IT'S THOSE FANCY ACCESSORIES THAT HIT THE GAMER'S WALLET.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

Only the most gauche gamer buys just the basics.

You've got your Xbox 360, which will probably run around $400 or so, but that's just the beginning. Unless you want to look like a total dork, you're going to need a cooler controller and a better screen. Once you get into the peripheral world of gaming accessories, your only boundaries are your wallet and your imagination.

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo, a three-day gaming blowout last week at the Los Angeles Convention Center, gamers found plenty of pieces to trick out their systems.

``It's what can I have that the other person doesn't?'' said Marc Rifkin, vice president of 3001 A.D., a Florida-based accessory maker. ``How can I make this more exciting, take it to the next level? Americans are fickle. They always want the latest and the newest stuff.''

And there was plenty of it on display at E3, which devoted an entire hall to just the extras. Devoted button-pushers could shop for designer controllers fixed up to look like dragons, virtual reality headsets and DVD- based game guides to help them work their way through the game they'd just dropped $60 bucks on.

Rifkin's company makes helmets that plug into a game console, then strap onto the user's head. Lighting up, its tiny screens suddenly force the gamer directly into the simulation, so when they look right, the character does, too. After a brief immersion period, users were bobbing away from laser blasts and returning fire with their hand-held blasters.

The price: a cool $800 to $900. Rifkin hopes to eventually drop the price to $600 after the units enter stores in the fourth quarter.

``Man, with some of this stuff, you look at it for five minutes and you still can't figure out what it does,'' remarked Marcus Ryle, an executive with an Agoura Hills-based electronic musical instrument manufacturer, after viewing the array of upgrades. ``The devices are so intricate, so complex, it's impressive.''

Most of the array focused on game consoles like the current generation Sony PlayStation2 and Microsoft Xbox, but with new hardware set for this year and next, there's sure to be a fresh crop of gear to follow. The high-end PC gamer didn't get left out, either.

``It's an addiction, so gamers take it very seriously, hundreds and hundreds of hours worth,'' said Debby McDowell, director of sales and marketing for the Vista-based flight simulator gear maker CH Products. ``It's like any hobby, the more you get into it, the more you put into it.''

For the seriously devoted home pilot, a set of rudder pedals, throttle and control yoke can be theirs for between $300 and $400. Employee Michael Sexton demonstrated the realism of the system by using it to pilot a German fighter plane into a fiery crash in a lush, green field.

And those are just the regular add-ons. At a show where computers bear airbrushed graphics on their cases like an Eastside low-rider's trunk, there's bound to be some talk of hot rods. Sarah Bendon, a 22-year-old file clerk and student from Westwood, took on a conspiratorial tone when she talked about the computer parts and new DVD player she'd swapped into her game console.

With the after-market parts, her new toy loads games faster, saves bigger files and plays all kinds of media. She spoke of it in glowing tones as if it were a precocious child or a fixed-up old Corvette.

``My Xbox is all spruced up,'' she said before drawing a finger across her throat. ``But let's keep that on the down-low. I don't want too many people to find out about it.''

Brent Hopkins, [phone]

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

E3 EVENT: CHAOS WITH A PURPOSE

When the Army buzzed the Los Angeles Convention Center with a helicopter, things got a little strange, but when the power went out, they went absolutely crazy.

Normally, trade shows are dry, drawn-out affairs that drag on tediously unless you're really into dental products, toilet manufacturing or whatever else they're hawking. Not so at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, which feels like every casino in Vegas crammed into three little rooms. After two days of covering the extravaganza, my ears are numb, my feet are sore and the bounds of my imagination have been stretched to their limit.

Pulling up to the already packed parking lot, I saw two choppers, on hand to promote ``America's Army,'' the combat simulator the military uses to train its recruits and bring in new soldiers. The thunder of their rotors was part of the prepared madness, though, unlike the chaos that unfolded later.

A series of recurring power outages swept through the West Hall throughout Wednesday. That's a shot right in the Achilles heel of a show that hypes electronics.

The exhibit halls seemed to be OK, but the show's offices, entrance display and media center were knocked out. The wireless media lounge, set up to comfort the fractious trade press, was offline most of the day on Wednesday. About 4 p.m., there was a mad dash for the closest Starbucks, as reporters screamed to their editors in half a dozen languages that their stories were coming late.

The show floors, they were even more extreme. Each company's display tried to outdo the last. If one had one dancer, the next had two and the next had two and a live band. Actors donned costumes to look like mythical creatures, and even brutal war games found ways to push attractive women in provocative outfits in front of their booths.

They didn't even seem to mind if attendees didn't play their games.

``This place is nerd central, let me tell you,'' said Cecille Gahr, a 25-year-old model from West Hollywood. ``But, hey, nerds are cool. Someone's gotta pay the rent.''

She'd been hired to promote ``Singles 2,'' an interactive game designed to teach the socially impaired how to date. The gig involved putting on revealing pajamas and lying around in a mock apartment with a gaggle of other models, occasionally inviting a member of the assembled horde of howling guys to come play.

``I think we have the best job in the whole place,'' she said. ``I don't really know much about video games, so this has been very ... What's the word when you learn something new? Enlightening.''

She and her pink pajamaed pals pulled in 24-year-old Richard Ignatius, a Hollywood Video manager from Orange. He was soon tied up to their fake bed, catatonically posing for Polaroid pictures while his friends roared in approval.

``I didn't even know there was a game,'' he said after being set free, fumbling for words. ``I just raised my hand because of the girls. The games will come out anyway, so I don't pay attention. I just come for the booth babes.''

- Brent Hopkins

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Taylor Robison tries out a virtual reality game system at the E3 event last week at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

(2 -- 3) Michael Sexton, above, of Oceanside uses CH game controllers to pilot a flight simulator at the E3 event. Custom game console controllers like the ``Dragon,'' at left, for the Xbox were on display for gamers to try at the E3 event.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

Box:

E3 EVENT: CHAOS WITH A PURPOSE (see text)