While some E3 show goers 
might be willing to wait five hours or more to get a few minutes of hands-on time with Nintendo’s recently unveiled next-generation console, investors were less enthusiastic about the Wii U.
The company’s stock fell 5 percent the day it showed off the system—and was down another 7 percent on Wednesday. In an interview at the E3 trade show, Nintendo’s global president Satoru Iwata said he felt investors were overreacting.
Games themselves are only part of 
the story at E3 , the video game industry’s yearly gala . To get a real sense of the carnival-like atmosphere at the show, you need to look beyond the carefully coordinated demos and presentations.
The E3 convention is often called a circus – but there are a lot more than three rings. With everything from celebrity cameos to multimillion-dollar booths to scantily dressed models, E3 is a constantly moving, nearly organic being. Capturing all of the show’s eccentricities is impossible, but here are a few snapshots of the video game industry’s annual party/trade show to give you a taste.
Jack Tretton has 
been in an unenviable position for the past month-and-half.
As the president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, he is one of the most recognizable personifications of the PlayStation brand – but throughout the extended drama surrounding the hacker attack that resulted in the theft of personal information from over 100 million accounts, he has been forced to sit on the sidelines and remain silent. At this year’s E3, though, he’s finally getting a chance to address the situation.
E3 likes to position itself as the 
launch point for the future of gaming.
Already this week, Nintendo has unveiled Wii U, its next generation console; Sony has shown off its new portable device (dubbed PlayStation Vita) and the big games of holiday 2011 — and, in some cases, 2012 — are on display.
But while console and dedicated handheld systems are well represented here — and games for mobile phones have a moderate presence — there are very few social network gaming companies at the show. And given the growing size of that segment of the industry, that’s a major hole.
For the past five years, Nintendo 
has ruled the home console space, and it has led the handheld category for more than four times that long.
Now it’s hoping to bring the best aspects of both fields together.
Investors haven’t had a lot of luck 
with the video game sector over the past few years. Stock prices of traditional publishers have been down as new ways to play emerged on the market and many of those same publishers instituted turnaround plans that took longer than expected to bear fruit.
But as the industry gathers for E3, its annual trade show, there’s a sense of excitement about the future—and if the recent boosts in share prices of Electronic Arts (which hit a 52-week high at the end of May) and Activision (which climbed on news of a new method to monetize the “Call of Duty” franchise) are any indication, the sector could be on the move again.
The launch of Kinect for Xbox 360 
was one of the big success stories of holiday 2010. With life -to-date sales of over 10 million units, the motion sensor controller caught the imagination of the casual audience, while boosting console and software sales at the same time.
But the months that have followed have been pretty barren. There have been no major Kinect releases since December and that has consumers getting antsy.
While the theme of good versus 
evil is present in just about every video game on store shelves, developers and publishers have taken pointed steps to avoid specific ties to scripture.
It’s hard to blame them. Religion is something that people take so personally that the risk of offending someone is high. And that risk is essentially doubled with so many different, passionate views on what represents the truth.
Every new entertainment 
medium is initially seen as something detrimental to the nation’s youth. It happened with comic books. It happened with music. And it’s still happening with video games.
The majority of titles that are released each year are made for general audiences and enjoyed by families. But it only takes a few bad apples to damn an entire industry. And the gaming industry has had its share.
Microsoft is intensifying its
efforts to appeal to both core gamers and non-gamers, announcing two new titles in its blockbuster “Halo” franchise Monday and plans to integrate live television into the console.
Starting this fall, Xbox 360 owners will be able to watch live TV programming though a variety of partners, which have yet to be announced. In addition, the company has unveiled a new service that combines its Bing search service with video delivery providers.
Chris Morris: Journalist 