This week began with the surprise revelation that Activision and Vivendi Games were both dropping out of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the top US game-industry trade organization. The two companies, which are set to form the world's biggest third-party game publisher in a $18.9 billion union later this year, also said they were declining to attend this year's E3 Media & Business Summit--traditionally the top annual US game-industry event.

　　In the wake of Activision and Vivendi's announcement, several other publishers, such as NCsoft and Foundation 9, also made public their intention to skip E3. However, today, one of the industry's heaviest of heavyweights, Electronic Arts, reiterated its intention to attend the summit, which will be held from July 15-17 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The publisher had previously been listed as exhibiting at the event.

　　Besides underlining its E3 attendance, EA also announced its press briefing for the event. It will be held on Monday, July 14--two days before the show officially begins--at LA's historic Orpheum Theater. The time slot is unusually early, as past years have seen third-party publishers wait until after the Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony events to show their wares. In 2007, all of the "Big Three" conferences were held the Tuesday and Wednesday before E3.