BioWare's anticipated Xbox 360 roleplaying game Mass Effect will arrive in stores this November, Microsoft announced today during its E3 press conference. Nothing had been heard regarding the game's ship date since being rumored for summer release.

Additionally, Microsoft said Mistwalker Studios' own RPG Lost Odyssey should see a release before the year ends. Mistwalker's other Xbox 360 RPG, Blue Dragon, will ship in North America on August 28.

Microsoft ran off a list of more than 20 games coming to Xbox Live Arcade this year during their Santa Monica E3 press conference. Two classic titles will be available on the service today: Sega's speed-platformer Sonic the Hedgehog and the hack-and-slash brawler Golden Axe.

Also confirmed for a 2007 release were Bomberman Live, Undertow, Hexic 2, War World, Sensible World of Soccer, Every Extend Extra Extreme, Geon, Wing Commander Arena, Feeding Frenzy 2, Track and Field, Spyglass Board Games, Space Giraffe, Super Puzzle Fighter II, Word Puzzle, Marathon: Durandal, Poker Smash, Switchball, Tetris Splash, Puzzle Quest, and Boku Sudoku.

During its E3 press conference, Microsoft unveiled Viva Piñata: Party Animals, an Xbox 360 mini-game collection by Krome Studios. The title will feature the characters from Rare's well reviewed business strategy game Viva Piñata, and the animated television show based on the game.

Microsoft also announced that Rare's original game will be heading to PC this fall. The port will be headed by Climax Group, who made the RPG Sudeki for Xbox. No release date was given, but Microsoft released several screenshots of the game.

Party Animals developer Krome Studios developed the Ty series of platformers and is currently developing an action game based on Mike Mignola's Hellboy property.

Microsoft's press conference is starting now at E3 in hot Santa Monica, and the Shack is here for all your coverage needs.

Check out our live feed here to get the scoop on the company's plans and all things Xbox.

Also, be sure to visit the front page for more digestible updates during the conference.

Publisher Atlus today announced a quartet of games for the Nintendo DS, including a duet of music games, a sequel and a half to Touch Detective, and a new entry to its soap opera/sci-fi surgery sim series Trauma Center.

In Draglade, combat will be mixed with music as fighters battle for rhythmic supremacy. Centering around a weapon called the "Glade," which generate tones when used in combat, players will need to follow the beat and use their reflexes to survive. Features include customizable characters, unlockable characters, and multiplayer over both local and online wireless connections.

In another foray into musical games, Ontamarama will have players... Read more

With the Shacknews staff in Santa Monica gearing up for E3, we've launched a dedicated expo coverage site at E3.Shacknews.com. Check it out now for a spate of coverage and media from publisher pre-E3 events, with updated content to follow as the show proper kicks in. We'll have live updates from all twelve publisher press conferences where the week's biggest news will be announced, starting with Microsoft tonight. Tomorrow will see coverage from Nintendo's and Sony's events, followed by third parties. Keep checking back!

Bad news regarding highly anticipated Wii titles is hovering above Tuesday like a dark Lakitu.

In a somewhat unsurprising, but still discouraging announcement, Retro Studios CEO Michael Kelbaugh tells GamePro that his studio's upcoming title Metroid Prime 3: Corruption will not feature online multiplayer.

"It's something we talked about early on, but we only have so many resources. We opted to devote those resources to making a better single-player experience," he said.

There is no word on any offline multiplayer mode, although Nintendo's website lists the title as supporting only one player. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is now due to ship on August 27, a week later than originally ... Read more

Microsoft will once again be using Xbox Live to provide users with E3 content under the Bringing It Home initiative, the company announced today. As with past Xbox Live coverage of gaming trade shows, trailers and demos will be featured as free downloads on Xbox Live Marketplace.

Starting next week, the content will include Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed (PS3, X360), Irrational Games' Bioshock (X360, PC), Mistwalker's Blue Dragon (X360), Criterion's Burnout Paradise (PS3, 360), Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3, X360, PC), and Neversoft's Guitar Hero 3 (PS2, PS3, X360, Wii), as well as a few surprises. It was not specified which games will have playable content. For a full list of known Bringing It Home titles, check Weekly Download Rundown.

Along with the game content, Microsoft will be providing a high definition recording of its E3 press conference, scheduled to take place Tuesday, July 10.

