After certain happenings you should be aware of by now, Los Angeles has been left without its mother of all gaming shows, as the Electronic Entertainment Expo we once knew was chopped-down and locked away from public view. But it looks like some people just can't live without E3... or at least the E3 glitz and glitter. That's why IDG is planning a replacement show called GamePro Expo. The new event will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center (the home of the old E3), between October 18-20, 2007.

GameSpot got a hold of these informations from a memo that circulated to a short list of LA Convention and Visitors Bureau members this week.

"IDG has been secured to run the new GamePro Expo show, what we knew as E3," the memo reads in part. While IDG owns and publishes GamePro magazine, it is not clear how IDG plans on leveraging the brand.

According to Michael Krouse, vice president of convention sales for the LA Convention and Visitors Bureau, IDG is estimating that the event will draw 30,000 attendees, and that long term, those numbers could grow. "I am absolutely convinced this show will be as big as [the old] E3," Krouse told GameSpot.

Moreover, GamePro Expo is said to be endorsed by the Entertainment Software Association, and will incorporate trade show, consumer, and game competition components. Though publishers are believed to be jumping on board already, no company has actually announced its attendance to the first edition of GamePro Expo - which, itself, has yet to be officially announced.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)