This year’s exhibitor list for E3 has been revealed by the Electronic Software Association. The list includes all the big names like Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, THQ and others, but notable absences include Activision, Vivendi and id Software. The former two left the ESA altogether and id will not be present at the show.

Additionally, the ESA announced that Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, will give a keynote address at the event.

“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,” noted ESA CEO Michael D. Gallagher. “The Governor’s forward-thinking leadership in encouraging the growth and development of our USD 18 billion industry is a road map for other state executives who want to transform their state economies for the 21st century.”

Hit the jump for the full list of exhibitors.
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Following the flop that was E3 2007, ESA has announced that it is moving the annual summit to the Los Angeles Convention Center when it runs from July 15-17, 2008. The event will still be invite-only and open to the exclusive few.

“The Summit is first and foremost about getting business done,” the ESA told Gamasutra. “The intent of this show is to be a business-to-business opportunity and it isn?t centered or focused on general consumers.”

Ghostlight sends word that it will be showing off and promoting its WWI shooter To End All Wars at the E for All expo in Los Angeles from 18-20 October. The game is in development at Kuju Sheffield (Chemistry) and is being powered by Unreal Engine 3. It will be authentic to the first great war and has a lot of research going into its development.

The game is being shown off at the upcoming event as Ghostlight is seeking a partner to release the game in the United States. It is in the works for the PS3 and Xbox 360 for release sometime next year.

K2 Network sends word that it will be attending and exhibiting at the first annual E for All convention in Los Angeles later this month. The company is known for its MMORPGs, especially Sword of the New World.

K2 will be available at the show October 18-20. The convention will be open to all.

UK-based publisher Ghostlight announces that it is looking to form new alliances for the release of To End All Wars, its WWI first-person shooter for the PS3 and Xbox 360, in North America.

Representatives from the company will be present at the forthcoming E for All expo in Los Angeles from 18-20 October to meet and talk with interested North American publishers. The company will also be on hand to discuss distribution of North American titles in Europe.

At its pre-Tokyo Game Show briefing, Microsoft officially announced Ninja Gaiden 2, the full sequel to the bloody action game. Team Ninja designer Tomonobu Itagaki took the stage to show off the game and announced that it is exclusive for release on the Xbox 360 sometime next year.

The game, among other new things, will feature an entirely new engine and have “finishing blows” system for fatality-like moves. It will feature an automatic health regeneration system with “semi-permanent damage restored at save points,” over 30 hours of gameplay and both land and water-based fighting.

Check out a nice, shiny teaser trailer below.

Last week saw a pre-Tokyo Game Show briefing from Microsoft, where the company revealed several new Japanese titles in development. These games are set to hit Xbox Live Arcade in the coming months.

First up is Rez, a trippy on-rails-shooter from Tetsuya Mizuguchi who is personally involved in the development of this downloadable title. Q Entertainment bills the game as a “direct port” of the original enhanced by high-resolution assets and 5.1 sound. The game is set for release during Q1 2008.

Another shooter - Ikaruga - will be available soon. This vertically-scrolling 2D shooter will feature the standard two-player cooperative mode of the original. It has been listed as “available soon,” so no release date yet.

Other games announced were Every Extend Extra Extreme, Exelica, Omega Five and EXIT, which was originally a PSP puzzle-scroller.

With the convention over, the organizers of GC 2007 sent out an announcement stating that they have attracted a total of 185,000 visitors to Leipzig this year, a slight increase over the past year. This figure includes 12,300 registered trade visitors, compared against 8700 of the past year. Exhibitors were happy too, with 85 percent saying that their participation in the event had had a great significance in the scope of their overall marketing activities, while 91 percent said that they plan on joining again next year.

“The GC 2007 has exceeded all of our targets. A high degree of satisfaction can be seen, not only amongst exhibitors and trade visitors, but also amongst the general public. This result underscores once again why the GC, as Europe’s leading fair in the industry, has an ideal home in Leipzig”, said Josef Rahmen, Managing Director of the Leipziger Messe.

The E3 2007 Halo Wars presentation has finally been released. This 10-minute video offers gameplay footage with narration by lead designer Graeme Devine.

The winners for this year’s “Best of GC” awards have been announced. A total of nine products were awarded from the 85 hardware and software titles that were submitted by exhibitors at the Leipzig Games Convention. Here is the winners list:

PC: Crysis
Xbox: BioShock
PSP: God of War: Chains of Olympus
PS2: Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
PS3: Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
Wii: Mario & Sonic at the Olympics
Nintendo DS: Eye Training
Online: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Best Hardware Accessory: Wii Balance Board
Mobile: none

EuroGamer carries confirmation from Leipzig that a version of Spore is in development for consoles, though it won’t be released alongside the PC and DS versions. This comes straight from Maxis, the development studio itself, from behind a closed-doors meeting.

Spore comes from Sims creator Will Wright, seeing players evolving a single-celled organism into a complex creature and eventually creating an entire civilization. It’s expected to hit stores next Spring.

Four new high-resolution Fallout 3 screenshots have been released. Check out this upcoming action-RPG.

This year’s London Games Festival is shaping up to be quite an event, with over 40 events taking place all over the British capital, it will become mighty crazy. The organizers of the event are now calling independent game developers, distributors and smaller players to participate in the event. Here’s the deal:

In addition to events from large publishers and hardware manufacturers, London Games Festival will include a number of exciting events exploring aspects of interactive entertainment as culture, creative form and new markets. The fringe is designed to recognise that many computer games and most digital play falls beyond the scope of the games industry.

The Fringe will reflect a spectrum of activity: independent game development and distribution, participatory community play, the future of game design, artists’ games, live action role-play, augmented reality games, casual games, interactive storytelling and more. The Fringe will involve performance, exhibitions, master classes and seminars, participatory workshops and, of course, opportunities to play.

The London Games Fringe is open to anyone who wants to get involved. The festival is looking for people who are keen to create their own events under the ‘London Games Festival Fringe’ umbrella and will support these satellite events through online and print promotion, marketing support, partnerships and venue space. These may be seminar events, street games, performances or exhibitions.

Fringe events including a week long Game lab - developing new concepts and ideas, Sense of play - a game design symposium, and Head Trauma - a cinema based alternate-reality game. The festival runs from October 22 to 26.

With the Penny Arcade Expo underway, Hothead Games revealed that the first episode of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness will be downloadable on Xbox Live Arcade in early 2008, with future installments to follow. The game will also be available on PC, Mac and Linux users sometime later this year.

A demo of the game is being shown at the expo. More details can be found on the game’s website.

Three new high-resolution screenshots from Killzone 2 straight from GC.