The annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), which officially kicks off in Los Angeles on Tuesday, will witness the three gaming industry bigwig manufacturers – Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony – unveiling some new hardware innovations, including new motion-control inputs and 3-D systems.

In what can be seen as an indication of the events to come at E3 conference, Sony last week forayed into 3-D gaming by launching three downloadable 3-D games for the PS3.

The to-be-released new innovations will likely have an extensive effect on the forthcoming consumer electronics products, especially at a time when the video gaming industry is reporting plunging sales; and publishers are apparently banking on hardware innovations to help them create new gaming experiences.

That the conventional business of selling packaged games is witnessing a downslide is evident from the fact that, as per industry research group NPD, the US gaming business has plunged 11 percent for the year; and industry revenues fell by 8 percent last year to $19.66 billion.

Noting that E3 will likely bring forth “a couple of surprises and a couple of expected things”, Greg Zeschuk, co-founder at Electronic Arts’ BioWare said: “Obviously, the thing that Sony and Microsoft are going for is to broaden their reach with consumers. It'll be interesting to get hands on and see what kind of products they'll have that use the motion controls.”