After spending a week looking into the 
future, the video game industry must once more face the reality of the present.
May sales figures are expected to be announced after the market closes Monday – and they’re not likely to add any sort of boost to the goodwill that often accompanies the E3 trade show. Analysts expect sales, at best, to be flat compared to last year.
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.
Nintendo, for the 
majority of this console generation, has been content to play its own game. Now it’s ready to take the fight to Microsoft and Sony.
The company on Tuesday unveiled its next generation home video game machine — dubbed Wii U — that will be flush with the high-definition graphics gamers have come to expect, as well as a unique, touch-screen controller. It’s scheduled to launch in 2012.
Nintendo raised the curtain
on its latest videogame console, the Wii U, on Tuesday, but there was one key piece of hardware missing at its presentation — the console itself.
Instead, Nintendo used the Nokia Theater to turn the spotlight on the controller that consumers will use in a variety of ways to play games.
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.
The videogame industry 
is at a crossroads of whether to reinvent itself or continue hyping what’s working.
While Nintendo and Sony are expected to unveil new hardware at this week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, the videogame biz’s biggest tradeshow, which kicks off Monday from various venues around downtown Los Angeles, Microsoft is putting more promotional muscle behind its Xbox 360 console.
As the video game industry prepares for its annual trade show, known as E3, it’s carrying a lot of baggage.
Social networking and mobile games continue to eat away at the market share of traditional publishers. A crucial Supreme Court decision, which could fundamentally change the way the industry operates, looms over its head. And many companies find themselves at a critical juncture in their evolution.
Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris 
considers how important E3 now is to the gaming industry, noting that “the industry has changed – and so have the marketing strategies of its players.”
As the circus comes to Los Angeles and the gaming industry prepares for the weeklong bacchanalia that is E3, there’s already plenty of hype about what to expect, what will be said and what will be the biggest thing at the show.
These are all fun questions – but as E3 enters its 17th year, it’s worth a look to see if the show is as important and as relevant to the industry as it was in years past. While E3 used to be a Mecca for game developers and publishers to show off their wares, the industry has changed – and so have the marketing strategies of its players.
Early adopters of the Nintendo 3DS have been a pretty 
patient bunch. New games for the system haven’t exactly been rushing to retail, and there’s only so much you can do with that 3D camera. But relief is on the way.
Nintendo says the long-awaited 3DS eShop will launch June 6 — and to celebrate, the company is letting owners of the handheld system download a copy of Excitebike 3D Classic for free, if they grab it within the first 30 days.
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.
Chris Morris: Journalist 