After the Entertainment Software Association hinted that it might take the Electronic Entertainment Expo to somewhere else next year besides Los Angeles (due to concerns about construction projects), it seems like the city and the ESA have worked things out. It was announced this morning that the ESA and the city have signed a new three-year contract for the annual media and trade show event. As of this announcement the E3 Expo will remain in L.A. until 2015.

Speaking at length with GamesIndustry International, Junction Point founder and Epic Mickey creator warren Spector thought the ultra violent themes on display during E3 were disturbing and said that these trends towards ultra violence need to stop.

While Spector admitted that he spent most of the show locked in a room demoing his latest game, Epic Mickey 2, he did notice some overall trends that he was uncomfortable with:

Just prior to E3, Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics released a trailer showing, among other action, a bad guy getting a bit fresh with a captured and bound Lara.

Lara knees him in the nuts, bites him in the face (after he doesn’t seem to take the hint) then shoots his dumb ass.

In Episode 6 of the Super Podcast Action Committee, James, Andrew, and Zachary talk about the Electronic Entertainment Expo which took place last week in Los Angeles. We discuss the hits and misses of the show at length and realize that both Zachary and Andrew have no earthly idea who Aisha Tyler is. I know, it’s an unforgivable sin. This is probably the longest show we have had ( it was cut it down from three hours to its final length - 1 hour, 42 minutes). Admittedly we did talk about other things like how dumb the last Superman movie was.

As it traditionally does after the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles is over, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) released attendance figures for the annual event. Curiously the organization responsible for E3 did not announce what city it will take place in next year.

Hitman Absolution game director Tore Blystad has apologized for offending anyone who found the "Attack of the Saints" trailer for Hitman Absolution offensive. The trailer, which featured female assassins dressed as nuns, was seen by many as a sexualization of violence against women.

Analyst Sebastian Colin of Baird Equity Research noted in his E3 wrap up that there were few catalysts from the annual event and more questions were raised than answered on the direction of the industry in 2012 and beyond. He noted that most of the games from the big players were "well polished" and should sell "well." The firm's biggest concern seems to be with Sony, who may struggle with the PS3 and Vita in the year ahead.

Sony Computer Entertainment is bullish on PS Vita's future in the current fiscal year, despite its lack of Vita software shown during its E3 press conference this week. The company said this week that it expects to sell ten million units of its newest hand-held system by March 2013 - the end of its current fiscal year. It will do this, it claims, by releasing "blockbuster games" during the holiday season and by strengthening the system's online offerings as well.

Last year Sony was saying that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to let Microsoft get a significant jump on them in the next generation of console hardware with its "Xbox 720" system. This year at E3 in Los Angeles, Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton says that being first isn't as important as being best. He told GameTrailers TV that "the number one goal is to be the best machine." The statement was in response to being asked if Sony's next-generation home console, the PS4, would be released before Microsoft's.

Those consumers who own a Wii are probably more than a little concerned that all their save games, Virtual Console purchases and WiiWare games will be lost in the shuffle if they buy a Wii U will be happy to hear that Nintendo is thinking about how to migrate all that content over to its new system. While they don't have any specific answers at this point, at least they seem to be cognizant of the fact that fans are not willing to abandon their Wii gaming history so readily.

Cloud gaming service Gaikai has announced a deal with Machinima to bring its popular entertainment content to Gaikai's open platform for integration across all Gaikai-powered devices. Machinima claims an audience of 168 million gamers, who viewed more than 1.61 billion videos in the month of April, according to Gaikai.

Earlier this week the company announced a deal with Samsung to bring its cloud-based gaming services to the company's Smart TV line of high definition internet-ready televisions.

E3 Expo owner the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) offered some lovely statistics on the industry and the gaming populace at the opening of the event today in Los Angeles. According to the ESA, 49 percent of all American households are playing games in some form, with a large number of households playing their favorite game apps on smartphones, tablets and handheld devices. More than 30 percent play games on their smartphones, compared to 20 percent last year.

Not to be outdone by OnLive's deal with TV manufacturer LG, Cloud gaming service Gaikai has announced a partnership with electronics manufacturer Samsung to bring its streaming game service to select Samsung television models. Samsung's game service powered by Gaikai will offer games from all of the company's publishing partners.

Cloud-based gaming service OnLive announced at the opening of the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles that the company has partnered with television manufacturer LG to provide gaming without the need for hardware. All consumers will need is OnLive's gamepad. The company also revealed a number of new services that it plans to roll into its gaming service.

THQ and UFC owner Zuffa announced that they have reached an agreement resulting in Zuffa licensing going to Electronic Arts. The agreement allows THQ to step away from yet another major license and it gives EA the right to publish videogames based on the Ultimate Fighting Championship brand. The agreement results in an undisclosed cash payment to THQ as well and THQ will continue to publish its existing console and mobile titles through March 31, 2013.

Is E3 done as a Los Angeles institution in 2013? According to an LA Times report it may relocate if problems associated with the construction of Farmers Field and the rebuilt convention center are not resolved. This is according to Michael Gallagher, president of the Entertainment Software Association, the organization that owns and operates the annual games industry event.

Note to Microsoft: If you are going to host your E3 Media Briefing on Xbox Live, you might want to consider that when you issue commands to Kinect that they might activate commands on viewer's local systems. During the entire briefing I fought a war of words with my system yelling at it to "play" every time it paused or tried to exit out of the video I was watching.

Game-related charity Get-Well Gamers announced that it will put on a charity during E3 Expo week in Los Angeles, with the proceeds going towards its continued good works of bringing video game-related goodness to sick children. The event, "Comics for Kids," will feature L.A. comedians Rob Silva, Richard Villa, Sebastian Cetina, and Brett Riley doing their best to make you laugh for one night. 

Respawn Entertainment has something in common with Blizzard: both companies will not be attending the Electronic Entertainment Expo next month in Los Angeles. Chances are the company founded by ex-Infinity Ward front men Jason West and Vince Zampella have better things to do (like developing their first game) and more important things to prepare for (like fighting Activision in court on May 29).

Blizzard Entertainment will once again skip the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles next month. In fact the World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo series developer won't take part in any U.S. media events this year. This marks the fifth time that Blizzard has skipped the annual trade show, though usually it had its own fan-based BlizzCon event to fall back on.

Blizzard will show something off in Europe at Gamescom 2012 in August, at least.

A recent interview with Mojang's Chief Executive Carl Manneh on IT 24 (translated by MCVNordic and reported on by GamesBeat) reveals that the Minecraft maker is seriously considering a subscription model for its popular world building game and why it decided to boycott the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles this summer.

THQ will not have a booth at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, according to what a spokesperson has told GamesIndustry International. While the company won't have a massive display on the show floor as it has in past E3's, a company spokesperson said that it will be at E3 taking appointments and showing off its new titles for 2012 and beyond.