Games round-up from Los Angeles E3 expo

Last week's E3 expo in Los Angeles may well have been the biggest video game expo staged so far. The world's major game developers were there showing off new titles, many of which will debut on the new Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution consoles.

Here are some of the gaming highlights we can expect next year:

* Sci-fi first-person shooter Gears of War will debut on the Xbox 360 and if the early demos of the game are anything to go by, it will be as big as Halo 2.

* Game developer Rare had some compelling clips from their new game Perfect Dark Zero, which is also being made for Xbox 360.

* PC title Civilization IV takes the massive strategy franchise 3D but pretty much involves the same themes of global domination.

* Movie adaptations feature strongly with Scarface and The Godfather that each look like faithful versions of the movies. Scarface will be released on PS2 and looks like a cross between Grand Theft Auto and Al Pacino's violent shoot-out at the end of the movie. * Peter Jackson's King Kong has the epic scale of the Lord of the Rings films. It will be released on the PS2 and Nintendo GameCube in December.

* The franchise conveyor belt rolls on with the introduction of the new consoles. A demo of Need For Speed went over familiar territory, albeit in fantastic visual style. Half Life 2 finally comes to the Xbox. A short demo at E3 took us through the start of the game which looked smooth on the Xbox platform but apparently no better than the PS2 version already on the market.