The publisher departures follow decisions made by the ESA board surrounding last year’s E3 move to Santa Monica that ultimately cost the association $US 5 million and necessitated raising its membership dues, as Kotaku reported earlier this week.

Both id and the ESA confirmed the departure; while id Software declined to comment, ESA senior VP of communications and research Rich Taylor responded:

“We can confirm that id Software has decided not to renew its membership in the ESA. We admire their creativity and innovation. We also respect their decision,” he said.

“The ESA continues to lead the thriving video and computer game industry. We are dedicated to protecting intellectual property, preserving First Amendment rights and fostering a beneficial environment for the entire entertainment software industry.”

E3 2008’s Rapidly Shrinking Floorplan Revealed! [the-minusworld]

We’ll sure miss the booth babe photo ops. Again. For the full list of attendees, which is not represented well by the map above, make the jump.

* 1UP Network
* Akella
* Atari Inc.
* Bethesda Softworks
* CAPCOM Entertainment, Inc.
* Codemasters
* Crave Entertainment
* D3Publisher of America
* Deep Silver
* Disney Interactive Studios
* Eidos, Inc.
* Electronic Arts
* Fox Interactive Media
* Jagex Ltd.
* Konami Digital Entertainment
* LucasArts
* Majesco Entertainment
* Microsoft Corporation
* Midway Games, Inc.
* MTV Games
* NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.
* Natsume
* Nintendo of America Inc.
* Novint Technologies, Inc.
* Nyko Technologies
* Rebellion
* SEGA of America
* Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc.
* Sony Online Entertainment Inc.
* Southpeak Interactive
* Square Enix Inc.
* Take-Two Interactive
* Tecmo
* THQ, Inc.
* Toshiba America Information Systems
* Ubisoft Entertainment Inc.
* Valve Software
* Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment

Texas Governor Rick Perry will be speaking at this year’s E3 Media & Business Summit in July, the Entertainment Software Association Announced.

“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 Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, which represents U.S. computer and video game publishers. “The Governor’s forward-thinking leadership in encouraging the growth and development of our $US 18 billion industry is a roadmap for other state executives who want to transform their state economies for the 21st century.”

The governor will be talking about the confluence of politics and video games, a topic that is likely to come to a head this election.

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.

Hit the jump for GameRadar’s seven reasons why we’ll see a new DS sooner than later.

1. DS has reached saturation point in Japan.
2. DS is getting on a bit.
3. DS game development has gone very quiet at Nintendo.
4. Every Nintendo handheld has had three versions.
5. A spec increase wouldn’t hurt.
6. Nintendo love to combat piracy.
7. Downloadable GBA games.

Let us add numero: 8.) Because it’s Nintendo. But hey, if we don’t see a new DS at E3, there’s always TGS!
Nintendo Tells Us Why [GamesRadar] [Pic]

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

E3 is not the boon to publishers that it once was, says Penny Arcade’s director of business development Robert Khoo, who as the organiser of the PAX fan expo clearly has an interest, to say the least, in how things turn out.

“The reason that E3 imploded in recent years was because the publishers felt that it turned into this sort of pissing contest between them… where they were trying to figure out who could one-up each other,” Khoo said. “They all thought to themselves that it just wasn’t worth it.”

By: Brian Crecente and Leigh Alexander

Rumoured developer displeasure with Entertainment Software Association president Mike Gallagher may be partially to blame for nearly half a dozen member publishers dropping out of this year’s E3 conference, Kotaku has learned.

This morning we broke the news that not only are Vivendi and Activision not attending this year’s E3 they’ve both decided to drop out of the association all together. We’ve since learned that NCSoft, Her Interactive and id Software have all decided not to attend this year’s show, though they are all remaining members of the association.

Only NCSoft had returned calls about the decision as of press time, saying that their decision to not attend E3 this year, the first time they won’t in the company’s history, was due to the development cycle of their games and in no way reflects on the ESA or it’s leadership.

But several industry sources who wish to remain anonymous say Gallagher is in part to blame for issues surrounding this year’s E3.

“While the Entertainment Software Association remains the preeminent voice for U.S. computer and video game publishers, we can confirm that Activision and Vivendi Games opted to discontinue their membership. The ESA remains dedicated to advancing our industry’s objectives such as protecting intellectual property, preserving First Amendment rights, and fostering a beneficial environment for the entire industry. Our high level of service and value to members and the larger industry remains unchanged.”

- Rich Taylor, Senior Vice President of Communications and Research, Entertainment Software Association

This comes a day after it was noted that Activision and a number of other notable publishers were not listed as showing at the industry’s big conference.

Neither Activision nor Vivendi have responded to requests for comment. More as this breaking story unfolds.

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 centre but keeping the smaller, more intimate format.