Even if you’re just a casual fan of video games, the E3 
video game extravaganza is a truly exciting time of the year. It’s Christmas in July! Or, more often, May! Or, recently, June! Ok, so the moving dates ruin the analogy, but it’s a festive time nonetheless that always brings a flood of gaming news. And every year, there’s one story that tops all the others.
Here’s a look back at the show stealing moments of the past 16 years.
We’re about two-and-a-half weeks from the start 
of E3, but if you weren’t able to get a pass to the video game industry’s annual trade show, you’ll still be able to see some of the big moments.
Spike TV and Microsoft have struck a deal for the network to broadcast the Xbox 360 E3 media briefing on June 6.
[Gamasutra’s Chris Morris looks at how Microsoft’s 
Kinect has found success despite some shortcomings, and how a well-executed plan for the device is needed, as “the novelty will only take it so far.”]
You’d have to be a fool to argue that Microsoft’s launch of Kinect was anything but a success. With sales of the peripheral already topping 10 million (setting a Guinness record for the “fastest selling consumer device” in the process), it’s one of those rare items that have actually surpassed people’s expectations.
But the more time I spend with Kinect, the more it occurs to me how Microsoft inadvertently followed in Apple’s footsteps with the device – finding tremendous success in a new gaming area despite not knowing exactly what it was doing.
The Easter Bunny apparently stuffed a 
few baskets with video games this year. The late holiday and a strong slate of titles overcame gloomy headlines of data theft to boost April video game sales by 26 percent, according to the NPD Group.
Hardware sales were also impressive, climbing 12 percent overall, though Microsoft and Sony had a lot more to celebrate than Nintendo did.
Sony’s network woes may have dominated 
headlines in April, but they didn’t do much to hurt overall sales in the video game industry.
Software sales, the most closely tracked data, climbed 26 percent to $503 million, according to The NPD Group, which tracks video game sales. (Analysts had expected a 15 percent increase.) This is the first month software sales have posted a year-over-year increase since November and only the third time they have done so in the past year.
For only the third time in the past year, retail 
game sales saw a year-over-year increase in April. And what a rise it was.
The NPD Group reports that software sales were up 26 percent last month to $503 million. Overall (including hardware and peripheral totals), the industry had brick and mortar sales of $930.7 million – a 20 percent increase.
While the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 
were born with 10-year life cycles in mind, the Wii hit the market with a much shorter projected lifespan.
With no support for high-definition graphics and shaky online multiplayer functionality, everyone including Nintendo knew the Wii would show its age first and would probably be the first console in need of an update.
Now there’s growing talk that the company could announce its successor as early as June.
With rumors circulating that Nintendo is planning to announce 
its next generation console at E3 this year, Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris discusses whether the company should make its boldest move to date.
The rumors have been gaining steam for a couple of weeks now. Nintendo, they say, is planning to announce its next generation console at E3 this year.
While the company, not surprisingly, isn’t commenting on the chatter, it’s hardly going out of its way to downplay it either. And the second quarter lineup for the system (along with growing whispers about a looming $50 price cut in May) didn’t do anything to quiet speculation.
Most of the time, Pac-Man is limited to 
a strict diet of 240 dots per level — but this is the era of supersizing. And the little yellow guy is going on a high-calorie diet.
Namco-Bandai and Microsoft, along with Soap Creative, have released a new, free-to-play version of the arcade classic that links hundreds of user-created mazes together, effectively creating the world’s largest game of Pac-Man.
Odds are you’ve got certain days circled on your 
kitchen calendar. A birthday, an anniversary, perhaps the annual family trip to Disneyland — whatever it is, it’s something that happens the same time every year and it’s a day worth remembering.
Turns out the gaming world works in a very similar fashion. While the precise dates are a little more flexible, the industry has an uncanny knack for releasing new versions of hit games right around the exact same time each year.
Chris Morris: Journalist 