Texas gov keynoting E3 '08

Following the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, the Entertainment Software Association's annual trade show has been in a state of flux for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which being an indefinite location and flagging support. As part of its efforts to retune the show last year, the ESA did away with the show's traditional conference program, where industry luminaries gathered to share insight into the industry.

While the ESA hasn't explicitly stated the conference program will return for this year's E3 Media and Business Summit, it indicated as much when it detailed this year's E3 Media & Business Summit in December. Today, the industry representative body gave a further indication that the track would be returning, saying Texas governor Rick Perry would deliver a keynote address at this year's show. E3 is scheduled to take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 15-17.

"Governor Perry and the E3 Media & Business Summit are both great success stories. The Governor's keynote address is especially timely given the high concentration of entertainment software developers and publishers in Texas as well as the state's long-standing support of our industry," said ESA CEO Michael Gallagher. "The Governor's forward-thinking leadership in encouraging the growth and development of our $18 billion industry is a roadmap for other state executives who want to transform their state economies for the 21st century."

Earlier this month, soon-to-be merged publishers Activision and Vivendi left the ESA, and subsequently decided to skip this year's event. Following that announcement, previous E3 exhibitors NCsoft and Foundation 9 said they too had scuttled the event from their calendars, while LucasArts said they would be attending the show, but would not be renewing their membership with the ESA.

Helping to clear up some of the confusion surrounding who's in and who's out, the ESA today released a complete list of companies that have committed to exhibit at this year's E3. Noticeably absent from the list is id Software, which previously told GameSpot it would be attending, before recanting its statement.

A list of announced attendees is as below. The ESA said it expects additional exhibitors to sign on in the near future.

Akella
Atari
Bethesda Softworks
Capcom USA
Crave Entertainment
Codemasters
D3Publisher of America
Deep Silver
Disney Interactive Studios
Electronic Arts
Eidos Interactive
Fox Interactive Media; Indie Games
Jagex
Konami America
LucasArts
Majesco
Microsoft
Midway Games
MTV Games
Namco Bandai Games America
Natsume
Nintendo of America
Novint Technologies
Nyko Technologies
Rebellion
Sega of America
Serious Games Initiative
Sony Computer Entertainment America
Sony Online Entertainment
Southpeak Interactive
Square Enix USA
Take-Two Interactive
Tecmo
THQ
Toshiba America
Ubisoft
Valve Software
Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment