It all started when the ESA sent out invites to the press for its E3 Media & Business Summit 2008, revealing an exhibitors list that lacked quite a few names. So far, Activision Blizzard is not attending (nor renewing its ESA membership), as well as NCSoft, Foundation 9, and Her Interactive. In the meantime, a few others who were not on the initial participants list have confirmed their participation (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Bethesda), while id Software is still uncertain. Today, we can confirm that Atlus will not be present, but Codemasters, D3 Publisher, Majesco, Rebellion, Southpeak and Square Enix will be present.

Audiosurf is a music-adapting puzzle racer where the shape, the speed, and the mood of each ride is determined by the song you choose. You earn points for clustering together blocks of the same color on the highway, and compete with others on the internet. The FM Update, introduces a host of new features and content including last.fm audioscrobbling, the ability to run Audiosurf as a music visualizer, scoreboard comments, and much more.

Battlefront.com and Fury Software's second expansion pack for Strategic Command 2: Blitzkrieg, titled Patton Drives East, has gone gold, allowing allow players to explore the historically possible what-ifs of World War II.

Golden Axe: Beast Rider, developed by Secret Level, delivers action-RPG thrills as a small band of Riders embark on an epic adventure to recruit allies, expose the enemy and prevent the annihilation of their breed.

Blizzard unveiled a brand-new design for its Official Blizzard Store, not just overhauling the graphical appearance and navigation of the site but also incorporating several major new functions into the site, such as the Beta-Test Eligibility and the ability to download copies of Blizzard games that you have previously purchased.

MGS4: Guns of the Patriots is set in a war-torn future where huge conglomerates, including those in the Middle East and South America, fight for supremacy using armies of hand-picked mercenaries.

Earthrise, Bulgaria based indie developer Masthead Studios' debut title, is a post-apocalyptic science fiction MMO.

Theatre of War offers an extensive real-time strategy experience. By combining the look, feel and historical elements of World War II, Theatre of War creates an unrivaled tactical battlefield experience that spans major campaigns from the Battle of Moscow to Normandy.

SCEA announced that it will take the stage at the two-day alternative music Bamboozle Festival 2008, where it will be on hand to enhance their concert experiences as well as shine the spotlight on new PlayStation products such as GT5 Prologue, SingStar, MLB The Show 08, as well as Secret Agent Clank, God of War: Chains of Olympus, and of course Rock Band.

Harmonix and MTV Games announced the latest slate of downloadable tracks available for Rock Band. Starting May 6 for the X360 (May 8th for PS3) players will be download "The Scene Pack” featuring Fall Out Boy, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Angels & Airwaves.

Battlefront.com and Fury Software's second expansion pack for Strategic Command 2: Blitzkrieg, titled Patton Drives East, allows players to explore the historically possible what-ifs of WWII. This demo includes three, turn limited (1 game year each), playable campaigns, and while multiplayer modes are disabled, the campaigns are playable against the AI as either side.

Steamworks is a complete suite of publishing and development tools that offers PC game developers and publishers free access to the game features such as product key authentication, copy protection, auto-updating, social networking matchmaking, anti-cheat technology, and more.

Rockstar's open-ended crime series has arrived on the next-gen consoles with Grand Theft Auto IV, returning the franchise to New York situated around the mysterious protagonist Nikolai. As predicted GTA IV has eclipsed the previous record set by GTA: San Andreas in 2004 (501k units). On launch day, Tuesday April 29, GTA IV sold 609k units in the UK, lead by the X360 version with 335K copies and the PS3 edition with 274K units.

For the first time handheld gamers will have the freedom to unleash their inner rock star anywhere, anytime with Activision's upcoming Guitar Hero: On Tour offering the most diverse set list of master tracks ever offered in a Guitar Hero game, including classic rock, alternative and pop favorites.

Abandon Interactive's Freaky Creatures is an interactive gaming platform incorporating collectible toys, customizable characters, an expansive online interactive community and challenging virtual battles with other players’ creatures.

War Leaders: Clash of Nations places gamers in the roles of the major leaders of WWII, including Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Political, diplomatic and economic decision making will be key to success, while sound tactical strategies will ensure victory on the battlefield. This v1.2 patch improves stability, performance, AI, path finding, and various other fixes & tweaks.

Daedalic Entertainment's Edna and Harvey: The Breakout is a new point & click adventure game that will make do without real-time particle effects, parallax occlusion mapping or integrated physics engine.

Theatre of War offers an extensive real-time strategy experience. By combining the look, feel and historical elements of World War II, Theatre of War creates an unrivaled tactical battlefield experience that spans major campaigns from the Battle of Moscow to Normandy.

Mastiff Major professional eating competition simulator, Major League Eating: The Game, features the world's greatest gurgitory athletes competing across 12 different food types, and it will be built much like a fighting game.

Epic Games' President Dr. Michael Capps will give a keynote at this year's conference, in Leipzig, Germany (Aug. 18-20, 2008) highlighting the development progress of its FPS game, Gears of War 2.

TF2 is a class-based, multiplayer team warfare game, delivering new game types, a signature art style powered by Valve’s next-gen animation technology, persistent player statistics, etc... The Gold Rush Update introduces the new Gold Rush map and Payload gameplay style, the first set of unlockable weapons, and a new set of achievements for the Medic.

Masthead Studios has signed a licensing agreement with Interactive Data Visualization (IDV) to use to use its virtual foliage engine SpeedTree for the design of their post-apocalyptic MMO Earthrise to enhance development in environmental flora.

Mass Effect invites players to take the role of Commander Shepard as they set out on an adventure to save the galaxy from imminent destruction. Not only does the PC version include the Bring Down the Sky downloadable content, if you pre-order at retail you get a $10 discount, while the EA online store gives you Dead Space bonus material, such as the first issue of the Dead Space comic book and a poster.

Guilty Gear 2 Overture is the newest installment in the Guilty Gear franchise, deviating from the series beat'm up norm by not calling it GG X, as well as by adding RTS elements where you need resources to gather your army and destroy the enemy's base.

MGS4: Guns of the Patriots is set in a war-torn future where huge conglomerates, including those in the Middle East and South America, fight for supremacy using armies of hand-picked mercenaries. Now that the MGO beta is underway, Konami has added a new map (Midtown Maelstrom) and the Sneaking Mission mode, which puts one player in the skin of Solid Snake himself vs. the Red and Blue team, collecting a set number of enemy dogtags.