p2p news / p2pnet: Electronic Entertainment Expo, E3 to the initiated, opens in Los Angeles this week, and according to the San Francisco Chronicle, it has "added significance" because of the likes of Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii.

To make it crystal clear, "The annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, will kick off in Los Angeles this week, amid a funk for the videogame industry," states China’s Xinhua.

Or as the New York Times sums it up, "The video game industry embraces its inner Barnum here this week at E3, the almost phantasmagoric annual convention that is a bit like New Year’s Eve in Times Square inside a football game inside a Metallica concert."

Combined with Microsoft’s Xbox 360, the new hardware is expected to, "re-energize the gaming industry while causing a certain amount of confusion and uncertainty," says the San Francisco Chronicle. Game developers and publishers are girding their loins because, "they expect there will be a limited supply of the new game consoles in the beginning".

"Almost across the board, growth in the industry’s bedrock sector - sales of new games for consoles that plug into a TV - has slowed recently, and in some cases has stopped altogether," states the NYT. "Just last week, Electronic Arts, the world’s No. 1 game maker, warned that overall game sales this year would be flat to down 5 percent from 2005."

Oh dear.

But Peter Moore, head of Microsoft’s game business, is under no illusions in the NYT.

Certainly, "the spotlight falls on Sony and Nintendo at this E3," he’s quoted as saying. But not to worry because Bill and the Boyz will be, "quietly explaining" not what they’re going to do, "but how we’re going to continue doing what we’re already doing".

And with with the last of the next-generation consoles still pending, "perhaps the one unifying feeling at E3 is impatience for the new era to fully get under way," adds the San Francisco Chronicle.

"We want to be at the forefront of the next generation," it has Robin Kaminski, head of global brands management at Activision, saying. "When the hardware becomes more available, our lives become easier. The next generation can’t come fast enough."

Also See:
San Francisco Chronicle - Keeping players in the game , May 8, 2006
Xinhua - E3 to kick off amid funk for videogame industry, May 8, 2006
New York Times - At E3 Video Game Convention, New Generation Bows, May 8, 2006

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