Since the first announcement in mid-March, the E3 Conference Program has picked up a slew of the industry's top creative and business talent. The roster of speakers has blossomed into a who’s who of the game industry.

　　Among the big names from the creative beat who will be talking during the May 11-13 program in Los Angeles are Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux (Black & White, Fable), Brian Reynolds (Rise of Nations), Seamus Blackley (Xbox launch team), Richard Garriott (the Ultima series, Tabula Rasa), Grant Collier (Call of Duty), and Feargus Urquhart (Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance).

　　On the business side, licensing and marketing biggie Steve Allison of Midway, Infinium Lab's Kevin Bachus, Jim Moloshok of Yahoo!, and EA's worldwide music deal-maker Steve Schnur.

　　Culled from the newer frontiers of gaming are Sony's Richard Marks (creator of the EyeToy), and Jim Ragonese of voice recognition shop ScanSoft. Both are paired on an interesting sounding session that addresses gaming's new interfaces. Included on that session: creative heavyweight Will Wright of Maxis.

　　Even the moderators carry serious weight this year. Daniel Sieberg of CNN Headline News is moderating a session, as is N'Gai Croal of Newsweek, former Wired senior editor Rob Levine, and Business 2.0's Geoff Keighley and Amy Bernstein.

　　Among the other highlights at the show will be the annual drool-fest, Sneak Peeks. This year, the session will showcase Half-Life 2, Jade Empire, and the sequel to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. That session takes place on May 12 (and in our opinion, alone warrants the cost of entry).

　　Other sessions will focus on current hot topic, what it takes to break into the Chinese game market. In fact, included in the program this year are a number important publishers from China, NetEase, Shanda Networks, and the9.com among them. Korean shops Hangame, Nexon, NCsoft, Actoz, and Webzen are placed in sessions, as well as Taiwan's Gamania, Japan's DoCoMo and Square-Enix, and Singapore's FGOG, Ltd.

　　Members of the public will be allowed to attend the conference program, but only if they can demonstrate a legitimate interest in the industry. Those who would be considered include investors and students who are training for jobs in the industry, if they can provide the paperwork to back it up.

　　E3 officials have a staff of 30 people screening registrants and they’ve already rejected about 4,000, so the vetting process is a rigorous one. Fees for attending the conference program range from $300 to $475.

　　Event organizers say pre-registration is up about 50 percent over this time last year and about 400 exhibitors are confirmed, with only three booths left to sell.

　　The list of speakers provides a good introduction to this year's E3 program.