machines running games like Chu Chu Rocket, and a few machines showing off development tools. Times have certainly changed. While the old consoles of the 70's had one assembly-based development environment to choose from, the Dreamcast actually has several complete C++ compilers available for it. The times, they are a-changin'.

Not to be outdone by the creepy puppet for Lip SYNC, Nickelodeon brought along a couple of Rugrats. They're announcing a party later this week, with party invitations tucked into cute cork-stoppered test-tubes. No green slime was in sight.

In contrast to the puppets, there was the standard bevy of bimbo-riffic booth-babes. Like last year, every motion-capture studio brought along a babe or two to show off their technology. This year Vicon8 and Ascention Technology didn't disappoint. There were also random babes scattered about, applying stickers to passers-by. The pictured ones were manning the Aureal booth.

There was a bit of content if you knew where to look. Playstation 2 development kits were hot this year. Startup ProDG was showing off their kit. Times have certainly changed. In the past, you had the choice of one assembly-based development environment for consoles. Nowadays, there are several robust C++ compilers available for every new platform.

Somebody accidentally parked their Harley in Metrowerks' booth, so they decided to give it away. They were also showing off their ever-growing array of multi-platform compilers. They did a good job of cramming an impressive booth in a small space.

Microsoft had a relatively small space for their booth, but they compensated by going vertical! The view from the second floor of their booth was impressive, but you had to know somebody to get up there.

Book booths are always a good way to check out a publisher's latest products and pick some up at a discount. There were three or four book booths scattered about the floor.

Handhelds were conspicuous by their absence. The only small devices in sight were in a tiny Palm Computing booth at the back of the floor. Boy, you'd think that someone who had just made skillions in their IPO would have a better presence.

Apple sponsored the On-line Living Room last year. Intel's doing it this year. All in all, though, there wasn't much difference. Not enough computers for folks who want to check their email from the expo floor.

If you've got a small booth lost over in the corner of the floor, how can you possibly get people to notice you? A bubble machine and free beer! Virtual Search sponsored this particular bit of cuteness.

And, in possibly the most incongruous booth of all, LiveCube.com had nothing at all to offer game developers. They were simply showing off their little plastic puzzle-cube game and corresponding online support site. The game, however, was rather clever, so it somehow fit.