Sony, Nintendo unveil game offerings at E3

With the big three gaming-system makers all previewing new or upgraded motion-sensing controllers this week, a new arms race is under way in the video game industry. Joysticks and push-button controllers seem to be on their way out, replaced by simpler, more intuitive devices -- similar to Nintendo's Wii -- that let gamers move their arms and legs to guide their avatars' movements onscreen.

Sony Computer Entertainment on Tuesday unveiled an unnamed prototype of a motion-sensing system with a controller that can be wielded as a sword, a baseball bat, a gun and even a bow and arrow.

"It far surpasses anything you can get on the market now," creator Richard Marks told an audience at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, California. Sony said the system will hit stores in the spring of 2010.