Picture yourself immersed in a world of never ending possibilities, where you are the first to see and play not only the games of the future, but the future of consumer home entertainment technology. As far as the eye can see is a literal buffet of game demos, sneak peeks, swag, exhibits, and celebrities. Now add insanely long lines, crowds blocking every isle, bad food, plus attendees with poor hygiene and you've got the 2006 E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo!

If you don't already know what E3 is then video games probably aren?t your cup of tea. Regardless I'm going to tell you what it is all about anyway. Just like Plumbers have trade shows, so do the folks in the video game biz. From all over the world gaming industry professionals converge onto the Los Angeles Convention Center to show off their new products, make deals, network, and let the gaming press in on what the future holds for the business. Here all the industries major announcements are made. Publishers and developers have often delayed or rushed the announcement on an upcoming title just to get it out around the time of this show.

This year's E3 was a major turning point in the industry, both Nintendo and Sony announced and demoed the new features of their respective "next gen" systems; Sony showed off the PS3 and Nintendo wowed everyone with the Wii console. Microsoft released their own next gen system this past year with the Xbox360. Because it was rush released before developers and publishers had the time and technology to make games worthy of the systems, it wasn't until this years show that we are now starting to see the high quality games this console is capable of.

But let's forget about those other systems right now and get down to what we are here for, to find out what Nintendo's handheld, Game Boy, has in store for us.

The biggest news about the future of the Game Boy system is that there isn't much news at all, at least not from Nintendo who completely ignored the best selling platform at their press event and chose not to demo any of its new games at their booth. The only Game Boy presence at all was a demo of the new Visteon in-car Dockable Family Entertainment System, which isn't actually a Nintendo product but an entertainment center for your car that has the capabilities of playing Game Boy Advance (GBA) game cartridges. The Game Boy wasn't the only current system that Nintendo turned its nose up at; the GameCube console was also vacant from the booth.

Although Nintendo doesn't care to share any future plans for Game Boy, there are still many publishers and developers who are staying on board with the most successful gaming system in history with over 47 titles demoed and/or announced. In past years there is usually a trend throughout the majority of the games based on what is popular at the time. This year's crop was a bit more unique in their diversity, ranging from kid's games, to hardcore RPGs, to ports of classic console titles and more. Sure many of them are based on licenses from various movies, TV shows and toys, but that will always be the case for GBA games.

The expo is spread across the gigantic convention center. The two main halls are huge and live on opposite sides of the building with several smaller halls between them. Each one is chock full of exhibition booths and meeting rooms. With all of this ground to cover, attempting to report on all of the GBA games proved to be quite a challenge. It was a fast paced, foot aching, exhaustive endeavor and I loved every minute of it.

Up Next: E3 2006 Part 2: Game Boy Action Games at the E3 Expo