An unexpected and rather odd move for Activision and other select publishers came today: confirmation that they will not be "attending" the 2008 E3 Media & Business Summit. Our official E3 invitation e-mails arrived today, and upon visiting the official site to setup all the information, Activison's logo was mysteriously missing from the list of attending corporations. Do what? One of the biggest publishers in North America skipping the *largest* press event of the year? Something fishy must be going on. Gaming Nexus was told by the company:

After careful consideration, for business reasons Activision has decided not to participate in any official E3 activities. We wish the ESA best of luck with the show.

What business reasons would those be? Sadly, no one knows right now. Contacting Activision PR leads to the same response. It's not all bad news though, as there is a loophole here. Much like Microsoft and other companies are doing; Activision is still open to holding pre-E3 media events at hotels and other locations in various cities, in order to get some press time for their upcoming titles. 

In addition to Call of Duty's publishing house; Atlus, Bethesda Softworks, Majesco, NCsoft, Vivendi Games and Warner Bros. Interactive all will not be attending the show as well. What? No Fallout 3 at E3? Say it ain't so. Once again, pre and post-E3 events for all these companies are still TBD. This year's show will be interesting indeed. Um, after hours partying for the win!

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