Nintendo skipping GC '08

As the E3 Media & Business Summit suffers through its transitional pains in North America, the Leipzig Games Convention is enduring a similar state of uncertainty. Earlier this year, the German trade body Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware (BIU) said it would be relocating its annual convention to Cologne in 2009 to better accommodate the estimated 200,000 visitors the event is expected to attract. However, since the Leipzig fair has the rights to the name "Games Convention," the BIU will be renaming its show GamesCom.

With this year's Games Convention being the last in the foreseeable future, Nintendo Germany said today that it would not be attending the event. Nintendo said that it had received a positive reception to the Wii and DS through smaller, local events and it would continue to hold these more intimate gatherings through the last half of 2008.

In its statement, Nintendo stressed that it bore the Games Convention no ill will. It also noted that its decision does not serve as an early indication of its intent to attend or not attend the BIU's GamesCom in Cologne next year.