7 Reasons Why There Will Be A Redesigned DS

No announcement has been made by Nintendo and everything reported online is pure speculation and rumour. Our hardware development team always work on the next product after we launch one hardware. It is usual that a new model will be brought to the market when we can not offer new ideas with the current model, but we think Nintendo DS is not at that stage yet, and we'd like to keep offering all sorts of suggestions to enrich the lives of people who own a Nintendo DS.

EA Announced E3 Plans

Not a whole lot of substance here, but Electronic Arts today confirmed their continuing support of E3 by announcing their official show press conference.

The publisher plans on taking over LA's Orpheum Theater on Monday at 3 p.m. For those of you keeping track, that's technically the day before the show starts.

Activision and Vivendi Break From ESA

Yesterday word broke that Activision was one of what might be several companies not attending this year's E3 Media and Business Summit. Today I've heard that neither Activision nor Vivendi will be attending the annual conference and are in fact no longer members of the association.

We have contacted the ESA, Activison and Vivendi for comment and will update the second we hear back.

In 2006 the association announced they would be reworking the annual E3 conference after publishers complained about the expense and focus of the event. Last year it was reworked and made smaller, cutting down on the number of press and publishers allowed to attend and held in Santa Monica rather than Los Angeles. This year the event is moving back to the LA convention center but keeping the smaller, more intimate format.

We cannot comment on the specifics of what will be announced at E3, but at the very least there won't be anything like what Mr. Hamamura suggested, so would like to clearly deny this. We're having a hard time understanding what kind of evidence [Mr. Hamamura] had for saying this.

Gamecock's send up of the "death" of E3 last year seems to be evolving, departing from its roots at the Electronic Entertainment Expo and moving to take place in the days leading up to Austin's South by Southwest.

This year's event, still labeled a showcase for independent developers, will take place on March 6 at Stubb's Bar-B-Q and will feature a day of gaming and a night of "Texas hospitality."

"South by Southwest is known as a mecca for indie film makers and musicians and there are a ton of game makers in Austin, so it seems like a natural fit," said founder Mike Wilson.

Gamecock decided to move their Expo For Interactive Entertainment, Independent and Original from Los Angeles' E3 to Austin because Wilson said they feel like SXSW is a better fit for their event.

The Santa Monica E3 is dead, long live the Los Angeles E3... again? Not quite.

The Entertainment Software Association today announced that the E3 Media & Business Summit will be returning to the spacious digs of the Los Angeles Convention Center for next year's event which will run from July 15 through July 17. But that doesn't mean that the new E3 is returning to its old ways.

'We are very much not going back to the old E3," Rich Taylor, senior vice president of communications and research for the ESA, told me in an interview. "I think we are all on the same page for the industry on what we want those days in July to be about."

"This is the new E3, new and improved."