Nintendo and Sony have developed new control systems for their games consoles, the Wii and the PlayStation 3.

The two companies revealed their plans at separate press conferences at the E3 video game trade show in Los Angeles, the largest exhibition of its type in the world.

The announcements follow Microsoft’s revelation 24 hours earlier that it has developed a “controller-less" control system for its video game console, the Xbox 360.

Nintendo showed a prototype of its Wii MotionPlus controller at last year’s E3, but the new controller is slightly longer than the current ones, and uses gyroscopic technology, which is more precise than the accelerometers used today.

David Yarnton, head of Nintendo’s British operation, told The Times that a new generation of sports and action games would benefit. One of these, Wii Sports Resort, is due for release in Britain in late July.

The real lines of battle in the war of the controllers are being drawn between Microsoft and Sony. Both have watched in disbelief as Nintendo’s technically inferior Wii sold 50 million units worldwide — more than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 combined.

Both companies are now pursuing casual gamers, the Wii’s core market, by making their games more intuitive to play. Microsoft’s system uses cameras and facial recognition technology in a set-top box to allow players to use their bodies as games controllers.

Sony’s solution to the same problem is slightly different. Its system uses cameras and motion-sensitive controllers with buttons that change the appearance or function of the controller on screen. In a tennis game, for example, it can look like a tennis racquet; in a shooting game, a gun. The object under control then interacts with its onscreen environment as it would in the real world. Players can also watch themselves playing onscreen, in a virtual TV screen that appears within the game.

The controller’s ability to track movement is precise to within a millimetre, Sony’s American CEO and President Jack Tretton told the E3 audience.

Microsoft and Sony are now in a race to bring their products to market, a process that observers believe could take a year or more.

Almost lost in the excitement at E3 was Sony’s announcement of a new PSP, which had been widely leaked on to the internet just days in advance of what was to have been a surprise announcement.

The PSP Go is smaller and lighter than the current PSP. It features slide-out controls, and 16GB of built-in memory for downloads via built-in wi-fi. “We call it the worst-kept secret of E3,” said Kaz Hirai, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment. The new machine will compete directly with Nintendo’s portable DS system.

It was Nintendo that gave E3 the most bizarre launch of the day. Its latest health product, following the bestselling Wii Fit and Brain Training games, is Wii Vitality, a small device that attaches to a user’s fingertip and monitors heart-rate and relaxation.

“People will be able to use the products we are developing to go with the Wii Vitality sensor to achieve greater relaxation,” Nintendo’s CEO and President, Satoru Iwata, told his audience. “Maybe everyone under pressure in our stressful society could use this as a way to relax with a video game.”

No release date has yet been confirmed for the Wii Vitality.