Aww, and I was so gearing up to see some Ghostbusters PSP action in E3! With a sudden turn of events (and to think it's so last minute, with only three weeks left before the actual event), Atari has announced that they're pulling out from this year's gaming event - and no, it's not really because of Swine Flu concerns.

NCsoft is officially the latest company to bow out of the ranks of the Entertainment Software Association, once again putting the future of E3 into question. How many more publishers have to leave before you make E3 public again, ESA? What about the children? Won't anyone think of the children!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled TGS updates for news on another gaming convention, E3. No, it's not dead yet. But this new development won't help it recover any.

It seems that Codemasters, the company behind Clive Barker's Jericho, Colin McRae, and Lord of the Rings Online, has left the ESA. This makes the sixth publisher to leave the organization since May.

What to do when your event is drawing flak and your circle of supporters are leaving one by one? Try a different strategy, for one. And this is what ESA seems to be doing for next year's E3. Talks of them "going public" are circulating the Internet's grapevines. But how probable is this move?

Leipzig's over and the Tokyo Game Show won't be till October. But that doesn't mean there won't be any other conferences around to satisfy ever-curious gamers' appetites. And this time, we won't even have to fly overseas. The Austin Game Developers Conferences is coming up next, and they've added in a nice touch to this year's event.

Remember that mandatory game ratings bill that was passed by the New York Senate last month? Just yesterday, New York Governor David Paterson signed the video game bill into law, creating an interesting precedent for videogame legislation. Find out the full details of the videogame law after the jump!

The vice president of Electronic Arts' Jeff Brown said some pretty strong words regarding Activision and Vivendi's decision to leave the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). He also reaffirmed EA's loyalty to the ESA and said that this year's E3 will most likely be successful. To find out more, head on over to the full article.

It's one thing to look at the past in order to learn from it; it's quite another thing to examine the present and to see which direction you're heading toward. In the light of recent developments, various game industry insiders have taken to doing precisely those things. More reflection ensues in the full article after the jump.

Normally, a major event such as E3 would have all the big name companies attending it.  This year will be different, though, as five publishers have decided to drop out of the event altogether. Part of the reason may be due to reported bad blood between them and ESA president Mike Gallagher. More on this after the jump.

People have this need to belong; no one wants to feel left out. How would you feel if you weren't allowed to attend a big gaming event because you're not a member of the press? Unfortunately, that may just be the case next year with the GDC, DICE and E3. More "exclusive" news after the jump.