The latest in the video game world

LOS ANGELES, (WIVB) - If you love to play video games get ready to be active. The future of the industry is all about getting gamers off the couch.

There's some odd-looking behavior on the E3 convention floor. Squatting, swinging, running. These days virtual reality has gamers breaking a sweat.

Ben Mercer, E3 convention attendee said, "You're actually kind of working out a bit, yeah. It even shows you how many calories you burned."

There's every kind of interactive game imaginable at the E3 convention , from fantasy to war games to mixing music, but the future of gaming is a total body experience.

The talk of the show comes from Microsoft. It's breakthrough Natal technology lets gamers use their entire body wirelessly with no controls and no sensors attached. A camera scans the player for face and body recognition.

Erin Hofto, Microsoft said, "It recognizes facial expressions, your voice, and it tracks all of your body movements so you can interact with the X-Box 360 without a controller.

Nintendo first got gamers off the couch with its wildly popular Wii. The next generation Wii offers up more physically challenging games, tennis or Tae-Kwan-Do.

Sony is also revealing motion detection technology and more portability with bigger screens.

Analysts said the multi billion dollar video game industry is poised to eclipse all other forms of entertainment and the movie and music industries are jumping on board.

Brian Ekberg, Game Spot said, "It's becoming something that wants to touch every aspect of everybody's life."

The latest games look stunningly real, even the actors are better looking. For gamers, the fantasy can be virtually more interesting than real life.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 convention , runs through Thursday in Los Angeles.

You can preview many of the games on the E3 web site like the new Super Mario Brothers made for Wii and many others.