... Well, at least that's what the organizers of the Leipzig Games Convention are expecting. Just in case you haven't heard of it, it's going to be held in Leipzig, Germany from August 24 to 27.

Last year, around 134,000 visitors came to attend the convention, and organizers are expecting roughly the same number of attendees or more, as 367 exhibitors (that's a lot!) have already signed up for the videogames expo.

The Games Convention will also have other activities aside from the main expo; these'll include a Gladiator Fight, sports on the karting trach and on the halfpipe, and a concert.

A bit more about the concert for ya - it'll feature game music and will be held in Leipzig's Gewandhaus on the 23rd. It's bound tp be exciting because music from games such as Two Worlds, Castlevania, Revenge of the Shinobi, Anno 1707 and Final Fantasy will be included in the concert. Unfortunately, tickets for the concert have already sold out...

We'll be bringing you the final list of the exhibitors at the Games Convention once the complete list has been released. Any of you folks going?

As expected, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has now released a press statement concerning the future of the E3, we covered the news earlier. It is quite the literary masterpiece, filled with words like "excitement" and "evolution" to tell us that the new form of E3 is a voluntary decision, that it's not all as bad as we may think. But many exhibitors have pulled their support already, instead opting to spend the money on their own individual conferences and meetings.

The ESA calls the "new E3" a "more intimate event focused on targeted, personalized meetings and activities". It will still take place in Los Angeles, but will not feature the large trade show environment anymore. According to Douglas Lowenstein, ESA's president, it's "no longer necessary or efficient to have a single industry 'mega-show" as other events like the Tokyo Game Show and Games Convention have emerged since the first E3 twelve years ago.

More news about the reshaped E3 will appear in the coming months, with the event replacing the old format seamlessly for a show debut in 2007. It's clear that while the E3 has been a piece of dearly held video game history, the show's quality has declined over the years. With E3's future decided over, the big companies are going to have their own little meetings, the Games Convention takes the place as the big event and is even open to anyone, not just the press. So...who, exactly, would still go to a crippled E3?

Square Enix has issued a press release stating that two localized versions of the popular Final Fantasy XI will be unveiled at the upcoming Games Convention in Leipzig. From August 23 to 27, players can take the chance to test out the new French and German language versions Square Enix has prepared for the respective markets.

The game can be found in Hall 5 at the Final Fantasy XI arena. Visitors will not only be able to test the game in it's new languages but will also have a chance to meet the development team and enter unique competitions where exclusive prizes can be won. The French and German versions of the game will be available for both Xbox 360 and PC, fully playable at the Games Convention.

With the localised versions, Square Enix hopes to further extend the market reach of the MMO, which allows simultaneous multiplayer action across three different platforms (PS2, Xbox 360, PC). Currently, the FFXI servers are holding more than 500,000 player accounts and 1.7 million characters.