Thousands of gamers gather in Los Angeles this week to gun down Zombies, terrorize cities and assume alien life forms -- all make-believe, mind you -- at the giant Electronic Entertainment Expo computer gaming convention.
Known widely as E3, the gathering, which officially kicks off today, will bring together some 62,000 video and computer game programmers, marketers and others fascinated by the burgeoning digital gaming industry.
Staged at the giant downtown Los Angeles Convention Center, the gathering of 420 companies, which spills over into nearby hotels, will feature a bevy of scantily-clad women and costumed space monsters, representing characters from the hyper-violent titles like "Gore" and "Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror."
The gaming industry is one sector that has been defying the worldwide technology slump. According to NPD Funworld, a electronic entertainment consultancy, the sector rang up some US$9.4 billion in sales last year, an astounding 40 percent jump from US$6.6 billion spent in 2000. In comparison, the film industry only did US$8.38 billion in US box office sales last year.
"This is no longer a fringe toy market," said Michael Stroud, a Los Angeles electronic media consultant. "The stakes are as big as any other major media right now."
With billions in revenues come the billion-dollar companies, all vying to dominate a sector that caters to a coveted young, male audience of thrill-seekers.
Monday, software giant Microsoft announced it was investing a billion dollars into online gaming, considered to be the next big frontier in the sector. Online gaming moves electronic gaming to the next level, letting users wage virtual aerial dogfights, dominate fantasy worlds and lay waste to whole planets with users from around the world.
Catch-up game
Microsoft is waging a catch-up campaign against giants Sony and Nintendo in what's known as the "console" market. Consoles are stand-alone devices that hook into television sets. The other major electronic gaming sector are titles that play on a computer.
Currently, Sony's venerable PlayStation2 reigns this console market, outselling Microsoft three to one in the sector. Last week, Sony, which has sold more than 30 million units, lopped a US$100 off the US retail price of the US$300 console, sparking similar price war reductions by Microsoft and Nintendo.
The game publishers themselves are also experiencing record revenues. Number one game publisher Electronic Arts, based in northern California, reported revenues of US$1.7 billion in its 2002 fiscal year, snaring 16.2 percent of the electronic publishing market.
A new force
Northern California, once the home of silicon chipmakers, then the ill-fated dotcom industry, is now becoming a worldwide force in digital gaming.
Analyst say an estimated 4,000 computer gaming workers live in the area. Game makers such as the fore-named Electronic Arts, Sega, Konami, Namco and others are now fielding offices here, publishing an estimated 42 percent of all titles sold in the US. "The Silicon Valley could eventually be renamed Game Valley," said Doug Lowenstein, head of the Interactive Digital Software Association.
If that's the case, northern California could soon become a battlefield for the content of video games. US lawmakers have been calling for controls on such games as "Grand Theft Auto 3," which lets its youthful users assume the mantle of an inner-city criminal, gunning down hookers and laying waste to pursuing police. Grand Theft had vaulted its US publisher, Take 2 Interactive, to number three in the game publishers' ranking, just behind Nintendo and Electronic Arts.
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