Wii

This year, the orcs and elves returned to the City of Angels. And they brought money with them -- more than $15 million in direct spending on taxi rides, hotel rooms, wine and sushi, among other things. The Electronic Entertainment Expo, which was substantially scaled back in 2007 and 2008, came roaring back this week at the Los Angeles Convention Center, attracting more than 35,000 visitors.

Reflecting their disparate positions in the video game industry, Sony on Tuesday tried to get gamers amped up while Nintendo told them to chill out. Red-hot game maker Nintendo unveiled a new device for its No. 1 Wii console called the Wii Vitality Sensor, which clips to players' index finger and feeds their pulse into games.

Dan Aykroyd has waited two decades for the "Ghostbusters" film franchise to come back from Hollywood's great beyond, and now it's so close he can feel it in his bones. "I'm just waiting for that magic phone call," Aykroyd said with a wistful smile. "One day, the producer calls you and says, 'We have a production number,' and that's the real green light. And it's coming soon, I hope. . . . We could be in production by winter."

Nintendo Co. forecast its first annual profit drop in five years as the deepening recession undermined demand for the bestselling Wii game console. Nintendo cut its Wii sales forecast for the first time, hurt by recessions in Europe, Japan and the U.S. The Kyoto, Japan, maker of the motion-sensing Wii said the stronger yen would also erode earnings.

The presents have been unwrapped, the tree taken down. And Santa still hasn't brought you that Wii. Don't worry. You are not alone. Despite the economic gloom and doom that hampered this Christmas shopping season, a few products rose above the recession and flew off the shelves faster than eight magical reindeer. Gifts such as Nintendo Co.'s Wii, Amazon.com Inc.'

Nintendo Co.'s sales are speeding along faster than a getaway car, shrugging off economic woes as if they were bugs on the windshield. Its Wii video game console continues to be sold out in many stores. Sales of its DS hand-held console remain hot despite its being a 4-year-old product, ancient by game-technology standards.

What do Indiana Jones, John Rambo and Solid Snake have in common? They all look like they would qualify for membership in AARP. Indiana Jones, played by the 65-year-old Harrison Ford, nurses his joints as he swings through South American jungles in his latest film, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Earlier this year, Rambo was roused from his weary retirement in Southeast Asia at the ripe age of 61. The tag line: "Heroes never die . . . They just reload."

NOTE TO READERS Beginning today, Business will occasionally print excerpts from the Technology blog, which examines the business and culture of our connected lives. Visit latimes.com /technology. -- Nintendo Co.'s latest video game, Wii Fit, has declared that I have the body of a 47-year-old. Never mind that I'm, well, younger than that. The new fitness game is part of a burgeoning trend -- video games that claim to be good for you. Taking a knock at the stereotype of video gamers as couch potatoes, the Wii console has pulled players off of their behinds to bowl, bat and backhand their way through games using a wireless motion-sensing remote control.

For some Wii fans, the exercise in Wii Fit has been in running around trying to find one. That was the case for Dhruv Thukral, a 25-year-old from Santa Monica who raced from store to store the day Nintendo Co.'s fitness game came out May 19. "It's sold out everywhere," the USC computer science graduate student said. Wii Fit is the latest title for Nintendo's Wii game console.