The annual E3 conference is the main event on any videogame aficionado's calendar -- but now its future is in question, the gaming trade magazine Next Generation reports. According to Next Gen, the major console makers -- Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo -- have decided the show's payoff in PR isn't worth its costs, and are going to stage their own events instead.

Ars Technica scoffs at Next Gen's story, but says that big changes are indeed planned for next year's event. E3's organizer, the Entertainment Software Association, fears that the show is getting too large and unwieldy, Ars Technica contends. The association is wary of following in the footsteps of Comdex, the once-popular computer trade show that spiraled into a fatal decline after major sponsors tired of the crowds.

Talk of a smaller, "closed-door" E3 could just be convenient spin for having to downsize the show after major sponsors pull out. But whatever the real story is, Ars Technica has one thing right: "The days of the big consumer technology trade shows are indeed passing."