Doom is just around the corner. Tim Willits can feel it. A trio of hellspawn demons, each nearly real enough to reach out of the large plasma video monitor and slash him, is fast approaching. He laughs nervously, frantically clicking the keyboard to reload, shoot and evade.

To no avail. Their attacks become more vicious, the screen turns blood-red, and Willits' character falls. "I'm dead," he pronounces as a creature tears a bite out of his corpse.

Willits is the lead designer of Doom III, the most anticipated computer "shooter" in years. If a master of the domain can't survive, what chance do mere players have?

Millions can't wait to find out. The world will get a peek at the long-awaited Doom III, expected by year's end, at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo video game trade show in Los Angeles this week.

Doom III promises to redefine the video game genre made famous by the groundbreaking Doom in 1993 — the "first-person shooter," in which players see through the eyes of heavily armed characters as they fire their way through enemy-filled levels. Back then, many other firms licensed Doom's software "engine," or core programming, as the foundation of their own first-person shooters. Many are expected to do so again for the for-now PC-only Doom III.

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