E3: An introduction

The Electronic Entertainment Expo is a key event of the gaming calendar - find out what it's all about right here.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, has been a fixture in the calendar of game publishers and developers since it was first held in 1995.

Prior to E3, the biggest exhibition for publishers to demonstrate their latest products was the all-encompassing Consumer Electronic Show (CES), but the rapid rise of video gaming throughout the early 1990s made it apparent that the medium was in urgent need of a show all of its own.

Traditionally, E3 has been an occasion for every major publisher you've heard of - and plenty that you haven't - to showcase its latest wares, months, or even years, before they become available for public consumption.

Year on year, the show has grown in stature to the point that, at last year's show in 2006, some 60,000 people attended the vast Los Angeles Convention Center to cast their eye over more than 5,000 products from approximately 400 exhibiting companies representing 80 countries.

In 2007, the show has been renamed the E3 Media & Business Summit and has become an altogether more intimate affair. Attendance this year is by invitation only and, as a result, only 5,000 people are expected in town when the show kicks off on 11 July.

Despite the reduced scale of E3 in 2007, it is anticipated that there will be new products unveiled so, for PlayStation related news, keep checking back on eu.playstation.com.