The E3 Business & Media Summit was updated this week with the official publisher press conference for the upcoming Santa Monica, California trade show. In line with the more structured format of this year's event, there appears to be a greater focus on third-party publisher conferences than there traditionally has been at E3.

Microsoft kicks off the week on the evening of Tuesday, July 10, the day before the show's official start date. Nintendo and Sony Computer Entertainment America are scheduled to present the following morning. Wednesday, July 11 will see press conferences from Electronic Arts, Activision, Midway, and ... Read more

E3 as we knew it may be no more, but its spirit lives on in the onslaught of news and industry events that just so happen to occur in its former timeframe. Spooky, huh?

Indie-oriented publisher Gamecock has stated its intentions to plan an independent game expo held concurrently with the upcoming E3 Business & Media Summit. The laborious full name of Gamecock's tentative event is E.I.E.I.O. - Expo for Interactive Entertainment: Independent and Original - Fun Fest 2007.

E.I.E.I.O. is a response to the E3 exhibitor list on which we reported earlier this week. The list "noticeably lacked independent developers," a Gamecock representative pointed out to Shacknews.

Gamecock is headed up by CEO Mike Wilson (pictured left), president Harry Miller, and CFO Rick Stults, reprising their executive roles held at the now- ... Read more

A list of publishers and developers currently slated to attend this July's E3 Media & Business Summit in Santa Monica has been made available to press registered for the event. The news follows months of speculation among gamers and members of the games industry regarding how many companies would be attending the newly slimmed down trade show. Said NIS America president Haru Akenaga last month, "We have almost no chance to join the big E3, because we are too small," echoing the fears of some that smaller publishers and developers would be locked out of the event. Indeed, the trimmed down exhibitor list consists mainly of major publishers and the three major platform holders, though there are a few independent developers, niche publishers, and peripheral manufacturers as well. The site refers to the exhibitor list, current as of March 30, as a "complete listing of Participating Companies," implying that there may be no further participants added in the runup to the event.

Participating publishers are 1C Company, Activision, Akella, Atari, Atlus, Bethesda Softworks, Buena Vista Games (now Disney Interactive Studios), Capcom, Codemasters, Crave Entertainment, Eidos, Electronic Arts, Konami, LucasArts, Majesco, Microsoft, Midway, Namco Bandai Games, NCsoft, Nintendo, Sega, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Online Entertainment, Square Enix, Take-Two Interactive, THQ, Ubisoft, Vivendi Games, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

The only independent developer exhibitors are Foundation 9 Entertainment and id Software. Accessory manufacturers Logitech and Nyko Technologies are also set to attend. This year's exhibitor lists contains 32 (update: 33) companies; by contrast, last year's exceeded 400.

Despite the low count of independent developers and niche publishers listed as exhibitors, the E3 Media & Business Summit will host the Indie Games Showcase, featuring titles ranging from commercially produced independent games to student projects. Indie Games Showcase will include contributions from the first IndieCade festival, to be held later this year and intended to promote and support the independent game development community.

E3 Summit will consist of an exhibit hall in Santa Monica's Barker Hanger as well as company-run demonstrations in nearby hotel suites. Third party press conferences will be held in a common location, while platform holder press conferences will, as in past years, be entirely hosted by the three manufacturers themselves. No press conferences have yet been announced. Attendeeds to this year's invitation-only event are expected to number 3000-4000 in total, a mere fraction of 2006's 60,000 or 2005's 70,000. The event will be held on July 11-13, 2007.

Update: Developer and publisher Bethesda Softworks has contacted Shacknews, stating that it too will be attending this year's E3 Summit despite its current lack of inclusion on the exhibitor list.

Update: Further contact from Bethesda suggests that the omission of the company on the E3 exhibitor list was merely an error on the part of the Electronic Software Association in compiling the participating companies.

Remember that news about the Game Pro Game Expo? Well, it's no longer called the Game Pro Game Expo. Actually, it's not called anything at all. It's up to you to come up with a new name for the new game showcase, open to the general public. If your idea is selected, you'll win tickets, air fare, and lodging to attend whatever it is you end up calling it. Head over to the official page for more.

IDG is launching a brand new interactive entertainment exposition for consumers at the Los Angeles Convention Center next October. Open to the general public this will be the singular event for gamers. The unique format of the event will encourage maximum interaction between gamers and game related companies.

