At the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 in Los Angeles, the world's gaming giants are unveiling their latest toys, including Nintendo's Wii U and Sony's Playstation Vita. They're trying their best to attract customers, hoping to take the lead in the estimated 18 billion U.S. dollar online and digital games industry.

Gamers and show attendees play video games at the Nintendo booth during the Electronic Entertainment Expo on June 7, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. More than 45,000 people are expected to attend the annual three-day convention to see the latest games and announcements from the gaming industry.

Gaming companies were hitting hard at the Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3 in Los Angeles- rolling out new technology aimed at knocking out the competition.

Nintendo unveiled its new Wii U -which includes a touchscreen console complete with camera and video call capability. It has motion sensor capabilities and can play old Nintendo games.

With no official release date set, it's now up to developers to come up with compelling content- according to Martin Rae, President of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.

Rae said, "I don't know what it'll do yet, but really, really good developers will figure out how to make all that work in ways we haven't seen before."

But the reception to the new device was lukewarm- in large part because the focus is shifting to software- with social games played over the internet and on tablet devices linking millions of players.

Online and digital games will generate $18 billion in sales this year, up 15 percent from a year ago, according to DFC Intelligence.

Rae said, "Which brought in different customers, brought in a demographic that never thought of themselves as gamers. Maybe they played solitaire or did certain things online but they weren't gamers. But when they're spending $20 or $30 a month buying add-ons for these social games, and they're spending hours and hours on it, those are gamers. They're really gamers. There's more women, it's skewing older. It's bringing in whole new groups of people. Those are the real deal."

And mobile gaming is not going away. Visitors also got their hands on Sony's new handheld PlayStation Vita- aimed at competing with devices like Apple's iPod Touch and other smartphones and tablets on the market.

Industry watchers criticized the pricing, which starts at $250.