Texas governor to keynote E3

The ESA - organisers of the 2008 E3 Media & Business Summit - have announced that the Honourable Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, will give a keynote address at the event.

"Governor Perry and the E3 Media & Business Summit are both great success stories," said ESA CEO Michael D. Gallagher.

"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.

"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."

The ESA said that it would meet its attendance expectation of 4,000 individuals for the invitation-only show.

Recently, companies such as Activision, Vivendi and LucasArts have ended their ESA membership - although the latter still plans on participating in the event.

The ESA declared that the following companies are currently scheduled to participate as exhibitors:

• 1UP Network
• Akella
• Atari
• Bethesda Softworks
• Capcom USA
• Crave Entertainment
• Codemasters
• D3Publisher of America
• Deep Silver
• Disney Interactive Studios
• Electronic Arts
• Eidos Interactive
• Fox Interactive Media
• Indie Games
• Jagex, Ltd.
• Konami Digital Entertainment America
• LucasArts
• Majesco Entertainment Company
• Microsoft Corporation
• Midway Games
• MTV Games
• Namco Bandai Games America
• Natsume
• Nintendo of America
• Novint Technologies
• Nyko Technologies
• Rebellion
• SEGA of America
• Serious Games Initiative
• Sony Computer Entertainment America
• Sony Online Entertainment
• Southpeak Interactive
• Square Enix USA
• Take-Two Interactive
• Tecmo
• THQ
• Toshiba America Information Systems
• Ubisoft Entertainment
• Valve Software
• Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment

E3 2008 will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 15-17.