I humbly suggest "Venerable Shacknews Game Symposium."

Earlier this month, the Entertainment Software Association revealed its plans for E3's replacement, an invite-only event on a much smaller scale than the megalithic E3 of recent years. Now, according to an industry memo paraphrased by GameSpot, tech industry publisher and expo producer International Data Group will be holding a new ESA-backed trade show that will essentially take the place of E3. IDG is responsible for events such as Macworld and LinuxWorld, as well as numerous magazines including PC World, Computerworld, Macworld, InfoWorld, Network World, and GamePro. Unlike the ESA's own replacement show the E3 Media and Business Summit, this new Game Pro Expo will seek to create the same atmosphere of hype and glitz that was a major factor in the downscaling of the former E3Expo. It will be endorsed by the ESA.

IDG's first Game Pro Expo will take place from October 18-20, 2007, several months after July's E3 Media and Business Summit, and will occupy E3's former Los Angeles Convention Center home. It is expected to be comparable to E3 in size and scope, and will consist of both trade show elements as well as consumer elements such as game competition. Publishers are being instructed to "use E3 as a guide" when planning their Game Pro Expo presences.

The move comes as something of a surprise, as the primary reason E3 in its past form came to an end was due to publishers pulling out of the event after determining that the show was costing far too much money for exhibitors without appropriate returns. In the wake of the ESA's announcements, there have been numerous announcements of new events and expansions of existing events hoping to step in and fill E3's shoes, prompting concerns that the issues E3's downsizing sought to remedy may simply crop up again immediately elsewhere.

Several months after announcing that major changes would be made to the industry's annual Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show, the Entertainment Software Association has announced specific details for what has now been dubbed the E3 Media and Business Summit. The next E3Expo, which for the sake of brevity appears to remain the event's official and slightly redundant nickname, will be held July 11-13, 2007, in Santa Monica, California rather than the traditional location of downtown Los Angeles. The invitation-only event will consist of both suite-based meetings in various hotels as well as a show floor constructed in Santa Monica's Barker Hangar.

The general intent of the new event seems to be to provide an environment that is more personal and businesslike, two adjectives that are unlikely to have been used to describe the E3 of recent years. It will feature a luncheon conference series as well a program on "serious games" aimed at education or real world issues. The ESA is also looking into incorporating the well known "Into the Pixel" video game artwork exhibition as well as some kind of showcase on independent games. Some have expressed concern as to whether games from smaller publishers and developers would be adequately represented at a more exclusive event.

According to today's announcement, all companies involved in the publishing, development, or manufacturing of PC, console, web-based, or mobile games and hardware will be eligible to participate in the event, whether or not they are members of the ESA. Apparently, press events will be held by publishers and manufacturers in hotel suites on an individual and invite-only basis, while show floor booths will developed by the actual management of the E3Expo. The ESA expects booking for the various events to begin within a month.

Over at FileShack you can now find the entire E3 2006 presentation of Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway, offering thirteen minutes of footage along with commentary by Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford and John Antal. Thanks 3D Gamers.

The Consumer Electronics Association, which manages the megalithic annual Consumer Electronics Show trade event in Las Vegas, sent out an announcement yesterday that it is currently looking into the possibility of launching its own West Coast video game industry trade show now that the Entertainment Software Association has scaled down its own E3 event. CES itself, which is generally attended by a number of major video game publishers but is not heavily geared towards the game industry, dwarfs E3 in terms of attendance, even as its stewards seem to be more effective at restricting access to industry professionals and press. This year's CES event saw over 150,000 attendees, more than twice E3's 60,000; by contrast, the newly announced E3 Media Festival set to occur in July 2007 is planned to have an attendance of about 5,000. It is unknown what scale the CEA hopes to achieve with its potential new event.

Though it is easy to see why another organization would want to have a stake in the tens of millions of dollars poured into large video game trade shows now that the biggest player in that scene has pulled out, it is important to note that the reason for E3's significant shrinkage is due to major exhibitors actively opposed to such an event. However, there are many questions as to whether smaller publishers will be provided adequate display opportunities at the E3 Media Festival, with plans for the event still unclear. To that end, one of the angles the CEA hopes to tackle with its proposed event is catering to these smaller companies.

