We interrupt your regularly scheduled TGS updates for news on another gaming convention, E3. No, it's not dead yet. But this new development won't help it recover any.

It seems that Codemasters, the company behind Clive Barker's Jericho, Colin McRae, and Lord of the Rings Online, has left the ESA. This makes the sixth publisher to leave the organization since May.

What to do when your event is drawing flak and your circle of supporters are leaving one by one? Try a different strategy, for one. And this is what ESA seems to be doing for next year's E3. Talks of them "going public" are circulating the Internet's grapevines. But how probable is this move?

Leipzig's over and the Tokyo Game Show won't be till October. But that doesn't mean there won't be any other conferences around to satisfy ever-curious gamers' appetites. And this time, we won't even have to fly overseas. The Austin Game Developers Conferences is coming up next, and they've added in a nice touch to this year's event.

Despite getting a lot of bad rep and portents of doom this year, ESA has announced that they will still be holding an E3 event next year. They'd better make some changes if they really intend to push through with it though. More in the full article.

Remember that mandatory game ratings bill that was passed by the New York Senate last month? Just yesterday, New York Governor David Paterson signed the video game bill into law, creating an interesting precedent for videogame legislation. Find out the full details of the videogame law after the jump!

Wedbush Morgan Analyst Michael Pachter thinks that E3 is "heading for extinction soon" because it doesn't address the core constituents of the industry, namely, media, retail, investors, and consumers. Want to find out more, then check out the full article.

Crave Entertainment, yet another studio that had announced its departure from E3's host organization, the ESA, explains that its exit isn't due to the turbulent waters surrounding the event right now. Rather, its because the studio is being sold. Story in the full article.

We've picked up word of yet another departure from the Entertainment Software Association. This time, it's Crave Entertainment who's in the spotlight. Learn more about this new departure after the jump.

The Force is not strong at E3 this year, as LucasArts has decided not to announce any new games during the event because of "too much noise" surrounding it. Hopefully this doesn't mean that we won't hear any news on the upcoming Star Wars games. More in the full article.

*UPDATE* LucasArts has clarified that they will still be attending E3, after some initial confusion at their announcement.

More unhappy predictions for ESA, the organization behind the annual E3 convention. Hal Halpin, head and founder of the ECA (a non-profit organization dedicated to the interests of gamers), believes that more companies are likely to leave the ESA. Sounds like E3 is headed for some tough times. More in the full article.