E3 is the most important date in the games industry calendar. 55,000 developers, publishers, retailers and journalists descend on Downtown LA to do the deals that will dictate the course of the game industry's year. For every developer what happens here is the difference between success and failure. The buzz that surrounds your game is a decisive factor in whether or not it will be a hit. To this end Elixir spent March and April working flat out to be ready for the show. It was brutal stuff and reminded me of doing Finals: a big chunk of your life rests on the fortunes of a single week.

Most of the team worked every weekend from the New Year and weekday evenings till the small hours. If the competition are working 15 hours a day, I want us to be working 16 hours a day. Nothing can be left to chance. We worked through Easter and the Bank holidays to have something that we thought we could put up against the best games in the world. With over 5,000 games at the show, there's no room for error or mediocrity. We had to have something that would establish Republic: The Revolution as one of the games of next year.

None of which could have been further from my mind as I found myself sprinting towards a Heathrow departure gate, cradling the demo PC in my arms, with the words "Gate Closing" next to our scheduled flight number. There's something very comical about a man in full flight carrying a server sized PC in his arms (that is, as long as it's not you). Dave on the other hand showed impressive pace for a man who'd been up coding for the previous two nights. None of which helped settle our now jangling nerves, as we stepped onto the plane, red faced and pouring with sweat. Having nearly decapitated half of business class with the computer, we finally settled into our seats. Stress? It hadn't even begun. Welcome to E3.

E3 is about the relentless business of selling your game. You're just one of thousands of developers screaming "look at me!" at tired journalists. You can't avoid this - It's part of the business of making games. The games are mostly shown on the stands themselves, which creates an atmosphere akin to a Motorhead concert, but with only half the charm. It's an assault on the senses and not to be faced when hungover. It's very hard to command your own attention let alone anyone else's (unless you're one of the scantily clad and much pawed models doing the rounds at the show). To counteract this I asked Eidos to let us have a private demonstration room at the back of their stand and they graciously gave us one. In total Demis gave 45 half-hour demonstrations to journalists from countries as diverse as Turkey and Ukraine. Although gruelling, it was incredibly rewarding and instructive. If you're really honest you admit that working so close to something for so long makes it hard for you to step back and see what you've actually got. Seeing your game excite hard-bitten journalists is inspiring.

As with most European developers, the hardest part of the show was persuading American journalists to sit up and notice your game. I think it's fair to say that the American market is very introspective (Deer Hunter anyone?) and it's real struggle to get yourself heard. Of the 4 million copies Theme Park sold, only 10% of the total were sold in the US.

The biggest disappointment for me was that I only had an hour to look around the show. I'm always desperate to see what's out there, to see what I can look forward to playing in the near future. Of the games that I saw, you couldn't help but be amazed by the demo of Metal Gear Solid 2 that was shown on a cinema screen on the Konami stand. Huge crowds of people gathered around to see it. Above all else it was a chilling demonstration of Japanese power. Like everyone who saw it, I can't wait to get my hands on it. Commandos 2 also looked superb.

Whilst in LA we stayed in a beautiful hotel in the Westwood area with a crowd from Eidos. Demis invariably spent his evenings with important people, such as other CEOs. Luckily I had no such restrictions and ended up spending my time with a lot of different people. I was amused to notice that for all LA's many attractions, put Brits in an exotic city anywhere in the world and they'll make a pilgrimage to the local British themed pub, which they duly did.

We bumped into a lot of old faces whilst there. Some of the guys from Mucky Foot for instance were staying in the same hotel as us. Gary Carr was Lead Artist on Theme Hospital and Demis and he spent a long time reminiscing about old Bullfrog days. When Demis first got to Bullfrog as a fresh faced 15 year old they used to sit next to each other and Gary used to wind him up mercilessly. He's a great bloke, irreverent and cheeky, and a lot of fun to spend time with. Their new game Startopia looks great and they had a good show.

My favourite experience of the show involved being invited to dinner with the UK Managing Director of a large publisher and ended up drinking tequila slammers at 2AM. I tried to sneak off and catch a cab, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Where the f#/k do you think you're going?" shouted the MD. "Get back in here and drink more tequila!" Obviously I didn't want to offend him; dutifully I sank more tequila in the name of Elixir Studios.

When we returned home we found out that PC Format, the UK's biggest PC leisure magazine had made Republic: The Revolution their game of the show. This was fantastic news and the team was thrilled. Overall the press response was incredibly positive (one Italian journalist described it as the most exciting strategy game since Civilization). As ever, this won't concern us, as we know there's a huge amount of work to be done and a lot of die to be rolled...

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