Gamers get some exercise at E3

Gamers try out the latest software at the Playstation exhibit at the 11th annual Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California. More than 1,000 computer and video games and related products are slated for debut at this year's expo. PHOTO: AFP

Video have never been such good exercise as at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, otherwise known as E3.

The annual confab of the video game industry always draws a huge crowd of young men to the gargantuan halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center, where their senses are constantly bombarded by ear shattering explosions, curvaceous and scantily dressed women known as "booth babes" and video screens as big as houses.

But this year the show is bigger than ever with over 70,000 video game professionals in attendance, and without judicious use of elbows visitors are unlikely to get close to the popular displays.

Industry will tell you that this level of excitement occurs every five years, in sync with the release schedule of the major new video consoles.

These consoles -- Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's Playstation 3 and to a lesser extent Nintendo's Revolution, were the big news of the exposition and the biggest draws.

Their processors and video cards promise gamers photorealistic experiences that will become increasingly difficult to differentiate from computer-generated movies like Shrek or Finding Nemo. The big difference of course is that these bulked-up gaming consoles, which are really mini supercomputers that offer more power than any personal computer, will render these animations in real time as the player controls developments with the joystick.

These game machines are serious business. Both Microsoft and Sony hope that the success of their consoles will allow them to dominate the digital living room, where in the not too distant future we will channel our music, TV, communications and film watching through one network with an entertainment computer at its centre.

"The coming years represent an inflection point for hardware manufacturers," says Neil Young of Electronic Arts, the biggest video-game maker. "This is a key strategic battleground. Will the PlayStation 3 supplant your cable box? Probably not. But will PlayStation 4? Certainly."

But E3 also had other fascinating aspects to those who enjoy peering over the horizon of modern culture. According to Doug Lowestein, head of the Entertainment Software Association, the worldwide video game industry currently has annual revenues of some US$28 billion -- "not too shabby for a 30-year-old industry" he said.

This compares to a total take of US$45 billion for the world's movie industry.

Lowestein on video game makers to make their own Passion of the Christ, using the huge hit directed by Mel Gibson as an example of how to tap in to an audience that many experts didn't even know existed.

There are signs that that is already starting to happen. There are already many religious video games like Spiritual Warfare and Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land -- though the booth for the game Bible was one of the emptiest on the 55,000-square-foot exhibition floor.

But video games do seem to be conquering new territory relentlessly. Games designed for mobile phones are one of the fastest growing segments of the industry. While they brought in only US$173 million in the US last year, they will earn US$1 billion in 2008, according to the Yankee Group, an industry research firm.

Gamemakers seem more serious about designing products that will appeal to wider audiences than their typical customer -- males between the ages of 14 to 34.

One the best examples is Nintendogs, an interactive puppy training game for the handheld Nintendo DS, which game reviewer Tom Loftus said "is so darn cute it's almost sickening."

The game allows you to adopt a lovable puppy from the pound and use voice commands to train it to perform tricks.

Best all your puppy will bark if another "Nintendogs" owner is within range and you can set up a puppy play date.

That's a game in line with the philosophy of Keita Takahashi, the creator of the biggest surprise hit of the year, Katamari Damacy, in which players have to roll a ball to pick up objects.

"Games should be a happy part of life," he said in an insight into why we play games that is so obvious it is often overlooked. "I want my games to represent the feelings of love and of being young."