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MICROSOFT You can go to Disneyland... sort of, with Xbox 360's Kinnect.

LOS ANGELES -- Gamers, start saving your shekels.

If this week's preview of upcoming video games is any indication, there's plenty to get excited about in the months and years to come.

Roughly 45,000 members of the interactive entertainment industry made the annual pilgrimage to Los Angeles this week to attend E3 -- a.k.a. the Electronic Entertainment Expo -- to catch a glimpse at tomorrow's titles today.

And so, after three exhausting days of traipsing through the world's biggest video game trade show, the following are some of the key highlights:

Hot hardware

Nintendo unveiled its next-generation video game console, Wii U, slated for a late 2012 launch.

Gamers will use a 6.2-inch wireless touch screen to control the action -- be it swiping or tapping fingers, using the buttons and analog sticks or taking advantage of the built-in gyroscope to tilt the controller around. Think of it as an iPad meets a Nintendo Wii (but with high-definition graphics, too).

For example, in a football game you can draw a play on the tablet, so that your opponent beside you doesn't see what you're planning. Or in an adventure game, you'll move your character around the virtual world on the television screen but have important info displayed on the Wii U screen, such as character stats, a mini-map, mission objectives, and so on. Or the tablet can show a different perspective of the same game.

If someone in the family wants to watch TV, you can keep playing your Wii U game on the tablet. The console will also play older Nintendo Wii games.

The tablet -- which also includes a camera, microphone and speaker -- is lightweight and comfortable, and the half-dozen games and other demos were a blast.

No price or launch date has been announced yet.

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Sony also unveiled new hardware at the show. The PlayStation Vita will soon replace the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP), bringing console-like graphics to a hand-held system for the first time. Be sure to check out Uncharted: Golden Abyss on YouTube.

You can play games in one of four ways: via the 5-inch OLED touch screen, the back touch panel, various buttons and dual analog sticks, and a built-in gyroscope. The PSVita also boasts dual cameras, Internet connectivity, customizable apps, and the ability to chat with friends while playing online.

The impressive new hand-held will go on sale in time for Christmas for $249.99 for the Wi-Fi version and $299.99 for the Wi-Fi + 3G version.

Shoot now, ask questions later

Action games were all the rage at this year's E3, including a number of first- and third-person shooters. Amassing much of the buzz at the show were sequels with a "3" in their name: Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Electronic Arts' Battlefield 3, Ubisoft's Far Cry 3, EA/BioWare's Mass Effect 3, Sony's Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception and Microsoft Game Studios' Gears of War 3.

One of the most impressive shooters was 2K Games' BioShock Infinite, which is also the third game in the popular franchise. The wildly strange and imaginative action sequel takes place on a floating air city in an alternate 1912, as you attempt to rescue a mysterious young woman with uncontrollable powers. The stunningly detailed world, memorable characters and intense action sequences all adds to the immersive experience. The single-player adventure is slated for a 2012 launch on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

While not shooters, per se, other impressive action games at E3 include Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Crystal Dynamics' reinvented Tomb Raider, Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Warner Bros.' Batman: Arkham City and EA/BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic.

For the kiddies

Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 might get all the press, but the California-based publisher likely has another monster hit on their hands -- for younger gamers.

Out this holiday season for all major consoles and the PC, Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is part toy, part video game. Players get three small action figures that, when placed on the "Portal of Power" -- a small disc that plugs into the video game machine's USB port -- unlocks that character inside the action role-playing game. There are roughly 30 action figures to collect in total, each with their own unique skills and abilities, and you can "level up" the in-game character over time. When you take your Skylanders figurine to someone else's Portal of Power -- even if it's on another console -- your character and all of its powers are teleported into the game.

Microsoft also wowed attendees with the next batch of games that utilize the popular Kinect for Xbox 360 peripheral. Young kids will no doubt fall for the charm of Kinect Disneyland Adventures, where you can walk around the amusement park, take virtual photos with the Disney characters and engage in more than a dozen motion-sensing games (with a friend beside you, if you like).

Also coming this fall for Kinect is Warner Bros.' Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster, that uses the Kinect camera to allow kids to play around with Sesame Street characters.

Winnipeg Free Press

By: Marc Saltzman