"Since ESA decided to eliminate the E3 event in its known format, we have been deluged with inquiries on whether we could fill the tradeshow needs of smaller video entertainment companies," said CEA CEO Gary Shapiro. Publishers such as Majesco and NCsoft, along with hardware manufacturer Auravision, have voiced their support for the forming of the advisory committee that will discuss the event. The committee is considering locations in CES hometown Las Vegas as well as Los Angeles, where E3 also resides.

Next Generation spoke with id Software's Marty Stratton during last week's QuakeCon about the future of the event. Though this event's attendance was not at the level it has reached in recent years, largely due to a fairly last minute official announcement of dates, Stratton believes that QuakeCon fills a unique niche among game industry events and is well poised to expand and take on new roles as E3 becomes a smaller affair. Though id and the event organizers have clear ideas about the proper attitudes and ideals the show represents, it seems that competing developers such as Valve or Ritual may even be able to have a presence at future QuakeCons. "We want people who support the ideals of the event, who want to support the event monetarily," said Stratton. "I think it makes sense for us, as we move forward, to have at least the mindset of being more inclusive."

“We usually get the same walk-in attendance as [Bring Your Own Computer participants],” continues Stratton. “I’d like to see us have five, six times the attendance as relative to BYOC. So if we have a 3000 person BYOC, I’d like to see us have an event with nine or twelve-thousand people come in, look at the exhibits, watch the tournaments. There’s enough going on at the event that you can come and spend two days, three days…”

Following difficulties in securing a suitable location for this year's event, Stratton stated that next year's timing and accomodations are already being considered.

The Wall Street Journal has reported on early details regarding the 2007 iteration of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, which over the last few days has undergone some radical changes. The tentative name for this revised show will be the E3 Media Festival, and will be located not in the gargantuan Los Angeles Convention Center but more likely in the suites and conference rooms of a few Los Angeles hotels. It will take place in July rather than the traditional May, giving publishers more time to ready their holiday lineups for display. While recent E3 events have had attendance upwards of 60,000, the E3 Media Festival is looking to trim more than 90% of that crowd, with a target of 5,000 attendees. According to Doug Lowenstein, head of E3 organizer the Entertainment Software Association, these proposed changes will be subject to a vote for approval tomorrow.

Confirming various online reports made this weekend, the Entertainment Software Association has announced plans to radically alter the format of the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo, the industry's biggest trade show. The new show is described as a "more intimate event focused on targeted, personalized meetings and activities," a phrase that could certainly not be used to describe the current circus-like E3 Expo. According to reputable sources, many major exhibitors and publishers have begun to withdraw support for the costly E3, prompting the ESA to rethink how the show is run.

"The world of interactive entertainment has changed since E3Expo was created 12 years ago. At that time we were focused on establishing the industry and securing orders for the holiday season," said ESA head Douglas Lowenstein. "Over the years, it has become clear that we need a more intimate program, including higher quality, more personal dialogue with the worldwide media, developers, retailers and other key industry audiences." Though it is officially an industry-only trade show, E3 is well known for being attended by many members of the gaming public, due to relatively lax admittance procedures. This year, the ESA indicated it would be applying sterner methods, though it seemed to have little practical effect.

In recent years, platform holders and third party publishers have begun more frequently holding their own press events throughout the year, which, due to smaller game lineups and less need for costly marketing campaigns, are often seen as more appropriate settings for productive game previews and interviews. These events, along with the increasing number of other large expos such as the upcoming Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany and Tokyo Game Show in Tokyo, Japan, have decreased the need for a single all-encompassing industry showcase such as E3, said Lowenstein.

The new event will remain in the city of Los Angeles, though it seems unlikely it will remain in the large Los Angeles Convention Center. The ESA will reveal more details about the event in the coming months.

Update: Next Generation, one of the first sites to break this news this past weekend, has posted a story covering ten reasons why E3 collapsed. Many of them have been covered in news posts here today and yesterday, but there is one particularly interesting claim. According to Next Generation, the presidents of the North American industry's four biggest big shots--Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony Computer Entertainment, and Electronic Arts--talked the matter over and determined that if they all agreed to pull out of the show together, the impetus behind E3 would fall away.

Update 2: GameSpot has received confirmation from the ESA's Doug Lowenstein that E3 2007 will be held in July rather than the traditional May.