Electronic Entertainment Expo

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, commonly known as E3, is an annual trade show for the computer and video games industry presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). It is used by many video game developers to show off their upcoming games and game-related hardware.

E3 is widely considered to be the ultimate expo in the video game industry. Former attendees compare the feeling of attending E3 to a kid in a candy store, and many video game critics, including Gamespot, G4, IGN, and Game Informer Magazine routinely document the annual event and sometimes even provide a series of E3 awards.

E3 was invitation-only in 2007 and 2008, reducing the number of attendees from 60,000 at E3 2006. A separate conference called the Entertainment for All Expo was created to accommodate the public demand for a major, annual video game event; however, it has not been able to replicate E3's success.

E3 was previously held in the third week of May of each year at the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) in Los Angeles. In 2007, the convention was exceptionally held from July 11 to July 13 in Santa Monica, California. In 2009, the convention started June 1 and ended June 4 in Los Angeles. The ESA stated that the event reached a record attendance of 70,000 people in 2005. In 2009, the attendance reached 41,000, an increase of 820% on the previous year's E3's attendance.

E3 is widely regarded as the world's largest regular convention for video games. Video game companies generally spend more on their presentations for E3 than any other convention (including fancy decorations and pyrotechnics). Major video game critics often have a "best of E3" award session (similar to end-of-year award sessions), and only E3 consistently features such awards (for example, there is rarely a "Best of TGS" award session).

E3 2010 will remain at the LACC and is scheduled to be from June 14 to June 17.

Halo
Several major Halo announcements have taken place at E3, they include:


 * E3 2000: The Halo: Combat Evolved Announcement Trailer was played at E3 in 2000.
 * E3 2003: An early Halo 2 trailer was revealed: the Halo 2 E3 Demo.
 * E3 2004: The first Halo 2 multiplayer level was revealed to the public. That level was Zanzibar.
 * E3 2006: The Halo 3 Announcement Trailer was unveiled to the world at E3 2006. Though Halo 3 was an expected game title, it was not expected to be announced at E3.
 * E3 2007: Fans got their first real glimpse at the Halo 3 campaign thanks to the release of the Halo 3 E3 2007 Trailer.
 * E3 2008: A demo was shown of Ensemble Studios' work on Halo Wars, and the Five Long Years Cinematic was released. Fans were disappointed to learn that Bungie's publisher had made the decision to not allow them to reveal something they had had in the works for months.
 * E3 2009: Bungie showcased Halo 3: ODST and announced Halo: Reach.
 * E3 2010: Fans got their first real glimpse at the Halo: Reach campaign thanks to the release of the Halo: Reach E3 Campaign Demo.