Let the Games Begin. And the Gadgets. And the Robot Dog . . .

You've waited all year for it. Now it's here—and I'm not talking about the new ABC sitcom Cavemen.

This weekend, about 60,000 tech geeks, gadget nuts, and the people who love them, are expected to congregate at the Jacob K. Javits convention center in Manhattan for the annual Digital Life Expo, a combination trade show and pre-Christmas consumer tease.

More than 200 companies, including Microsoft, Toshiba, HP, and Dell, will display their latest tech toys—just in time for the holidays. Computers, digital cameras, MP3 players, video games, accessories, you name it. There is literally no category of consumer technology that will not be on display at the convention, which will sprawl over 250,000 square feet.

In essence, Digital Life is a competition between tech companies to see who can create the biggest buzz for their new products. Last year, Microsoft generated plenty of heat and light for its Zune MP3 player, but the device ultimately failed to make much of a dent in the MP3 player market.

Incidentally, Apple will not be at Digital Life. In keeping with its too-cool-for-school attitude, the company prefers to host its own tech extravaganza, MacWorld. That said, expect to see a thriving cottage industry of iPod accessories at the Javits Center.

The front-runner for product of the year has to be Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, the latest version of the wildly popular air-guitar franchise that lets gamers vicariously experience the thrill of being Keith Richards without the, um, collateral damage.

At the Digital Life kickoff Tuesday night, members of the media were so anxious to try their hand at Pat Benatar's Hit Me With Your Best Shot, they all but ignored the rest of the program, CNET's Caroline McCarthy reported.

Many consumers had been hoping to catch a glimpse of Palm's new Foleo device—that is, until C.E.O. Ed Colligan abruptly canceled the product after it received a chorus of pans in advance reviews. On Thursday, Colligan will be teaming with Sprint to announce something—anything—that will generate some positive buzz for the beleaguered handset maker.

Also Thursday, another struggling tech company, Friendster, will hold a press conference. Short of announcing that it has reinvented the wheel, it's hard to imagine that the company will unveil anything that should cause much agita for social networking titans MySpace and Facebook.

One device that will surely be a hit at Digital Life is the much-anticipated Headplay "personal cinema system," a "portable, visual headset and multimedia center" that provides an "immersive viewing experience for gaming, movie watching and internet use," according to a company press release.

In addition to Guitar Hero, gamers will no doubt flock to the Turbine Games exhibit, where they'll have a chance to play Lord of the Rings Online, a massively multiplayer online game with over 4 million players, according to the company. Stop by their booth and hang out with their "Hobbit street team" as well as "sexy elves."

Meanwhile, Gateway has been generating some buzz by circulating a cryptic invite to a press conference at which it will unveil something called the "Gateway One," a computer "so beautiful" it belongs on a museum wall, according to the company.

So, see you at Digital Life. There really is something for everyone. You can find me hanging out with Spyke the Wi-Fi Spy Robot.

by Sam Gustin