Rumors that Half-Life 2 Episode 3 will be feature at E3 2008 have proven to be just that. Valve’s marketing boss Doug Lombardi has officially announced that the next episode in the Half-Life 2 franchise will not be at E3 this year. He did promise fans a playable version of Left 4 Dead would be on display at a Valve hosted suite.

The zombie FPS Left 4 Dead has been generating quite a bit of hype of its own. Valve is confident the multiplayer co-op game will be groundbreaking.

Valve managing director Gabe Newell has said, “What Counter-Strike did for multiplayer action games, Left 4 Dead will do for co-op games.”

Left 4 Dead is currently under development by Turtle Rock. Gamers can expect Valve to publish the title this fall.

Scouring the list of scheduled games for E3 is yielding some interesting titles that should be making an appearance. Right now, there are listings for Kid Icarus Wii, Doom 4, Alan Wake, and Half-Life Episode 3. So let’s see, that’s one game that Nintendo fans have been wanting for years, one game that may or may not push some graphical boundaries while scaring the crap out of people, one game that’s been in development since the last generation of consoles, and one game that should finally finish up a trilogy. We knew there were already going to be some great titles showing up, like Little Big Planet and Gears of War 2, but these ones definitely bump the excitement up a notch. I hope that Half-Life listing indicates they’re releasing that one sooner, rather than later. E3 is already looking to be a pretty exciting time for gamers everywhere.

Earlier today, several gaming sites — ours included — reported that LucasArts had announced they were pulling out of E3 this year. The news certainly made sense, considering there have been rumors about it for some time now. But it looks like that all stemmed from a misinterpretation of a VentureBeat article. LucasArts has now re-confirmed their attendance at E3; they just won’t be revealing any new games there. I’m cool with that, so long as I get to see some Force Unleashed when I’m there.

Via Joystiq

Despite the drop out rate for the ESA and gaming companies that will be forgoing E3 2008, there will be plenty of upcoming games to get excited over. Microsoft will be featuring both Halo Wars and Gears of War 2. The company’s press conference is scheduled for July 14th.

Gamers can also look forward to learning more on Lionhead’s Fable 2. Rare is coming to the party and bringing Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. There’ll be more on Silicon Knights’ Too Human as well.

Gaming Today will be covering the event live and will keep you posted on the details as they’re revealed. E3 2008 is returning to the Los Angeles Convention Center this year and runs from the 15th to 17th of July.

via Eurogamer

Looks like I’ll have to amend my exhibitor list again. Kotaku is reporting that six more publishers have dropped out of E3 this year. Who are the missing half-dozen?

Well, to Vivendi and Activision you can add the following: Codemasters, NCSoft, Her Entertainment, and id Software. The new four have confirmed that they are not attending this year’s show, but they are remaining members of the ESA.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has been quoted as placing at least part of the blame at the feet of ESA President, Mike Gallagher.

“Lowenstein was a very savvy industry veteran who paid attention to the goings-on in the industry and cared what the community had to say. The new person… whose name completely escapes me because I’ve never met him or heard from him, is far less knowledgeable and sophisticated about this industry than Doug was and is going to make some rookie mistakes.

Doug used to be a very visible spokesperson in congress… when you’d get these [things like] Barack Obama saying videogames are corrupting our youth or MADD saying that Take-Two should pull GTA off the shelves, you would hear Lowenstein immediately shoot back. I would guess that Activision doesn’t perceive the same value from the ESA as they did under Doug’s leadership. I criticize [Gallagher's] lack of drive to learn about the industry.”

Thus far, the ESA and Gallagher have had no comment, but it seems to me that common sense would say that if your largest members are leaving and/or not supporting your signature event, you may have a problem on your hands.

To be fair, NCSoft has publicly stated that their decision not to attend is based soley on their game development cycles, and has nothing ot do with the ESA or its leadership. However, the rest of us are left wondering what may come from all the other companies in the coming week, especially with the news that Activision will be holding an event on the first day of E3, just not in the convention center as part of E3.

Is this the beginning of the end for E3? We’ve speculated on it for quite some time, literally every year since the format was changed. Could it finally be upon us?

Via: Kotaku

If, like me, you were wondering why Activision, Blizzard and the rest of Vivendi weren’t on the list of exhibitors at E3 2008, the answer is in.

According to Kotaku, the Entertainment Software Association has confirmed to them that both Vivendi and Activision are no longer a part of the trade organization. In a statement, Senior Vice President of Communications and Research Rich Taylor said

“While the Entertainment Software Association remains the preeminent voice for U.S. computer and video game publishers, we can confirm that Activision and Vivendi Games opted to discontinue their membership. The ESA remains dedicated to advancing our industry’s objectives such as protecting intellectual property, preserving First Amendment rights, and fostering a beneficial environment for the entire industry. Our high level of service and value to members and the larger industry remains unchanged.”

This departure is a big surprise, at least to me. I think we’d all grown used to Blizzard holding their big announcements for Blizzcon, but to see an E3 without them will be more than just odd, it’ll be downright bizarre. One has to wonder what effect this split will have on the ESA and E3. After all, it’s not just Blizzard, but Activision and Sierra as well.

Well, July is approaching fast, and E3 with it. We received the list of E3 exhibitors, and thought we’d share them with you. As usual, you can expect us to have a team from Gaming Today on site to bring you coverage right from the Convention Center.

This year’s list includes (among others) Atari, Eidos, EA, Konami, LucasArts, Square Enix, and of course the big three of the console world: Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. Contrary to popular rumor, Bethesda will make an appearance with Fallout 3, as confirmed by their blog post. Apparently they were left off the initial listing for an unknown reason.

You can see a full list of the companies currently expected to attend after the break.

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