The days of up, down, left, right, A or B are long gone. These are the days of rocking, dancing, strumming, shooting and scoring interactively with the games we play. The 2010 E3 gaming expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center June 15^th-17^th showcased the coming year’s most ground breaking and mind blowing video games. This year’s expo introduced several promising titles and peripherals that had the crowd buzzing with excitement.

The world of motion gaming has come along way since Rock Em’ Sock Em’ Robots. The new Kinect for the X Box 360 does away with a controller all together and makes the player’s body the controller. Your movements, voice and facial expressions are all seamlessly captured using a motion capture camera. The Kinect is not just a break through for gamers who get incredibly frustrated with wires but also because it’s an interactive experience like never seen before. Players can now command a raft through white water rapids by jumping up over rocks, kick around a soccer ball with the same intensity and accuracy of a real one and perfect a 1080 on a half pipe without ever picking up a controller. Dance Central, a big hit at E3 is the karaoke of dancing games. The player dances along to the choreographed routines of current pop hits and classics alike.

Sony’s Playstation Move controller let the crowd at E3 know X-Box wasn’t the only one with an innovative motion controller. The Move controller features a three axis gyroscope, three axis accelerometer and a terrestrial magnetic field sensor that tracks the angle to which it is held while the Playstation Eye Camera (required) tracks it’s position in 3-D space. An illuminated ball sits atop the controller and reacts to your environment. In the same way a meteorologist won’t where a green shirt to do a broadcast because he or she is standing in front of a green screen. The ball will change colors accordingly to your background.

SOCOM 4, a revamped Twisted Metal and the mesmerizing Gran Turismo 5 were all available for demo, playable with the Playstation Move at the Sony booth. Among the demos was the EyePet a game where the player raises a little creature that resembles a Gremlin before it got wet. Play with it, scare it and you can even draw pictures with it to hang on your living room wall, all in stunningly clear high definition 3-D. The little guy does everything but crap on your carpet.

The Eye Camera, Move combination blends together the virtual world of the game to our reality with a smoothness that will give all titles compatible with it a leg up on their competitors. The Playstation Move and EyePet will be available in September 2010, respectively.

The Playstation 3 is also touting games in 3-D. Sony has jumped out to be leader of the pack in 3-D and after playing a demo of the new Killzone 3 in 3-D that is no surprise. The 3-D glasses and a HDTV with 3-D capabilities carries a pretty hefty price tag but the immersive experience is hypnotizing.

Music gaming has become a major market and several productions debuted that should give a reason to care about Guitar Hero again.

The Peavy Heromaker, designed by Zivix, is the first full size real six string electric guitar that works with all Rockband and Guitar Hero games.

“The idea is to have an entry level guitar and start playing music right out of the box” said Jason Nelson, software engineer for the game between jam sessions.

Zivix is also behind Jam Party: Be The Music, a musical game where the player is creating their own music through pre-loaded loops and sound effects. Then share those tracks with friends by exporting them as MP3’s. The limit to what can be created is your own imagination or work schedule.

First person shooter franchises debuted their latest versions. Call of Duty: Black Ops looks like it will be the strongest of any FPS to be released in the coming year. Silently take out the enemy with ninja stars and crossbows as a secretive black operative in Laos and Eastern Europe. Ignition Entertainment brought out Blacklight: Tango Down, a FPS set years in the future but with one foot grounded in reality. A weapons customization option offers millions of weapon combos ranging from a silenced shotgun to EMG grenades. Medal of Honor delivered a competitive FPS title putting the gamer in the boots of a Tier 1 Operator, a group of virtuosic soldiers that are above even the Delta Force.

There were countless other products that made this writer’s geek-meter go off the charts. Advanced technology in gaming combined with wide spread availability means gaming enthusiasts have a lot to look forward to. You might want to hit the gym now because once some of these products are released you won’t be leaving home anytime soon.