The annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, referred to as E3, is an invitation-only event at which makers of videogame hardware and software mingle, make deals and vie to trump each other’s innovations.<\/p>\n
Nintendo will be defending Wii’s crown as the world’s most popular videogame console and has remained secretive about what it will unveil when E3 officially gets under way on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Microsoft is expected to announce a 50 dollar cut in the price of its Xbox 360 consoles as part of an ongoing battle with Sony’s PlayStation 3 for second place in the market.<\/p>\n
Sony is likely to stand firm on pricing but try to wow gamers with new titles and improved features such as online movie downloads and game play.<\/p>\n
"One of the big trends is each platform trying to establish itself," said Jeremy Dunham, editorial manager of videogame news website IGN.com.<\/p>\n
"Wii is top in terms of sales. Microsoft is Number One with hardcore gamers and Sony is trying to prove it has good games."<\/p>\n
Dunham expects a close battle between Xbox 360 and PlayStation games at E3.<\/p>\n
Eagerly-awaited new installments to "Gears of War," "Resident Evil," "Street Fighter," "Call of Duty," "Resistance: Fall of Man," and "Rock Band" will be previewed.<\/p>\n
"I think you are going to see a lot of polished titles," said Joseph Olin, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.<\/p>\n
"You will see refinement on anything considered a breakthrough, like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Music has been popular with teens since before we were teens. There are legs there."<\/p>\n
Enticing new titles include "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" from the LucasArts game studio of filmmaker George Lucas and "Prince of Persia" by French game-making star Ubisoft.<\/p>\n
World leading game firm Electronic Arts will premier a host of offerings, including an innovative "Spore" computer game and "Mirror’s Edge," an action title in which couriers evade a totalitarian regime in a dystopian future.<\/p>\n
Game makers will continue to veer from traditional push-button control in a trend start by motion-sensing controllers made popular by Wii.<\/p>\n
Ubisoft, which has worked closely with Nintendo on Wii games from the console’s inception, will be showing off an entirely voice-commanded computer battle game.<\/p>\n
Ubisoft’s "End War" based on the military espionage novels of author Tom Clancy is "creating a lot of buzz," Dunham said.<\/p>\n
"Barking orders at you TV really has something powerful about it," Ubisoft North America president Laurent Detoc told AFP while providing a chance to try the new game.<\/p>\n
"Accessibility has driven the market. With ‘End War’ you just talk to the game. It is so universal, anyone could use it."<\/p>\n
Ubisoft will be among game makers courting a growing gaming demographic: young girls.<\/p>\n
It is estimated that about half of the people younger than 15 years old that own Nintendo DS handheld game devices are girls.<\/p>\n
"It is an underserved market," Dutoc said of young girl players. "We think we are onto something."<\/p>\n
New games at E3 will take advantage of beefed-up processing power resulting from advances in computer chips.<\/p>\n
As opposed to games in which characters follow pre-assigned paths, developers are creating "open world" games such as "Far Cry" that let characters roam.<\/p>\n
"The industry as a whole is trying to find new and unique ways to tell a story," Dunham said.<\/p>\n
"E3 has always been about surprises. I definitely think there will be some."<\/p>\n
The US videogame market is expected to be in the range of $14 to $17 billion this year, with global sales of game software and hardware tallying tripling that.<\/p>\n
"The only numbers that rival that are the number of times I’ve been fragged playing ‘Call of Duty 4’," Olin joked.<\/p>\n