Ahead of the gaming industry's biggest trade show, analysts are looking for signs that Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft will cut the costs of their consoles

How low can the game industry go?

That's what video game buffs are wondering as the industry gears up for its biggest trade show of the year, next week's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), which regularly triggers major price cuts for game consoles.

Sony jumped the gun last year, triggering a widely expected round of price cuts just before E3. But expectations for this year's show, which runs from Wednesday through May 17 in Los Angeles, are hazier with many analysts calculating the odds as slightly against any price cuts.

Billy Pidgeon, an analyst for research firm Zelos Group, said current prices for game consoles -- around £129 to £159 for both Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation 2 and as low as £78.99 for Nintendo's GameCube -- are already pretty aggressive. Instead of cutting into their bottom line, game companies are more likely to look for other ways to juice up sales, such as offering deals that bundle consoles with selected games.

Hardware changes are also likely. Sony has already announced a new PlayStation 2 configuration, and Pidgeon expects Microsoft to introduce a slimmed-down version of the Xbox.

Schelley Olhava, an analyst for research firm IDC, calculates a 50-50 chance of price cuts around E3. "I can see justification both ways," she said, adding that bundling deals have proven to be effective sales boosters lately. "There's been a big trend since the holidays to bundle, and they may just continue with that," she said.

David Cole, founder of research firm DFC Intelligence, said price cuts may come later this year, as console makers jostle for advantage during the critical holiday-shopping season.

"I think sometime this year, there's likely to be a price cut," he said. "But if you do it now, you lose out on the opportunity to make sales in September."

Xbox Live in spotlight
Aside from pricing, hot spots at E3 will include the next chapter in the story of Xbox Live, the much-hyped online gaming service Microsoft announced at last year's E3.

Olhava said Microsoft will need to show a convincing roster of new games that take advantage of Xbox Live. "They really need to prove to the industry this online console gaming thing can take off," she said.

In the midst of stagnating sales for the Xbox, Microsoft will also need to cough up some killer games for the console. Olhava expects a lot of promotion surrounding games developed by Rare, the studio Microsoft acquired in a $375m deal late last year.

Nintendo, stung by sagging GameCube sales, is expected to emphasise the market it does dominate -- portable gaming. Pidgeon expects a number of new games and hardware products that will connect Nintendo's market-leading Game Boy Advance handheld player with the GameCube.

"They're going to try to use their advantage on the handheld side and really exploit the connectivity between the GameCube and Game Boy," Pidgeon said.

On the PC side, expect more hoopla surrounding big-scale online games, despite several recent high-profile blunders in the sector. Sony and LucasArts will again show off "Star Wars Galaxies," the oft-delayed online games based on the movie series, as well as a slew of smaller-scale games targeting everyone from pirate aficionados to armchair generals.

Mobile gaming will also get plenty of attention. Nokia is set to reveal more details on its N-Gage wireless gaming device, and game publishers such as Sega will have scores of new titles for cell phones.

"There's a lot of interest in mobile gaming and how you make that business model work," Olhava said. "Basically, it revolves around the carriers...and how willing they are to subsidize this kind of content."

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