More than 70,000 people – members of industry or the press – converged recently for the annual trade show, which has long functioned as a way to show off the latest and greatest in console video games to the world's media and fans.

Interestingly, while no totally new video game platforms were present this year, there was a massive hardware-related cloud that hovered above all the raucous game demos, Lamborghinis, dancing robots, haunted houses and genuine fun and excitement of the show floor.

The issue is one that has only really been spoken in whispers from analysts and gamers over the past year on the back of leaks and rumours, but appeared in earnest at E3: the transition from generational, discrete video game platforms to a more smartphone-like business plan that would see versions of the Xbox and PlayStation release more frequently, but with more incremental improvements.

Microsoft opened its pre-show briefing with a brand new Xbox One console.

Smaller, sleeker, and able to display in 4K (for video only) and high dynamic range (for both video and games), the One S replaces the existing model but is also the first of potentially many incremental improvements to the One platform.

That platform is going "beyond generations", said Xbox boss Phil Spencer, who later told Fairfax Media he considers Xbox to be a gaming brand that lives across many devices and services, while the Xbox One is a box you'll buy if you want a dedicated gaming machine for your TV.

The briefing closed with the announcement that another new Xbox One would release late next year. Codenamed Project Scorpio, it will be very powerful, render games in 4K and be compatible with a VR headset.

Despite this, all Xbox One games will still work on all Xbox One systems.

The rhetoric from Microsoft is that the moves will give consumers greater choice: however much you want to spend on hardware and however frequently you want to upgrade, the entire library of games will be available to you and won't need to be thrown out in a few years when new hardware arrives.

This is certainly how it's worked on PC for a long time (not coincidentally, the Xbox One runs on Windows 10 and many of Microsoft's games will release both on One and PC), but it's a shift that comes with legitimate concerns for some.

While those with less powerful PCs can often play the latest and greatest games, for example, they must sacrifice visual fidelity or performance to do so.

Having the entire player base using the same hardware to provide a consistent experience has long been an advantage of console gaming, for both players and developers, but it looks like that's about to change.

Sony, for its part, avoided the issue. Aside from blockbuster game announcements (which Microsoft also had in spades), Sony focused its briefing on virtual reality, which many had assumed would be the theme of the entire show.

With its own VR solution — PlayStation VR — launching this October, Sony was keen to emphasise its point of difference to Microsoft: "We have a combination of the necessary processing and graphics power already built inside 40 million PS4s that have been sold worldwide", said Sony's Shawn Layden.

Yet the company has confirmed that it also has a "high-end" version of its PlayStation 4 waiting in the wings.

Codenamed Neo, the machine is tipped to be able to render 4K games, and was at one time expected to be unveiled during E3.

Whether it was afraid of muddying the waters ahead of the VR launch or whether it was forced back to the drawing board after catching wind of Microsoft's plan, Sony announced shortly before the show that it was holding the Neo announcement for a later date.

As is tradition, the trend was completely bucked by the oldest company exhibiting at the show – the Japanese giant Nintendo — which is committed to leaving its existing hardware platform behind and has been openly dismissive of virtual reality.

Nintendo is in the awkward position of having all-but abandoned its current console — the ill-adopted Wii U — while not being quite ready to unveil its new console, which is codenamed NX and will launch in 2017.

At E3, the company didn't have a pre-show media briefing and only exhibited a single game, yet it dominated much of the discussion on the show floor and commanded the longest line at the expo (in excess of four hours), proving software really is still king.

Their game — The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — is set to launch for both Wii U and NX simultaneously, making its massive presence an ingenious way to sell industry folks on the new console without having to reveal a thing about it.

The author travelled to Los Angeles as a guest of Microsoft.