Online gaming via consoles may well revolutionize the game industry and the Internet--just don't hold your breath. That's the consensus from leading game software executives at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the game industry's main trade show. While they applauded efforts by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo to add online capabilities to their game machines, they said it will be years before online console games attract a paying audience big enough to support such services. "Online gaming is a parlor trick at E3 this year," said Jeff Brown, vice president of corporate communications for leading game publisher Electronic Arts. "This is not a real business. This is not going to be a real business until 2004 or 2005, and by then you're going to have a new generation of consoles."
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