When Lowenstein mentioned big changes for E3, many of us tried to look at bigger picture optimistically. It’s been obvious over the past few years that the direction of the trade show began to lose focus. Instead of sticking mostly to a business oriented event, E3 felt like the equivalent of a Hollywood production gone astray. Developers agreed they were losing lots of money that was being poured into creating huge extravagant booths and hiring attractive models as a means to draw attention to their upcoming lineup. And then there was the issue with the population level which ultimately made it extremely difficult for media, publishers and retailers to effectively conduct business.

Finally, the ESA said enough was enough. E3 2006 was the last hurrah at the LACC (which can’t possibly be good news for the city of Los Angeles who’ve come to rely on the annual event) in favor of a smaller, more controlled setup: hotels. In a recent interview with GameIndustry.biz, Lowensten states the following: “By combining suite-based meetings with the software showcase in a controlled and business-like environment, we believe we will successfully fulfill our primary objective of giving high-level media the best of all worlds — the chance to engage in highly personal, one-on-one dialogue with leading game company executives, as well as the chance to demo games on their own time and to check out offerings from both the best known and emerging game publishers and developers,” said Lowenstein. “It will also provide an excellent opportunity for meetings with retailers, developers and other audiences.”

Reading between the lines, this basically says “unless you’re one of the major destinations like IGN, Gamespy, 1up, GameSpot, TeamXbox, Joystiq or Kotaku…you’re out of the circle”. Previously known as E3 2007, the new official name is entitled E3 Media and Business Summit, scheduled to be held on July 11-13 in Santa Monica, CA.

I applaud ESA’s objective to streamline E3’s overall focus, but I not too fond of the idea about the presentations being hosted in hotels. Even more disappointing is the fact the “major showcase” for attendees will be held in Barker Hangar. Sorry, it doesn’t matter how well they pimp that place out — holding a gaming showcase in a hangar is extremely cheesy in my opinion.

I’m curious as to what the gaming enthusiast community think about this since a large chunk of us will now be missing out one on the most exciting annual events in North America. It seems that most of us will end up giving our patronage to events like PAX (which saw a HUGE increase this year) and VGXPO. Perhaps this is all for the best… it’s too early to decide.