Last year, E3 attendees queued up to watch a 10-minute Doom III demo in a theater. On the strength of that preview, Doom III won Best of Show, nearly unheard of for a game no one had played, let alone one whose introduction was 1½ years out.

This year, id will be even more understated, with a video wall showing game footage. "We just want to focus on finishing the game," says Willits, 31.

That suits the slumping $1.4 billion PC industry just fine. It's counting on the graphically strenuous Doom III to help drive hardware sales. Already, computer makers such as Dell and Alienware have started a run on Intel's fastest microprocessors for a new generation of systems designed for gamers. Video-card rivals ATI and nVidia are upgrading their graphics systems so they can claim to be best at handling the new game.