They say you can't go home again, and in the case of the E3 Media & Business Summit, they might be right.

　　The show that used to be the Electronic Entertainment Expo returns to the Los Angeles Convention Center this week, but it's just not going to be the same. As in years past, the industry is converging on the City of Angels to schmooze, pimp, gladhand, and otherwise promote their products. But this year they're finding a very different convention center waiting for them.

　　In 2006 and before, the LACC was ruthlessly tarted up with advertising over practically every available square inch of space. The marketing spasm extended beyond the convention center itself, plastering landmarks like the Staples Center and the Figueroa Hotel days ahead of the show proper. Gaming absolutely permeated the area, with nary a nongaming ad to be found on nearby bus shelters and billboards.

　　But with E3 set to kick off with tomorrow morning's Microsoft press conference, I found the LACC looking positively naked earlier today. Take a look at the photos embedded in this story for a couple now-and-then comparisons that underline the difference. Atari had relinquished its longstanding hold on the South Hall facade, the West Hall lobby sat devoid of Midway's marketing and LucasArts' laser light show. If it weren't for a banner inside the West Hall welcoming attendees and directing them to the registration desks, one might think E3 wasn't happening here at all.

　　There's no arguing that E3 2008 is anywhere in the same league as E3 2006. The show has suffered a drop in prestige and hype since organizers announced its downsizing just under two years ago. Last year's show in nearby Santa Monica was the subject of criticism for poor planning that resulted in overlapping third-party publisher conferences, a superfluous show floor, and unnecessarily spread out events.

　　Some of those issues have been addressed by the move to the LACC, but whatever gains the show makes in those areas will likely be offset by the elephant not in the room, specifically Activision Blizzard. The newly merged megapublisher dropped out of the Entertainment Software Association earlier this year and said it wouldn't be attending E3, setting a trend to be followed by NC Soft, Foundation IX, and id Software.

　　The show hasn't even kicked off yet, but the indelible first impression is that this year's E3 is a pale shade of E3 2006. Whether subsequent events prove this impression to be wrong remains to be seen.