AT E3 SHOW, BE LOUD TO GET CROWD EXHIBITORS USE CELEBRITIES, ODDITIES TO ATTRACT ATTENTION.

Byline: Jason Z. Cohen  Staff Writer

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo, where exhibit halls were jammed with 55,000 attendees and sound effects and music blasted from giant speakers, it's hard for a company to get noticed.

So Disney Interactive opted for star power, with Regis Philbin hosting a version of his popular game show, ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.''

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. attracted visitors with the sheer mass of its booth, coupled with a healthy dose of its new game system, PlayStation 2, which comes to market in October.

And at least a dozen exhibitors opted for the tried-and-true method of handing out free T-shirts or trinkets.

Then there was Imagine Media, a Northern California publisher of magazines targeted at the game-playing audience, which locked a guy in a glass enclosure for three days.

It's not some cruel form of torture, said J.C. Standish, director of marketing for Revolution, one of Imagine Media's publications. The idea was to attract the attention of advertisers and show them just who Imagine's audience is.

The man in the box is Gen-i-Joe, an actual reader of Imagine's publications and a professional DJ and competitive snowboarder.

``E3 is one of those places where everybody is competing for eyeballs and spending millions of dollars,'' Standish said. ``We want to show what our readers are like in their own environment.''

That environment is heavy on the electronics, stocked with three game systems, a computer, a DVD player, an audio system and a nice, comfy recliner.

So how does he go to the bathroom? Do they let him out at night?

``He calls us on his cell phone when he wants to get out,'' Standish said. ``He's only in there during show hours.''

At the Disney Interactive booth, Philbin made only a brief appearance, spending about 20 minutes quizzing people chosen from the audience and testing their knowledge of Disney trivia.

Although he didn't once ask participants whether they were giving their final answer, Philbin was generous with the taunts when he got an incorrect answer.

``Wrong, Matt, wrong!'' Philbin shouted when a participant botched a question.

The game show host also fielded a question from the audience about his other existence as host of ``Live with Regis and Kathie Lee.'' When asked if a replacement for his co-host, Kathie Lee Gifford, had been chosen, he said the search has not yet officially begun.

``I really don't know who's going to replace her,'' he said.

It took more than the host of the nation's most popular television show to attract the attention of Scott Cablin and his two sons, Andrew, 13, and Bryon, 8, of Sun Valley. The three stood for an hour in a line that encircled the booth of Calabasas-based game publisher THQ Inc. for a face-to-face with Mick Foley.

One of the top personalities in the World Wrestling Federation, Foley, who also appears as the masked wrestler Mankind, signed autographs to promote THQ's lineup of titles produced under its license with the WWF.

``They got rather excited when they heard he was coming,'' Cablin said.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Regis Philbin makes an appearance at the L.A. Convention Center to promote a ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' CD-ROM.

(2 -- color) Christine Stell whips up the crowd Friday to publicize Game Pro magazine at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer