SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Nintendo opened with a montage of news clips and advertisements for the Wii and Nintendo DS. Then Reggie Fils-Aime, president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, took the stage.

"My name is Reggie and I am ... happy," he said, riffing on the introduction he gave at this show in 2004. "To us, today is more than a press conference or a business meeting, we see today as a celebration."

He said the celebration extends beyond Nintendo.

"We think this E3 marks a conclusive turning point for the video game market, welcoming more players and more opportunity to our form of entertainment," Fils-Aime said.

Here's a number: 69 percent of all game industry growth comes directly from the sales of Nintendo products, he said.

Another one: A third of Nintendo DS players are women. In households with a Wii, the regular players include: 95 percent of males under 25; two-thirds of men 25 to 49; one-third of women in that age group. in the over-50 age group, 1 in 8 men are playing regularly, along with 1 in 10 women.