For those not aware, E3 stands for Entertainment Electronics Expo and is the largest video game industry related trade show in the world.
Last year's attendance was in excess of 60,000 people. Just earlier this week, they announced a massive downsizing to an estimated 5,000 attendees and a relocation from the LA convention center to to some hotel suites (maybe in LA).
Here are a couple of related links.
http://ds.ign.com/articles/722/722062p1.html