Even though the first of the ‘next generation’ of videogame consoles is already on shelves globally, this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in LA still had its fair share of hardware announcements in store.

Although the Xbox 360 will have a year’s head start on its competition; which comes in the form of Sony’s PS3 and Nintendo’s Wii, it may still have to fight to retain dominance in the gaming world. Release dates of pre-Christmas 2006 have been announced for both competitor’s machines, and further technical stats and technologies have been announced for all three of the machines.

This year’s biggest shouter had to be Nintendo, who wowed the world by allowing attendees hands-on gaming with the renamed Wii console (It was originally codenamed Revolution). Truly a revolutionary move in gaming, this company has sidestepped away from the fight for the most power and pixels on screen, but instead focused on gameplay experiences themselves. ‘New ways to play games’ is pretty much a Nintendo tag-line these days, but it’s a refreshing point of view for the industry.

As a means to an end, it’s the Wii’s controllers that are truly aiding this new gaming experience. Using sensing and tracking technology, its Remote controller; a single-handed controller that looks like a TV remote and is as simple to use, and Nunchuk controller; an attaching ‘joystick’, allows you to play games using not just buttons but movement.

“Ultimately, it’s about the experience playing the game, and we believe our system will deliver a revolutionary gaming experience,” explains Rob Saunders, * Nintendo Europe. “We put our R and D investment where we thought it would do the most good—by reinventing the connection between player and game…in other words, supporting the development of a completely new and innovative controller.”

The technology itself comes in part from PixArt Imaging; object tracking technology, and also Analog Devices and STMicroelectronics; a 3-axis ADXL330 iMEMS acceleration sensor, and user interface.

PixArt's Multi-Object Tracking engine (MOT sensor) technology can track multiple objects in a quick and responsive way, resulting in the Remote movement tracking ability.   
"In the world of interaction, every realistic operation can be simulated in a computerized game. Through play of such simulation, any person can learn very quickly and efficiently in a virtual way. Integrated tracking technology from proven vendors like PixArt will enhance the gaming experience for the overwhelming majority of all-generation gamers,” says Sen Huang, ceo, PixArt.

Central to the Wii’s design is accurate and reliable multi-axis linear acceleration sensing, and so Nintendo partnered with Analog Devices to create the best solution. The ADXL330 is used to sense motion of the game player in three dimensions of freedom; forward-backward, left-right, and up-down. When the controller is used, it provides a quick element of interaction, sensing motion, depth and positioning dictated by the acceleration of the controller itself. This can offer a much wider variety of gameplay experiences.

But it wasn’t just Nintendo that had some news to share. Last year Sony left gamers puzzled when it first displayed its PS3 controller which had moved away from the industry standard of the PlayStation Dual Analog Controller to a more curved, even boomerang-esque design. It seems they went back to the drawing board, as this year, the classic design has returned, but with some new technical highlights. Gone is the DUALSHOCK rumble capabilities (as according to Sony they interfere), instead replaced with a highly sensitive six-axis sensing system.

In addition to the ‘3-posture-axis’ of roll, pitch and yaw, ‘3-dimension acceleration information (X, Y, and Z)’ can be detected in high-precision and in real-time. In addition to standard key input available in existing controllers, this new technology will allow for more natural and more intuitive play as, similarly to the Wii’s Remote, your body’s movements will also affect your gameplay.

"I'm expecting that every game uses this function in some way,” says president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Phil Harrison. “We all move the controller when we play, whether you're playing a racing or football game. Now, for the first time, we can also capture the primary input, such as the analog sticks, as well as the secondary movements the gamer makes; and then combine the two. This is an important advantage that only the PlayStation 3 controller offers."

Although the Xbox 360’s controller is old news, Microsoft wasn’t going to be left out, and so had some peripheral announcements of its own. This year will see the launch of its Xbox Live Vision video camera. Nothing amazingly new about this technologically, however it will add another dimension to online or community gaming, and moving forward, it will use mapping technology to allow gamers to put their own faces into games.

Peripherals aside, other technological discussion have been taking place over the next generation of gaming, and this includes the move over to High Definition (HD) gaming. The Blu-ray/HD-DVD format war continues on the consoles as Sony and Microsoft try to make gamers accept their formats as standard, whereas Nintendo has decided that for them, now is not the time.

“While aspects like HD are compelling propositions – and we are not opposed to it – it didn’t make sense for us at this time,” notes Saunders. “The household penetration of HDTV sets is still quite low. Plus the cost, development time and added power resources needed would only add to the cost for the consumer, many of whom could not even enjoy the technology on their standard televisions.”

Conversely the competition thinks otherwise. Sony is launching the PS3 with an in-built Blu-ray drive (which many people believe is the reason behind the steep price - £425 in the UK), and Microsoft will be launching their external HD-DVD Drive later this year, giving gamers the choice of whether or not they wish to watch HD movies.

Finally, use of Wi-Fi in gaming, and what it can offer was also highlighted at this year’s show.

“Wii is Wi-Fi compatible out of the box,” notes Saunders. “The console is internet-ready, which will allow numerous types of playing whether it’s with others across the globe or downloading new game data or other information. We will also offer an optional web browser from Opera to allow Web surfing and enable game developers to enhance games with real-time content. We have not announced all of our Wi-Fi-capabilities at E3.  However, rest-assured we are currently working on a number of Wi-Fi-compatible games,” he adds.

Sony announced that the PS3 will also offer a browser, and with more to come from all camps, it looks like the competition is truly heating up. This latest generation is truly taking advantage of all the different technological options out there, which makes it a very interested market to watch. Whether these functions and possibilities are what gamers want is the million dollar question, and only time will give us the answer. As the year moves on, we look forward to seeing who comes out on top when all three consoles are finally available to consumers…