E3 Expo is a sellout

When is selling out a good thing? When it is E3 Expo.

The arm of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) that produces North America's biggest game industry-focused trade show today said it has sold all available floor space for the upcoming event--and in record time.

Calling it "the fastest sellout in five years," the ESA said 540,000 square feet of the Los Angeles Convention Center is now allocated to some 400 exhibitors.

Doug Lowenstein, president of the ESA, attributed the demand to the current stature of the interactive entertainment sector. "E3 Expo 2005 brings us to the threshold of a new era of creative and technological innovation for the global computer and video game business," he said in a statement.

E3 Expo opens for business the week of May 16, 2005. Activities at E3 kick off on Monday, May 16, with the first day of the M.I.T. and ESA-sponsored Education Arcade (which runs for two days).

Then, on Tuesday, May 17, the E3 Conference Program holds the first of three consecutive days of workshops and panels.

The main expo floor is open May 18, 19, 20.