With 18 months of downtime before the next round of hardware introductions, major players in the video game arena will spend it attracting new gamers to the field in a continuing battle for market share.

Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony surprised some at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles by remaining silent on the next generation of game consoles, opting instead to focus on their current systems.

Sony and Microsoft are dedicated to attracting casual gamers via online downloads. Both companies are fighting fiercely for the online space. Microsoft will roll out a new version of the company's Xbox Live! later this year with what's currently being called the Xbox Arcade. This will be part of a new three-month option with refined subscription kit, and by year's end a total of 150 games should be available for online broadband network play.

Among those will be the EA Sports line-up, including the top-selling Madden franchise, for the first time on Xbox Live! This might be especially welcome by sports fans after the recent announcement that Microsoft won't be publishing its own sports-branded titles for the 2004-2005 seasons. The Xbox Live! Arcade service will further include voice chat, video mail and real-time chat. Downloadable on-demand content will include classic retro games as well as current titles like the popular mobile phone game Bejeweled.

Rival Sony, arguably leading the current hardware cycle with the PlayStation2 system, announced the latest price reduction bringing the console down to $149. The company also reaffirms there may soon be downloadable content via mini-transactions modeled after those available for online music.

It was also at the first E3 10 years ago that Sony entered the world of video games going head-to-head with Nintendo when introducing the original PlayStation. Sony is once again poised to take on its arch-rival in the handheld gaming space with the unveiling of the PlayStation Portable, a multi-function device that will utilize an optical disc-based system for playback of music and video, as well as games. Although no price was announced at the show, Sony confirms that the PSP will be available in Japan by year's end with a launch in North America and Europe during the first quarter of 2005.

Nintendo won't retreat easily from the handheld space, however, and is introducing the Nintendo DS. Based on the Nintendo philosophy to create the best dedicated gaming machine, the DS is built around two displays, as in "dual screen."

Each of the three-inch displays supports 2D as well as 3D graphics with the lower display serving as a PDA-style touch-screen that will work with a stylus or finger to control the action. Both the Sony and Nintendo systems will support Wi-Fi (802.11) connectivity for online and head-to-head gameplay.

The DS will feature two game ports: one for original dual display content and the other for backward compatibility with Game Boy Advance titles. Nintendo has yet to announce a price for the DS but confirms the system will be released worldwide by this year's holiday season.

This year's trend in gaming appears to be returning to movies, with several big screen tie-ins including a new Harry Potter, James Bond and Lord of the Rings titles from Electronic Arts. Meanwhile, SEGA entered The Matrix, announcing it would publish the online role-playing game based on the hit film series.

Family gaming also seems to be expanding to the mobile phones arena, including the second generation Nokia N-Gage portable gaming platform as well as the handheld systems. On the consoles new Yu-Gi-Oh! and Mario titles can be expected, while Sony declared this fall to be about action platform games with new versions of Rachet & Clank, Slew Cooper and Jak & Daxter. Those titles, along with the dozens of other games slated to be out by the holidays, seem to confirm there's still a lot more life in the current generation of systems.